CURRICULUM POLICY

This policy is a statement of aims and principles relating to the school’s curriculum. It will be reviewed annually by the Governing Body Curriculum Sub-Group.

School Mission Statement

At Lane End Primary School we aim to work in partnership with all members of the school community to make teaching and learning exciting and enjoyable, support and challenge every child to achieve at the highest possible level and create a safe and secure environment where every child is happy, valued and prepared to make a positive contribution to our rapidly changing society.                    

The Aims of the School

• · To create an environment in which all children can experience success and thereby build

self-confidence.

• · To develop the all-round potential of the children through the vehicle of a rich, broad, balanced and differentiated curriculum.
• · To help children to acquire intellectual skills and apply them.
• · To develop in children a positive attitude towards education as a continuing process
• · To develop children’s growth mindset and ability to embrace a challenge
• · The development of a stimulating environment which is organised, secure, structured and purposeful.
• · To promote a climate in which creativity can flourish.
• · To prepare children for the demands of a rapidly changing society.
• · To provide for children's physical development.
• · To recognise the importance of two-way communication with parents and school support agencies.
• · To develop in children an awareness and understanding of our own and other cultures, religions, races and ways of life.
• · To develop skills of communication in which the children are free to express themselves,

encouraged to respect the views of others within their group, and ultimately society in general.

• · To equip the children for a changing society and to enable them to adapt and thus develop

qualities of self-reliance and self-discipline.

• · To challenge every child to achieve at the highest level they possibly can.

The Curriculum

For us the primary curriculum is the way in which we are going to develop a broad band of knowledge that exposes children to different ways of looking at the world. We aim to tailor education to individual need, interest and aptitude so as to fulfil every child’s potential. Every child will have access to a rich, broad, balanced and differentiated curriculum. We will use diverse teaching strategies to develop the talents of each child and teachers will use the flexibilities that already exist to ally high standards in the basics with opportunities for enrichment and creativity.

Common Values and Purpose

The curriculum, whilst paying due regard to achieving high standards in English and Mathematics, is broad, exciting and challenging:

The curriculum embraces the five outcomes set out in Every Child Matters – Stay Safe, Be Healthy, Enjoy and Achieve, Achieve Economic Well-Being and Make a Positive Contribution;

The curriculum is used to increase children’s knowledge i.e. key concepts in mathematics, skills i.e. the ability to use the acquired knowledge, understanding as they grow and develop and become more aware of the world around them and fostering positive attitudes to the work they do at school.

The curriculum will be carefully planned and structured to ensure that learning is continuous, and that the children make good progress with the development of their learning, We  try to ensure that the knowledge and skills gained are used across the whole curriculum and not simply in isolation and that meaningful links are made between subjects in our termly themes.

The curriculum will engage the children’s interest, encourage and motivate them to want to learn;

It will be exciting and offer children first hand experience to reinforce their learning and to underpin their growing knowledge, skills, understanding and attitudes;

It will open their eyes to the wonders of creation and cause them to marvel at the incredible and fantastic world in which we live;

The curriculum relates to the values from Collective Worship and the PSHE scheme.

Equal Opportunities

All children, regardless of gender, race or disability are given full access to our curriculum.  We have a positive policy of equal opportunities. 

Broad Guidelines

The Reception Year follows the DFE Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage which includes six areas of learning:

- Personal, social and emotional development;
- Communication, language and literacy;
- Mathematical development;
- Knowledge and understanding of the world;
- Physical development;
- Creative development.

Where children move into Year 1 without having achieved the Early Learning Goals, they continue to be taught in line with the Foundation Stage Curriculum.  Transition to the Year 1 curriculum does not happen at a point in time but rather when children have reached that stage in their development.

From Year 1 to Year 6 the curriculum consists of:

- The National Curriculum; the programmes of study for each subject are used as the basis for the long term and medium term plans.

- Stockport’s agreed syllabus for RE. Parents may exercise their right of withdrawal from religious worship and instruction.

- Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) using Stockport’s scheme. Parents may exercise their right of withdrawal from SRE lessons.

- our PSHE curriculum, developed in response to Every Child Matters and incorporating SRE, DATE (Drugs, Alcohol and tobacco Education), SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects Learning) and supplemented with  further work on Healthy Lifestyles and Global Citizenship.

From Reception through to Year 6 opportunities will be taken to extend the curriculum beyond the statutory requirements through:

- visitors, including artists, craftspeople, actors, musicians;

- the use of the school grounds, the locality and the wider environment;

- educational visits;

- support of parents.

Many of these activities will embrace the cultural diversity of the society in which we live and enhance the aesthetic environment of the school.

