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windsor high school year 7 8 and 9 threshold curriculum

Year 7, 8 and 9 Threshold Curriculum

In Year 7, 8 and 9, students study the Windsor Academy Trust Threshold Curriculum.

The Threshold Curriculum builds upon the Key Stage 2 primary curriculum and places the most fundamental parts of each subject at the core of learning in lessons. Students study a variety of challenging and engaging topics that incorporate the key ideas and skills that they need to progress in each subject. These are called the Threshold Concepts.

The curriculum framework is outlined in the table below.

Focus Summary
Threshold concepts Threshold concepts define potentially powerful transformative points in the student’s learning experience. They are the ‘jewels in the curriculum’ because they identify key areas that need mastery. Until students ‘get them’, they can struggle to understand a subject.
Mastery/Deep Learning The route to deep learning and the development of expertise and mastery is to do fewer things in greater depth. Threshold Concepts are mastered through repeated sequencing, that allows the student to apply Threshold Concepts into different contexts.
Long term memory - sequencing - storytelling Long term memory is the foundation for incorporating and making sense of new knowledge. Material sits in the long term memory when it has been ‘chunked’ into meaningful schemata, stories or concepts. Sequencing Threshold Concepts over the journey of the curriculum helps students to make progress and allows them to apply the Threshold Concepts into different contexts within and across subjects.
Challenge The provision of difficult work that causes students to think deeply and engage in healthy struggle - a high challenge, low risk culture is created.
Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary To have access to and master deep subject knowledge, students need to be exposed to the cultural capital of language. Tier 2 are general academic words which occur across different subjects and are essential for reading comprehension. Tier 3 are subject specific words. The richness of vocabulary allows students to enter the academic discipline and address social mobility.
Character The Windsor Academy Trust ASPIRE character framework identifies fourteen character virtues that are explicitly taught through the curriculum.

Knowledge Organisers

A Knowledge Organiser is a summary of all of the essential facts we expect a student to know within their Threshold Curriculum.

This knowledge will support them to make sense of what they are being taught and be able to relay this knowledge to other contextual understanding and help to make their learning stick.

Created in collaboration with all schools in Windsor Academy Trust, the Knowledge Organiser also teaches students how they can prepare effectively for upcoming assessments and remote learning activities.

Tutors and subject staff spend time with students introducing them to the content and showing them how to use the Knowledge Organisers effectively.

The Knowledge Organiser is used as part of every lesson to support learning, and as a parent, it gives you an insight into what your child will be studying throughout the year.

The Knowledge Organiser also teaches students how they can prepare effectively for upcoming assessments and remote learning activities. The short video below describes how you could support your child with the Knowledge Organiser at home by encouraging them to self-quiz to test their knowledge and understanding.

How Knowledge Organisers are used