Our curriculum blends core subjects such as English and maths with other content; we aim to balance variety and depth to ensure that every child can master the skills they need to progress; their own talents are nurtured. We have chosen topics to spark children’s interest and combined them with activities that are interactive, challenging, stimulating and fun to allow them to find great satisfaction and pride in the things that they learn. By opening doors into so many different areas of knowledge, we hope to plant seeds in children’s minds and give them the opportunity to develop expertise, skills and values that they can take to secondary school and beyond.

Our approach to this curriculum and its delivery is detailed below:

Intent

To deliver an inclusive, broad, rich and creative curriculum which provides our pupils with engaging, meaningful learning experiences to inspire, enthuse and challenge learning. To provide a well-planned, meaningful progression of learning from Early Years to end of Key Stage 2. On a half-termly basis, there is a whole school line of enquiry which is investigated from a different viewpoint by each class. Project maps give parents and carers an overview of the learning that each class will experience whilst more detailed medium term plans demonstrate the sequence of learning and the progression of skills. Knowledge organisers ensure all children learn key facts and vocabulary and that previous learning is revised and built upon.

Implementation

Teachers plan and deliver a sequence of exciting, meaningful lessons which develop and enhance the children’s knowledge and skills in each area of the curriculum. Medium term plans clearly identify the progression in skills and knowledge for each subject area. Knowledge organisers linked to each project ensure that key facts and subject specific vocabulary are consistently taught and committed to long term memory. Learning is enriched with visits, speakers, performances and project days which impact on long term memory. Curriculum meetings and training sessions allow ideas and expertise to be shared amongst professionals, developing the curriculum knowledge of all staff.

Impact

Pupils have a rich learning experience which promotes enjoyment and a ‘love of learning’ for all. They are aware and are able to articulate how their skills, understanding and knowledge have progressed during their journey through the curriculum. Pupils have an awareness of their responsibilities as a global citizen and are able to demonstrate empathy and compassion for those around them. The knowledge, vocabulary and learning skills acquired enable pupils to not only perform well in external tests but, more importantly, become confident learners with high self-esteem who can achieve their goals. Teachers carry out low stakes assessment techniques to judge the impact and effectiveness of their teaching. Project floor books are used to capture and evidence the learning that has taken place. These include photographs of models and art work, pupil comments, examples of recorded work and assessment tasks.

 

Knowledge organisers

Our knowledge organisers are documents that are designed to not only look nice, but to give children and their parents and carers an idea of what is coming up in their topic. They contain knowledge of different areas of the curriculum that children will be developing their competence in during the half term. Please see some examples of our knowledge organisers here.

Floorbooks

A lot of our curriculum work is recorded in books, but each class also has a floorbook. The idea behind this is that our floorbooks are a showcase of the amazing activities that go on in our classrooms: things that are sometimes hard to capture in individual children’s books. Trips, outdoor learning, science experiments, artwork and even critical thinking exercises all form part of our broad, balanced, rich curriculum.

Our school values

Our school values are built in to our curriculum. Empathy, inspiration, gratitude, equity, perseverance and integrity are really at the heart of everything we are trying to achieve. Of course, this looks different in different year groups, but the topics have we chosen, as a Federation, are rooted in these values: values which we hope children will grow up learning about, experiencing and living.

Global Learning

Also important in our curriculum is the position of global learning. In these times, there has never been a more important area of the curriculum. Classes of all ages talk about current events in the world, the lives of children in other countries and we try to contextualise this through discussion, debate and our work.

Cross-curricular links

The way our curriculum is built and structured, we have done our best to ensure that we can link subjects together as often as possible. For example, we are always looking for ways to embed STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) in all areas, making it practical, contextual and relevant to children. English work is also key in many subjects – we strive to see a high level of English skills in all areas, without detracting from the skills in that subject.

Outdoor learning

Outdoor learning is a critical part of both Calstock and Stoke Climsland. Both schools have wonderful, dedicated areas for outdoor learning, but we also see the value in using the outdoors more routinely for our learning. Whether that is using the outdoor space for maths, where we might play battleships on the playground to support our work with coordinates, or maybe using our hedgerows to support our science work, we try to get outside as often as possible to use it in the best way: where it is embedded in our work as a school and showcased in our floorbooks.

Critical thinking

Not only do we want children to receive the knowledge and skills in our curriculum, but we want them to acquire the skills to stand up and question the world they see around them. Every class, from Reception through to Year 6, look at a range of issues, both historic and current. We do this to foster children who are looking outwards and upwards, who are inquisitive and questioning of the world around them. We have these times in order to debate them and for children to be able to share their own opinions, justify their reasoning and arguably most importantly, listen to the opinions and reasoning of others.