Curriculum Intent
The Curriculum at St George’s puts the child at the centre of our caring, sharing, achieving school, where positive relationships, based on mutual trust and respect, and “Life in all its fullness, John 10:10” are at the heart of everything we do. Our ambitious curriculum has been designed to take account of the legal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum and the Primary National Curriculum. It exposes our children to enriching experiences, immersing them in progressive knowledge and skills; equipping them with personal characteristics required to succeed in life.
Outdoor learning, visits and visitors are pivotal to our curriculum delivery and ensure that our children are immersed in vibrant experiences, allowing each of them to express themselves as an individual and to have new experiences. The key principles behind the design of our curriculum are for our children to:
· be confident, independent and resilient; displaying a thirst for learning and a quest for discovery
· be kind; showing empathy and compassion whilst valuing diversity
· achieve academically across the entire curriculum, meeting at least the national expectation by the end of their primary education
· be culturally knowledgeable about our country and our world
· have aspirations for the future and know that these can be reached through hard work and determination
· be well prepared for the challenges of the secondary school curriculum.
Ultimately, we want all of our children, to be the best they can be, making a positive contribution to the world they live in.
In order to achieve a broad and balanced curriculum, the staff dedicate time each year to review and reflect on how to improve the curriculum to meet every children’s needs.
Curriculum Implementation
Children are expected to work hard and demonstrate positive learning behaviours to both maximise their own individual learning potential as well as contribute to the school and wider community. Weekly praise assemblies, half-termly Yearning for Learning Awards and the Class Dojo system allow us to reward the behaviours we strive to develop.
We have high expectations of attendance, academic and sporting achievement and pupil behaviour. We are committed to working in partnership with parents as we believe that when home and school work closely together we get the best outcomes for our pupils.
The school works closely with the Church. Following the school maxim, “Life in all its fullness” John 10:10, we encourage every child to thrive and be the person they are fully capable of being; living a varied and full life of learning, growing, helping, reward, joy, excitement and caring for each other. Our specialist Learning Support team, Kids Safe and PSHE framework focus on the well-being, resilience, positive self-awareness, relationships and the wider world. Our pupils have access to a wide range of opportunities which promote personal safety and pupil voice with all children being actively involved in whole school decision making through the School Council and many positions of responsibility.
Our curriculum recognises the importance of pupils’ physical and mental well-being in shaping their long term life-style choices. We believe that our fundamental task is to teach our children to speak clearly and articulately and to read and write effectively. Reading across all curriculum areas is a priority to extend and deepen pupils understanding and use of vocabulary. We want pupils to develop a love of reading during their time at St George’s and be exposed to a range of classic, cultural and contemporary literature. The use of the school library, class read-aloud books and class shared texts are pivotal to this.
In order to raise aspirations and equip children with a real belief that they can achieve anything if they are prepared to work hard, it is imperative that we prioritise experiential learning within our curriculum. Visitors are regularly invited into school, educational and residential visits are carefully chosen to deepen understanding and we make the most of the surrounding outdoor learning environment to enhance hands-on learning experiences.
Children from across the school have access to a wide range of extra-curricular activities in sport, music and the creative and performing arts. Continuing Professional Development for all staff is a priority to ensure they have the necessary skills and knowledge to deliver the highest standards across the entire curriculum. Music, art and sports specialists work alongside teaching staff to enhance curriculum delivery. Subject Leaders have the necessary expertise to play a pivotal role in both the design and delivery of their subject area; ensuring a clear progression of both skills and knowledge across all year groups, underpinned by a robust assessment system. They can confidently articulate how learning is re-visited and developed year-on-year, to ensure a real depth of learning right across the school.
Pupil Progress Meetings and regular assessment support a reflective approach to progress and attainment across the curriculum.
Impact
¨ Our children demonstrate confidence, independence, resilience and a real thirst for learning.
¨ Our children are able to form meaningful relationships based upon mutual respect and trust, recognising and celebrating difference, not only within the school community, but in the wider world as well. This is supported by our exchange work with Meetse A Bophelo Primary School in Mamelodi in South Africa.
