Curriculum
Curriculum Intent:
Our Mission is to recognise the unique talents and abilities of our pupils and to inspire excellence across the curriculum, by providing a happy, secure, community environment in which children can thrive and develop. At Trewidland School we believe that our curriculum is broad, balanced and ambitious for all whilst ensuring it is exciting, relevant, meaningful and responds to the needs of individuals within our learning community; enabling every child to shine academically and flourish socially, emotionally, morally and culturally.
Our Curriculum at Trewidland aims to foster a learning environment in which children can:
- get excited about and fully engage with their learning
- develop life skills and resilience to learning
- aim to reach their full potential through a wide-range of learning experience and opportunities
- develop understanding and knowledge about their local area and the wider-world around them
We have developed our SECRET skills which help underpin all the learning across our school. There is a wide range of ‘Secret Skill’ statements which we have carefully selected linked to character traits which children need to develop throughout their education journey and into adulthood. Staff have worked hard to develop a curriculum map for each class which ensures pupils are able to progress through these skills sequentially. Children are taught in mixed-age classes & the National Curriculum is cross-referenced throughout the planning, teaching and assessment processes to ensure coverage, as well as, meeting the needs of our learners.
Our Curriculum Design & Implementation:
- A whole school curriculum map illustrating our long-term overviews – a two-year rolling programme at KS1 and a four-year rolling programme at KS2.
- Detailed Long-Term KS1 & KS2 English & Mathematics which include progressive objectives from the national curriculum; referencing cross-curricular opportunities.
- Class medium term planning maps which detail the National Curriculum objectives for every subject (with links to the LTP) with cross-referencing to our topic work. These plans ensure children can learn key concepts, skills and knowledge as well as apply them in a range of contexts.
- Knowledge organisers are planned and shared with the children every term to ensure we fully embed the concepts, language (key vocabulary), and images needed to deepen their understanding.
- We conduct ongoing teacher assessment throughout every lesson to ensure assessment for learning occurs to move every child on. Teachers assess children each half-term in foundation subjects.
- Reading, Writing and Mathematics are formally assessed termly using a range of methods such as: teacher assessment, RWI assessments, PIRA, assessments, as well as spelling, arithmetic and timetables testing.
- We work hard to ensure quality tests are part of our curriculum approach as we recognise that fluency in reading helps our children to access a full curriculum. Quality texts are chosen across each term to drive learning in English and other subjects where applicable making cross-curricular links. During each term children experience fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts.
- Engaging, immersing and ‘hooking’ the children into their learning experience is important, and therefore we work very hard to ensure our learning environments reflect the theme that children are learning about. Displays are used to support and deepen the learning experiences taking place in every classroom.
- We ensure we review and update our knowledge organisers, curriculum maps & all planning across every year linked to what pupils have learned, attainment and progress made. Teachers adapt and update these are necessary in an ongoing cycle of improvement.
- Central to our curriculum design is the expectation of well-thought-out, quality first teaching and learning, delivered by all. Teaching staff use our curriculum progression documents and planning format to ensure that all learning is sequenced so that children build knowledge, concept and skills over time – making connections with prior knowledge.
- We endeavour to ensure all children see a relevance and a purpose to their learning, so we plan carefully for learning to build towards a purposeful outcome at the end of each unit of learning. This is an opportunity for our children to showcase their learning to a wider audience, through school exhibitions, website publication of a class performance or similar.
- At Trewidland we have very high expectations for the quality of teaching across our school. We sure continue improvement if the focus for our monitoring schedule and delivery of high-quality feedback & CPD helps support improvement.
The Impact of our Curriculum:
As a result of our carefully planned and implemented curriculum, we expect our the impact to be that:
- Our children will secure and demonstrate the Secret Skills throughout their educational journey and into adulthood
- Our children will achieve well – making good progress from their starting points and achieving at least the expected standard across the entire curriculum by the end of Key Stage Two. Harnessing the knowledge, skills, understanding, concepts and vocabulary necessary to empower them as citizens in the 21st Century
- Our children will have access to a broad, balanced and ambitious curriculum which enables them all to excel as individuals
- Our children will have high expectations and aspirations for their futures
- Our children will be mentally and emotionally happy and resilient learners
- Our families will work in partnership with us to endure their child’s learning journey at Trewidland is positive and prepares them to contribute in the wider world they live in.