Our Intent

The curriculum lies at the core of everything we do at The Charter School North Dulwich.  Every student is entitled to a curriculum that is rich and varied, challenging and inspiring. We have a broad academic curriculum which encourages students to build their knowledge as they move through the school, developing their learning skills, and mastering the subject's content. 

The principle of values-based education is delivered through the curriculum in this broadest sense and continues to grow and develop over time. This applies to every learning opportunity, from the taught academic timetable, extra-curricular provision, the PSHE curriculum, pastoral support and teaching of behaviour for learning. We are incredibly proud of our music, drama, PE, and extra-curricular offer. All these strands work together to empower students with the confidence and experiences to become successful, well-rounded, and mentally healthy adults. 

Our Curriculum Areas

Impact and Assessment

We have developed summative assessments in all our subjects where appropriate. These summative assessments allow students at the school to demonstrate their growing understanding of their subjects and teachers to assess the impact of their teaching. Summative assessments are taken three times a year with developed internally with anchor papers at Key Stage 3 and common mocks at Key Stage 4. This framework enables teachers to focus on formative assessment from lesson to lesson. 

Our formative assessments are designed to support students in achieving fluency in each subject and allow rapid diagnostic opportunities for teachers. This means that students are quizzed on prior knowledge in lessons to embed this knowledge in their long-term memory. This retrieval practice frees up their working memory to attend to current learning. 

By teaching our curriculum well, alongside teaching effective personal habits and emotional health, our students achieve excellence, develop responsibility and a high degree of respect for themselves and our wider school family.

Key Stage 3

A 3-year Key Stage Three provides pupils with the time and space to gain this secure understanding across a full, broad curriculum offer.

All students follow the Key Stage 3 curriculum in Years 7-9. We promote inclusivity, with students primarily taught in tutor groups.

Key Stage 4

At Key Stage 4, we encourage students to study GCSE option routes with the EBACC the preferred suite of subjects to be studied. We also offer a selection of vocational courses to ensure sufficient breadth in the curriculum for all learners is maintained.

Key Stage 5

The Key Stage 5 curriculum is followed by Years 12 – 13. It is designed to provide students with a structured and challenging learning programme that supports their development and progression to university or pursue a career. 

We offer more than 28 AS/A Levels and BTEC subject choices and we do our utmost to enable students to select a combination of subjects that interests them.