Our youngsters today are growing up into a world which is changing at an ever faster speed. It is calculated that on average a child born today will have 10 to 14 jobs by the age of 38. The amount of technical information is already doubling every two years!

What we teach, therefore, must be constantly changing to meet the needs of a new generation and it must help our students to develop the skills and understanding to cope in an ever changing world.

The curriculum we offer our students has, therefore, changed greatly over recent years. For example there is a new course in Years 7 and 8 which aims to develop the learning skills which pupils will need in all their studies throughout their lives, in Year 10 there is a new Pathway for those students who want to spend two days a week outside school working on an NVQ course and we have introduced our programme of ‘Curriculum Theme Days’ and 'Immersive Days' to allow pupils to spend a whole day tackling an extended task focusing on important themes and skills.

The NRA curriculum is based on 5 simple principles.

It must  :

1. be PERSONALISED – allowing students to access as many different courses as possible, even if they are not normally taught to their age group.

2.  be BASED UPON DEVELOPING SKILLS AND UNDERSTANDING, not filling students’ heads with information which will be outdated within a couple of years.

3. be LINKED, WHENEVER POSSIBLE, TO THE REAL WORLD in which our youngsters live.

4. offer students opportunities to learn through VARIED AND EXCITING LEARNING STRATEGIES so that they enjoy learning and will want to continue learning throughout their lives.

5. be an EXTENDED CURRICULUM – not merely on offer from 9.00 to 3.15 in term time only, but extending late into the evening and through the holidays.

Click here  to download a pdf mindmap that represents our Curriculum vision.