Cherry Orchard Primary Curriculum Overview
Our curriculum at Cherry Orchard Primary Academy (COPA) has been designed to ensure all children develop the basic skills in reading, writing and number as quickly as possible, so that they are able to become independent inquirers, whilst taking full advantage of a broad, engaging curriculum, which more ambitious than the National Curriculum, delivered through the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP)*
(*Cherry Orchard Primary Academy is an IB World School)
Our delivery of the National Curriculum, through the IB framework of the PYP, enables us to challenge children to think for themselves as they begin to consider local and global issues, and acquire the knowledge and skills they will require to take advantage of opportunities, responsibilities, and experiences, later on in life.
Our curriculum is underpinned by the IB learner profile attributes (linked to the Academy values); these attributes identify the characteristics of a COPA student by the time they leave us. We intend for our children to leave us as caring, active participants, equipped with the skills required to further thrive as they move on to secondary education, continuing on a lifelong journey of learning and beyond as they become global citizens.
Our curriculum can be best described as transdisciplinary; an approach that connects learning through concepts that over arch disciplines and involve two or more areas of study. Our curriculum refers to the subject disciplines in the National Curriculum that are delivered through the International Baccalaureate (IB) framework of the Primary Years Programme (PYP). The curriculum at COPA seeks to ensure excellence in subject disciplines (knowledge and skills), whilst being delivered through the lens of Transdisciplinary Themes, making the curriculum significant, relevant and engaging for our pupils. Where possible, core and foundation subjects will be taught in relation to the term’s Transdisciplinary Theme, however, the design of the curriculum also allows for subject disciplines to be taught discretely, where necessary, in order to guarantee full coverage and clearly sequenced progression in all disciplines. Our curriculum is mapped against the National Curriculum (as minimum benchmark) to ensure learners are exposed to a rigorous curriculum, that progresses coherently, both vertically and horizontally. We have also carefully considered the context of our pupils, and our school community, in order to include knowledge and skills which take our pupils beyond the National Curriculum.
The leaders of each curriculum area work closely with the curriculum lead and teaching staff to ensure that their subjects are planned coherently; that there is vertical progression across the school; ensure there is horizontal progression in each year group, and that children make excellent personal progress, striving to meet age-related expectations, as a minimum, within all subjects areas.
Alongside the academic curriculum pupils will be taught Personal Development (PD) Curriculum (including Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education) which is mapped out to be age appropriate and sequential content meeting the needs of our learners.
The composition of our school community means that we have had a greater number of children joining us at lower than expected starting points, with additional needs or with English as an additional language (EAL). As a result, we have specific processes that ensure that these children are provided with targeted interventions (both educational and pastoral) to aid them in acquiring the basic skills of reading, writing, and maths, whilst still being given the opportunity to access our wider curriculum through additional support or adaptations made. In this way, we intend for all children to achieve their full potential regardless of their background or their additional needs.
Curriculum Implementation
Our curriculum is designed and delivered in a way that allows pupils to transfer key knowledge to long-term memory. Through careful planning of curriculum content in each year group (using the National Curriculum as a minimum benchmark) we ensure that new learning builds on knowledge and skills that have been taught before. Our subject progression maps support teachers in understanding the learning journey for our pupils across all areas of the curriculum.
Teaching & Learning practices at COPA are constantly evolving to ensure that our curriculum is delivered efficiently, using a fine balance between traditional, and progressive practices. Knowledge is, on occasions, imparted through lecturing, e.g. Dictogloss and phonics knowledge in RWI, but also constructed through experience and practical inquiry. Both teacher-centred and student-centred approaches are employed depending on what best suits the learning activity and the children’s needs.
Specialist teachers are employed to deliver PE, and MFL (Spanish) lessons across COPA alongside the class teachers. Through this, we ensure that class teachers are supported in delivering these specialised areas of the curriculum, which are outside of their main areas of expertise. We also have specialist music tutors in Key Stage 2 with pupils having lessons through iRock. In the future, we intend to develop this further with the employment of additional specialist teachers, potentially in art/design. This is, and will continue to be, funded through income raised from after school provisions.
Through the implementation of the IB PYP, there is a strong emphasis on inquiry-based learning in which the children are actively involved, and take responsibility for their learning over time. Through lines of inquiry, they make connections across disciplines and integrate subjects. Our Early Years team also teaches under the Transdisciplinary Themes and takes a consistent approach focusing on the individual child and their development while learning through play.
