In Key Stage 3 the learning is embedded through practical application in focused practical tasks forming skills boards for all material areas, or design and make activities. Students will study the history of design and its impact on society, in year 8 students will study emerging global designers. In year 9 the students partake in the Design Museums Design Ventura competition; The Ventura project gives the students the opportunity to work alongside professional designers to develop a marketable product. They will also undertake a project focusing on the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals with a focus on the local area.

The curriculum at KS3 is designed to provide a range of transferable skills and knowledge that students can build upon at KS4.

Hospitality and Catering provides learners with a core depth of knowledge and a range of specialist and general skills that will support their progression to further learning and employment. Food is a vital part of our daily lives and is essential for life. As our students progress and become adults their lives become busy and all-consuming at times, it is easy to choose food which has been pre prepared. However, it is more nutritious and often cheaper to cook simple, delicious food. Students at Irlam and Cadishead Academy will build on prior knowledge and understanding of nutrition, healthy eating, food preparation, hygiene, cooking techniques, and sensory characteristics. We plan and prepare lessons at ICA to reflect upon student’s local environment and support them in the wider world. This gives our students vital life skills that enable them to feed themselves and others affordably and nutritiously, now, and later in life.

Our curriculum lays a foundation for all students to experience a variety of food, learn cooking skills, learn about healthy eating, consumer awareness and food safety. This enables them to become more independent and to be able to make informed choices now and in the future.

Our GCSE in Catering at KS4 provides an opportunity to learn about issues related to social, moral, and environmental problems with a core focus on nutrition and food safety and how they affect successful hospitality and catering operations. Students will also have the opportunity to develop a range of transferable skills of problem-solving, organisation and time management, planning and communication. All of these key skills work toward solving real life problems. The learning undertaken at ICA will enable our students to consider the needs of individuals and the wider environment. Students will embark on real world issues and use prior and existing knowledge that they have gained from theoretical and practical studies of each assessment criteria to develop a suitable solution.

The Construction Curriculum at KS4 allows students to study Construction and the Built Environment. The qualification is the same size and level as a GCSE and is aimed at everyone who wants to find out more about construction and the built environment. It will give students the opportunity to learn about one of the most important sectors in the UK economy.

Students will study the following three compulsory units, covering the fundamental knowledge, skills and understanding required for construction technology and design: construction technology, scientific and mathematical application for construction, construction, and design.

Students will build on the knowledge gained in the compulsory units by studying one further unit called ‘exploring carpentry and joinery principles and techniques'. This unit provides students with an opportunity to develop a wider understanding and appreciation of a specific aspect of the construction industry and includes practical work. This qualification will enable students to develop a theoretical and practical knowledge of the built environment alongside some practical skills. It will also enable students to engage with the mathematical and scientific principles that underpin the construction industry, and to explore the impact of design through research and the application of their own ideas in response to a design brief.

This qualification will allow students to progress to further vocational study at level 3, such as a BTEC National in Construction and the Built Environment, or Engineering, or academic study such as A levels. The broad content may help successful learners enter a range of apprenticeships, for example in craft trades or built environment design.