Our Curriculum
Intent
It is our intent that children access a curriculum that is knowledge rich and ambitious. History and geography are our curriculum drivers and we aim for children to develop a deep knowledge of both the past of Britain and the wider world, and current locations, places and geographical landscapes across the world. We want our children to understand the heritage of the local area and the cultural background of where they live in order to feel passionate about their community. Our curriculum is focussed on depth of learning, with sequences of learning planned for carefully so that learning sticks in the children’s long term memories. Rich, meaningful assessments are planned for at the end of these sequences. A strong global thread and sense of environmental issues runs through the curriculum. We want our children to understand the world around them and to make sense of current issues as they move through school. We want them to develop their sense of ethics and morality so that they feel able to contribute to their community and to society.
Implementation
Across each year group, a number of rich, high- quality core texts are used to bring the themes to life. Each theme starts with a ‘hook’ to engage children and stimulate their curiosity such as a World War 2 day in Year 6. Each classroom has a topic table as a reference point for the children which contains artefacts, vocabulary and questions. The curriculum is designed to ensure that children will remember and connect the steps that they have been taught and focuses on content and sequence. New knowledge is always related to what they know already. Children are flooded with vocabulary which is revisited often in order that it goes into their long term memories. Oracy is at the heart of our curriculum and discussion, debate and communication are all carefully planned for so that our children learn to speak with confidence about the issues that matter to them.
The learning environment is planned for in fine detail to enhance our curriculum and to make learning visible. It supports and challenges children and enables them to reflect on their learning. Assessments have a clear purpose and are carefully planned for in order that each sequence of learning is carefully assessed.
Impact
We monitor the impact of our curriculum closely and regularly to ensure that knowledge is systematic and cumulative over time. Subject leaders review learning and talk to children then provide feedback to teachers to move practice forward. We ensure that knowledge is ‘sticky’ and that facts are being retained and built upon. We ensure that learning is powerful and is being transferred into children’s long term memories using clear, purposeful assessments. We ensure that our children’s attainment and progress are in line with or exceeding their potential. It is our aim to develop children that are well-rounded citizens with a clear understanding of values such as kindness, integrity, tolerance, respect and empathy. We want our children to be able to make sense of an increasingly globalised, complex and rapidly changing world and to be able to make decisions for the right reasons and in the best interests of our community. We want our children to be aspirational about their futures, to be change makers so that they can help to create a future they want to live in. We hope that our curriculum will empower and equip all of our children with the skills to participate, challenge and reshape the world around them. We have a commitment to enabling every child to succeed.