Each new IB theme has a Central Idea and Lines of Inquiry, planned by the class teachers, and explored in collaboration with the children. We strive to ensure that pupils have agency; learning is engaging, has real life context and leads to action on the part of the learner. At the end of each IB theme, children will take part in a ‘Milestone Task’ to assess their understanding of foundation subjects and the wider curriculum that has been taught that term. The teachers will use assessment of the Milestone Task to plan a feedback/review lesson to address common misconceptions or knowledge/skills that have not been consistently embedded across the class. These tasks are planned for in the design/planning stage to ensure both planning and assessments are meaningful.
Our English lessons for Early Years and KS1 children follow the Read, Write Inc (RWI) programme, which focuses on phonics knowledge reading skills, improving fluency of reading, and early writing skills. By the end of Year 1, children are expected to move away from the RWI programme and join English lessons following the National Curriculum objectives for their year group. Those pupils who still require additional support with phonics and reading will continue on the RWI programme until they are ready to come off and either join the Fresh Start programme, join a different intervention or join class English lessons. Pupils across the school receive daily reading and skills lessons; reading and writing is also woven through all lessons using collaborative and modelled reading and writing activities to scaffold learning.
In Maths, teachers plan lessons which develop children’s fluency, reasoning, and problem-solving skills. Teachers are skilled in developing skills/knowledge, application and reasoning to tailor teaching and learning to the needs of the children so that they are secure in their understanding but suitably challenged. At COPA, we use a mastery approach to Maths, using the White Rose Maths scheme to build pupils' mathematical understanding over time; this uses the CPA approach (Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract) in order to develop a secure, meaningful understanding of Maths that can be used for problem solving and reasoning. Children have access to a range of manipulatives (e.g. bead strings, counters, Base Ten, Numicon) in each lesson to support and consolidate understanding. Our teachers often build in further opportunities to use maths skills within units of inquiry and across the subject disciplines, in order to use maths in more meaningful contexts.
We have minimum requirements in place, that have been agreed as a staff team, in order to achieve across all phases of the Primary Education at COPA. These are rigorously monitored by leaders and Trust staff such as our specialist curriculum advisors. Consistent and appropriate use of a variety of methods, including talking partners, targeted questioning, open questioning, use of mini whiteboards and group choral responses ensure all children are engaged in learning. Encouragement of resilience and a growth mindset, helping children to stay positive and learn from their mistakes. This is modelled by adults across the academy and taught specifically through our Personal Development curriculum. Outdoor Learning, trips and additional learning opportunities are planned for, to further enhance the curriculum and link to classes Transdisciplinary Theme each term.
Curriculum Impact
At COPA, we aim for children to achieve in-line with their age-related expectations, through the development of knowledge and skills across the curriculum that we provide. This will be reflected in results at the end of Key Stage 2 and through other statutory assessments and will be at least in-line with national figures and government expectations.
Children will leave COPA with the required skills that they need to access a secondary curriculum as they enter Key Stage 3, particularly in relation to Reading, Writing and Maths.
Maths and English is formally assessed at identified times throughout the year dependent on year group. For Years 2 and above, this will be through a summative assessment procedure; in reception and Year 1 this will largely be through a combination of assessed activities and observed work in class.
Where children have Special Education Needs (SEN), they make good progress and achieve the best possible outcomes given their starting points.
Children’s work demonstrates learning across a broad and balanced curriculum and evidences progress made in skills and knowledge over time according to our curriculum maps. Milestone Tasks are set at the end of each IB theme to assess learning in Years 1 - 5.
Reading is prioritised, particularly in EYFS and KS1, as it gives children the foundations for future learning. Children are assessed regularly to ensure their fluency and comprehension skills are progressing and are appropriate for their age.
Throughout the school day, formative assessment methods are put into practice so that regular assessment of where children are with their learning can take place. This allows for an authentic daily form of assessment that leads to better learning opportunities for all children.
In addition to the skills and knowledge that formative assessment measures, action is planned through our long term maps ensuring that all pupils have a clear purpose for their learning journey and outcomes. .Year 6 pupils will take part in an IB PYP Exhibition. This gives pupils the opportunity to exhibit projects that are the culmination of their developed inquiry, problem solving and reflective skills that have been acquired during their COPA journey. This is also an opportunity for parents, families and the wider school community to celebrate pupils' success in becoming internationally minded as a result of their development through the attributes of the IB Learner Profile.