Belonging, Believing, Becoming

 

St.Nicholas CE Primary School

General Curriculum Statement

Teaching Depth and Mastery at St Nicholas CE Primary School

Our Intent:

The Mastery-learning model forms the basis of our approach to traditional teaching. This means spending greater time going into depth about a subject as opposed to racing through the things that all children should know. Previously, racing through content lead to some children having large gaps in subject knowledge because the concept they had just learnt was either too big or learnt too quickly. As a primary school, it is our duty to ensure that children have an absolutely solid, concrete understanding of subject knowledge and skills as well as being emotionally resilient for secondary school.

We have the confidence to take learning at a steadier and deeper pace, ensuring that no child is left behind, as well as providing deeper and richer experiences for children who are above the national expectation for their age.

We focus on all children achieving what is expected of their age group and not going beyond this. Evidence shows that children need to be able to understand a concept, apply it in a range of situations and then be creative to really understand it. Simply going beyond their age group does not guarantee they understand something, it just means they have heard it. At our school, no child will be taught content from the year group above them, they will spend time becoming true masters of content, applying and being creative with new knowledge and skills in multiple ways.

In short, this means working towards:

  • Teaching less, learning more: less teacher talk and more evidencing learning and progress
  • No child left behind: all children are enabled to keep up every day.
  • Space and time to experience and apply, with all children entitled to additional support to ensure they do not fall behind or to go deeper
  • Understanding real life applications wherever possible to make learning relevant and not abstract; nothing should be taught without a purpose.

All of this has implications for the way we teach and assess your child, most notably in how we organise your child’s learning and how we report their progress to you.

We do more of this:

  • Teach all children in class, together, most of the time
  • Verbal feedback during lessons, shorted comments in books and more ticking of correct concepts
  • Spending longer on one idea
  • Giving children who need it, additional support over shorter, more intense periods, like a day or week.
  • Daily or weekly mini assessments with a few formal tests over the year

And less of this:

  • Formal marking with lots of written feedback and highlighting
  • Covering lots of ideas in one week
  • Formal, long term interventions to boost them out of class
  • Separating children into ability groups

This approach is seen as good practice.  It is promoted by the government and seen as the best way to deliver the new national curriculum.

Curriculum Intent

Our curriculum is a carefully planned, knowledge rich approach to teaching and learning designed to support children’s natural curiosity and stimulate their creativity.

  • Whole school curriculum map is carefully planned
  • Planning is closely referenced to the National Curriculum
  • Key knowledge and vocabulary have been identified to ensure children know and remember more
  • Sustained periods are included in timetables for children to work

Direct experience is placed at the centre of the curriculum so that teachers draw out and develop children’s thinking in meaningful contexts

  • Wide range of first hand experiences are offered both within the school and beyond
  • Enquiry, problem solving, reasoning and creative thinking are strong features of classroom activity
  • Children often work collaboratively
  • Interests of children inform teaching

Knowledge, skills and understanding are expressed through a range of different media and ways

  • Children demonstrate their knowledge and understanding in a variety of ways
  • End of unit assessments are planned
  • Learning processes are made visible to children through high quality display

Children, adults and parents work together using resources from the school, locality and wider community

  • Local area and community used as a resource
  • Parents and families encouraged to share interests and expertise
  • All staff’s talents are used

All children have an entitlement to a well-resourced and rich learning environment

  • Well-resourced and planned learning environment
  • Space used effectively to support the creative curriculum

The school’s curriculum statement incorporates the advice and beliefs laid out in the National Curriculum and the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework.

Over the course of study, teaching is designed to help pupils to remember long term the content they have been taught and to integrate new knowledge into larger ideas.

Our school consistently goes ‘the extra mile’ to promote the personal development of pupils, so that they have access to a rich set of experiences. We provide these rich experiences in a coherently planned way, in the curriculum and through extra-curricular activities.

Our aim is to develop

Successful learners who:

  • have the essential learning skills of literacy, numeracy and information and communication technology
  • are creative, resourceful and able to identify and solve problems
  • have enquiring minds and think for themselves to process information, reason, question and evaluate
  • communicate well in a range of ways
  • understand how they learn and learn from their mistakes
  • are able to learn independently and with others
  • know about big ideas and events that shape our world
  • enjoy learning and are motivated to achieve the best they can now and in the future.

Confident individuals who:

  • have a sense of self-worth and personal identity
  • relate well to others and form good relationships
  • are self-aware and deal well with their emotions
  • have secure values and beliefs, and have the principles to distinguish right from wrong
  • become increasingly independent, are able to take the initiative and organise themselves
  • make healthy lifestyle choices
  • are physically competent and confident
  • take managed risks and stay safe
  • recognise their talents and have ambitions
  • are willing to try new things and make the most of opportunities
  • are open to the excitement and inspiration offered by the natural world and human achievements.

Responsible citizens who:

  • are well prepared for life and work
  • are enterprising
  • are able to work cooperatively with others
  • respect others and act with integrity
  • understand their own and others’ cultures and traditions, within the context of British heritage, and have a strong sense of their own place in the world
  • appreciate the benefits of diversity
    challenge injustice, are committed to human rights and strive to live peaceably with others
  • sustain and improve the environment, locally and globally
  • take account of the needs of present future generations in the choices they make
  • can change things for the better
  • are able to handle the conflicting values they encounter in society.