Introduction and Rationale

Our bespoke curriculum is designed to be contextualised for the children at South Wingfield.  It is the result of research into different models of curriculum design and analysis of the needs of the children at our school.

 

At our school, we want our children to feel safe, secure, warm, welcomed and loved. We value all children as individuals with their own unique interests, talents and personalities. Our curriculum is carefully designed to encourage creativity from rich, stimulating experiences, appealing to all learners. We want to encourage this creativity through 5 strands.

 

• Physical spontaneity - the enjoyment of movement when learning, in all its forms.
• Social spontaneity – to converse and interact socially, not just listen to adults speak.
• Cognitive spontaneity - the ability to solve problems without being told what to do.
• Trial and error - getting it wrong and trying again, not following a predefined set of steps but exploring and experimenting to solve the problem.
• Overtones of joy - have memorable experiences that light up childhood. If we can support our children to have more positive experiences of life than negative then they are much more likely to thrive. 

 

We want our curriculum to foster a love of learning and enable children to know more, achieve more and develop and refine their skills and concepts in a sequential and sustainable way.

 

Firstly, we believe passionately that our curriculum should be broad and balanced therefore our curriculum provides a range of experiences for our children.  The core outcome for our curriculum is for all children to leave us with a strong sense of their own identity, talents and interests and to have a strong awareness of the range of possibilities that are available to them in the outside world.

 

Children enjoy a full spectrum of academic, physical, spiritual, moral, social, cultural activities that enrich their lives.  There is equal balance between social and academic learning and we provide a variety of ways in which we help children to protect and learn about their own mental health.  

 

Our curriculum provides appropriate balance by ensuring:

• All children should feel smart and experience the feeling of accomplishment in a wide range of areas of learning.
• an excellent mix of academic and personal development.
• equal importance to core and foundation subjects.
• Physical well-being and mental well-being are both valued and prioritised.
• SMSC development, along with a well-planned and structured programme of personal development underpins all our work.
• We carefully balance the requirement for pupils to reach ARE in core subjects with our wider curriculum aims of providing a balanced range of enriching experiences. 

 

 

CURRICULUM INTENT

 

Although our core outcome is to instil a strong moral responsibility in all our children we also:

• Provide outstanding outcomes for the future of young people in the 21st Century and beyond.
• Engage children in a relevant, meaningful and challenging curriculum that stimulates, allows and supports their learning developing fluency and expertise.
• Ensure that every child exceeds their full academic potential within school and reaches an emotional maturity that allows them to be fully involved in the local community.
• Develop children's desires to be ambitious, use their initiative, have a strong sense of community and have positive mental health that enables them to be happy.
• Ensure excellent delivery of carefully sequenced, powerful knowledge that children can transfer between subjects and phases of their education.

In order to ensure that learning in every subject is sequenced appropriately and in line with the national curriculum, we have created Progression Documents for all subjects.  These ensure that learning is staged and builds on prior knowledge. This provides the children with the opportunity to revisit vital skills and knowledge regularly and embed this learning; therefore becoming experts.

Our curriculum is designed to enable ALL children to be the best they can be.

 

IMPLEMENTATION

 

In addition to year group learning, we regularly engage in whole school initiatives to excite the whole community. These complement the curriculum, promote community and encourage engagement with families. Examples include the Take One Picture exhibition, Anti-Bullying & Online Safety Weeks, Science Week, European Day of Languages and many charitable events including our work with the local Food Bank, Children in Need and Odd Socks Day .

 

Our enriched and innovative curriculum is planned around our topic areas using the National Curriculum with curricular links whenever appropriate. Whilst effectively preparing children for the next phase with sound mathematical and literacy abilities, it is balanced and broadly based promoting the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of children and preparing them for the opportunities and responsibilities of later life. Sport, technology, health & relationships, the arts, humanities, religious education, languages and contributing to the wider community are all championed by passionate subject leaders – often experts in their field – and supported by investment in all curriculum areas.  We have excellent outdoor facilities and these allow us to enrich children's learning experiences by; visiting the school pond, doing Forest Schools either in Shaw Wood or in our own grounds, PE in our extensive playgrounds and field or bug hunts in the forest school and orchard areas.  All classes have access to laptops/ipads to help support online learning and our staff have termly access to quality CPD to ensure they have up-to-date knowledge of the latest curriculum developments.

 

IMPACT

 

Pupils leave South Wingfield Primary School with a secure understanding of the academic content; with the understanding of how to be socially, morally, spiritually and culturally responsible and globally aware; how to make positive contributions to the local area and how to endeavour to be the best that they can be. We aim for all of our children to leave South Wingfield Primary School; respectful, skillful and ambitious, with the motivation and passion to continue to learn and with a thirst for life and all it has to offer.