Curriculum

Our core purpose is to offer an ambitious curriculum that supports learning in and out of the classroom, underpinned by our school values of Ambition, Respect, Care and Honesty (ARCH).

Through offering a wide range of subjects and opportunities, reinforced by great learning and teaching, we truly believe that we will enable each individual to unlock their unique potential. The success of our curriculum is measured by outcomes, progression and attendance. 

If you wish to obtain additional information on our curriculum please don’t hesitate to contact Mrs Coates (Deputy Headteacher) or Mrs Mansfield (Assistant Headteacher) who will be able to advise you. To read more about equality in the curriculum please take a look at our Public Sector Equality Duty page here.

To view our full ‘Curriculum Intent’ document, click here.

To find out more about our vision, long term plans and provision for enabling disabled pupils to fully participate in the school’s curriculum please see our school’s accessibility plan available on the policies page of our website here.

Student grouping rationale

• Year 7 and Year 8 are taught in mixed prior attainment groups for all lessons.
• Year 9-11 are taught in foundation and higher groups for maths and science. All other subjects are taught in mixed prior attainment groups. 
• Group changes generally happen at the end of the academic year, or term, however they may happen mid-term. These changes take into account the whole cohort and will be made in line with teacher assessment and professional judgement.

At Todmorden High School we have moved to mixed prior attainment across nearly all of the school. This is to support our vision to unlock the unique potential of all individuals.

Setting does not work for the majority of our students. Methods used to set students and group them by ‘ability’ or ‘prior attainment’ can be flawed. We believe the outcomes of a test or assessment are not a reliable reflection of a student’s potential in any given subject. We do not want to put artificial ceilings on students as a result of their grouping.

We also believe that effort and self-belief are key determiners of achievement. A system that sets students, creates classrooms that are hierarchical and lower students’ beliefs in what they can do. This creates avoidable barriers to learning. Academic research by Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) describe the Pygmalion effect – whereby high expectations of all students result in higher levels of achievement. We are ambitious for all our students.

Teachers have received training on best practice in mixed prior attainment teaching grounded in the academic research of Professor Francis (2017) and reflecting the needs of our current student profile. We will continue to build on best practice strategies in our continuing professional development with all staff.

Curriculum Overview
 Key Stage 3 (Years 7, 8 & 9)

Curriculum Overviews

We have provided curriculum documents for parents and other interested stakeholders to see what is delivered in each subject over an academic year. If you want some more detailed information about content please visit our essential knowledge booklet page where you can have a look at areas of recall and study provided for our students. These curriculum documents are dynamic, we update them annually and if we make major changes to content or structure. The documents show where assessments will be held in each subject to support effective revision for our students.  

Key Stage 3 Curriculum Overviews

ARCH curriculum - Aside from the three ARCH days a year, students in year 7 and 8 have ARCH lessons on rotation where they cover a wide range of PSHCE and personal development topics. This rotation was introduced in September 2022, and a curriculum overview is currently being built to support this. 

KeY stage 4 curriculum overviews