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Curriculum

Subject Specification

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Primary

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Science

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Our Curriculum

At Nightingale Community Academy, our curriculum has been re-designed to ensure every learner, from primary through to sixth form, is provided with a clear and purposeful pathway to success. Our approach recognises that our students have unique strengths, needs and aspirations, and we are committed to offering a curriculum that is ambitious, inclusive, and rooted in real opportunities for progress in education and life.

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NCA Curriculum

At Nightingale Community Academy, our curriculum has been re-designed to ensure every learner, from primary through to sixth form, is provided with a clear and purposeful pathway to success.

NCA Curriculum

Our Pathways

To support personalised learning, we have introduced three distinct pathways across the school:

  • Nurture Pathway – providing a highly supportive, primary-style curriculum for pupils who need additional time to secure core skills, communication, and confidence in learning. This pathway builds strong foundations in literacy, numeracy, and personal development.
  • Create Pathway – offering a practical, hands-on curriculum for SEMH learners who thrive through vocational learning and project-based approaches. Students access a balance of functional skills, creative subjects, and vocational areas such as Construction, Hair & Beauty, Land-Based Studies and Hospitality.
  • Accelerate Pathway – designed for learners working towards GCSEs and Functional Skills at Level 2. This pathway stretches academic potential while still embedding vocational and enrichment opportunities, preparing students for college, apprenticeships, and employment.

Each pathway has been carefully mapped to ensure smooth transition between Key Stages and progression routes into KS4 and KS5 qualifications.

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Our School Focus: The 3 Rs

Our curriculum is underpinned by our whole-school focus on the 3 Rs:

  • Reading – developing confident readers through daily practice, cross-curricular literacy, and targeted interventions.
  • Remembering – strengthening recall and knowledge retention through regular assessment, retrieval practice, and sequencing of learning.
  • Resilience – building the personal and emotional skills learners need to overcome challenges, manage setbacks, and succeed in education and beyond.

These three drivers shape every lesson and help learners develop both academically and personally.

SHINE Curriculum

At the heart of our personal development offer is the SHINE curriculum – standing for Social, Health, Independence, Nurture and Enrichment. SHINE is more than a subject: it is the framework that brings together PSHE, RSE, life skills, and personal development across the school, from primary through to sixth form.

Every student at Nightingale Community Academy has an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) which identifies their strengths, needs, and long-term outcomes. The SHINE curriculum has been designed around these outcomes, ensuring that what is taught directly supports learners to make progress in areas such as social communication, emotional regulation, independence, and preparation for adulthood. Teachers plan SHINE lessons with these personalised targets in mind, so that progress is not only measured by knowledge gained but also by the development of life skills that will make a real difference in each student’s journey.

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