Curriculum

Welcome to the Curriculum Area of our Website

We are currently developing the content on our website, having reviewed our annual plans across each year group. Our focus for our School Improvement Plan this year, is to ensure the skills and knowledge our children need are intrinsically linked, revisited and consolidated, through a spiral curriculum that is informed by our school’s curriculum intent.

Our "Curriculum Policy" can be accessed HERE.

We are working on pages for individual subject areas; please click on the tabs to see our work so far!

Our Curriculum Intent

Our pupils come to us from a very wide range of pre-school/nursery and home experiences, with varied self-help skills, motor skills, language skills and cultural capital. We know that these are crucial skills, that the children will need as they grow as learners during their school careers:

Language development

We have a rich language experience in our school, with some children who are articulate with a wide vocabulary, some skilled bilingual speakers, and others who are very new to English. All children need to have developed the language skills and vocabulary to access the curriculum. We give priority to assessing and developing speech and language skills, including the building of a rich vocabulary, with a learning environment that promotes language development and interventions to support children who need additional help.

learning behaviours

All children need to have secure self-help skills, leading to them being active learners able to make decisions for themselves and manage their own needs. We therefore structure our curriculum to have a focus on the core learning behaviours of independence, co-operation, inventiveness, resilience and reflection.

physical activity

An active lifestyle can really support good mental health, and all children need to have developed the motor skills which will later support their written work. We therefore ensure that our curriculum and environment enable the development of physical skills, including fine and gross motor, core strength, hand and upper body strength.

cultural capital

All children need to have access to the experiences that will enrich their understanding, put their learning in context and reflect their rich and diverse cultural backgrounds. We therefore aim to enrich the cultural capital of our pupils through skilled creative arts teaching and a programme of visits and experiences that enable children to make connections in their learning, reflecting the diversity of our school community.

creative curriculum design and progression

All children need to have access to excellent teaching appropriate to their own age and stage of learning and development. This will enable them to develop their working memory and learn the skills that will enable them to progress in their learning. We have a sound programme of teaching in the academic skills, with catch-up programmes and interventions for those children who need additional help.

Our Strengths:

Our thematic approach gives status to the foundation subjects, which in turn strengthens the teaching in the core subjects.
Our children make good progress and, in the last set of assessments reported in July 2019, attained highly in the core subjects by the end of KS1 compared to their peers locally and nationally. Our core book approach, which involves basing our curriculum around literature and fostering a love of reading, has ensured our children do particularly well in reading.
Practical, concrete and meaningful experiences give the children a firm foundation in their learning and embeds concepts. “Our Practical, Visual, Abstract (PVA)” approach helps learning to “stick” in maths.
Our SEND children are served well by our curriculum because their specific needs are identified and “Pupil Passports” ensure that all staff are active in addressing their needs.
Our curriculum meets the needs of our disadvantaged children through effective targeted support, especially in reading.
The children’s end-points need to be ambitious. We consider bilingualism to be a beneficial skill that takes time to acquire. Our children may not be able to achieve some assessment points if they are new to English, but they can get the concepts and, ultimately, they do well. Our teaching reflects this.
We have very sound transition and induction arrangements that enable us to build on their varied starting points, taking into account all of the above.
Our staff understands the needs of the children, and the need to embed the core learning behaviours, the language development, the physical skills, the enrichment experiences and the learning of core skills across the curriculum in meaningful contexts.

Our curriculum, based on the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum and The National Curriculum for Key Stage 1, provides children with a rich variety of creative, practical and stimulating learning experiences both inside and outside the classroom which enables each child to access learning appropriate to their age and stage of development.

You will find more detail in the subject and year group tabs, accessed from this page, but the following drop-down boxes outline the broad skills, knowledge and understanding children will need to develop in each area of the curriculum.

