Curriculum

Curriculum principles

At Dixons Academies Trust, we are always striving toward our mission of challenging social and educational disadvantage in the North with schools in Bradford, Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool.

Dixons McMillan Academy is no different, and we aim to create a school where everyone is welcome and everyone succeeds. We believe that this success will be guaranteed by the core purpose of any school – the curriculum we offer and how we aim for it to be one nationally renowned for its academic rigour.

As an academy within the Trust, our curriculum is aligned to a set of common principles which are underpinned by our mission. We do this by putting into practice the research of Professor Michael Young and others and ensuring that our lessons deliver 'powerful knowledge'.

You can view the Trust’s curriculum principles by clicking here.

Our working week

Our academy's working week consists of 24x 55 minute lessons on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and 6x 50 minute lessons on a Tuesday. Students also attend 4x 20 minute Morning Meeting sessions, which focus on knowledge retrieval, on a Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

On a Tuesday, students attend a longer morning session: Cultural Studies. In this session, students learn more about the world around them, tackling some of the big issues of day’s current affairs. Students will also learn more about civic responsibility and how to help improve the communities we live in.

Students and staff follow a two-week timetable, with the lessons and subjects alternating each week.

We also provide a range of compulsory extra-curricular opportunities for students, with all students taking part in after school sessions once a week with a range of different activities on offer by our staff and external providers. Many subjects also run a number of educational visits in order to broaden students’ horizons and to enrich their taught lessons.

All students in Year 9 will also undertake The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award at Bronze Award level within a timetabled lesson, which will allow students to further their personal development through developing a skill, taking part in physical activity, and volunteering in the local community – along with planning, training and completing an expedition. Depending on numbers, there will be the opportunity to voluntarily continue their participation in the Award in later years at Silver Award level in after school sessions.

Curriculum pathway

We believe that every student should have the opportunity to study a wide range of subjects across their time at secondary school so that they can make informed decisions about their future educational and employment options. We believe that these opportunities should be inclusive to all students.

In line with the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), All students at Dixons McMillan Academy will study the core subjects of English, Maths and Science, along with studying Spanish and RE to GCSE level. Students will all study History and Geography at Year 7 and Year 8, and then will all continue to study GCSE History and Geography into Year 9. Students will then have the experience of a year on both courses to decide which of the two to continue to further study.

We believe that it is just as important that students also have an experience and opportunity to study a range of vocational qualifications in subjects such as PE, Music, Art & Design, Drama, and Computing. These vocational qualifications will enable students to develop their independence and resilience as learners whilst also ensuring they have an experience of these varied fields of study.

Please note that parents have a right to withdraw their child from part or all of Religious Education (RE) and part of or all of Relationships and Sex Education (RSE/RSHE), please contact the academy via email should you wish to discuss this or if you wish to find out more information about the curriculum for any of our subjects.

You can view curriculum documentation for each subject below: