Curriculum
Normanton All Saints CE (A) Infant School has a broad and balanced curriculum which places learners at the heart and is driven by the school’s vision statement:
Respect... Empower... Grow!
We aim to provide a coherent, structured and progressive curriculum that is based around high quality teaching and acquiring good subject knowledge, understanding and skill.
The curriculum is designed with the following aims in mind:
- Respect - To provide a happy and safe environment where learners are proud and feel valued as part of our school family and they respect, tolerate and care for one another
- Empower - To enable learners to acquire strong foundations in communication, reading, writing and mathematics. To provide opportunities for learners to become an ‘expert’ as they gain subject specific knowledge, skill and understanding. They will become successful lifelong learners who have high expectations and aspirations
- Grow - To give our learners exciting and memorable experiences which develops a love, curiosity and thirst for learning and provides an awe and wonder of the world. This will allow them to grow spiritually, morally, socially and culturally, helping them to become independent thinkers
Our Curriculum Drivers
We have developed four curriculum drivers that shape our curriculum. These are closely linked to our vision, aims and values. These all respond to the particular needs and opportunities of our community.
Basic skills – which helps to maintain high expectations and broaden the possibilities and opportunities. High quality books and stories will be the main driver for the topics and curriculum. They will acquire good vocabulary through a love for books which will enable them to express themselves confidently. The focus on the basic skills of reading, writing and mathematics will help pupils to acquire secure building blocks, which will equip them with essential life skills.
Diversity and spirituality – which helps pupils to be tolerant, respectful and value the differences in others. This will help them understand their role, rights and responsibilities as a citizen in the local and global community.
Aspirations – which encourages pupils to have dreams and aspirations for the future inspired by good role models and opportunities.
Growth and well-being – which helps pupils develop confidence, motivation, self- belief and a strong sense of self-worth. They develop socially and emotionally and are being equipped to become independent thinkers and lead by example.
Click to download our curriculum drivers PDFs
Curriculum Intent- What we teach?
At Normanton All Saints Infant School we teach following the National Curriculum in Key Stage 1 and the EYFS Framework across the Foundation Stage.
Key concepts from the National Curriculum and the EYFS framework are carefully planned into a progression model that identifies the key concepts, skills, knowledge and vocabulary that pupils must know by the end of Key Stage 1 in order to successfully progress into Key Stage 2. The progression model exemplifies the sequence of learning in each concept from Nursery to Year Two clearly showing each step of the learning journey.
Lessons are planned using subject specific objectives, which are sequenced to build upon prior knowledge and with a focus on developing pupils’ vocabulary. Teaching will focus on the basic reading, writing and mathematical knowledge children need to provide them with strong building blocks. The aim is that our young children will make connections and learning will become ‘fixed’ in their long term memory.
Carefully chosen topics begin with a ‘big’ question and are enhanced and introduced through a ‘hook’ to the learning, which is often in the form of a high quality text. ‘Big questions’ involve the children learning the subject specific knowledge, understanding and skill required whilst discussing and debating to find a possibility or answer.
Our Curriculum Implementation- How we teach it?
We structure our teaching using the following sequence:
- Recap and review of prior learning- All learning will start by revisiting prior knowledge so that children can make meaningful links and teachers can check understanding.
- Modelling- New learning will be clearly modelled using small steps to show the knowledge, understanding, skill and vocabulary which is needed. The ‘I do, we do, you do’ modelling approach will make sure that enough time is given for the children to fully understand what has been taught to them.
- Scaffolding- Children will be provided with a scaffold to their learning to ensure that they are supported. This may be in the form of adult support or a learning resource.
- Guided practice- Children are supported as they practise and are given clear feedback and are questioned to check their understanding. Children are encouraged to use the new vocabulary and talk as a learner to fully explain their thinking and understanding.
- Independent practice and challenge- Time is given for the children to independently practise the new learning and all children are challenged at the stage they are working at. Challenge will be given through questioning and the tasks that are set.
Subject leaders alongside teachers provide progression planning, which is closely linked to the National Curriculum and which outlines the teaching sequence, prior learning, the vocabulary and the required knowledge, skill and understanding in each subject area.
Learning environments and wider opportunities
Classrooms are designed to promote good independent learning behaviours and resources such as individual resource bags, which ensure that children are responsible for selecting their own learning resources. Classroom displays aid teaching and are used by pupils to support their learning, for example pupils use the working wall in literacy to support their writing by carefully choosing and selecting words which have been added from the focused text choice. Each classroom also has a daily dashboard which includes knowledge regarding the seasons, weather, time, days of the week and months of the year to provide children with a daily opportunity to explore this.
Our curriculum is enhanced through wonderful learning opportunities through visits, visitors, purposeful play provision and meaningful links to real life experiences. Key Stage One classrooms build upon the principles of learning through high quality and well planned play and include provision areas which allow children to apply and practice taught knowledge and skills.
Our curriculum design is built upon the principles and pedagogy which underpin it:
- Pupils need to acquire basic knowledge, understanding and skills through repetition and progression to ensure these are fluent, built upon and fixed in their long term memory.
- Pupils and teachers will become an ‘expert’ in subjects gaining age-related core knowledge, understanding, vocabulary and skills which can be transferrable.
- Teaching needs to be accurately pitched and build on pupils’ prior knowledge to enable them to make sense and make connections and preventing gaps in learning.
This is based on the research of:
Hermann Ebbinghaus, The Forgetting Curve
Alex Quigley, Mind the Vocabulary Gap
Barak Rosenshine, 17 Teaching Principles of Effective Instructions
Our Curriculum Impact
Subject leaders alongside senior leaders monitor the impact of the progression planning and the teaching in their subjects and use observation, evidence of pupils work and pupil voice to evaluate the quality of teaching.
The impact of the curriculum is evidenced in what children remember and the knowledge they have gained about what has been taught and how they use and apply this confidently. Due to the spiral and progressive teaching approach we use across the curriculum children make progress in the knowledge, skills and understanding they gain in each subject area and are able to make links and connections from prior learning.
Progress is carefully tracked and this is used to ensure that learners are on track to reach end of Key Stage curriculum outcomes and expectations. Immediate, regular and short intervention is provided to support learners who have been identified to need this.