Curriculum
Our Curriculum
INTENT
Our overarching Trust Curriculum Intent has been drawn together across all five schools within the Trust and reflects the importance of our children developing the knowledge, skills and ambition that they will need to be successful citizens of the future. We are a Trust with shared needs and demands and therefore our overarching intent for the curriculum is shared.
For all of our schools, reading, along with language and vocabulary development, is a key driver this is because successful readers have access to the wider curriculum knowledge and can extend their knowledge independently as well as in school. Developing successful early readers, creating a love of reading and teaching the skills of reading are drivers within our curriculum.
Each Subject Intent has been created together across the schools, ensuring that it is firmly based on the National Curriculum but at the same time meeting the specific needs of our children given their experiences, backgrounds and starting points.
We have planned carefully to ensure that the depth and breadth of each subject area are taught effectively. The purpose of our curriculum is to ensure that children can build their knowledge, recognising that learning happens through staged repetition over time and through a change in the long term memory. In this way, we ensure that children acquire both a broad and deep knowledge and understanding as they move through the school.
Beyond this, schools also have their own curriculum drivers which embrace their school community. For example, one is a UNICEF Rights Respecting school, another has outdoor learning as a key focus, whilst another the environment. These thread through the curriculum in each school alongside the values of both the Trust and the schools. The strong curriculum and quality of teaching ensure that our children develop resilience, ambition and a confidence in themselves that will remain with them into their future.
IMPLEMENTATION
Clear progression documents for each subject ensure that learning is built upon as children move through the school from the early years to year 6. All of our schools have a focus on developing pedagogical approaches that support the delivery of schemes of work in the most effective way. Using what we know about cognitive science and working and long term memory lessons are carefully crafted to support children to retain and deepen knowledge and then apply this knowledge to the world around them.
IMPACT
A well designed, well delivered curriculum changes the way children see and interact with the world around them. Talking to children about their understanding across the curriculum will help us to know how successful we are being in our approach. End of year and key stage outcomes also help us to know the strengths and next steps for our curriculum.