¨ Our children have access to a wide and varied curriculum, allowing each of them to excel as individuals and be the best they can be.
¨ Our children achieve at least the expected standard across the entire curriculum by the end of Key Stage Two.
¨ Our children are well prepared to access the challenges of the secondary school curriculum.
¨ Our children have aspirations for the future and know that these can be realised with hard work and determination.
¨ Our children grow up being able to make a positive contribution to the world in which they live
EYFS
Little Dragons
In Little Dragons, the focus is on individual learning through well planned play. The three prime areas of EYFS (communication and language; physical development and personal and social development) and the four specific areas (Maths; Literacy; Creative and Understanding of the World) are taught following the child’s interests, strengths, and stage of development. Sensory and heuristic play resources are key, are provided regularly and are freely available.
We have high expectations as the children are supported to be appropriately independent in their learning and self-help skills.
Communication and Language – this is nurtured through active intervention using Wellcomm screening and assessment on a weekly basis. In adult-supported play, staff model words to develop vocabulary and conversation. Song, rhyme and story are used to develop language and understanding in an engaging and practical way.
Physical Development is the key to our learning. Children are active in their play and take part in regular and off-site trips into the community and have daily access to the playground. PE sessions take place weekly in our sports hall or MUGA pitch. Fine motor skills are developed through jigsaws, mark making and playdough.
Personal and social skills and emotional development are promoted through the Keyperson system: each child has a supportive adult who will support understanding and challenge the child and, where possible, follow the child’s ideas and let them take the lead. Staff recognize that children need help to “learn the rules” and support this in a sensitive way. An accessible drawer is available for children’s possessions.
Nursery Curriculum
In Nursery we use a “Curiosity” approach which encourages children to explore, discover and investigate the stimulating and welcoming environment.
We follow the EYFS guidance when planning our curriculum however we keep the children’s interests at the fore front to ensure our activities are exciting and engaging and promote learning.
Our links with parents is vital as learning is a two-way process. We invite parents into school for Stay and Play, Toddlers. We keep connected through Dojo’s and Seesaw to share their children’s achievement and success on line.
Maths
We have daily Big Maths sessions and specific maths activities to enable the children to have a greater understanding of number and mathematical concepts. These activities are cross curricular to encourage children to notice maths in everyday situation not just as a pure subject.
PE
PE is vital to our children’s physical and mental well-being. We teach gymnastics, multi skills, yoga and how to ride bikes and scooters. In addition, we invite external coaches into school to promote a deeper understanding of specific sports, football at present.
CAL
Each day we have small group sessions based around singing, rhythm, rhyme and talking. In these sessions we encouraged the children to talk to their friends, share stories and express their ideas and observations with increasing confidence.
PSED
Throughout transition and the school year we encourage the children to become increasingly independent with their personal self-care, dressing, eating and organization, in preparation for Reception Class
UW
By using the whole of our school environment and our Outdoor Learning we help the children to understand the world around them, their place in the world and how to care and respect it.
EAD
Here we encourage the children to be as imaginative and creative as possible. We provide musical opportunities for our children to explore percussion instruments and to work with a music teacher on larger and more adventurous projects.
Building and constructing has no limits as we encourage the children to build large and small scale creations. Engineers of the future.
Our whole ethos is on what we can do and how to achieve it? We celebrate successes and ensure that any failures are only seen as First Attempt In Learning.
RECEPTION CLASS
Our aim in Reception Class is for the children to achieve their very best through a stimulating, fun and practical way of learning. We want to lay a secure foundation for future learning.
Our mission is for our children to leave us as happy, confident children who are curious about the world them.
We do this by planning activities linked to the children’s interests after observing them in their play. So topics change regularly each year.
The children start the day with the opportunity to talk to us and work on their nest steps.
Phonics is taught each day in small groups and letter formation and spelling are included in this time too.
We aim to listen to every child read most days in school and parents are expected to read daily for a few minutes at home with their child. This home reading has a huge impact on a child’s learning.
