Curriculum Statement
Our curriculum is the heart of our school and is steered by our four pedagogy drivers developed from the Cornerstones Maestro 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
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 engaging starting points for learning using a Driver Project approach derived from Cornerstones Maestro as detailed in our long term curriculum plans for each class. Our projects change regularly on a 2 year cycle 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 lesson, that is linked to the main curriculum driver projects or mini projects. 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.
EYFS Curriculum 2023-2024
English Curriculum 2023-2024
Phonics Scheme
We use Unlocking Letters and Sounds which was validated by the DfE in December 2021.
We begin teaching phonics in the first few weeks of term 1 in Reception and children make rapid progress in their reading journey. Children begin to learn the main sounds heard in the English Language and how they can be represented, as well as learning ‘Common Exception’ words for Phases 2, 3 and 4. They use these sounds to read and write simple words, captions and sentences. Children leave Reception being able to apply the phonemes taught within Phase 2, 3 and 4.
Phase 2 ‘Actions, Images and Letter Formation’ document link below:
Churchstanton Primary School – Actions and Images (Phase 2)
In Year 1 through Phase 5a, b and c, they learn any alternative spellings and pronunciations for the graphemes and additional Common Exception Words. By the end of Year 1 children will have mastered using phonics to decode and blend when reading and segment when spelling. In Year 1 all children are screened using the national Phonics Screening Check.
In Year 2, phonics continues to be revisited to ensure mastery of the phonetic code and any child who does not meet age related expectations will continue to receive support to close identified gaps.
For further details please see the Unlocking Letters and Sounds progression:
Link to ‘Overview Progression’ below:
Churchstanton Primary School – Phonics Progression
To ensure no child is left behind at any point in the progression, children are regularly assessed and supported to keep up through bespoke 1-1 interventions. These include GPC recognition and blending and segmenting interventions. The lowest attaining 20% of pupils are closely monitored to ensure these interventions have an impact.
Reading Scheme
At Churchstanton Primary School we promote a ‘phonics first’ approach and in both our guided reading sessions at school and in the books children take home, texts are very closely matched to a child’s current phonics knowledge so that every child can experience real success in their reading.
In these crucial early stages of reading we primarily use books from Ransom
Reading Stars Phonics, to ensure complete fidelity to the Unlocking Letters and Sounds progression we follow.
Once children progress beyond decodable texts, they move onto our book scheme so that they can continue to progress in their decoding, fluency and comprehension skills to become avid, expert readers.
Math’s Curriculum 2023-2024
EYFS
In Early Years, Mathematics involves providing children with opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems; and to describe shapes, spaces, and measure.
Pupils are taught to:
Number
- count reliably with numbers from 1 to 20
- place them in order and say which number is one more or one less than a given number
- add and subtract two single-digit numbers and count on or back to find the answer using quantities and objects
- solve problems, including doubling, halving and sharing
Shape, space and measure
- use everyday language to talk about size, weight, capacity, position, distance, time and money to compare quantities and objects and to solve problems
- recognise, create and describe patterns
- explore characteristics of everyday objects and shapes
- use mathematical language to describe them.
Key Stage 1
The National Curriculum (2014) states that:
The principal focus of mathematics teaching in key stage 1 is to ensure that pupils develop confidence and mental fluency with whole numbers, counting and place value. This should involve working with numerals, words and the four operations, including with practical resources [for example, concrete objects and measuring tools].
At this stage, pupils should develop their ability to recognise, describe, draw, compare and sort different shapes and use the related vocabulary. Teaching should also involve using a range of measures to describe and compare different quantities such as length, mass, capacity/volume, time and money.
By the end of year 2, pupils should know the number bonds to 20 and be precise in using and understanding place value. An emphasis on practice at this early stage will aid fluency.
Pupils should read and spell mathematical vocabulary, at a level consistent with their increasing word reading and spelling knowledge at key stage 1.
Lower Key Stage 2
The National Curriculum (2014) states that:
The principal focus of mathematics teaching in lower key stage 2 is to ensure that pupils become increasingly fluent with whole numbers and the four operations, including number facts and the concept of place value. This should ensure that pupils develop efficient written and mental methods and perform calculations accurately with increasingly large whole numbers.
At this stage, pupils should develop their ability to solve a range of problems, including with simple fractions and decimal place value. Teaching should also ensure that pupils draw with increasing accuracy and develop mathematical reasoning so they can analyse shapes and their properties, and confidently describe the relationships between them. It should ensure that they can use measuring instruments with accuracy and make connections between measure and number.
