Our Curriculum Philosophy

Finstall First School Curriculum Philosophy

 

Curriculum Intent

1)     To provide a broad, balanced, relevant curriculum that meets the unique and varied needs of our pupils and enables all children to attain and achieve well in all subject areas in the NC

2)     To enable all children to read well as Reading is at the heart of learning

3)     To prepare children for life by developing children’s character – helping them to become more independent, organised, confident and resilient; to be good communicators, creative and able to solve problems; to be respectful, aware of differences, appreciative and reflective; to know how to keep themselves physically and mentally well and how to stay safe from a variety of risks.  

 

Curriculum Implementation

1)     Teaching children to read is a very high priority

2)     Teaching and learning should be progressive and well sequenced, building on prior knowledge.

3)     Children should be taught the discrete subject areas but, where appropriate, topics / themes can be linked to make learning relevant for pupils. 

4)     Learning is reinforced and consolidated through regular opportunities for re-capping what they have been taught already

5)     Ensuring that the curriculum is enriched by purposeful, relevant additional activities that bring learning to life and are engaging, enjoyable and memorable for pupils e.g. Trips, events, productions, etc.

6)     Curriculum is delivered by adults who develop strong, caring relationships with and between pupils

 

Curriculum Impact

1)     High quality Outcomes – children know more, remember more and can do more, as shown by:

  • Our pupils’ high level of performance when compared with other children in Nationally recognised assessments
  • High quality outcomes across all year groups in all subjects
  • Our pupils become confident, independent learners when they leave School, who are well prepared for life in Modern Britain and they continue to do well in the next stage of their education

 

EYFS Curriculum

The children in Reception follow the “The Early Years Foundation Stage” curriculum. During the course of their first year in school, the children in Reception will begin by following these areas of learning before moving on to the National Curriculum: 

  • Personal, social and emotional development
  • Communication and language
  • Literacy
  • Mathematics
  • Understanding the world
  • Physical development
  • Expressive Arts and Design

They will also be assessed against Early Learning Goals within each of these areas. The class teacher will discuss the children's baseline assessment with parents approximately three weeks after the children start school and further assessments at the parents’ evenings, which take place in the second half of the Autumn term and the first half of the Spring term.  Information about what the children have experienced and achieved is communicated to parents via the learning platform 'Seesaw' throughout the year.

Key Stage 1 and 2 Curriculum

Children in Years 1 through to 4, follow the National Curriculum, studying the following subject areas:

  • English

  • Mathematics

  • Science

  • Computing

  • Art and Design

  • Design and Technology

  • History

  • Geography

  • Physical Education

  • Music

  • Languages (Years 3 and 4)

Other Curriculum subjects that are taught include Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education and Religious Education - Pupils at our school follow the agreed syllabus for Religious Education (Worcestershire County Council/Diocesan Board of Education of Worcester and Birmingham).

A link to the full National Curriculum for Key Stages 1 and 2 can be accessed using a tab on the lefthand side.

For each subject and for each Key Stage (Key Stage 1 – Years 1 – 2; Key Stage 2 – Years 3 – 6;), programmes of study set out what pupils should be taught. By the end of each Key Stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme of study.

We believe very strongly that the children also need the opportunity to be creative and to express themselves through a variety of media. Thus, we recognise and value children’s abilities and talents in all areas, not just their ability in Mathematics, English or Science. We also appreciate that different children have different preferred learning styles and we try very hard to take account of this when planning their lessons.

The curriculum at the Primary age is extremely flexible and allows for a great deal of cross-curricular teaching. For example, different subject areas might be taught simultaneously such as History and Literacy. Therefore, although each class experiences some timetabled activities, this is very flexible and is subject to frequent change. On occasions, we take the children completely off timetable to allow them to participate in themed days or weeks.

The children are often given the opportunity to carry out their own independent research on a range of themes, using books as well as access to the internet. They then produce their own extremely informative projects, which can take a variety of forms including booklets, posters, power-point presentations and models.

 

For more detail please see our Curriculum Policy or Curriculum Maps, see links below.   For further information please speak to your child's class teacher.