Maths is taught each day and is included in the child’s play and the resources that are available for the children too.
We have a cross curricular practice in Reception and learning is linked to all areas. We learn about the world around us through our cross curricular teaching and the Outdoor Learning.
Communication and language is key to all our learning and a love of speaking and sharing ideas is the basis of everything.
Maths
St George’s follows the Power Maths curriculum from year 1 to 6 with additional input from Big Maths to support fluency (CLIC starting in the Spring or Summer tem of Reception class, depending on cohort). We use a mastery approach. Primary Stars programme is used to support pupils in year 1 and 2. Daily short sessions using Mastering Number (Reception, Years 1 and 2) is used to help develop pupils’ number sense. Our SEND pupils in years 4-6 benefit from using Dynamo online resource delivered by our SENCO.
Strategies we use to effectively teach maths include hands-on learning (manipulatives); the incorporation of visuals (using a Concrete Pictorial Abstract or CPA approach); integration of maths games in lessons; connection to everyday life situations; encouragement of pupils to voice or explain their reasoning and frequent and immediate feedback and direction.
Maths Clinics, delivered on the same day where possible, allow for pupils to keep abreast of the learning in class. The use of Rising Stars Shine documents and interventions support closing the gaps in pupils’ learning through revisiting areas that require developing.
Documents from NCETM including Curriculum Prioritisation 2021-22 and the Ready to Progress Criteria have supported staff in identifying areas where pupils have missed out in previous years.
The delivery of RRR in the spring term allows high quality individualised catch up for groups of pupils in each year group. This has shown to have had a great impact in the academic year 2021-22.
Two staff members have been working with the NNW Maths Hub and have modelled lessons to teachers in South Cumbria.
English
High quality texts are used to support the English Curriculum, using CLPE Power of Reading and Power of Pictures to match books with the year group. Books feature prominently in all curriculum areas and are being promoted through the use of Curriculum Visions to support Science, History and Geography.
Reading for Pleasure is actively promoted through a daily Read Aloud programme, World Book Day, Snuggle Nights and engagement with authors and illustrators.
Phonics is taught on a daily basis in Reception, years 1 and 2 (and for those pupils requiring catch up in year 3). Grammar is explicitly and implicitly taught in years 3, 4, 5 and 6.
Spelling is taught in line with the phonics level of the child and/or the National Curriculum Spelling list for the year group. Emphasis is placed on vocabulary development, especially Tier 2 words.
School uses Letter-join whole-school handwriting scheme. Pupils move from pencil to pen once their joins are established.
Daily reading comprehension tasks using choral and echo reading as well as explicit teaching of reading skills is used to develop reading throughout school.
Science
Autumn 2022 we are embarking on the use of CUSP Curriculum to deliver our science programme as it is evidence-led and rich in retrieval practice. Interleaving? CUSP Science follows the units outlined in the National Curriculum placing knowledge, vocabulary, working and thinking scientifically at the heart of its principles, structure and practice. Modules are revisited to support knowledge acquisition.
The Science Scheme is divided into biology, physics and chemistry. Each unit draws on prior learning. CUSP Science deliberately pays attention and values the importance of subject content as well as the context it is taught in. Common scientific misconceptions are identified in all CUSP Science learning modules. These misconceptions are made explicit to pupils. Children draw upon substantive and disciplinary knowledge to reason and practise acquiring the conception, whilst repelling the misconceptions. Examples and non-examples are powerful ways of saying what something is and what something isn’t.
School holds a yearly Science Week which is linked to the themes suggested by the British Science Association. The theme for 2023 is Connections.
RE
Our R.E Curriculum intent is rooted in Jesus’ promise of ‘Life in all its Fullness’. By educating for our school Christian values we seek growth and flourishing for all, and through this the learning, transformation and celebration of our St George’s School Community.
We teach the Cumbria Agreed R.E syllabus which is rich and varied and studies a range of world religions and worldviews. At the heart of RE in this school is the teaching of Christianity, rooted in the person and work of Jesus Christ, who challenges us to show the true worth of all humankind.
