Curriculum

Curriculum Intent

• to support and encourage all children in achieving their full potential with the knowledge and skills they need to get to the next stage of their learning and live a successful life;

• to be an inspirational and exciting learning community where children feel happy, safe and cared for;

• to celebrate and value diversity and individuality in our school, in our community and in the wider world;

• to develop caring, independent and confident citizens and provide a strong foundation for the future.

The three main terms of each academic year focus heavily on a particular subject/subjects as outlined below, and these are project based. You can find out information about the content of each project using the links further down this page.

To see specific and detailed information on each subject individually, please use the links further down this page. To see how our curriculum is accessible to pupils with SEND, please click here.

Curriculum Implementation

Exciting projects build our curriculum and each one of these is led by a Driving Question. These are carefully constructed questions that allow a project to be explored in depth in order to provide a rigid answer that cannot be obtained without wide-ranging knowledge.

The three main terms of our curriculum are shaped around three key subject areas – one driven by Geography (EXPLORE), one driven by History (DISCOVER), and one driven by the Arts (CREATE). Whilst these subjects form the main framework of each term, the projects are cross-curricular and other subjects are still taught as part of the termly theme.

Some subjects are taught discretely, however, in order to ensure robust coverage without the need to create vague links. For example, PSHE is taught following the Jigsaw scheme of learning and the White Rose Maths planning sequence is used for Mathematics.

Memorable Experiences are used to both capture children’s interest and to add a real-life context to their learning. These experiences could be a visit somewhere, a visitor coming into school or an experience led by staff in school.

Forming a central stem to all of the above is our expectation that all of our teachers deliver quality first teaching and learning to all of our children. Our curriculum progression documents ensure that learning is well-sequenced between year groups, with teachers understanding the cognitive science behind how learning is transferred to the long-term memory. The use of assessment ensures that pupils’ knowledge is built upon appropriately and securely, and retained.

We use Knowledge Organisers to provide pupils with key knowledge throughout a project, and this knowledge is regularly tested (using low-stakes quizzing techniques) to reduce the 'forgetting curve'. This means that, in time, pupils have a strong knowledge of a project in which they can retrieve key information from their long term memory. You can click the link to view our Knowledge Organisers (click). 

Curriculum Impact

As a direct result of our powerful and well-implemented curriculum, we expect the impact to be that:

• Our pupils are well-rounded individuals with a love of learning;
• Our pupils develop detailed knowledge and skills across the curriculum and, as a result, achieve well – making good progress from their starting points;
• Our pupils achieve at least in line with national average in statutory assessments;
• Our pupils have high aspirations for the future;
• Our pupils are tolerant of other cultures, faiths and beliefs;
• Our pupils are mentally and emotionally happy, and resilient;
• Our pupils develop the cultural capital to live a good life in the 21st Century world.

If you would like further information on the curriculum we teach, please contact the school directly.