Curriculum

Our Art curriculum is broad, balanced and ambitious, ensuring all students, no matter their starting points, backgrounds and individual needs, are afforded the same opportunities and an equal chance to experience success. 

Our Art curriculum aims to engage, inspire and challenge students, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art. Students will have opportunity to explore and experiment with a wide range of media and processes. As students progress, they should be able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design. They should also know how art and design both reflect and shape our history.  

Our Art curriculum provides opportunities to make direct links to career pathways, enabling students to understand how art contributes to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.

Students live in a digital world, the devices they use are useful if the user is competent, therefore we believe it is essential to empower young people to become digitally literate, developing skills that are not only applicable in the subject but in the real world.  We will equip students with the problem-solving skills to become resilient digital citizens who can positively and confidently navigate the digital world. In Computing, we aim to develop students’ transferable skills including problem-solving, creativity, critical thinking, perseverance, analysis and evaluation. We want to empower students to learn from their mistakes and develop problem-solving skills by supporting them to understand that failure is a key feature of any learning process. 

The Design and Technology department at Edgar Wood Academy ensures that the delivery of its curriculum is accessible to all students. Our aim is to ensure that students feel empowered to change their own lives and the lives of those around them. Through innovative and industrial practices, we believe in generating a future of independent and creative thinkers who are actively engaged, proud of their learning and have no fear in taking risks.  

We ensure that we provide students with a range of opportunities that develop their mathematical, scientific, literacy and language skills.  

We strive to have students understanding the importance of theory within Design and Technology and transferring their skills into practical work in a safe and positive learning environment.  

One of our main priorities is to ensure that all the students become excellent problem solvers that are not afraid of making mistakes but to reflect on their misconceptions and find an alternative route. We ensure that the department has strong cross curricular links with subjects such as Mathematics, Science, Computing, English, Art, Drama and Geography.  

We want Design and Technology to give students the skills and opportunities they need to be successful after their time at Edgar Wood Academy. 

Drama is an important subject as it teaches you empathy, compassion and important life skills such as communication and cooperation. Drama at Edgar Wood Academy is all about building and boosting your confidence.

In Drama you will develop skills in creating, performing and responding. You will learn how to work as a part of a team and how to communicate effectively. You will study different styles of theatre and have a go at performing as different characters, some from your imagination and others from studied scripts. You will discover how theatre has evolved through time and you will learn how to review performances as a part of your response to theatre you have watched.

Abraham Lincoln praised the residents of Middleton and Lancashire for their “sublime heroism” when they stood in solidarity with the slaves in America. This example of resistance and solidarity forms a wider narrative of the commitment of Middleton to social justice even if it comes with a great sacrifice. Another such narrative includes Edgar Wood’s father, Thomas Broadbent Wood an accomplished mill owner, who actively sought to provide relief for the people of Middleton as they stood in solidarity with the slaves in America during the cotton famine. These local narratives of resistance, rebellion, social justice and revolution are interwoven throughout the English curriculum at Edgar Wood Academy. By studying a variety of literature we aim to develop and foster critical and empathetic individuals. Through carefully chosen texts pupil are invited to explore a variety of themes including: the hubristic nature of man; ambition as a fatal flaw; the dangerous allure of science and the power of the sublime. These concepts allow pupils to not only broaden their academic horizons but to develop themselves and their ability to interact with the wider world. There is a significant focus on the development of vocabulary and discussion within the curriculum as this is vital in terms of pupils being able to articulate and develop their own ideas. Pupils will also learn to master their writing skills and this in turn will give learners the confidence to explore their own unique voice and allow them to appreciate writing as a specialised craft. Through a curriculum rich in powerful knowledge, we aim to celebrate diversity, develop each individual’s voice and enable learners to empathise with a range of perspectives.

The Food Preparation and Nutrition department at Edgar Wood Academy aims to inspire students to develop an understanding of nutrition, diet and health, food provenance and the working characteristics of ingredients.  

With increasing concerns in society around food, we aim to encourage our students to explore food-related issues through a range of theoretical and practical experiences, allowing them to make informed and appropriate food choices for both themselves and their families. 

We aim for our students to learn skills not just for educational purposes but for life, empowering them to change their lives for the better. 

The curriculum is designed to be accessible to all students, with the provision of the basic food ingredients as the foundation of all practical lessons to ensure no student is placed at a disadvantage. 

The department has strong cross-curricular links with Science, Mathematics, Geography and PE.

Geography at Edgar Wood Academy aims to build students’ appreciation of the human and physical world around them. Students will develop skills and understanding that help them to become global citizens and key stewards in helping to improve the world and manage the issues we face as a global community. Throughout their study students will develop knowledge and understanding of human and physical processes that affect our lives on a range of scales, from very local issues to global themes such as climate change, resource management and conflict. Through their learning, students will understand how the human and physical world interact, shaping the lives of people across the globe in many different ways, giving them an appreciation of the quality of life they have access to, and a feeling of responsibility and empathy towards those less fortunate than ourselves. Teaching is supported through out-of-classroom learning such as fieldwork opportunities for students to apply their learning in the form of geographical investigations in both KS3 and KS4.

