Curriculum Overview
We aim to provide a relevant and interesting curriculum that develops the whole child. We have high expectations of children academically while understanding that their social, emotional, physical and spiritual development are just as important if they are to live happy and fulfilling lives and be successful members of society. Our school curriculum helps to prepare pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life in modern Britain. Our school ethos and values are based on cooperative values which in turn reflect British values.
The framework for the children's learning is provided by the new National Curriculum which sets out the core subjects of Maths, English and Science and the Foundation subjects of Art and Design, Computing, Design and Technology, Languages, Geography, History, Music and PE. We also teach Religious Education and teach Citizenship, Personal, Social and Health Education attaching great importance to the development of moral and social skills. The curriculum encourages children to develop self-discipline and responsibility and to work collaboratively with others.
Great emphasis is placed on learning the basic skills of Reading, Writing and Maths; we have been proud to have been awarded the Basic Skills, Quality Mark, three times over the last nine years for good practice in this area. As well as teaching these lessons separately, we are always looking for ways of making them more interesting to the children by relating them to other subjects as we believe that a creative curriculum where areas of learning are linked motivates children to learn more effectively. To support this, children work with the latest technology. We have interactive whiteboards in each classroom, two well resourced IT suites, two laptop trolleys and class sets of ipads. The children are taught to use these skilfully whilst having regard for the rules of internet safety – all important skills for life!
Staff keep up to date with the latest research in how children learn and plan their lessons accordingly. They tailor teaching and learning strategies to the needs and interests of the children and this includes out of school learning opportunities as well as visitors into school such as visiting speakers, musicians and drama groups and trips to heritage sites, museums, art galleries, places of worship and live web chats. The school also makes links with children in other countries.
Teachers set high expectations for every pupil and plan carefully to meet the needs of each individual and to set them ambitious targets.
If you want to obtain additional information about the curriculum please contact the school office.
New Curriculum
The new National Curriculum was introduced into schools from September 2014. Staff at our school spent the previous year preparing for this, becoming familiar with the new end of year expectations and planning a curriculum that meets the needs of our pupils and reflects the local community and context. The curriculum has been planned to link together the different subject areas and objectives for each year group into themes. We know that children learn best when they can make connections between the different areas of their learning and this approach makes the subjects more relevant and motivating for them. Each theme has been planned with an enquiry question as the title. The long term overview of the planned themes for the whole school can be found on this website. In addition, the staff have planned key objectives and questions for each of the themes and this will be covered with the children using a range of carefully planned and differentiated teaching and learning activities. These are outlined for each year group on the website. The school has developed a new hybrid assessment system based on the NAHT’s Commission of Assessment principles and other models. This system helps to meet the needs of our school, enable staff to identify next steps for pupils, help us to report clearly to parents and enable effective tracking of progress across the year.