Curriculum vision Our curriculum supports our students to achieve academic and vocational excellence, fosters a lifelong love of learning and empowers them to become leaders that will make a positive contribution in their communities and the wider world.

Merchants' Academy Primary

At Merchants’ Academy Primary, we aim for all children to demonstrate our strong set of values, to take pride in themselves and their community and to be fully equipped to be a force for positive change in their future society. 

We follow the CUSP (Curriculum with Unity Schols Partnership) curriculum in English, and most wider curriculum subjects. This curriculum is guided by evidence-led structures, such as retrieval, spaced retrieval practice and interleaving. It is underpinned by explicit vocabulary instruction and research-focused pedagogy.  The CUSP curriculum is 'unapologetically ambitious' for all students. Meaningful links are made withing and across subjects which allow pupils the opportunity to revisit learning in different contexts. Running alongside our broad, rich curriculum is a comprehensive map of experiences, trips, visits and extra-curricular activities that both inspire and contextualise learning.

 

Merchants' Academy Secondary

At Merchants’ Academy Secondary, we are driven by a strong commitment to equity and social justice. We are explicit about the knowledge we expect students to learn because we believe that all students have an entitlement to powerful knowledge that takes them beyond their own experiences and empowers them to take part in ‘the great conversation of humankind.’ We value knowledge but we recognise that to thrive in a rapidly changing world our students must have the skills and confidence to apply their knowledge in different contexts and be able to debate, interpret and challenge accepted wisdom.

Rooted in the strongest available evidence about how pupils learn and retain knowledge, our curriculum develops subject expertise by ensuring time for deep learning to take place. Fewer topics taught in greater depth allows time for discussion, debate, making mistakes and addressing misconceptions. We understand that learning is made accessible when our students are supported to make connections within and between subjects and so our curriculum is focused on the big ideas and concepts that underpin each subject. We respect the integrity of subject disciplines while also providing students with opportunities to engage in authentic, meaningful inter-disciplinary work.

Significant time is allocated to the core subjects of English, Maths and Science because we believe that a strong grounding in these subjects is essential to equip students for future careers and further study and to support development in other subjects. We teach literacy and numeracy across the curriculum with a strong focus on developing student oracy. As a highly inclusive school, we provide students working below age related expectations with targeted support to accelerate their progress. 

Our curriculum is underpinned by an unwavering belief that every child has the potential to achieve at a high level but that each child has their own unique path to success. We have a broad curriculum offer that incorporates a wide range of traditional academic subjects as well as vocational subjects and we value them equally. Our students have a wide array of interests and talents and the breath of our curriculum offer reflects our commitment to nurturing these and supporting all of our students to find their passion and to excel.

Our curriculum is designed to develop student leadership. One of the ways we do this is through our focus on oracy because we know that successful leaders are able to communicate effectively and because the ability to articulate themselves clearly and fluently is integral to our students’ future success and happiness. Leadership skills are also developed through our extra-curricular provision, enhanced through partnerships with organisations such as DebateMate, Into University, South Bristol Youth and our well-established Duke of Edinburgh programme.

We recognise the vital importance of learning and development that takes place outside the classroom. Support from the Society of Merchant Venturers and other partners allows us to invest heavily in providing our students with a vast range of opportunities aimed at developing their cultural capital. Our sponsorship by the Society of Merchant Venturers also provides students with unparalleled work experience opportunities and enhances our careers education provision.

At Merchants’ Academy Secondary we care passionately about our students’ personal development. All students take part in regular PSHE lessons. These lessons help students to stay safe and healthy and are designed to develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to prepare for life and work in modern Britain.