Geography
The geography curriculum includes the substantive concepts of locational knowledge, place knowledge, human and physical geography and geographical skills and fieldwork.
The curriculum is designed to be progressive and build on previous learning. Within the year and between year groups, concepts will be revisited and built upon with more sophisticated learning. There is an emphasis on retrieval practice, spaced retrieval, word building and the promotion of “thinking hard”.
Specific geographical vocabulary is planned sequentially and cumulatively. Each unit has a Big Idea which is the overarching concept. Lessons start with a question. Children are encouraged to make connections and to think hard and to think like a geographer.
History
The history curriculum is built on substantive concepts of community, knowledge, invasion, civilisation, power and democracy. The disciplinary knowledge covers chronology, cause and consequence, change and continuity, similarity and difference, evidence and significance.
Using feedback, quizzes, thinking hard tasks and structured assessment tasks, teachers see how well pupils retain and remember content, which is then built on as the pupil progresses through school.
Art
The progression of art skills is taught throughout school focusing on drawing (pencil, charcoal, inks, chalk, pastels, ICT software); colour (painting, ink, dye, textiles, pencils, crayon, pastels); texture (textiles, clay, sand, plaster, stone); form (3D work, clay, dough, boxes, wire, paper sculpture, mod roc); printing (found materials, fruit/vegetables, wood blocks, press print, lino, string); and pattern (paint, pencil, textiles, clay, printing). Children develop the skills taught over time.
Children are introduced to a range of artists from around the world and across time.
PE
School employs specialist teachers to support skills in cricket, football, tennis and rugby. There is also a dedicated part-time teacher who teaches PE skills across the key stages. The school has a gymnastics teacher who previously was a county coach. The use of iPep programme supports skill development. Children have swimming lessons in the local swimming pool.
Design Technology
At St George’s C of E Primary School, the children are exposed to a range of possibilities to exercise their creativity through designing and making. Skills are taught progressively to ensure that all children are given opportunities to learn and practise as they move through the school. D&T allows our children to apply knowledge and skills learned in other subjects, particularly Mathematics, Science, Computing and Art. D&T starts by allowing children to take risks, be reflective, innovative and resilient which equips them with skills for their future. Evaluation is a key part of the design process and allows children to reflect and improve their product, which is another key skill that they will need throughout their lives. Children will also be taught a sound knowledge of food and nutrition and its great importance. Many children develop creativity through their love of cooking. It is a crucial life skill and for this reason we have ensured that we study food and nutrition to allow children to develop a love of cooking and to learn how to stay healthy!
Music
School employs a specialist keyboard teacher to support the learning of keyboard skills in upper key stage 2. Charanga is being trialed in the Autumn term to create a progressive approach to music.
Computing
We follow the ‘Teach Computing’ curriculum. Years 1-6 access ‘Project Evolve’ sessions to support Internet Safety.
MFL
At St George’s C of E Primary school we believe that learning a second language is essential to support the children’s opportunities for the future. We are living in an increasingly global world with more contact and communication between countries. Through delivering Spanish lessons, we are enabling the children to communicate with a greater proportion of the world, thereby raising their opportunities for employment and travel for the future as Spanish is the world’s fourth most spoken language!
We introduce the teaching of Spanish in year 3 where children will have a weekly lesson, they will build on their learning opportunities each year, learning a wider range of vocabulary as they progress.
PSHE
Our school values: all of us will work to be the healthiest and happiest we can: mind, body and soul. To open our hearts wide, to life around us, and the world beyond. Everyone will make sure, together, that our lives are safe and secure.
We have a commitment to living “Life in all its fullness,” to nurture and promote whole child spiritual development through Christian teaching. We will increase local out of school links to support whole school mental and physical heath, with staff as well as children at the centre.
We will trial SCARF (Safety, Caring, Achievement, Resilience and Friendship) in the Autumn term to see how well it fits into the ethos of our school and our school values.