Speaking & Listening

To be able to listen and to respond appropriately to others.
To be able to speak clearly so that others can understand them.
To develop their understanding and use of Standard English.
To develop and extend their vocabulary.
To be able to ask and answer questions and to express their thoughts and feelings.
To learn how to take turns in conversation and to respect the other person’s contribution.
To participate in discussions, presentations, performances and debates.

Reading

To become familiar with and develop pleasure in reading a wide range of books (fiction, poetry and non- fiction).
To develop and use their knowledge of letter sounds (phonics) to enable them to read words accurately.
To understand that information can be gathered from reading.
To be able to understand, discuss and answer questions about what they have read or have listened to.

Writing

To develop confidence in, and a positive attitude towards, writing.
To develop the fine motor skills needed for the process of writing.
To know that we write for a range of purposes and to become familiar with these i.e. stories, poems, letters, recipes, lists.
To understand how to make their writing more interesting to the reader.
To check and edit their writing.
To understand and use appropriate strategies to ensure accurate spelling.
To use the correct grammar and punctuation when writing.
To have clear, joined and legible handwriting.

Mathematics

To develop confidence in themselves as mathematicians.
To develop methodical and well organised approaches to their work
To recognise, recreate and develop patterns in shape and number.
To be able to sort and classify.
To develop a good understanding of the number system, number facts and place value.
To develop mental strategies, with rapid recall of number facts.
To understand and use the 4 number operations both practically and in recorded form (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division).
To apply logical reasoning to solve problems.
To be able to use their mathematical knowledge, understanding and skill to tackle problems in real life.
To understand and to use correctly a range of mathematical vocabulary.
To be able to record their work and explain their thinking

science

To develop a curiosity about the world around them, asking questions such as‘What would happen if……?’ and ‘How can I find out about ……?’.
To develop the key scientific skills of questioning, observing, hypothesising, testing and concluding.
To be able to work methodically and systematically.
To be able to work in collaboration.
To use simple equipment to carry out scientific tests.
To be able to record what they have found out.
To use and apply the relevant scientific skills when learning about Animals, Materials, Plants and the Seasons.

art & design

To develop fine motor skills.
To develop imagination and personal vision.
To be able to respond to a range of stimuli to create art work.
To develop skills in drawing, painting, collage, sculpture and printing.
To be able to discuss and evaluate their work, revisiting it to make improvements.
To be able to recognise and describe the work of well-known artists.

physical education

To develop an understanding of what makes a healthy lifestyle.
To develop a positive attitude towards physical activity.
To develop the appropriate skills for gymnastics, games and dance.
To be able to persevere and set own challenges.
To be able to work as part of a team.
To be able to participate in competitive activities.
To use space and equipment with an awareness of health and safety.

history

To be curious about the past
To investigate and interpret the past.
To understand how we find out about the past.
To develop an overview of national and world history.
To understand chronology and that things change over time
To apply literacy skills to communicate historically
To understand and use correct historical vocabulary.

geography

To be curious about their locality and the world around them
To know the names of the continents and oceans of the world.
To identify and describe an increasing range of geographical features.
To discuss similarities and differences between two or more places.
To understand that humans have an impact on their environment.
To be able to ask and answer geographical questions
To be able to use maps, atlases and diagrams.
To understand and use appropriate geographical vocabulary.

religious education

To develop an understanding of their own cultural and religious background.
To recognise that there are a variety of religious beliefs
To understand that peoples religious beliefs are important to them.
To understand the need to respect the opinions and beliefs of other people.
To know about a range of stories and celebrations from different faiths.
To know about some significant figures in world religions.
To recognise special buildings, symbols and artefacts from different faiths

computing

To understand what algorithms are
To create and debug simple programs
To use logical reasoning to predict the behaviour of simple programs

To use technology purposefully to create, organise, store, manipulate and retrieve digital content
To recognise the common uses of information technology beyond school.
To use technology safely and respectfully, keeping personal information private;
To know where to go for help & support if they are concerned about content or contact on the internet or other online technologies.

Garden Suburb Infant School