‘Creating an inspiring learning community, which allows every person to thrive, achieve their full potential and shape a brighter future’
After Safeguarding, the curriculum we offer our children is the most important aspect of our work. The curriculum is the vehicle through which all children learn. Promoting strong outcomes is therefore strongly linked to an engaging, purposeful and enjoyable curriculum.
At Thirsk Community Primary School we want to provide memorable and thought provoking learning opportunities within a curriculum that has three distinctive aspects; intent, implementation and impact
Intent
Be Ambitious
To ensure the skills and knowledge of the curriculum are rigorously broken down into small steps (components) and that these are rigorously structured to ensure pupils can meet ambitious end goals (composites).
To promote feedback as a tool to drive progress.
To ensure that vocabulary rich curriculum is carefully sequenced to promote the highest standards of oracy.
To ensure the capital of the local area is promoted and celebrated.
To ensure teachers have a similar drive to challenge themselves, and are supported to do so.
Be Compassionate
To place mental health and wellbeing at the heart of our curriculum offer.
To provide a language rich curriculum where pupils both learn to speak and learn trough speech, allowing them to articulate their thoughts and feelings.
To provide a purposeful, engaging curriculum that exposes pupils to the joy of learning.
To ensure our teaching and learning practices and CPD provide staff with the confidence, skills and knowledge for each subject.
Be Inclusive
To provide ample opportunities for overlearning, allowing all pupils to achieve automaticity.
To ensure knowledge and skills are organised coherently for our pupils.
To prioritise reading so that all children can read to lean.
To ensure that all pupils, including SEND and disadvantaged, experience the breadth of the curriculum.
To ensure that our values, and the Modern British Values are lived throughout the curriculum.
Implementation
Be Ambitious
Lessons are split into pacey components and driven by learning more and remembering more.
Assessment and feedback are used rigorously to inform planning and drive progress.
Vocabulary is routinely taught and revisited, and embedded within lesson structures.
Learning to speak and learning through speech is central to our pedagogy and curriculum design.
Trips, visitors and residentials are carefully planned to promote learning.
Performance Management and CPD enable staff to follow their ambitions in line with the aims of the school
Be Compassionate
Mental and physical health is at the heart of our curriculum design.
Pupils are not cognitively overloaded in lessons in terms of content and learning environment.
Our curriculum is experiential and enquiry based, giving pupils lived experiences and problem solving at all levels.
Our curriculum is designed to meet the diverse needs of our community.
Lesson planning, preparation and assessment takes into account teacher workload and aims to minimise this where possible.
Be Inclusive
Low stakes testing, questioning and feedback are used to promote overlearning.
Components are rigorously broken down, using carefully planned task design to reduce cognitive overload.
Reading books are accurately matched to phonetical understanding and fidelity is shown to our SSP.
Reading strategies are utilised across the curriculum.
Adaptive teaching strategies are implemented across the curriculum to allow all learners to access the breadth of the curriculum.
Links to our values are actively signposted and discussed across the breadth of the curriculum.
Opportunities to promote diversity are prioritised in our curriculum planning.
Impact
Be Ambitious
Our children will be academically ready for the next stage each time they reach one.
Our children will be at least in line with national outcomes at the end of each key stage and the phonics screening check.
Our children will be able to use subject specific vocabulary to be able to articulate their understanding across the curriculum.
Our children will be knowledgeable and proud of their local area.
Our staff will be ambitious in their role within school.
Be Compassionate
Our children will be resilient learners who have a variety of strategies to use when things are challenging.
Our children will know how to keep themselves safe, including online safety, and know how to look after their physical and mental health.
Our children will be socially ready for the next stage each time they reach one.
Our children will be able to articulate their thoughts and feelings, and communicate positively with others.
Our children will have a lifelong love of learning.
Our aims for our staff will echo that of our pupils: a staff team who have a life-long love of learning, and whose mental health and wellbeing is supported for them to thrive.
Be Inclusive
Our children will be fluent readers who have a love of reading and can read to learn.
Our children will feel supported to achieve their full potential.
Our children will be prepared for life in a modern British society and have tolerance and respect for all members of society.
National Curriculum
The National Curriculum for schools was rewritten and launched in schools in September 2014. This statutory document sets out the content that schools must teach throughout the primary phase. The National Curriculum is comprised of English, Mathematics, Science, History, Geography, Design & Technology, Music, Art & Design, Physical Education, Languages (from Year 3) and Computing.
Religious Education (R.E) and Personal, Social, Health Education (PSHE) are not part of the National Curriculum, but are also taught in school and cover health and relationship education which both became a statutory requirement from September 2020.
Assessment and Tracking
Teachers use accurate assessment before they plan lessons and ongoing (formative) assessment during lessons to ascertain how successful the learning is. This information is then used to plan the next lesson and any extra support which may be required. At the start of each lesson, children have the opportunity to respond to feedback from the teacher as needed. At the end of each term, teachers carry out summative assessments in reading and maths as well as completing writing assessment based on the independent writing produced that term. In foundation subjects, teachers complete activities to find out how successful the unit has been and which of the knowledge and skills have secured. This information is then used to; plug any gaps, plan the next unit and is also passed to the subject leader so that they are aware of any changes to the curriculum which may be required.