Our Curriculum
As a school which is ambitious for its learners, we have developed a rich, relevant and engaging curriculum that inspires, informs and challenges all our learners and appropriately prepares them for the future.
The Rural Enterprise Academy is a free school with a specialised curriculum focused around the environment and land-based sectors. Our pupils choose us as they have an interest in these areas and potentially want to develop a career from this interest. We offer a broad and ambitious curriculum to all our pupils which is focused on preparing them for their future career choices as well as challenging and informing them about current issues within these sectors.
We know that our disadvantaged pupils on average come to us with less knowledge, so providing a knowledge-rich curriculum helps to compensate for what their peers from more advantaged backgrounds have.
The education our academy provides is intended to produce the following outcomes:
- Academic Achievement
- Employability
- Resilience, Ambition, Kindness and Respect
- An understanding of the environment (locally, nationally and globally) and the current issues facing us
The curriculum is a framework we have designed for:
- Setting out the aims of a programme of education, including the knowledge and understanding to be gained at each key stage (Curriculum Intent)
- Translating the curriculum framework over time into a structure and narrative (Curriculum Implementation)
- Evaluating what knowledge and skills learners have gained against expectations (Curriculum Impact)
Key Stage 3 Curriculum Structure
Years 7, 8 and 9
The National Curriculum (2014) stipulates that every state-funded school must offer a KS3 curriculum which is balanced and broadly based and which: promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and of society, and prepares pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.
We are committed to offering a three-year KS3 curriculum where pupils will access a broad range of subjects. Our curriculum offers lessons in traditional academic subjects such as English, maths, science, humanities and PE as well as creative, technological and environmental curriculum, which are designed to develop our pupils understanding of the school’s specialism in land-based and environmental sectors.
Subject Hours per week
| Subject | Hours per week |
| English | 4 |
| Maths | 3 |
| Science | 3 |
| Geography | 2 |
| Environmental Studies | 3 (including Forest School in year7 and 8 and Countryside and Environment in year 9) |
| Religious Education | 1 |
| Creative Studies | 2 |
| Technology | 2 |
| Computing | 1 |
| Physical Education (Core PE) | 2 |
| CPSHE (Citizenship, Personal, Social and Health Education) | 1 |
Key Stage 4 Curriculum Structure
Years 10 and 11
Towards the end of Year 9 pupils choose options and start their two-year Key Stage 4 in Year 10 working towards a range of GCSEs and vocational qualifications.
Pupils are able to complete GCSEs in a range of academic and vocational subjects. The KS4 offer includes English, Maths, Science, Geography, Countryside and Environment and Business as core subjects with options in Creative iMedia, BTEC Sport, BTEC Travel and Tourism and OCR National in Engineering. Pupils also continue to study towards a short course GCSE qualification in Philosophy and Ethics.
Languages are not part of the GCSE offer at KS4. Although we continue to offer opportunities to learn languages through the enrichment programme, we have made the decision not to offer a GCSE in language at this time. However, this is constantly reviewed. Our pupils have worked and studied in many countries of the world, including Brazil and Australia, as well as working with other large agricultural producers, such as China. Our curriculum is designed to allow pupils to have a working knowledge of a range of other languages and cultural expectations so that they are able to travel across the world and communicate effectively with others.
| Subject | Hours per week |
| English | 4 |
| Maths | 3 |
| Science | 5 |
| Geography | 3 |
| Countryside and Environment | 2 |
| Business | 2 |
| Philosophy and Ethics | 1 |
| Option subject (Sport, Creative iMedia or Engineering) | 2 |
| Physical Education (Core PE) | 1 |
| CPSHE (Citizenship, Personal, Social and Health Education) | 1 |
Extra-curricular and Enrichment Opportunities
We feel that it is important that learning opportunities extend to outside the classroom. As a result, we have made a commitment to offering pupils who attend the academy a range of enrichment opportunities. We believe that accessing these opportunities is important for the personal development of all pupils. Therefore, each Wednesday afternoon, pupils can choose from a variety of clubs that take place as part of the formal timetable. Clubs include: Sporting activities, Science, Art, Drama, Dance, Forest School, Eco Club, Duke of Edinburgh, Chess and Wellbeing Ambassadors.
Enrichment trips and visits remain an important part of each subject's curriculum. Pupils are given opportunities throughout their school career. This includes geography fieldwork opportunities, STEM competitions, theatre visits, countryside and environment practical activities as well as careers visits and reward opportunities. We also aim to offer pupils at least two opportunities to take part in residential visits whilst at the academy, these are focused around outdoor education.
Please see the individual subject pages for more details on the specifics of the KS3 and KS4 curriculum and enrichment opportunities.