Curriculum Overview

We are a local school, for local children, and we want everyone to be included in our outstanding provision, regardless of their attainment levels when they arrive. Every child comes with a unique set of skills, experiences and knowledge. Our ambition is for every child to achieve their very best during their time with us.

We assess pupils' reading and spelling on arrival so that we can set ambitious targets for their progress with us and ensure they have equity in terms of their access to our exciting offer.

Pupils at Houlton are grouped initially in year 7 in mixed-attainment classes of up to 30. In many of their subjects they will remain in mixed ability groups throughout their time at Houlton School. This allows our students to develop wider social groups across the school and increase their communication skills.

We want all of our students to be their very best and to be able to access all of their teaching all of the time. Students are placed in ability groups for some subjects. This allows us to focus additional support on certain groups while increasing the level of challenge for our most able students.

 Our brains are wired to work best when we are happy  

Doug Lemov quotes the above from Shawn Anchor's 'The Happiness Advantage' (2005) - and we couldn't agree more! Happy children are successful children - we never underestimate the power of climate and culture here at Houlton.

Our vision for our school’s energetic and immersive curriculum is inspired by impressive, research-led great thinking, such as that from Mary Myatt and Professor Dame Alison Peacock. All teaching at Houlton encourages 'deep learning without limits' through our use of 'the Big Question', which has curiosity and story-telling at its heart. Children acquire knowledge through investigation and then revisit key facts and skills throughout the academic year/key stage so that memorability and skilful encoding within the brain becomes second nature.

Eminent Cognitive Psychologist Daniel T Willingham once wrote, 'Our brains privilege story...human beings are curious. Thinking is hard'. But we know that children like challenge so long as the threat is low. We provide a safe space for children to think hard and evolve into the young adults they become by the time they leave us in Year 13.

Houlton School's curriculum has been designed and constructed to ensure full compliance with the duties outlined in the Equality Act (2010) and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations (2024) by ensuring that all pupils with disabilities and/or SEND are able to access their full entitlement to the National Curriculum.

Our full Curriculum Policy can be found on our Policies page, here. Should you require any additional information not contained on this page, on our Learning Journeys page, or the full policy, please contact the Head of School in the first instance.