At Thomas Harding Junior School, we are committed to ensuring that all pupils achieve their full potential.  Our ASPIRE curriculum, is broad, balanced and enhanced by a range of strategies that provide pupils with the skills to become independent and confident thinkers and learners, equipped to meet continuing challenge and change.

Identification of pupils:

We use a number of methods for identification of more able pupils, including: prior attainment, teacher assessment, predicted targets, student and peer nomination, staff nomination and parental nomination. As a school, we firmly believe that there should be no  limits placed on any pupils’ potential. Through our ASPIRE curriculum, we relentlessly challenge all pupils and continuously look for evidence that pupils are working at a Greater Depth in all areas of the curriculum. seeking to provide the enhanced opportunities appropriate to their needs. This will be provided through the taught curriculum as well as through extra-curricular opportunities.  

Our provision:

We provide a rich and varied curriculum that can be accessed by all, regardless of ability across a range of subjects. Through skillful teaching all children are provided with challenging learning opportunities , which can include:

• Richer  questioning that challenge thinking;
• Complex problem-solving opportunities;
• Access to a broad range of texts or other stimuli;
• Opportunities to use skills in a range of contexts;
• Making full use of Pupil Premium funding to remove any economic barriers to achievement;
• Working in partnership with parents/carers and the local community to promote and celebrate aspiration, ability and achievement;
• Ensuring there is a breadth and depth of opportunity that allows pupils to develop abilities and talents.

We also provide a range of enrichment opportunities. These include:

• Extra-curricular activities and opportunities that cater for students’ passions and interests, such as: Aspirant Thinkers, a philosophy club that challenges and develops the ability to communicate and think at a deeper level.
• Our annual Enterprise Fair, that challenges STEM learners and creates a real life purpose for our scientific and engineering endeavours.
• Aspirant careers fairs and assemblies, where we invite members of the community to share their careers with the students. 
• Our annual ART FORTNIGHT, where we focus the curriculum around an aspect of the arts. This enables all pupils, but particularly our more able artists, musicians and designers to lead and explore a project in greater depth and detail. 

The school’s More Able Co-ordinator is Mrs Ruddell. There is also an allocated Governor for the More Able, Mrs Hassan. However, every member of the Thomas Harding team, share responsibility for ensuring that students are happy, motivated and achieve to the best of their abilities.