Curriculum
Our Curriculum Explained
Curriculum Aims:
Through the teaching of the National Curriculum and the wider school curriculum we aim to:
- Sustain high standards of learning and progress in all subjects
- Provide inclusive and challenging educational experiences through innovative teaching and learning to ensure all children make the best progress they can and to fulfil every aspect of their potential
- Raise achievement in all areas of school life through the provision of a creative, motivating and relevant curriculum that embeds a global perspective, a lifelong love of learning and promotes strong values and skills for life.
- Foster a lifelong love of learning to help every child grow into an effective citizen, ready to play their part in their community and the world.
Our Curriculum:
The curriculum is carefully planned and sequenced to ensure that pupils learn through a range of exciting themes and projects that we have titled ‘Mini-Missions’. A ‘stunning start’ launches the learning and hooks the children from the very beginning. These ‘Mini-Missions’ that the children go on cover all subjects and are captured in one book. They allow for clear coverage of the National Curriculum evidenced in the schools’ curriculum coverage grid.
Contextualised Learning
The focus for our Mini-Missions is to provide contextualised, purposeful learning that develops ‘life skills’ so that children are ‘secondary’ ready by the time they leave. The journeys in learning foster the development of writers, mathematicians, artists, designers, historians and geographers etc.
Cognitive Challenge
Teaching and learning is underpinned by cognitive challenge. Teachers ensure that lessons are adaptive and inclusive - they do not place a glass ceiling on learning for any child, no matter their ability or needs. Each lesson focuses on 'What, How and Why' to ensure the learning has both context and purpose.
Adaptive Teaching
Adaptive teaching occurs through careful adaptations and questioning where staff create the correct conditions for learning which provides opportunities for depth of learning.
Language Rich
The learning environment is designed in way that engages and inspires children; it is linked to current learning and language rich to support the children’s vocabulary, oracy and writing development throughout the learning.
Harnessing Cross-Curricular Links
The design of our curriculum ensures that cross-curricular links drives learning in a purposeful and contextualised way: In all our Mini-Missions these cross-curricular links offer a creative way to develop children's knowledge, skills and understanding while motivating them to learn through stimulating, interconnected topics. Each mission crosses subject boundaries thus allowing for investigations that engage children's imagination. It also gives teachers opportunities to encourage active enquiry, taking the initiative, and discussion and debate by children.
Long term plans and coverage grids ensure that pupils receive their entitlement to the whole primary curriculum. They map the curriculum for the school over a whole year and are share these with all stakeholders.
Links between subjects are real and not contrived so that they make sense to the children. Obvious links are harnessed between subjects and areas. This interwoven approach does not dilute the learning. Each mission has clearly identified main subject drivers for progress as well as end goals (planning with the end in mind); these provide the framework and key focus whilst cross-curricular opportunities are rightly maximised. Knowledge, skills and understanding is built up over time to ensure long-term retention as children have the opportunity to practice and rehearse their learning over time. Connections between concepts provide the basis for progression