Curriculum

Statement of Curriculum Intent, Implementation and Impact

Intent

At Grange C of E Primary School, our curriculum is designed to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum 2014 and enables our children to progress well in all year groups and attain at least age-related expectations by the end of Year 6.

Our curriculum has been developed to be broad and balanced with Reading, Writing, Maths and Religious Education at its centre. This curriculum progressively builds and deepens knowledge, understanding and skills which can be transferred to all subjects Our curriculum is planned to ensure that all children experience a wide range of enriching opportunities to instil a thirst for life-long learning so that they are prepared for the next stage in education and as future citizens ‘living life to the full.’

As a Church of England School, our Christian Values are at the heart of everything we do. Across our curriculum, in the day to day life of the school, and through our values of Love-Hope and Trust we aim to develop pupils who:

Achieve-Believe-Care

Achieve (raised ambitions of what they can achieve, do and be whilst developing independence and resilience so as not to give up)

Believe (that they can make a difference, do the right thing and contribute to our wonderful world)

Care (build caring relationships following the example of Jesus, show empathy and understanding the views and beliefs of others)

As a school that looks out towards others and the learning that brings, we encourage an awareness of rights and responsibilities and look at the impact we have, linking global learning opportunities with subject areas, when and where appropriate.

At Grange C of E School, we know that children learn in different ways, so children are given the opportunity to work independently and with others. We believe that children need the chance to explore and investigate together to develop concepts as well as embedding basic skills, knowledge and understanding through regular practice. This means that we use carefully sequenced discrete learning and thematic learning that is connected and achieves learning outcomes. We work with parents and carers to support and embed this learning at home.

At Grange C of E School, we recognise the importance of tailoring our curriculum to the needs of children and families in our school community. From the starting point we believe that language is key to learning and focus on enriching and expanding the children’s vocabulary. This is taught through a wide range of experiences and by using the Talk4Writing and Jane Considine approaches, as well as introducing key vocabulary in subject lessons. Our curriculum is designed to develop personal and social skills throughout the primary years and we follow the Heartsmart scheme which aligns with our Christian values.

Our learning journey begins in our Nursery class where children learn through play and engagement with skilled professionals; this is the foundation for our curriculum which builds on their interests and provides opportunities to learn and master vital skills for starting school.

Implementation

Our carefully planned curriculum balances the national expectations and a range of experiences allowing our children to flourish. Age related expectations combine the acquisition of knowledge and development of skills to create a purposeful and exciting learning journey for every child. Whilst outcomes are designed to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum, they also develop the skills needed for learning and for life, focusing on the whole child and recognising the importance of all aspects of a child’s life. Our exciting curriculum is designed so that subject specific knowledge & skills are built upon within a cross-curricular theme or context each half-term.

Our approach to teaching and learning supports our curriculum by ensuring that lessons build on prior learning and provide opportunities for guided and independent practice. The development of children’s knowledge and skills across all primary subjects is key when building on prior learning, this supports children for the next stage of their learning. Subject content is presented clearly, teachers carefully check learning and identify misconceptions, providing direct feedback.

We utilise our school grounds and local area well, to provide our children with rich learning experiences, which they are able to talk about and make links with their learning in school. Educational visits and visitors to the school are encouraged, to further inspire and motivate learners.

In addition to delivering the statutory curriculum, we are also committed to teaching and nurturing the qualities that successful learners possess. At Grange C of E School our curriculum is designed for our children. We utilise some published curriculum materials to support our planning – all based on the Early Years and Foundation Stage (EYFS) Curriculum (Development Matters) and the National Curriculum (2014). All aspects comply with legislation and national guidance, including the teaching of Relationships Sex Education (RSE). The published schemes that we use, to support us in school, include:

Little Wandle Letters and Sounds (Phonics and Reading)
Letterjoin (Handwriting)
White Rose Maths (Mathematics)
Sing Up (Music)
HeartSmart (PSHE)
Questful R.E./Understanding Christianity (R.E)
Lancashire Grid for Learning (PE)

Core Curriculum Subjects - a brief overview

English

Children at Grange C of E Primary School are taught to read and spell using systematic synthetic phonics initially. In the Early Years and Year 1, our phonics curriculum is based on the New Little Wandle Letters and Sounds https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/ Phonics teaching forms a discrete part of the timetable in in Reception and Y 1 and also in Y2 where children require additional practice; children are taught so that they are moving into Phase 5 by the end of Reception ready for Y1. All children in Year 1 take the Phonics Screening Check, whereby they apply their phonics knowledge to decode both real and pseudo (alien) words. From Year 2 upwards, our spellings provision is based on the Jane Considine Spelling programme, and grammar and punctuation is taught as part of the writing programme and in discrete lessons following the sequence for the year group. Spelling is enhanced using the online spelling site ‘Spelling Shed’ and for those that require additional support, the IDL Literacy resource online.

