Compton CE Primary Curriculum Vision Statement
Our definition of learning:
‘Learning is a change in the long-term memory’
Our bible verse ‘Strong in spirit and full of wisdom’ and our three values: respect, kindness and courage underpin everything we do at Compton Primary School..
Alongside academic excellence, at Compton we want our children to grow to be kind, respectful and courageous people. We are proud to provide a nurturing environment where every child individual talents are celebrated. As a church school, spiritual development is central to our ethos, we encourage children to explore their own beliefs and as well and understanding and celebrating the beliefs of others. As a therapeutic school we believe pro social behaviour should be modelled and taught. We teach our children to be intrinsically motivated rather than relying on a rewards system.
Intent
The breadth of our curriculum is designed with three goals in mind:
- To give pupils appropriate experiences to develop as confident, responsible citizens
- To provide rich cultural capital
- To provide a coherent, structured, academic curriculum that leads to sustained mastery for all and a greater depth in learning to ensure all students achieve their potential
1. Appropriate Experiences
We have developed a curriculum that is underpinned by the school values of respect, kindness and courage. Our curriculum responds to the specific needs of our learners. We recognise that understanding and celebrating diversity is a key need of our learners, this therefore drives our curriculum design.
2. Cultural Capital
Cultural capital is the background knowledge of the world that pupils need to infer meaning from what they learn.
3. A coherently planned academic curriculum.
Our curriculum mapping documents set out:
- How the curriculum matches the National curriculum
- A clear list of the breadth of topics and concepts that will be covered.
- Key knowledge, skills and concepts students should understand
- Key vocabulary children should both know and be able to apply effectively for all subjects
- How new learning builds effectually on prior learning.
- Key milestones students should reach within each subject across the school.
Implementation
Our curriculum design is based on evidence from cognitive science; three main principals underpin it:
- Learning is most effective with spaced repetition
- Interleaving (deliberately leaving and coming back to, through beginning with exposure, then keep returning and exploring further) helps students discriminate between topics and aids long term memory.
- Revival of previously learned content is frequent and regular, which increases both its storage and retrieval strength.
In addition to the three principals we also understand that learning is invisible and that sustained mastery takes time
To secure this teachers will:
- Be highly knowledgeable in relation to subject, pedagogical and content knowledge
2. Routinely check for misconceptions and adapt their approach, so that teaching is responsive to need
3. Ensure students’ long-term retention and recall of subject knowledge
4. Identify and prioritise the teaching of key and threshold concepts, embedding these within a broader schema of learning
5. Use assessment to embed and use knowledge fluently, check understanding and inform teaching
6. Set challenging work for students that supports the gradual accumulation of knowledge to enable deeper understanding and enhanced skill development
7. Identify and incorporate opportunities to develop cross-curricular learning and careers education into planned lessons
8. Identify and incorporate opportunities to develop communication skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening) into planned lessons
9. Model high standards of communication skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening)
10. Engage with high quality professional development, always seeking to further improve their teaching efficacy
Impact
The impact of our curriculum is that by the end of each year, the vast majority of students have sustained mastery of the content, that is, they remember it all, are fluent in it; some pupils have a greater depth of understanding. Pupils have developed a strong schema and key knowledge is understood and connected. We track carefully to ensure all students are on track to reach the expectations of our curriculum.
Diversity
Diversity underpins the entire school curriculum. Teachers actively seek opportunities to promote and celebrate diversity across the curriculum. This ensures all students have a secure understanding of protected characteristics and see: themselves, their culture, beliefs represented in our school
Equality of opportunity
Pupils are encouraged to develop their own cultural identity and awareness, and to value that of others people. Racism, sexism homophobia and other forms of discrimination are not tolerated. Pupils are given opportunities for personal and social education, through a variety of means, such as assemblies, circle time, School Council.
We pride ourselves on the inclusive nature of our school. Details of how we adapt our curriculum to meet ALL children's needs can be found in our SEN Information Report, Accessibilty Plan and Equalities Policy and Information Statement. These are located on the policy tab of our website.
Homework
Homework is an integral part of learning. It gives children the opportunity to practise skills and extend their learning through independent work. Regular reading is an integral part of homework.
Children are expected to complete spelling and mathematics homework weekly.
Special Educational Needs
Pupils with SEN receive a broad balanced curriculum, which ensures continuity and progression and which is differentiated to match their needs and abilities.
If a child is deemed to have a special need, a learning difficulty or learning disability, our school does all it can to meet these individual needs. We comply with the requirements set out in the SEN Code of Practice in providing for children with special needs or learning difficulties and will ensure that parents are involved in formulating Support and Achievement Plans (SAPs), if necessary. If a child displays signs of having special needs or learning difficulties/disabilities, his/her teacher will consult with the SENDCo and headteacher. In most instances the teacher is able to provide resources and educational opportunities, which meet the child’s needs within the normal class organisation. If it is thought necessary, the Headteacher or SENDCo may refer the child and parents to the appropriate external agencies (eg; educational psychologists, or speech and language therapists) for advice and further assessment of the child.
High Attainers
All lessons are planned to provide challenge for children of all abilities throughout the lesson. Recommendations are made to parents to follow up additional external opportunities if the child’s talents are in the sporting, musical or drama fields.
Relationships and Sex Education
Our school has invested in a scheme of work called SCARF. PSHE is taught every week and allows children time to talk about their feelings and to build their skills. The RSE element of our curriculum is taught in the "Growing and Changing" unit of work. Parents and carers have the opportunity to consult with the school about our RSE policy and have the opportunity to view resources before the unit is taught.
The Health and safety and safeguarding of the children is always of paramount importance and will be taken into account at all points.