Learning

Our Curriculum

Since 2016 we have been working to map out the content of our curriculum against each subject. We have identified the skills and knowledge that will be taught under broadly identified themes such as; ‘Stomp, Roar, Hiss’, ‘Keep the Home Fires Burning’ or ‘Journey to the Sea.’

Since September 2019 we have identified a need for a full review of our existing practice. This work and the progress towards it are recorded in the Academy Improvement Plan. We have recorded our aims under 4 milestones; each milestone setting out the work that we are planning to undertake. Milestone 4 (September 2021) articulates the curriculum that we are working hard to develop by this date. Some of the aims, detailed in that document are shared below:

• All subjects mapped for progression of skills and knowledge from Y1 – 6
• Overarching learning themes (topic titles) phrased as enquiries  
• History, Geography, Art, Design and Technology and Science blocked within learning themes
• Music, Computing, RE, PE and MFL remain as discreet subjects time-tabled weekly
• PSHE is woven into the curriculum – this is intentionally mapped
• Key concepts agreed and mapped; inequality, monarchy, conservation…
• Subject specific curriculum maps that include: key people, key places (visits), cultural capital, texts, the best that has been said and done.

In Terms 3 and 4 (2020) we have been trialling a new approach to curriculum planning in two of our classes.

We have held meetings with parents to inform them of the changes we are making.

In Terms 5 and 6 (2020) we aim to roll out this approach to all classes in KS1 and 2. We hope to be able to fully evaluate this before the end of this academic year so that we are ready, in September 2020, to begin teaching from our new curriculum map.

Curriculum development will become a key objective in the 2020 – 2021 Academy Improvement Plan as we track towards the outcomes that we have identified in the document entitled ‘Milestone 4’.

We are still in the early stages of development and we recognise that as we learn and grow our understanding of good curriculum design the aims identified in ‘Milestone 4’ will change with us.

We have already had some early parental feedback:

‘we are noticing the difference at home, the children are coming home talking about Science or DT – they have a real sense that they are learning in a particular subject.’

If you would like to find out more about this direction of travel please come and ask; we will be happy to talk you through our plans.

Our Maths planning comes directly from the National Curriculum supported by the ‘Can Do Maths’ scheme which focusses on a mastery model; teachers use this to plan ‘small steps’ units of work that build on the skills gained by the children in previous blocks of learning. Our approach to maths is detailed in the maths policy. Please ask for a copy if you would like to find out more.

We use a home /school scheme call ‘Passport Maths’ that fully involves children in their learning. Children have clear targets to reach before gaining their certificate for a continent. We aim for all our children to be ‘Globe Trotters’ when they leave our school with a firm grasp of all times tables and the factors of all numbers to 100, computing with decimals as well as understanding factors, square and prime numbers.

Currently parents receive a ‘topic web’ every term that details the key areas that their child will be learning about. Your can find these in the ‘parents’ section of our website and this information is repeated in the ‘classes’ section. We actively encourage parental involvement in their child’s learning and they are always welcome to come in and help either on a regular basis or to share a particular expertise in an area as a one off.