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The School Curriculum INTENT |
Hackthorn Church of England Primary School is committed to providing the highest quality of education through a caring family environment, which nourishes the diverse talents of all children and prepares them for future success.
We offer a range of experiences that support our ‘Hackthorn way’ values of Happiness, Aspiration, Community, Kindness, Tradition, Honesty, Opportunity, Respect and Nurture.
These values underpin our entire curriculum.
Pupils enjoy a full spectrum of academic, physical, spiritual, moral, social, cultural activities that enrich their lives and give them the confidence and skills for a fulfilled and happy future.
We carefully balance the requirement for pupils to reach national expectations in core subjects with our wider curriculum aims of providing a variety of thoughtful and enriching experiences. As a result, our pupils flourish.
The links below will allow you to download PDF copies of the Long Term Curriculum plans.
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Key Stage 1 - Key Stage 2 |
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IMPLEMENTATION |
Long Term Planning
The four year programme
The four year programme indicates the content of the curriculum, places each area of study into a time slot and ensures coverage of all aspects of the National Curriculum whilst also ensuring breadth in planning, providing cultural capital opportunities for all.
The programme gives a framework for each term of each academic year upon which medium planning is based.
The Key Stage 1 programme follows a two yearly cycle while the Key Stage 2 programme is a four year model.
Some subject areas such as Maths follow a yearly cycle. We follow the Carmel Archimedes Mixed Age planning for Maths. Other areas such as Science and English follow a two yearly cycle while others in Key Stage 2, such as History, follow a four year pattern. We focus on key facts and vocabulary in all subjects.
Areas of study are blocked in to form units of work to be covered. Foundation Stage Units are also identified incorporating the Early Learning Goals.
Where ever possible links have sought between curriculum areas. For instance: Health and Nutrition in Science with Healthy Snacks in CDT or Hinduism in RE with a study of India in Geography.
We sequence learning across year groups and return to concepts in order to allow for greater depth.
Outside agencies are incorporated into curriculum delivery where appropriate. A specialist Languages teacher is employed to teach Spanish to Y3-4 pupils and French to Years 5 - 6 pupils. A coach from JB Sports is employed one afternoon each week in addition to our full-time Sports apprentice. A specialist music teacher teaches our pupils about the musical elements and how to read notation whilst learning the ukulele three times a year in half-termly blocks.
The Young Shakespeare Company visit school each year to carry out a workshop performance with KS2. In this way, every KS2 child will experience four Shakespeare plays during their time with us.
Every child in the school takes part in a school production each year. KS1 and Reception pupils perform the Nativity Play at Christmas and the KS2 production takes place in the summer term. Recent KS2 productions have included: Robin and the Sherwood Hoodies, Shakespeare Rocks, Cinderella Rockerfella and Mystery at Magpie Manor.
Medium Term Planning
Medium term planning takes place before each term in order to ensure materials/resources can be prepared in readiness and parents and pupils informed of the focus of study. Planning takes place co-operatively with teachers supporting each other with ideas and expertise. As planning is carried out jointly each member of staff is aware of the work planned across the age ranges.
Time allocated to each subject and length of lesson is determined by the nature of the lesson content (often a series of short sessions will be more effective to achieve a particular learning objective etc.). The Medium Term planning sets the work to be covered each term and ‘subject time’ is adjusted accordingly to ensure appropriate coverage. There is a maths lesson and English lesson each day.
To support the implementation of our curriculum each subject has the following documents in place:
- A long term plan
- A curriculum map of units of learning
- A subject provision overview
- A progression of disciplinary and substantive skills document
- Medium term planning (which identifies key knowledge, links to the National Curriculum, learning objectives, key vocabulary, lesson content and assessment)
These documents are available on request.
Short Term Planning
Short term planning is the responsibility of the class teacher and should not be time consuming. The plans are for their own use and show lesson content (taken from the medium term plans), success criteria, organisation of groups and differentiation based on teacher assessment.
Collective Worship Time
Collective worship is not only seen as time to undertake an act of worship but also as a vehicle to develop the children’s understanding of the ‘Hackthorn way’ values of Happiness, Aspiration, Community, Kindness, Tradition, Opportunity, Respect and Nurture. The time is used to set the tone of the day, reflect on ‘whole school’ values and responsibilities, demonstrate examples of good professional practice, highlight good standards of pupil achievement, improve pupil self-esteem and to create enthusiasm and a sense of wonder. We are fortunate to have a range of visiting speakers who lead Collective Worship and share their faith and beliefs.
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IMPACT |
We want our children to have a widening and deepening of essential knowledge, skills, understanding and behaviours. Our children will return to areas to gain a deeper and more insightful understanding of the matters, skills and processes within subjects. We believe that learning is a change to long-term memory. Repetition is required for long-term retention. We therefore plan opportunities for spaced retrieval to ensure learning is stored in long-term knowledge.
We use low-stakes assessments and knowledge checks eg quizzes to check children’s concept and subject knowledge as well as more formal end of Key Stage statutory assessments.
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| HISTORY | DESIGN TECHNOLOGY | MUSIC |
THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM GUIDE FOR PARENTS
For generations, parents have found themselves saying, "It's not like when I was at school." Things change so quickly in education, so we have created a link below for parents and carers.
This information is intended to support parents and carers of primary school children. Obviously it would be impossible to set out in detail everything your child would learn during their time in primary school, but by providing an outline of typical content and some background information about how the curriculum and assessment works, hopefully it will help parents support their children in making the most of their education.
