Curriculum

Intent

• We recognise that children come to school with a range of experiences.  Despite this, through our inclusive approach, we aim to inspire all children to be lifelong learners.  In order to achieve this we are a Building Learning Power school which supports children in becoming effective, independent learners.  We recognise that we need to give our pupils a wide range of experiences which encourages them to question, make links, distil information, notice and reason in order to effectively develop and deepen their knowledge across the curriculum.  We recognise children’s prior learning, provide first-hand learning experiences, allow the children to develop resilience, have a good understanding of their meta-learning and work in collaboration with others.

• We aim to deepen children’s knowledge throughout the curriculum through a range of tasks which engage pupils based on a hierarchical ordering of cognitive skills based around Bloom’s Taxonomy.  In order to create an inclusive education, we embrace technology to support and enhance our learning throughout the curriculum.  In a digital age, children are encouraged to continue their learning at home through this medium.  By using this approach we ensure that children use and apply their reading and writing skills across the curriculum.  We use a spiral curriculum to ensure that children have the opportunity to revisit learning but at a deeper level as they journey through school.

Community involvement is an essential part of our curriculum as we regularly join with the church and visit the local care homes.  Although we are a small village school in the heart of North Yorkshire, we are blessed to have a multi-cultural school family and celebrate the richness this offers.  Our curriculum offer looks to promote these links whenever possible. 

• Our aim is to ensure that our pupils leave Aiskew, Leeming Bar CE Primary School feeling confident with a range of knowledge, skills and wisdom to become successful lifelong learners, alongside a sense of belonging to a loving, extended school family.

Implementation

• The school’s curriculum is coherently sequenced and ensures that every child, regardless of their starting points and previous life experiences are given the appropriate opportunities to learn the necessary skills and knowledge in every subject.  EYFS learning is based on ‘In The Moment Planning’ with the exception of Maths, English, RE and Music where White Rose Maths, Read, Write, Inc and Talk Through Stories schemes of work are used daily, and Understanding Christianity, RE Today materials and Charanga Music are also followed.   Our EYFS staff are skilled in creating bespoke learning opportunities and using provocations to ensure children meet their Early Learning Goals. In Key Stage 1, we have developed a two-year long term plan which maps out how we will meet the requirements of the National Curriculum and beyond.  In Key Stage 2, we have developed a four-year long term plan.  These long term plans provide opportunity for children to revisit skills, building up their learning over time and supporting their retention of rich knowledge. It allows all children to grow in their knowledge base, whatever age they are whilst taught within a mixed-age setting.
• We teach our curriculum through clear blocks with the exception of English and Maths (which are taught daily), and Science and PE (which are taught weekly).  All other subjects are taught in blocks.  The rational for this is that it supports pupils in their retention of knowledge and allows for children to deepen their knowledge over a short, intense period of time.  It is also because we recognise our SEND learners who struggle with information overload.  Teaching one subject as a block of time allows them to focus on one set of information.
• Teaching different units start with what our pupils already know and quickly build up new knowledge.  Children are then encouraged to use and apply their knowledge through a range of tasks developed through Bloom’s Taxonomy.  This approach has been chosen to meet the specific needs of mixed-aged classes and to ensure that our curriculum provides challenge for all pupils.  The children refer to these tasks as their ‘Rainbow Steps to Success’.

 

 

• This is an example of how we structure learning for example in a geography lesson:

In the above example you can see how the basic key knowledge is taken and then children are challenged to do more with it.  It is this process that allows children to embed this knowledge.  Within a mixed-aged class, this approach works well as pupils are given the opportunity to all access the same knowledge but demonstrate a deeper understanding of it according to their ability and experience through this approach.   It also ensures that we do not have a glass ceiling on our learning.  

 

• The scheme of work chosen for each area of the curriculum have been specifically chosen so that they can be made into a spiral curriculum. Due to the fact that pupils enter the rolling programme at different points, it is essential that key learning is revisited therefore we have ensured that there is the opportunity for purposeful recapping of learning.   Not only does this ensure our curriculum fulfils the distinct needs of our learners, it also supports children in being able to remember more because revisiting learning helps it transfer to the long-term memory.

 

• Part of our approach encourages pupils to embrace technology and be effective with research skills. Children are encouraged to whenever possible research facts themselves in order to help them retain the key knowledge and be active learners.  In addition to this, our BLP approach means that children intrinsically make links and ask questions between different areas of learning.

 

• We recognise that due to the significant number of pupils who have English as an additional language, and our SEND learners, language acquisition is an essential part of our approach to learning. All our units of learning start with exploring key vocabulary that is to be learnt and used throughout the unit.  Our expectation is that children challenge themselves to use the new, technical vocabulary confidently when reading, speaking and writing.

 

 

Impact

 

The impact of our curriculum approach is that it inspires children to reach their full potential and children are taught to be curious about what they learn through learning to ask questions.  Pupils develop their knowledge over time, putting down deep roots which will provide the basis for all future learning, allowing all children to flourish.  Children gain new skills which can be transferred across subjects and into the real world.  Our children experience success, develop their self-belief, build resilience and demonstrate that they can be independent learners.  Our children are ready for each stage of their education and have the knowledge, skills and wisdom to be lifelong learners.