Curriculum
Please click on the hyperlink below to view our curriculum offer:
Curriculum Intent
As we are a small, family school we have designed our curriculum - based on the National Curriculum - to meet the needs and interest levels of our children and wider school community. We offer a cumulative, knowledge-rich, skills-based curriculum to enable our learners to thrive and become the best that they can be. With levels of 70% + pupil premium, we tailor our curriculum to explicitly expose children to ‘experiences’ which will deepen learning, develop schema and enhance Cultural Capital by enabling them to deploy the appropriate knowledge and skills in any given situation. We are educating children for life in all its fullness. Our curriculum is therefore thematic and holistic in order to nurture ‘the whole child’.
High quality literature is placed centrally within our thematic curriculum: "When I read... I can step into someone else's shoes... I can go anywhere I want... I can be whoever I want to be." (Laila – Y3). A love of reading is embedded within our curriculum; we recognise that reading is essential for emotional health and well-being in addition to academic success across the whole curriculum.
Reading is the one ability that, once set in motion, has the capacity to feed itself, to grow exponentially, providing a base from which the possibilities are infinite.
(Michael Morpurgo)
Our curriculum offer nurtures and empowers pupils to become the best that they can be. Metacognition is taught in conjunction with ‘traditional’ subject content which will be necessary in secondary education, higher education and future employment. The pace of change is increasing: the world of 2030 will be very different to the world of today. As a school, we are therefore continually reflective in our ever-evolving curriculum offers. We invest a significant amount of time in monitoring, review and evaluation of teaching, learning and curriculum.
Curriculum Implementation
We implement a thematic curriculum. Opportunities to develop a deeper understanding of all curriculum areas are therefore maximised by creating strong links within and across subject disciplines. Transferable skills are identified and exemplified across a range of subject disciplines in addition to conceptual knowledge. Substantive knowledge and subject specific skills are also taught explicitly in order to highlight what it means to be an Engineer, Musician, Artist, etc…
English, History, Geography, PSHCE, SMSC, Art, Drama and Design Technology are all taught through a thematic unit, which follow four distinct phases of learning linked directly to Blooms Taxonomy and Growth Mindset. Curriculum and pedagogy are blended into our four distinct phases of learning. In conjunction with traditional ‘subject content’ we are also developing the personal, learning and thinking skills of pupils in order for them to reach their full potential as learners:
Engage phase: 1-5 days
Develop phase: 1-3 weeks
Innovate phase: 1-2 weeks
Express phase: 3-5 days
Some specific subject areas of the National Curriculum, such as Maths, SPaG (spelling, punctuation and grammar), Science, Religious Education, Music, Languages, Computing and PE are taught separately from the thematic unit, although attempts at curriculum links are made whenever authentic cross-curricular links apply.
All learners – inclusive of pupils, parents, staff, governors and the wider school community have access to additional participation in educational visits, weekly enrichment activities and after school clubs.
Curriculum Impact
We introduced a new curriculum in September 2017. We are currently entering our third year of a curriculum remodel. We are always refining and further developing our curriculum offer in order to meet the needs and interest levels of our children - our children are our curriculum. Please refer to our 'Quality of Education' document (via policy section) to see the impact of curriculum intention and implementation.
How do we share our curriculum with the local community?
Topic webs are created with children and sent home to parents / carers each half-term. Topic web reviews are then shared with parents at the end of a unit of work. Children also work across four learning journeys - including a digital journey. Learning journeys are shared with parents / carers daily. We also have a school Facebook page and Twitter Feed to keep our local community constantly up to date with the day to day teaching and learning activities in school.
Topic Webs and Reviews:
We also use SeeSaw (online learning platform) as one of our four learning journeys in school. This allows parents and carers to gain instant access to their child's work and make comments.
We also use SeeSaw to set weekly homework tasks and deliver remote learning if needed.
We are a Rights Respecting School...
Every child has a right to an education. Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities so that they can become the best that they can be - Articles 28 and 29