Curriculum
At The King's House School, Windsor we aim to offer an enriched, integrated Christian education with a strong emphasis on both academic and character training.
Core Curriculum
We use the Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) Programme as our core curriculum.
Founded in 1970, the ACE Programme is an individualised programme, tailored to each pupil’s level of learning. Used by more than 7,000 schools worldwide and over 30 in the UK, ACE is directed and distributed by Christian Education Europe.
The core curriculum covers Literacy, Numeracy and Science and is delivered through three main stages:
• Pre-school
• ABCs (Learning to Read)
• Junior Learning Centres
The curriculum is based on individualised learning and is mastery based.
Individualised Learning
Pupils work at an appropriate level and speed according to their ability and are encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning, taking a lead in setting their goals and managing their workload. This helps them develop into self-motivated and successful learners.
Pupils learn at a level at which they can perform, regardless of their age, and receive targeted support for their learning. There are twelve levels for each core subject. Each level contains twelve PACEs (Packets of Accelerated Christian Education). Pupils would generally be expected to have completed Level 6 at age 11.
Mastery Based
Pupils master concepts and skills before moving on to more challenging work. A mastery approach means that pupils are not forced to move on before they are ready and do not develop gaps in their learning, which gives them a firmer foundation for future learning. This is also important for developing a pupils’ self-confidence.
The DfE’s White Paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere (2016) notes the merits of such an approach, ‘...the use of mastery teaching methods, for example, can lead to an additional five months’ progress over the course of a school year compared to mainstream approaches.’
Bench-marking
A recent benchmarking study by UK NARIC has confirmed that the ACE programme qualifications, the ICCE (International Certificate of Christian Education) General and Advanced Certificates, can be considered to be comparable to the overall Cambridge International O and A Level standard respectively.
Supplementary Curriculum
The core curriculum is enhanced by a supplementary curriculum to ensure children's all-round development and to develop their gifts and talents.
The supplementary curriculum is delivered mainly in the afternoons in co-operative learning groups and is taught in an engaging and interactive way. Group work, presentations, and speaking and listening skills are developed. Specialist subjects include:
• Creative Writing
• Drama
• Physical Education and Dance
• Art
• Design and Technology
• Computing
• Music
• Foreign Languages
• Practical Science
• Practical Maths
• Religious Education (RE)
• Citizenship and Personal, Social, Health & Economic Education (PSHE).
We use the National Curriculum to assess the children's progress in these areas.
The combination of core and supplementary curriculum provides a breadth of learning experiences while taking into account the ability and achievement levels of individual pupils.
Character Development
Character training is interwoven into the core curriculum. Children are taught core values and principles to provide them a strong foundation for life. They learn about sixty positive character traits through both our daily assemblies and the core curriculum and are encouraged to put these into practice throughout the day.
Timings
The school day runs from 8.30am - 3pm. Pre-school starts at 8.45am.
Specific Learning Needs
The King’s House School, Windsor will provide support for pupils who find certain aspects of their learning programmes difficult. Such help will be identified and orchestrated by the pupil’s teacher within the Learning Centre.
The Headteacher and parents will work together to develop an individual learning plan to support the child, enabling them to reach their full potential.
The King’s House School, Windsor is not a registered Special Educational Needs (SEN) school. Admission requests for children with Special Educational Needs will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Please view our Special Educational Needs Policy for more information on helping children within the school who may need extra support.