The CORE (Citizenship, Oracy, Reading & Writing, Employability) for student development…
The CORE curriculum is our evolved approach to traditional sixth form college tutorials.
Following the Covid period, we quickly realised that new students had large gaps in their skills and knowledge, and were not truly ready for Level 3 study. One of the major emerging gaps was literacy but we also observed many had missed out on key elements of relationships and sex education, citizenship and careers education. We designed the CORE programme in response.
We designed our CORE curriculum as the foundation for student life and individual progress. Students complete their qualifications in order to access their next steps destinations; aided by the skills, knowledge and behaviours acquired through the CORE curriculum.
50 minute sessions focussed on literacy development applied to employability, citizenship, wellbeing, health, and wider related themes. Literacy development is approached through the lens of real world application, such as “professional speech” and “living in the wider world”.
These sessions present an opportunity to tailor the CORE programme to specific student needs, whilst maintaining a consistent framework. We invest significant time in developing the skills to strike this balance across the teacher group.
Sessions are carefully designed for substance and consistency. Source books include “The Writing Revolution” and “They Say, I Say”. Session content traces to key frameworks, including: PSHE Association Core Themes and Content Codes, Statutory Health 2020, Statutory RSE 2020, PSHE Association Thematic Model, Gatsby Benchmarks, and CDI Careers Framework.
This content flows through to the principal features of CORE…
Each week there is additional content shared electronically to watch, read or explore. These link to the learning from that week’s assembly or CORE lesson; and sometimes link to college events or the time of year (e.g. preparing for exams). These suggested activities allow students an on-demand offer to enhance their personal development.
Engaging talks and events that are centred on a CORE theme. Recent examples include talks by Mancunian para-athlete Azeem Amir on the theme of overcoming barriers to success and Manchester children’s charity AFRUCA on the theme of serious youth violence.
The CORE curriculum is reviewed on an annual basis and it’s adapted to emerging needs such as national events or key safety issues facing young people in our city. View a detailed overview of the current curriculum content.