At Ashmole, the curriculum is at the heart of all discussions and decisions about teaching and learning, assessment, feedback and progress at subject level.

As part of our ongoing work developing the curriculum, we introduced curriculum pillars to students in September 2022 in recognition of the fact that different academic disciplines have different knowledge structures with distinctive traditions.

The curriculum pillars are designed to make explicit the purpose of each discipline and the key components of each subject. This provides a shared language for conversations about progress at subject level. The curriculum pillars are referred to in every lesson to enable students to put their learning activities into context and make links.

The curriculum pillars make clear the end points each subject curriculum is building towards in terms of the knowledge and skills that students develop over time. The pillars provide a framework for the planning and sequencing of learning, so that new knowledge and skills build on what has been taught before. Sequencing of content within subjects can be seen the curriculum overviews.

"The support teachers give to pupils also contributes significantly to learning." Ofsted 2021