OUR CURRICULUM
CURRICULUM DESIGN STATEMENT:
INTENT, IMPLEMENTATION AND IMPACT
July 23 UPDATE
INTENT
The breadth of our curriculum is designed with two main drivers and goals in mind;
- To give the pupils appropriate experiences to develop as confident, responsible citizens.
- Provide a coherent, structured academic curriculum that leads to sustained mastery for all and a greater depth of understanding for those who are capable.
Appropriate experiences
We have developed two curriculum drivers that shape our curriculum, bring about the aims and values of the school, and respond to the need of the community.
1.) POSSIBLITIES – which helps pupils build aspirations and know available possibilities for their future lives.
2.) INITIATIVE – This is to help children become resilient and proactive learners. To be able to make their own choices and learn about the world.
We have the expectation that every pupil will be a fluent reader by the age of 7. We keep reading at the heart of everything we do from the minute they enter school. Reading underpins every element of our curriculum and ambition for our children. If we teach them to read, to become fluent readers then it opens the door for all learning to come.
A key element of our curriculum is the need to enrich our pupil’s knowledge and experience of the world.
A coherently planned academic curriculum underpinned by the key drivers, our academic curriculum uses either the EYFS or the National Curriculum as the basis for content and expectations. We have structured each stage (mixed classes) so that each stage has:
a.) a clear list of what must be covered (curriculum map)
b.) the ‘threshold concepts’ pupils should understand. (Essentials curriculum key objectives)
c.) Criteria for progression within the threshold.
d.) Criteria for depth of understanding.
The curriculum map for each year group ensures that each teacher has clarity of what to cover. We use the Cornerstones curriculum to ensure progression and linked learning with skills and understanding spiralling throughout each year on a two-year programme for our mixed aged classes for key subjects.
Threshold concepts are the key disciplinary aspects of each subject that will shape pupils.
Implementation
Our curriculum design is based on evidence from cognitive science, three mains principles underpin it:
1.) Learning is better in spaced repetition.
2.) Interleaving helps pupils to discriminate between topics and aids long term retention.
3.) Retrieval of previously learned content is frequent and regular, which increases both storage and retrieval strength.
In addition to the three principles we also understand that learning in invisible in the short term and that sustained mastery takes time.
Some of our content is subject specific, whilst other content is combined in a cross curricular approach. Continuous provision in the form of daily routines, replace some aspects of the curriculum and, in other cases, provides retrieval practise for previously learned content.
Impact
The impact of our curriculum is that by the end of each milestone, the vast majority of pupils have sustained mastery of the content, that is, they remember it all and are fluent in it. Some pupils have a greater depth of understanding. We track carefully to ensure pupils are on track to reach the expectations of our curriculum. We use Maestro assessments to asses where pupils are at at the end of each year group. We assess the keys skills and the understanding in the subjects taught.
Our curriculum complies with all the duties in the and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 and is accessible for those with disabilities or special educational needs. The Drivers through our curriculum is a curriculum which nurtures and embraces difference. Cambois is a place where everyone is welcome and we truly embrace the personalised learning approach and opportunities for all our learners.
All classes and staff make reasonable adjustments to ensure all pupils regardless of needs or disabilities have access to a broad and balanced curriculum.
We have a two year cycle of planning based on the National Curriculum 2014 and driven by our curriculum policy and drivers. The aims of our curriculum are to create a curriculum that motivates and equips our children for their future life. Basic skills of Reading, Writing and Maths are a key thread through the whole curriculum alongside our key drivers of possibilities and initiative.
On this page, you will find the National Curriculum (2014) statutory requirements, for each National Curriculum Year Group, mapped by core and non-core subject. The documents show the statutory areas that the children must be taught by year group for the core subjects (English, Maths and Science) and non-core. All non-core subjects are broken down by Key Stage.
We are very lucky to be a part of the Bedlington Music Partnership. We use the Charanga music curriculum to ensure we have a broad, balanced and progressive curriculum.
Enrichment
We believe that learning should be life-long and our children should be equipped with skills that help them in all aspects of life. Our children take part in many enrichment activities. There is a skills based enrichment curriculum covering, Coding and ICT skills, Nurture, Forest School, Gardening, independent skills, P,E and Cycling.
Forest School
We are lucky that we have a great outdoor area and we use this to develop and promote resilience, team -building and learning about risk and challenge. We have a super Forest School and each class take a turn to learn outdoors in this area. We have a Forest School Teacher working in school.