Running through the heart of our school and defining our purpose is clearly sequenced and ambitious curriculum, in which children learn skills in a wide range of curriculum areas and acquire the knowledge and cultural foundation to be successful within school and beyond; learn how to be successful learners and develop their understanding of the characteristics of effective learning. They are well supported to develop their personal and social skills, build resilience and become highly effective learners.
Our curriculum promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and of our society, and prepares pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life. It also includes the ‘hidden curriculum’, or what the children learn from the way they are treated and how they are expected to behave. We aim to teach children how to grow into positive, responsible people, who can work and co-operate with others while developing knowledge and skills, so that they achieve their true potential.
In our Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), we plan challenging and enjoyable experiences for each child in all areas of learning and development. With our youngest children we focus on developing language and extending vocabulary, securing the essential blocks for successful early reading and maths and supporting their social and emotional development. Children learn through play both initiated by themselves and led by adults. As children move into our Reception class there is a greater focus on learning essential skills and knowledge, developing early reading and maths and continuing to support our children's personal development, to prepare for their transition to Year 1.
In Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, we have designed our curriculum to effectively build on prior learning whilst using our rich locality and the experiences and interests of our children, to ensure learning is engaging and relevant and our children learn more and remember more.
We make sure that the National Curriculum is taught in full, as well as additional aspects of the curriculum that we feel are important to our children and the context of our school. We know that children learn best when they are engaged, excited and challenged and therefore we enhance our curriculum with first hand experiences, trips and visitors, enabling our children to learn from shared experiences that bring the curriculum to life.
We plan carefully for the core subjects of Mathematics, English and Science. These subjects are taught discretely but also through other areas of the curriculum to give a context to learning and to extend pupils’ reading, writing and mathematical skills. The foundation subjects of History and Geography, Art and Design, Design and Technology, Music, PE, RE, French (MFL - KS2) and PSHRE are taught discretely with links being made wherever possible. Teachers ensure that children have a clear understanding of what they are learning and why and where it fits in to their learning journey. Teaching is engaging and highly effective and teachers challenge our children by extending their learning and being ambitious for every child. The children begin new areas of learning by sharing the questions they would like to explore, learning the meaning of new vocabulary and engaging their prior learning. This leads to the children’s active involvement in their learning and keeps their learning experiences meaningful.
In addition, our provision for children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development promotes tolerance of and respect for people of other faiths, cultures and lifestyles and our promotion of fundamental British values enables our children to understand the importance of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and tolerance and respect for people of different and varied faiths and cultures.
Parents can read a brief overview of each year group curriculum overview (see tabs to the right). We will also send knowledge organisers home at the beginning of topics to support your child's learning and at the end of each half term and topic, we also send home an evaluation of the topic, written by the children explaining what they have learnt and which parts of the topic they have particularly enjoyed. The views of the class are collated and written by two children in each class.
When parents and teachers work together, we can help our children achieve their best, encourage them to persevere if they find things difficult, develop a growth mindset and have an enquiring mind that likes to ask - Why? Where? When? Who? and How? - so that they develop a love of learning that stays with them for life.
If you would like to know more about curriculum subjects, please click the links below. Subject overviews can also be found on the tabs to the right.
DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY CURRICULUM
Reading Scheme:-
We use Oxford Reading Scheme and Twinkl Rhino Readers Scheme from the Early Years to Year 2 as our reading scheme, supplemented by additional free reading books from the school or class library.
In Year 3 to Year 6 we use the Accelerated Reader scheme which tracks the children's reading throughout the key stage and sets appropriate comprehension quizzes to check the children's understanding of the book they have read.
Phonics:-
We use Twinkl Phonics (click on link) to teach phonics, supplemented by a range of resources including interactive resources such as Phonics Play (click on link).
RSE and Health Education (PSHE & RSE):-
We use Discovery Education Health and Relationships curriculum to deliver our PSHE and RSE curriculum - please see our curriculum overview section. Any parents wishing to discuss our RSE curriculum or to see the resources we use, please contact your class teacher who will be happy to talk you through the curriculum or alternatively click HERE to visit the Discovery Education Health and Relationships website to find out more about each unit we teach from Y1 to Y6. We welcome your feedback and the opportunity to show you the resources we use and we will take the opportunity at Parents' day sessions to display the resources we use.
Our Curriculum Policy can be downloaded here.