Humanities subjects are vital in helping us to empathise with others. They help us to think critically, give us powerful knowledge, and allow us to build an ability to evaluate, analyse and construct balanced arguments. This will empower you to become active and responsible citizens, and deal with the challenges of modern society. By studying Humanities at Edgar Wood Academy, you will develop a strong sense of responsibility towards cultures, environments, local communities and a sustainable future. 

History at Edgar Wood Academy is ‘every story’. You will learn about a diverse range of histories and to empathise with local, national and global communities. You will learn to be critical thinkers and question your assumptions and information that is given to you. You will explore how history has shaped the country and the world around you.

Our curriculum is centred upon learning and understanding mathematical knowledge; it’s at the heart of every Mathematics lesson at Edgar Wood Academy. We want to develop students’ character, including resilience, confidence and independence. This will enable students to have a full understanding of mathematics in order to contribute positively and successfully to school, their local community and wider environment.

Our curriculum is knowledge rich with mathematical literacy at its core. Our curriculum allows students to become fluent in the fundamentals of Mathematics. Key terminology can be seen in every lesson, and this encourages students to argue, prove and justify using mathematical vocabulary. We empower students to be confident readers to understand and process key information when starting to tackle difficult mathematical problems.

An important focus within our curriculum is the ability to recall and apply prior knowledge to a variety of mathematical problems. Students will then become proficient at remembering a wide range of mathematical facts and be able to apply these to more complex problems. They will also develop disciplined systematic procedures to solve complex problems in algebra, geometry, statistics, probability, number and ratio.

At all stages of your journey through Edgar Wood Academy, it is important to relate your learning to future careers and increase aspiration. Mathematics underpins and drives many successful careers including Edgar Wood’s chosen profession of Architect. Visits to sixth form colleges and universities will be crucial to this development. You will also take part in national challenges to show off your flair for Mathematics, along with competitions within the Trust.

Our curriculum aims to develop pupils’ oracy skills and help students become confident and articulate speakers who can use the language in a wide a range of contexts. We aim to develop pupils’ competencies within speaking and listening, reading and writing. A pupil’s command over vocabulary is absolutely essential and we strive to ensure that pupils are exposed to appropriate vocabulary that empowers them in their learning. Pupils will explore the vast differences between the UK and other countries and as such will come to appreciate the cultural diversity within the Francophone world. We strive to ensure that pupils understand and respond to language from a variety of sources. This in turn will allow pupils to manipulate language to express their thoughts within three time frames. We aim to ensure that pupils use a variety of grammatical structures that allow them to communicate with confidence.

Music will inspire you and help you to develop your skills in creativity and confidence. Music is an important subject as it is in everything we do; it surrounds us in films, TV shows, adverts, on the radio and even on our phones!

In Music you will perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians. You will learn to sing and to use your voice, to create and compose music on your own and with others and you will have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument.

At Edgar Wood Academy, the PE Department believes that regardless of a pupil's economic circumstances, they are not a predictor for their outcomes, rather a motivator for them to achieve and excel. We endeavour to support our pupils by contributing to their lives through the introduction of sports and activities that are not widely participated in throughout our catchment area, which will broaden their experiences and aid their social mobility. The curriculum is designed to give pupils wide experiences of sports and physical activities, whilst focusing on the core skills of the sport to ensure high quality performance. This will allow for a transfer of principles between sporting activities, promoting our learner’s confidence in participation, coaching, leadership and officiating, leading to a lifelong passion for physical activity and healthy lifestyles. We strive to foster a culture of intrigue and interest by providing a variety of sporting activities. This in turn will motivate pupils to achieve the best outcomes within the subject. Our main intent, as physical educators, is to produce competent and confident individuals who will all be equipped with the knowledge and confidence to go on and lead a healthy and active lifestyle, and hopefully inspire the next generation to follow their examples.

Students of Religious Education at Edgar Wood Academy will be religiously literate based on respect and academic rigour.  It will help pupils understand the world and people around them both globally and locally; whilst allowing the pupils to ask philosophical, ultimate and challenging questions. 

Science at Edgar Wood Academy embodies Albert Einstein’s quotation "The important thing is to never stop questioning". Our students will use knowledge from the 3 key disciplines (biology, chemistry and physics) to help answer global, regional, historical and personal questions. They will also use a wide range experimental skills to answer such questions, similar to those that helped scientist such as Lavoisier to discover oxygen, Miescher to isolate DNA from cells and Curie to understand more about the radioactive properties of substances. We want all students to feel that science is ‘for them’ and so representation is an important part of the science curriculum at Edgar Wood Academy. Including not only stories from historical scientists but modern-day scientists who are shaping the world around us that we live, just like our students may do in the future.”