By the end of year 4, pupils should have memorised their multiplication tables up to and including the 12-multiplication table and show precision and fluency in their work.
Pupils should read and spell mathematical vocabulary correctly and confidently, using their growing word reading knowledge and their knowledge of spelling.
Upper Key Stage 2
The National Curriculum (2014) states that:
The principal focus of mathematics teaching in upper key stage 2 is to ensure that pupils extend their understanding of the number system and place value to include larger integers. This should develop the connections that pupils make between multiplication and division with fractions, decimals, percentages and ratio.
At this stage, pupils should develop their ability to solve a wider range of problems, including increasingly complex properties of numbers and arithmetic, and problems demanding efficient written and mental methods of calculation. With this foundation in arithmetic, pupils are introduced to the language of algebra as a means for solving a variety of problems. Teaching in geometry and measures should consolidate and extend knowledge developed in number. Teaching should also ensure that pupils classify shapes with increasingly complex geometric properties and that they learn the vocabulary they need to describe them.
By the end of year 6, pupils should be fluent in written methods for all four operations, including long multiplication and division, and in working with fractions, decimals and percentages.
Pupils should read, spell and pronounce mathematical vocabulary correctly.
British Values Statement
At Churchstanton Primary School, we actively promote British Values.
We recognise the diversity within our society and ensure that British Values are embedded within our curriculum. The teaching of British Values is integrated through the Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) learning that takes place across all curriculum areas.
We promote British Values in the following ways:
Democracy
- Our School Council promotes the democratic process – pupils nominate and vote for their representatives within the School Council
- Our marking policy encourages feedback enabling pupils to respond to and influence the learning process
- Children create and adhere to class and school Golden rules
- Pupils and parents are surveyed regularly and the results of those surveys inform aspects of the School Improvement Plan
- We have a house system
- Children are encouraged to voice their opinions in formal and informal ways via school council and pupil interviews.
The Rule of Law
- We have clear rules and expectations of behaviour which is adhered to by all pupils, staff and other stakeholders (see Behaviour Policy)
- Each class creates a set of rules at the start of each academic year
- Teaching includes e-safety, road safety, stranger danger and caring for the environment
- Attendance and punctuality is good historically and all stakeholders are aware of the importance of being at school via home school agreements, new parent packs
- Pupils follow, respect and understand the need for different rules in different situations, i.e. PE lessons, school visits, classrooms, playground and Forest School
- Pupils are awarded weekly certificates in recognition of their learning behaviours
- Visits from emergency services reinforces the rule of law and the reasoning/purpose behind them
- The school supports pupils in regulating their own behaviour to make choices for the well-being of themselves and others
Individual Liberty
- Children are provided with boundaries which encourage them to make choices safely
- They are encouraged to be responsible, respectful, resilient, risk takers
- Pupils are encouraged to respectfully express their views and beliefs
- Pupils have key roles and responsibilities within school, such as, School Council, House Captains, playground leaders
- Pupils have the opportunity and are encouraged to take part in a broad range of extra-curricular activities
- Pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and advised how to exercise these safely, for example, through our RHSE and E-Safety lessons
- Pupils know who to speak to if they are worried or concerned about themselves or others, e.g. safeguarding leads, staff
- Regular visitors to our school promote individual liberty and children’s rights eg PSCO, ELIM, NSPCC, SAV
Mutual Respect
- Pupils work in teams, share ideas in public and show respect for other pupils’ opinions during class discussions, assemblies and concerts
- Our Golden rules reinforce mutual respect
- All members of the school community treat each other with respect and model this in behaviour with colleagues and pupils
- Pupils work together in different groupings and situations in different lessons and subjects
- All pupils participate in live productions and assemblies throughout the school year
- Pupils participate in community and charitable events
- Our Super Learning Heroes help children understand how they are active participants in their learning journeys
- Respect is expected, rewarded and celebrated at our weekly celebration assembly
Tolerance and Respect for Different Faiths and Beliefs
- We learn about major world religion throughout the year
- Visitors and assemblies enhance and promote an understanding of Diversity in the UK by providing context
- Our RE and RSHE curriculum provides children with a broad and balanced understanding of world religions and promotes respect for the beliefs of others
- We provide resources to ensure that all pupils are effectively integrated into the teaching and learning process and the wider school community, including those that join at different starting points and those who have English as an additional language
- Diversity is one of our curriculum drivers
- Links to Equality and Diversity Policies