Curriculum
For every child to achieve their full potential, it is vital that we take care to design a curriculum which:
- is broad and balanced, meeting the needs of individual pupils and promoting the importance of basic skills;
- develops a skill set that enables pupils to investigate and interpret the world around them, articulating what they understand with rich, subject specific vocabulary;
- encourages pupils to recognise and value the communities that they belong to;
- upholds strong British Values;
- fosters a love for learning and life.
We use the Quigley Essential tools to design a meaningful and purposeful curriculum which is underpinned by our four school drivers:
- building resilience
- inspiring curiosity
- promoting teamwork and independence
- instilling empathy.
Our curriculum provides pupils many opportunities to repeat curriculum objectives, giving them the best opportunity to master the curriculum. We provide regular training for staff so that the curriculum is regularly reviewed and adapted to meet the needs of pupils.
Our curriculum is categorised in two ways:
Breadth:
Allows pupils in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 to study the following foundation subjects alongside the core subjects, English, Maths and Science: History, Geography, Religious Education, Personal, Social and Health Education, Design and Technology, Art and Design, Computing, Physical Education, Modern Languages and Music.
In the Early Years, the curriculum is focussed around 7 areas: Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Physical Development, Communication and Language, Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World, Expressive Arts and Design. These elements develop the skills necessary to access the National Curriculum. Further information regarding this can be found in the Early Years Policy.
Depth:
Increasingly allows pupils to make decisions for themselves, enabling them to become independent learners. Whilst coverage is our goal for the ‘breadth’ elements, repetition and increasing understanding is our goal for the ‘depth’ elements. Our curriculum ‘drivers’ shape our teaching across the school so that every opportunity is taken to relate learning to the needs of our pupils. Continuous study of National Curriculum subjects once pupils enter Year 1, enables them to gain a growing developmental understanding of the matters, skills and processes in our curriculum.