Curriculum Overview
Townsend’s Curriculum Intent
Townsend School is committed to providing an education of the highest quality, with a strong emphasis on academic excellence. Our rigorous and challenging curriculum is designed to foster critical thinking, creativity, and a passion for learning, ensuring each student achieves their full potential. Our ‘Respect for All’ ethos is reflected in our curriculum with a desire for everyone to be able to succeed. We are dedicated to equal opportunities and preparing students for life in modern Britain and the wider world. Our supportive Christian ethos, combined with academic rigor, ensures our students leave as well-rounded individuals and good citizens, equipped with lifelong values and many opportunities for the future.
Our guiding principles
At Townsend, our vision of ‘Achievement For All, Respect For All’ is underpinned by the concept of ‘Love your neighbour’ from the story of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:25-37. We value everyone, and show love and respect for ourselves and others, setting high standards and supporting each other so that we can all flourish. The concept of ‘love your neighbour’ is taught in three strands:
- Love your neighbour – treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself
- Love yourself – self-care is important, look after yourself physically, mentally and spiritually
- Love the journey – whether academic or personal, Townsend supports everyone’s journeys to enable you to flourish individually and collectively
Students learn best at our school when they:
- Have their basic physical needs met
- Feel secure, safe and valued
- Feel a sense of belonging to the group
- Are engaged and motivated
- Can see the relevance of what they are doing
- Know what outcome is intended
- Can link what they are doing to other experiences
- Understand the task
- Have the physical space and the tools needed
- Have access to the necessary materials
- Are not disrupted or distracted by others
- Can work with others or on their own, depending on the task
- Are guided, taught or helped in appropriate ways at appropriate times
- Can practise what they are learning
- Can apply the learning in both familiar and new contexts
- Can persevere when learning is hard
- Can manage their emotions if things are not going well
- Recognise that all learners make mistakes and mistakes can help us learn