Delivery

The school week provides 22 hours and 20 minutes teaching time for Infants and 23 hours and 45 minutes for Juniors. The curriculum is planned in such a way that it can be delivered over 34 weeks. This leaves 4 weeks integrated within the school year, for curriculum enrichment and collaborative events. eg. residential visits, productions, cultural days, music festivals, maths network challenges, Crucial Crew, Safe Cycling, DT challenge, teddy bears picnic, geography field trips.

All subjects of the curriculum are taught in classes with differentiation as necessary.  Each class has a different theme each term and cross-curricular links are made between subjects based on this theme where appropriate. An extensive range of high quality resources is used to underpin the curriculum.  Homework is set weekly to link the curriculum with learning at home and we have a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) which further enhances the work we do in school.

To ensure progression and allow for cross curricular links, the school has developed its own planning format which links our schemes of work. The planning promotes enrichment, our use of accelerated learning techniques, assessment for learning, drama and global citizenship. We also aim to cater for children’s individual needs through personalised learning.  Part of the curriculum is taught as continuing work whilst other aspects are taught as blocked units of work.

Assessment

The school has policies for Assessment, Monitoring and Marking.

Reporting on Attainment

All work carried out by the children is monitored and evaluated. A written school report is made available to parents annually in the summer term. Parents are invited to Parent/Teacher Consultation meetings in the autumn and spring terms.  The Governing Body receives regular reports on the children’s attainment compared to the national picture and similar schools and the children’s prior attainment.

Target Setting

All children are set next step learning targets through teachers' marking and feedback and our use of assessment for learning. Curricular targets are also set twice each year for maths and writing.  The Governing Body sets the statutory targets in the autumn term for those children reaching the end of key stage 2 in the following academic year. These targets are set in close consultation with the teaching staff using the evidence from ongoing standards analysis.  Using the May assessment level as a base, challenging end of year targets in Numeracy, Writing and Reading Comprehension are set for each child with the expected progress being one full level each year at KS1 and two fine grades each year at KS2.

Roles and Responsibilities

The Headteacher takes overall responsibility for the curriculum. Subject Leaders monitor their particular subject to ensure that it is implemented consistently and effectively in line with the agreed policies. Consultation relating to the curriculum is facilitated through the annual stakeholder consultation process, from parents through newsletters and questionnaires, from children through questionnaires, class discussion and the pupil forum, and from staff and governors at their regular meetings.

Inclusion - provision for all children

Teachers plan to meet the needs of all children by ensuring learning is focused on individual children’s needs and abilities. Outcomes from assessment for learning enable teachers to set targets which reflect individual children’s skills, abilities and potential.
The school has developed a model of intervention for children experiencing difficulties in literacy or mathematics based on three waves:

Wave One: The effective inclusion of all children in a high quality daily literacy hour and mathematics lesson (Quality First Teaching).

Wave Two: Small group, low cost intervention e.g. Booster classes, Springboard programmes, Early Literacy support, Social Use of Language Programme.

Wave Three: Specific targeted intervention for children identified as requiring special educational needs support and curriculum extension for the Gifted and Talented.

Relationship Education

The Governing Body has an agreed policy for Relationships Education. Relationships Education forms part of the science and health education programmes of study and is taught using the Stockport SRE scheme which has been agreed after consultation with parents, staff and governors. The parents of children in Year 6 are given an opportunity to preview the video used as the basis for the Year 6 Sex Education programme of study which goes beyond the statutory science curriculum. Those parents wishing to withdraw their children from these lessons are given the opportunity to do so.

Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Opportunities

The staff and governors ensure that all children are provided with SMSC opportunities both within the planned curriculum and through current affairs, independent study, assemblies, extra events and experiences. Our curriculum is structured to enable the development of social skills and independence.

Self Esteem and Self Worth

Celebration assemblies are held each week recognising the achievements of our children.

Talents of individual children are celebrated within class and at school assemblies and in school productions. The awarding of team points also encourages children to do their best both in their school work and in their behaviour towards others. The use of the SEAL (Social, Emotional Aspects Learning) materials as party of the PSHE curriculum aims to build children’s self esteem.

Children’s work and achievement within the curriculum will be celebrated and displayed to enable it to make a significant impact on the visual appearance of the school and to contribute to the ethos.

 Extra curricular activities

A wide range of activities is offered at the start of each term. Parents of children wanting to attend such activities are asked to sign a consent form. Most teaching staff participate in the provision of extra curricular activities at some stage during the year.  We also have many enrichment activities organised by external providers.

Review of Policy

The effectiveness of this policy is reviewed regularly by the staff and annually by the Governing Body.