Approach to Learning

At Harris Academy Riverside, our priority is simple: no child gets left behind.

We believe every child, regardless of background or circumstance, deserves the opportunity to thrive both personally and academically.

This page provides an overview of our curriculum across all Key Stages. Detailed curriculum maps for each subject can be found on our Subjects pages.

Our curriculum is designed to support and empower students to become well rounded young people. It provides:

• Clarity over each student’s academic journey, with clear progression routes beyond school.
• A knowledge-rich foundation, offering depth and breadth across ambitious, broad, and diverse content.
• Equity of access to powerful knowledge for every child, regardless of prior attainment.

This approach ensures students not only succeed in public examinations but also develop the disciplinary knowledge and social capital needed to navigate and interrogate the world they will encounter.

Curriculum leaders constantly review and refine what we teach. We see the curriculum as a live and evolving document, not a static list of content, but a dynamic framework that must be nurtured to ensure we teach “the best that has been thought, said, or written.”

We set an ambitious intent because we know that mastering powerful knowledge opens doors to opportunity and success.

How Students Learn the Curriculum

Making It Stick

Every decision about teaching and learning is guided by two truths:

1. If nothing has changed in long-term memory, nothing has been learnt.

2. Forgetting is inevitable.

A brilliant Year 9 Geography lesson means little if students cannot recall it three weeks later. Understanding is not the same as learning. Therefore, everything we do is designed to make knowledge stick in long-term memory.

Lesson Structure: I Do – We Do – You Do

All lessons follow a clear structure:

• Do Now: Every lesson begins with knowledge retrieval to stop the forgetting of vital knowledge from previous topics and years.
• I Do: Teachers introduce new content with clear explanations, models, and examples.
• We Do: Guided practice with scaffolding, questioning, and collaborative work.
• You Do: Independent practice. Students apply what they’ve learned to embed knowledge deeply.

Our approach is underpinned by a warm/strict culture:

“Because we care, what we ask students to do is not optional.”

Stopping the Forgetting

Retrieval practice is non-negotiable. Students are expected to attempt all Do Now questions without looking back at previous work. Teachers then address misconceptions and guide next steps. This deliberate practice strengthens memory and builds confidence.

Our Shared Belief

At Harris Academy Riverside, we believe that going the extra mile is part of our everyday culture. Our curriculum is designed so that every student can strive and succeed.