Curriculum Statement
Our curriculum is the heart of our school and is steered by our four drivers developed from the Cornerstones Curriculum:
- Engage – hook children in with a memorable experience, situation or artefact.
- Develop – allow children time to gather the skills and knowledge they need to develop a deep understanding.
- Innovate – offer creative experiences that allow children to apply their skills, knowledge and understanding.
- Express – provide the space and time for reflecting, evaluating, and celebrating learning
The curriculum comprises all learning and all other experiences that our school plans for our children. The National Curriculum forms one part of our school curriculum. Our curriculum is inclusive, broad, balanced and ambitious in terms of outcomes for all year groups and groups of learners. Our curriculum reflects the community and provides starting points for learning using a Driver Project approach. Our projects change regularly to excite and inspire the children and where relevant reflect key learning events in the world or local community that might present themselves.
Our unique forest area allows our school to have a cross-curricular approach to education with every child accessing a weekly Outdoor Learning session that is linked to the main curriculum topics. This is an opportunity for the children to explore the world around them and to build an appreciation for the world in an active, safe and experiential learning environment – truly helping to develop our pupils into respectful, responsible, resilient risk-takers.
We are proud to provide an aspirational well balanced and broad curriculum that is:
Knowledge and Text Focused
- Reading is priority – school librarians, story time, reading rainbow incentive, a structured reading scheme with systematic phonics help teach reading.
- Vocabulary – closing the gap through regular quizzing, knowledge organisers and the use of high-quality texts.
- High-quality texts used to inspire teaching and learning.
- English and Maths skills linked across the curriculum.
Balanced
- Develops self-esteem and independence through exploring and experiencing the natural world in regular Outdoor Learning and Forest School club sessions.
- Fosters the arts through dedicated music provision with a specialist teacher.
- Promotes British Values and RSHE.
- Includes a modern foreign language.
- Prepares children for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences for later life.
- Provides opportunities to develop computing skills using new technologies, coding and media.
- Uses our unique Forest Area allows us to have a cross-curricular approach to education.
- Visits to enhance the curriculum and broaden children’s wider social understanding and contexts.
Creative
- Through diverse and exciting, Diver Projects such as Maafa, Misty Mountains and Windy Rivers and Magnificent Monarchs.
- Challenges children to think creatively to solve problems in all subjects and become the expert in that subject.
- Class celebrations of learning each term allow parents to see a wealth of creativity and progressive outcomes across all subjects.
Supportive
- Is adapted to suit the needs of all our learners.
- Utilises features of our local community and the wider community.
- Helps children develop their sense of identity, belonging and become ready to make a positive contribution to society.
- Promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of children.
- Access to specific programmes designed to develop emotional literacy and social skills.
Retrieval
- Regular opportunities for recall and practice built into sequences of lessons.
- Timetabled sessions to focus on prior knowledge and overlearning to build success and confidence.
- Revisit concepts and themes to build progression and develop recall of learning.
- Opportunities for individual practise through daily/weekly reviews and quizzing.
- Teacher questioning to elicit current knowledge and establish next steps.
- Misconceptions addressed on a daily formative and summative basis.
Logically Sequenced
- A clear logical sequence of lessons (schema).
- Sequences build on current and prior substantive knowledge and disciplinary skills.
- Modelling and scaffolding learning, moving towards independence.
- Assessments for learning.
- Building towards an end of term celebration of learning.