In all classes, our English provision is based around accessing quality texts as supported by the Jane Considine and Talk4 Writing programmes.

Reading provision for our children new to reading is through phonically matched readers linked to Little Wandle Letters and Sounds. Children in R and Y1 read and explore books in small groups during guided reading time and individually with an adult. From Y2 children read in groups or individually and focus on read and respond tasks which guide their reading comprehension and support word level work.

To provide additional reading materials, the Collins Big Cat reading scheme is used across the year groups, with other readers to add variation until the children are confident at a level where they can move to published library books/novels that are colour banded. Older KS2 children are encouraged to change their own books in our school library.

Assessments in reading are carried out using half termly NFER tests and areas for development are highlighted for teaching in the next half term.

Mathematics

Children are taught to practically problem solve and reason from the Early Years to Year 6 using the objectives from the National Curriculum delivered through the White Rose mathematics scheme. A focus on modelling and visual images in maths is key to good understanding and fluency.

Teaching enables these objectives to be mastered through elements of the White Rose Planning and through fluency and accuracy using a range of support resources. This is further enhanced through the school’s use of the interactive, ‘Times Table Rock and Maths Shed’ programme including other, relevant, interactive games.

Additionally, children are carefully monitored and assessed through termly White Rose assessments; the data is scrutinised and used by the subject leader and teachers to inform future their planning enabling them to provide personalised targeted learning for all children.

Children throughout school are taught to increasingly apply their knowledge and skills and to independently problem solve.

Science

Science teaching at Grange CE Primary School aims to fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum 2014 for science; providing a broad, balanced and differentiated curriculum; ensuring the progressive development of knowledge, skills and vocabulary and for the children to develop a love of science. Furthermore, we aim to inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the natural and man-made world and a respect for the environment that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.

At Grange CE Primary School, scientific enquiry skills are embedded in each topic the pupils’ study and these topics are revisited and developed throughout their time at school. Topics, such as plants, are taught in Key Stage One and studied again in further detail throughout Key Stage Two. This allows pupils to build upon their prior knowledge and increases their enthusiasm for the topics whilst embedding this procedural knowledge into the long-term memory.

All pupils are encouraged to develop and use a range of skills including observations, planning and investigation, as well as being encouraged to question the world around them and become independent learners in exploring possible answers for the scientific based questions. Specialist vocabulary is taught and built up, and effective questioning to communicate ideas is encouraged. Concepts are reinforced by focusing on key feature of scientific enquiry, so that pupils learn to use a variety of approaches to answer relevant scientific questions.

The science curriculum is based upon the 2014 Primary National Curriculum in England, which provides a broad framework and outlines the knowledge and skills taught in each Key Stage. In addition to this an extra unit of Light is taught in Key Stage One to ensure an understanding of concepts before coverage in Key Stage 2 and therefore an opportunity to explore this topic in more depth and detail.

Science is taught in discrete lessons in individual year groups. Teacher have the same expectations during science lessons that they would have when teaching English or Mathematics. Lessons are planned to ensure progression from the previous teaching of the topic and include working scientifically. A variety of teaching methods and approaches are used based upon the teacher’s judgement. This includes working with experts from STEM based businesses and science teachers from the local secondary school. Teaching key subject vocabulary is also a key part of the science curriculum and planned into topics and lessons in a progressive way.

Our science curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression.

Assessments are based on teacher’s assessment of children using tasks and tests to support this.

Please see all curriculum subjects information on our website for further details.

Impact

Everything we do is with the child at mind, and strong relationships are built between children and staff which creates a safe culture and atmosphere for learning which is conducive to success.

The impact of our curriculum is measured in terms of the extent to which children have developed new knowledge, understanding and skills which they can use and recall with fluency. We teach our children to ensure we alter their long-term memories, and we define progress as knowing and remembering more. Teachers work hard to plan a broad and balanced curriculum which is delivered to ensure a child’s entire school experience enables them to develop a deep body of knowledge, which will see them through to the next stage in their learning journey. We evaluate the knowledge, skills and understanding that the pupils have gained against the expectations agreed and evaluate our teaching from this. This ensures that we are constantly striving for improvement and ensuring that our curriculum is the best it can be.

The impact of the curriculum can also be seen in our children’s strength of character; how far they demonstrate:

emotional resilience and the ability to persevere when they meet a challenge
physical and mental well-being
the capacity to listen respectfully, with tolerance to the views of others
positive, healthy relationship with their peers
the ability to be socially and morally responsible, active members of society

Although these skills may not be assessed numerically, we strongly believe that being able to achieve these life-skills will enable children to fully access life in modern day Britain.

A judgement on the impact of the curriculum is based upon a triangulation of different monitoring and evaluation activities within school; work scrutiny, pupil voice discussions, outcomes of assessments and quality of teaching and learning are all used at tools to help the leadership team assess the impact of the curriculum.