Our curriculum is taught using a project-based approach creating a balance of rich knowledge and the explicit development of skills. We believe children learn best when connections are made to prior learning and therefore retrieval practice is essential for supporting new learning to stick in the long-term memory.

We have chosen to use Curriculum Maestro to support teachers in planning, resourcing and tracking the National Curriculum offering a breath and depth through the project cycle of: Engage, Develop, Innovate and Express.  This provides the children with exciting, meaningful and engaging opportunities to explore subjects ensuring they recognise when they are being artists, geographers, historians, scientists and designers. 

The four cornerstones of learning provide the structure for every project. We call these Engage, Develop, Innovate, and Express. We believe this pedagogy reflects the best way children learn and is rooted in a variety of different educational approaches and research. 

• Engage – hook children in with a memorable experience.
• Develop – allow children time to gather the skills and knowledge they need to develop a deep understanding.
• Innovate – offer creative experiences that allow children to apply their skills, knowledge and understanding.
• Express – provides the space and time for reflecting, evaluating, and celebrating learning.

The foundation of each of our subjects centre around our 5 big ideas: Significance, Growth, Change, Democracy and Investigation. 

 

Significance	Our curriculum explores significant events, places and people within history and the present which have shaped the world we live in today.
Growth	We are continually growing as learners in our knowledge and skills. Not only understanding the complexities of growth in a scientific way with things such as the human body and plants but exploring the idea of growth in our personal and emotional well-being and our social and cultural understanding of the world around us.
Change	Living in an ever-changing world, we want to prepare our children to identify and articulate patterns, make connections and build an understanding of how and why things have changed over time.
Democracy	British values are weaved through our curriculum and help us to develop the children’s understanding of making decisions using these, shaping our children as citizens in modern Britain today. We want to teach them what it means to live in a democratic society. We believe children need to build an understanding of significant historical figures in the past, linking to the idea of democracy and recognising the impact and influence they have had in the world we live in today.
Investigation	Our aim is to provoke curiosity by stimulating and developing inquisitive minds to want to know and remember more. We want our children to understand the value of investigation and how this has led to significant changes in the world, therefore preparing children for the jobs of the future. Children also need to be able to ask and answer questions and develop knowledge and understanding through problem solving opportunities.

 

It is important for our curriculum to reflect our diverse community to ensure our children feel valued, respected and celebrated. Therefore, we follow the Bedfordshire Agreed Syllabus alongside the Cornerstones curriculum projects to teach RE. This enables the children to learn about the different faiths within our community and make connections with religious and non-religious beliefs and how this impacts the choices we make. We celebrate the different cultures within our school with days dedicated to learning about the traditions, history and geography of the countries our children originate from.

British values are at the heart of everything we teach. These focus on key skills that children need to know in order to be good citizens in the school and wider community. Through teaching these, it helps us to create a prejudice and discrimination free learning environment where acceptance of everyone’s strengths are celebrated. Every class focuses on a ‘British Values’ key figure across the year. 

We follow the ELS phonics programme across the whole school. Phonics is taught daily in a sequential order. All members of staff delivering the phonics programme are trained in delivery and have continual professional development throughout the year. Any child in KS2 who requires additional phonics intervention will also receive this through ‘keep up’ sessions.

Reading is at the heart of our school and skills are taught explicitly using VIPERS. Focus texts are initially chosen to assist children in developing and applying these skills in a variety of different contexts.

Mathematics is taught using White Rose Maths allowing the children to gain a mastery approach through concrete, pictorial and abstract representations. It is important for our children to develop their reasoning and explanation skills to reflect their secure understanding of the concepts taught.

For any further information relating to the curriculum or for answers to any questions you might have relating to the curriculum, please contact Mrs Clarke, Deputy Headteacher, or Mrs Kew, Curriculum Leader, at the school.