Challenge Corsh

At The Corsham School, students may be identified as More Able through one of two routes:

• Consistently exceeding curriculum expectations – students who regularly demonstrate knowledge, understanding and skills that are above the expected standard for their age across their subjects.
• High prior attainment – students who enter the school with a particularly strong academic profile and are identified as high prior learners.

Identification is not intended to place students into a fixed category or suggest that they are more important than any other learner. Rather, it helps us to ensure that students who are capable of working beyond the expected level are provided with appropriate opportunities to do so.

Being identified as More Able also does not mean that a student will find every subject easy. Students may have particular strengths in some areas and may require support or additional challenge in others. Our aim is to understand each student's strengths and encourage them to become increasingly independent, curious and ambitious learners.

Our teaching approach is designed to challenge students at the top end of the classroom. Teachers use a range of strategies to ensure that More Able learners are not simply given more work, but are encouraged to engage with more demanding and intellectually stimulating work.

This includes opportunities to:

• develop higher-order thinking, including analysis, evaluation and synthesis;
• tackle complex and open-ended questions;
• apply knowledge in unfamiliar contexts;
• explore ideas in greater depth;
• make connections between different areas of learning; and
• work with increasingly sophisticated concepts and resources.

Our curriculum also provides enrichment and additional materials that allow students to extend their learning beyond the standard curriculum. This reflects our wider aim of creating an environment that stimulates intellectual curiosity and encourages students to reach their full potential.

At Key Stage 3, students also have the opportunity to take part in Project Corsh, our annual interdisciplinary project.

Project Corsh gives students the opportunity to bring together knowledge and skills from different subjects and apply them to a broader project. Each year group takes part once a year:

• Year 8 – Autumn Term
• Year 9 – Spring Term
• Year 7 – Summer Term

The projects encourage students to think creatively, make connections between different subjects, solve problems and work independently.

We also provide opportunities for older students to act as mentors during the planning stages of Project Corsh. This gives our More Able learners the chance to develop leadership and communication skills while supporting younger students and deepening their own understanding.

We aim to provide opportunities for students to encounter ideas and expertise beyond the normal classroom environment. Where possible, we invite guest speakers approximately once a half term to speak to students about their areas of expertise, careers, research and experiences.

These opportunities are in addition to visits, speakers and enrichment activities that individual departments may organise as part of their own curriculum.

We also seek opportunities for students to engage with external lectures, workshops, competitions and other academic experiences. These can help students to see how the knowledge and skills they develop at school connect to the wider world.

This year, we are also placing a greater emphasis on independent learning beyond the classroom.

KS3 students will receive homework from their core subjects. In addition, individual subjects may choose to offer project-based or extended homework which students can complete independently. These activities are intended to allow students to explore an area of the subject in greater depth and develop their understanding beyond what can be covered during lesson time.

We strongly encourage our More Able learners to take advantage of these opportunities. Independent exploration of subjects is an important part of developing the curiosity, resilience and self-direction that will support students as they progress through secondary school and towards further study.

We also encourage our More Able learners to make the most of the wider opportunities available at The Corsham School.

These may include:

• academic competitions and challenges;
• subject-specific clubs and societies;
• debating and discussion;
• opportunities to undertake independent research;
• leadership and mentoring opportunities; and
• other enrichment activities provided by individual departments.

These opportunities allow students to explore subjects that interest them, develop new skills and pursue areas of curiosity that may extend beyond the formal curriculum.