CURRICULUM

INTENT

When planning a curriculum, Cold Harbour CE Primary School has had to recognise the very wide social and economic backgrounds of our families.

A significant minority of families require a lot of support, sign posting and care. Within PSHE and citizenship, account is made of the socio-economics of the area and we recognise that the children need both a sense of valuing themselves and developing aspirations for their future and for their community.

Curriculum enrichment in each theme is designed to provide a breadth of experience within a subject area, drawing on outside speakers, involvement of parents and developing a sense of curiosity. To provide our pupils a language and vocabulary rich curriculum, books and text rich models are used to inspire and excite; providing purposeful opportunities in teaching the skills for reading and writing and curriculum coverage

We are passionate that all children acquire the skills to flourish.  We also plan opportunities for the children to know about keeping safe, linked to the KCSiE document. We also plan for and promote British values, (Democracy, Rule of Law, Individual Liberty, Mutual Respect and Tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs) ensuring that children are aware of their rights and responsibilities as a UK citizen.

To enable all children to access the curriculum, pastoral support is strong.  The school has various systems which support the emotional and mental well-being of children and provides signposting to their parents.

Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is woven through the curriculum. We encourage pupils to be deep thinkers. They are able to empathise with the feelings and actions of others, seeing points of views and beliefs other than their own.

Emotional and mental wellbeing is also enhanced by sporting activities and music.

Staff annually review their medium-term planning to ensure topics are relevant to the children’s interests and needs. Subject leaders are currently working on curriculum coverage on foundation subjects, e.g. Geography and History, with all middle leaders being aware of the curriculum expectations and in turn working towards planning the skills within their respective curriculum areas.

The curriculum is designed to ensure: deep learning, with a focus made on extending those who are working at a greater depth within the curriculum areas and engagement with their learning.

Staff review the actual curriculum regularly.  Currently the staff are working on developing progression of the key skills within the curriculum. We are now looking for further opportunities to integrate our locality making the most of our local historical and geographical features such as the MK Gallery and National Trust to share opportunities for Key Stages 1 & 2 to connect with art, geography and outdoor learning.

Pupils will work alongside an artist to explore feats of engineering, architecture and creativity at historic Stowe and journey back to MK Gallery to discover how other artists have understood, mapped and transformed the landscape. They will develop geographical vocabulary, fieldwork and observational skills; use a range of creative materials; and find out about the work of artists.

The curriculum is at the heart of what we do at our school in order to provide the children with the knowledge and development of new skills; to apply their learning across all subjects; to prepare them for their future lives; as well as inspire in them a love of learning and an experience of the best of what has been said and done.  Our aim is to ensure the ‘daily lived lives’ of our children at school allows them to have a deep understanding of the national curriculum, to have a breadth of experiences throughout their school life and to have the opportunity to make links within their learning so that they can truly demonstrate an application of what they know to new and existing concepts.

We achieve this with a clearly thought through progression of knowledge throughout each key phase. This year we are in the process of refining our curriculum offer to ensure that knowledge builds up even deeper through the full range of the curriculum and that it is delivered in a way that clearly supports every child to secure their understanding and to be able to confidently and independently apply what they have learnt.

We aim to ensure that the children have a secure and deep understanding in the core subjects of reading, writing and Maths and we have this same ambition for the full range of subjects we teach within the Early Years (Reception) and the national curriculum from Years One to Six. Some of these subjects (e.g. PE and Music) are taught by specialist teachers and we do also share expertise across our staff team.

Our Topics run in half term blocks which build upon previous learning. In Science, Humanities, Arts and RE we ensure that the children are able to achieve key knowledge milestones and then apply this knowledge to wider concepts and debates.

Our curriculum extends to a range of wider opportunities and we are proud to provide our children with the chance for example to be in a choir, orchestra, perform at Young Voices, attend an extensive range of PE Festivals.

IMPLEMENTATION

The school is currently organised into:

One class in Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

Three classes In KS1, 21 hours is spent each week on teaching the curriculum

Six classes in KS2, 23.5 hours.

Teachers plan collaboratively in phases, planning for progression and teaching of skills and knowledge.

 Subject Skills

A Long –Term Curriculum Map plans for progression in skills progression for subjects:

Art & design                Design & Technology             Geography                  History             Computing                        Music              PSHE

Physical Education     Religious Education                Science                       English            Maths                          Languages (Italian)

The EYFS statutory framework  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework–2 sets the standards that all early years providers must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well.

The programmes of study for Key stages 1 & 2 of the National Curriculum  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-primary-curriculum    tell us the minimum requirement of what needs to be taught in Key Stages 1 and 2.

The process of curriculum design to promote high standards is followed in this order:

1. What do we want children to learn?
   1. What have we got to teach (The national curriculum)?
   2. What do we want to teach (anything else you think is important for your children)?
2. Why are we teaching it?

1. Which knowledge, skills and understanding will children learn?
2. At which national curriculum level will these skills be taught?

1. How shall we teach it?  (Creating the right ‘Context for learning)

Phonics and Reading Teaching

At Cold Harbour school children learn to read through a variety of strategies. We use phonics (the teaching of the sounds that letters make) as our main method. This is supported by regular reading with adults in school, reading at home, learning high frequency words (tricky words) and developing sight vocabulary. The Phonics scheme we use is the ReadWriteInc Phonics program.

At Cold Harbour School we do not follow just one scheme of books for reading. We use Oxford Reading Tree, ReadWriteInc, Ginn and several other schemes with the intention that children are offered a range of texts to read in school and at home. This is supported by a very well stocked School Library.

Mathematics

At Cold Harbour school children are taught to develop an understanding of the important mathematical concepts and to make connections within mathematics.  ’White Rose’ is used to teach and develop a broad range of skills in using and applying mathematics.  We teach recall of number facts, encouraging pupils to think independently and persevere when faced with challenges whilst developing fluency in performing written and mental calculations.

IMPACT

Collaborative planning with informed and experienced colleagues in phases and as a whole school ensures progression; subject or phase specific professional development alongside development of a teacher’s understanding of the general principles concerning curriculum development and pedagogy.  Teachers are developed in their practice; developing the curriculum and associated resources. Teachers make links where possible to encourage creativity and the involvement of families and community in their learning journey.

As a result, pupils receive a broad and balanced curriculum, enriched and enhanced through visits, trips and visitors; are developed to their potential; we prepare young people for life and work; building communities and overcome social disadvantage.