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Curriculum

Silvertrees Curriculum Statement

Curriculum Intent

Our curriculum has been designed to meet the needs of all of our children and support their personal development and academic learning so they can ‘be the best they can be.’ We strive for our children to leave us with confidence, resilience and the social skills to be good citizens.

We aim for children, at the end of Reception, to meet Early Learning Goals so they are ready to progress to the National Curriculum. By the end of Year 2 we aim for children to progress and meet expected KS1 National Curriculum standards so they are prepared for junior school and the next stage in their learning journey. To help achieve this we place oracy at the heart of our curriculum; it is the foundation of all learning. Breadth of vocabulary is extended and high quality talk is a key feature of all lessons to ensure children have the skills to be effective communicators and learners. Our children require a heavy emphasis on basic skills in Reading, Writing and Maths to empower them and give them future cultural capital. This is balanced with a broader curriculum to build knowledge foundations in a wide range of subjects. Learning in all subject areas is carefully planned to ensure it is correctly pitched, sequential and explicitly linked and revisited to deepen understanding and make connections. Learning is structured so it is progressive and becomes part of long term memory.

The covid pandemic led to long periods of partial school closure and gaps or delays in learning for many children. As a result, in 2021/22, KS1 curriculum content that is crucial to progression will be identified and prioritised.

Curriculum Implementation

The Early Years Statutory Framework and National Curriculum are significant documents for shaping our curriculum.

The curriculum at Silvertrees follows a head, hand, heart approach to deliver a broad curriculum that develops the whole child to be a curious, questioning and successful learner. Subject content is split into progression of:

Head – depth knowledge

Hand – the skills to apply knowledge through creativity and problem solving

Heart – emotional intelligence to be a resilient, responsible and tolerant citizen

At Silvertrees we have enhanced the head, hand, heart model, to meet the needs of our community, by adding a dedicated vocabulary section with key subject specific words to be learnt.

All curriculum areas have a leader who has developed Intent, Implementation and Impact statements for their subject and carefully mapped long term head, hand, heart, vocabulary progression overviews. In Key Stage One each subject is explicitly taught so children know when they are historians, scientists, geographers … this helps children master knowledge and skills in all areas of the curriculum.

The covid pandemic has impacted on the attainment of reading, writing and maths for some of our children. These areas will therefore continue to be the key focus for teaching and learning in 2021/22. A range of assessment will be used to identify gaps in key knowledge and skills in phonics, reading, writing and maths with subject progression documents then being used to correctly pitch and move learning on. There are also large gaps in learning for foundation subjects, with subject leader support, staff will identify key objectives to be taught to ensure there are firm learning foundations.

Early reading and maths skills across school are prioritised with daily dedicated teaching time. A flexible approach is taken to foundation subjects, they can be taught through a regular timetabled slot or in a block of learning. It is a non-negotiable that all Key Stage One children must take part in two PE sessions a week.

Prime areas are the foundations to learning in Early Years and are developed through quality continuous provision that aims for children to be highly involved, expressive and creative. Nursery and Reception plan as a unit and often follow the children’s interests to maximise engagement.

Maths and phonics are always taught discretely. Learning journeys are then used to link other subjects to give context to learning and explore big ideas. However, if subjects do not appropriately fit a learning journey they will be taught separately to ensure good subject coverage and progression. Learning journeys are themed around a topic or high quality texts linked to English. Each Learning Journey begins with an oracy hook that engages children and helps to assess prior knowledge of key skills and learning objectives. Staff value child voice and skilfully use strategies from the Voice 21 oracy project throughout learning journeys to enable children to effectively use and understand new vocabulary and plan various opportunities for rich talk to verbally rehearse, practice and revisit learning.

In every curriculum area staff follow a mastery approach so children acquire a deep, long-term, secure understanding of the subject that they can ultimately adapt and apply. To achieve this staff constantly assess-plan-do-review, identifying starting points and carefully planning learning using progression documents. To ensure learning becomes long-term, lessons are well pitched, sequenced and begins with a review of previous learning that connects and builds knowledge and skills.

At Silvertrees, we also seek to create opportunities to widen our children’s experiences in a range of activities that enhance and extend the National Curriculum. Children have opportunities both inside and outside the classroom, through curriculum enrichment days, whole school activities clubs and trips to enrich learning.

Impact

All staff and subject leaders carefully monitor and evaluate the impact of our curriculum intent and implementation.

Intention 1: to develop head, hand (knowledge and skills) and vocabulary

Our children will have developed deep knowledge and skills across the whole curriculum.

This can be measured by:

Summative and formative assessments that track progress made from varied starting points.
Children achieving statutory ELGs and GLD at the end of Reception.
Children passing the statutory Phonics Screening Test.
Children achieving statutory Expected Standards at the end of Key Stage One.

Intention 2: to develop heart (citizenship)

Our children will have developed as fully rounded characters who are resilient, have a good understanding of right and wrong and behave accordingly and are respectful and tolerant towards others.

This can be measured by:

Good learning behaviours in class seen through learning walks and observations.
Positive play during break and lunchtimes; behaviour records.
Depth of knowledge in Relationships and Health Education.
Progression in PSED throughout Early Years and achieving the PSED ELG at the end of Reception.

Curriculum accessibility, equality and inclusion:

All class teachers are responsible for delivering a curriculum that is suitable for all pupils in their class, including those with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities. We have high aspirations for all pupils and are committed to ensuring our curriculum complies with the Equality Act 2010 and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014. Additional information cab be found here: Special Educational Needs and Disability | Silvertrees Academy Trust