Our Curriculum

Our Curriculum 

At Chertsey High School, the curriculum is the foundation of everything students experience. It is designed to ensure that every student, regardless of their starting point, develops the knowledge, skills, and character they need to succeed in their examinations and in life beyond school. 

The curriculum is built on the school's three pillars: Curriculum, Community, and Careers. These pillars reflect the school's conviction that academic achievement, personal development, and preparation for the future are not separate goals but a single, interconnected commitment to every student who joins us in Year 7. 

The school's core values of Knowledge, Determination, and Love run through every subject and every year group. Knowledge drives the academic ambition of what students are taught. Determination shapes the expectations placed on students and staff. Love underpins the relationships, respect, and sense of belonging that make learning possible. 

Our Curriculum Intent 

Chertsey High School offers a broad, balanced, and knowledge-rich curriculum that goes beyond the requirements of the National Curriculum. Subject leaders design carefully sequenced programmes of study that build knowledge and understanding progressively, ensuring that students retain what they have learned and are prepared for the demands of each subsequent year. 

The curriculum is inclusive in design: ambitious for every student, adaptive to individual need, and accessible regardless of background or prior attainment. At Key Stage 4, students follow either an academic or vocational pathway, with both routes offering genuine rigour and opening doors to further education, training, and employment. 

How the Curriculum is Organised 

Key Stage 3 runs from Year 7 through to Year 9. During these three years, all students follow a broad and balanced programme of study that gives them a strong academic foundation across a wide range of disciplines. All students study English, Mathematics, Sciences, History, Geography, Citizenship, Religious Studies, Modern Foreign Languages, IT, Music, Drama, Art, Design Technology, and Physical Education. This breadth ensures that every student encounters diverse perspectives, develops academic skills across multiple disciplines, and is well placed to make informed choices about their next stage of study. 

In the final half term of Year 9, students begin their GCSE pathways. Key Stage 4 therefore runs from this point through to the end of Year 11, giving students a full and carefully structured preparation for their examinations. Students choose from a range of academic GCSE qualifications and vocational options, with guidance provided to ensure every student finds the pathway that best serves their abilities and ambitions. 

Personal Development, Relationships and Sex Education, PSHE, and Careers Education are core parts of the curriculum across all five year groups. These are delivered through the school's daily tutor programme, ensuring consistency and regular contact with form tutors who know students well. Careers education is supplemented by dedicated drop-down days where students engage with employers, further education providers, and structured careers events that bring the world beyond school directly into the curriculum. 

How We Teach 

Teaching at Chertsey High School is evidence informed. Lessons are planned to build knowledge cumulatively, revisiting and strengthening prior learning so that students remember what they have been taught over time. Formative assessment sits at the centre of classroom practice. Teachers check understanding regularly, address misconceptions as they arise, and use assessment information to adapt their teaching to the needs of every student. 

Chertsey High School works in partnership with the Schools, Students and Teachers Network (SSAT) through a two-year programme focused on embedding high-quality formative assessment across all subjects. This programme ensures that assessment is not something done to students at the end of a unit, but a continuous and purposeful part of every lesson. 

All staff at Chertsey High School work within the Chertsey Classroom Commitments, a shared framework of teaching expectations that defines what high-quality, consistent classroom practice looks like across every subject. These commitments are embedded through instructional coaching, peer observation, and the school's wider professional development programme. 

Our Commitment to Every Learner 

The curriculum is designed to close gaps, not maintain them. The school monitors the progress of all student groups, including disadvantaged students, students with SEND, and students from minority ethnic backgrounds. Where gaps exist, the curriculum and the support around it are adapted to address them. Equality of opportunity is a design principle, not an aspiration. 

Curriculum Impact 

The school measures the impact of its curriculum through examination outcomes, student progression, engagement data, and the broader development of students as confident and socially responsible young people. Students leave Chertsey High School with the qualifications and the character to take the next step, whether that is further education, training, or employment. 

For further information about the curriculum-related policies and statutory documents