Curriculum Design: what makes us special?
Knowledge, skills and wisdom
We recognise that 'knowledge' is available readily in this modern era; so whilst we do gather information and learn about key dates, people and places, our main focus is on the skills we develop and the wisdom gleaned from the best that has been thought and said across the globe.
The knowledge, skills and wisdom within reading and writing are recognised in all subjects.
Underpinning this are our golden threads that permeate our curriculum.
The golden threads of our curriculum development are:
- Cultural diversity - learning about and from other cultures, faiths and communities; whilst celebrating and nurturing our farming roots and our history as part of the village community. In 2020, we are actively building an anti-racist environment: deeply educating staff and children so that all forms of racism are tackled and our children are the ones to break the cycle.
- Reading - Putting reading the heart of the school and the curriculum: if children can read by age 6, they will have a more developed working memory and will therefore find following instructions and sequencing tasks much easier as they travel through school.
- Global citizenship. Working with our pupil‘s voices to take note of global issues and stand up for what they believe is right. In particular, addressing the plastic crisis. - using wisdom to inform action. In 2020, we are actively building an anti-racist curriculum.
We also...
Ensure that all learners make good progress across the whole curriculum.
Provide children with opportunities to gain cultural capital - learning from the best that has been thought and said - across the globe; giving our pupils hope and aspiration.
1 Corinthians 16: 13-14. Love is our core value - we use nurture and natural consequences. We believe in helping as many children as we can to be in the right emotional place to access a curriculum that will set them up for the next stage.
Metacognition
Learning about learning
We ask the children to consider four things before they tackle a job:
- What have I been asked to do? What does the teacher want?
- What will it look like when it is finished? What does success look like?
- Which skills do I need to complete the job?
- Of those skills, which ones do I need help with?
Curiosity
Through our enquiry based curriculum, our children are taught to question, research and reason - leading them to wisdom.
Self-regulation and self-management
We use Zone of Regulation to empower the children to recognise how they are feeling: if the class are in the yellow zone, learning will be challenging! The teachers have a tool kit of activities in order to help children 'get back to green'.
Perseverance with courage
We reference Growth Mindset to teach the children about how neural pathways are formed and why learning feels hard sometimes.
Cooperation and communication
We focus on teamwork and collaboration and encourage the children to be mindful when communicating. When communication becomes tricky, we coach them to find resolutions and make decisions.
Application and Creativity
Once the children have considered what their task is and what it is they are learning, we ask them to apply their skills creatively. We guide them to make links between areas of learning and to talk about the skills they are using. We also ask them to identify the skills they need help with in order to enable them to progress.
Values
Our rules are simple: Think, Care, Seek, Build, Respect. These are reflected in our values - thoughtfulness, kindness, perseverance with courage, co-operation, respectfulness and love; and also in the identified British Values of tolerance, mutual respect, liberty, democracy and Rule of Law (see above).
As a Church School, we teach the children to respect others through a deepening of their understanding of other's opinions.
We operate a democratic system for electing Student Council each year across Key Stage One and Two.
Curriculum Policies
Curriculum Policies
Have a look at our policies on the teaching of the 2014 National Curriculum.