Ysgol yr Hendre

Curriculum Design

Ysgol yr Hendre

The doors to our school's new building opened in May 2012, and the building's design is very unique. We believe that pupil voice is key within the school and the same can be said for the design of the building. The pupils' visions and wishes were to have a school which looked like a castle. Their wish became reality! The school is designed and built in the style which imitates Caernarfon Castle.

Inclusion is central to our academic philosophy. Our school provides an exciting and happy environment where our pupils are encouraged to become independent learners. Each child is appreciated as an individual who will be provided with a broad yet balanced education so that they become mature, responsible and happy learners and who contribute towards the school's culture and ethos and within the wider community.

Ysgol yr Hendre, which is situated in the historic town of Caernarfon, is home to over 400 pupils, each one a special individual. Our vision places the needs of our pupils above all else, and we are fully committed to giving our pupils the best opportunities and academic experiences we can possibly provide.

Pupils at Ysgol yr Hendre are split across 16 classes and Welsh is the main language medium of the school. Around 22% of the pupils are eligible for free school meals and we have recognised that 15% of our pupils are those which have additional learning needs.

Our Vision and Values:

Learning together at Ysgol yr Hendre to inspire our pupils to be the best they possibly can, live happily and be confident in an ever-changing world.

Education is a partnership! A partnership and close relationship between the pupils, parents, staff and governors to ensure success and happiness for your child. By working together, we are confident that your child's time with us will be full of happiness and will reach their full potensial academically and socially.

Together, we will be stronger!

Developing a Shared Vision

By gathering the opinions of pupils, parents, staff and governors, we've developed a shared vision with everyone connected with the school.

We've collated the key words to create an broad image of the values and attitudes that we promote at Ysgol yr Hendre.

Our Vision and Values

Our aim at Ysgol yr Hendre is to provide an education as well as experiences which are of the highest standard to inspire our pupils to succeed whatever their ability, background and nature.

By offering a high standard education, rich experiences within and outside the classroom in an environment which is happy, safe and caring we will ensure that our pupils develop the skills required to be valuable members within their community and to reach their full potential.

3 Rules at Ysgol yr Hendre

Be Ready
Be Respectul
Be Safe

4 Purposes of the Curriculum for Wales

The 4 purposes of the Curriculum for Wales are central to the Curriculum here at Ysgol yr Hendre.

They underpin all aspects of our curriculum design, planning and teaching. Our vision and values as a school support the 4 purposes and we summarise here what they mean to us. Our learning experiences and teaching methods will always aim to make the following a reality.

Curriculum Responsibilities

Our Curriculum at Ysgol Yr Hendre embeds the mandatory cross-curricular skills and the integral skills that underpin the four purposes of the Curriculum.

Literacy, Numeracy and Digital Competence skills are essential to enable learners to realise the four purposes. These cross-curricular skills are embedded and developed across all areas of learning and experience, to enable learners to access the whole curriculum and use them in the future.

At Ysgol Yr Hendre we carefully consider the mandatory elements of the Curriculum when planning and we detail our intention for these elements within our policies.

3 Cross-curricular Skills

Our learners have opportunities across the curriculum to:

develop listening, reading, speaking and writing skills;
be able to use number skills and solve problems in real situations;
be confident users of a range of technologies to help them operate and communicate effectively and make sense of the world.

Integral Skills

When planning our provision we ensure that our learners have high quality, rich, broad and balanced learning experiences. We also ensure that our provision and teaching focuses on developing the key skills, which are essential to achieve the four purposes.

5 Cross-curricular Themes

When designing our curriculum we have included the five cross-curricular themes and have considered the statutory elements within the CfW framework:

Careers and Work Related Experience
Well-being of Future Generations Act (2015).
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Additional Learning Needs Act and the Educational Tribunal (2018).

Pedagogy

Our aim at the school is to provide education and experiences of the highest quality to inspire every child to succeed. We want the curriculum and the experiences to stimulate them! A curriculum that is broad and full of interest and experiences for the children. A curriculum that will give them the opportunity to leave Ysgol Yr Hendre as lifelong learners, who are fully bilingual and who have the academic and emotional skills to accept any challenge that life in the 21st Century will have to offer them.

How do we teach?

Teachers will be facilitators of learning. Taking into account the learners' needs, opinions and learning stages, they will plan fun, challenging and progressive experiences. Learners will have a strong voice to influence their learning. As the experts, the teaching staff will direct the learning in an appropriate direction taking into account the opinions and ideas of the learners.

Learners will have an influence on the design of their learning environment. They will have opportunities to work in ways that enrich their learning and also to present their work in their own unique personal way.

Ysgol yr Hendre is a learning organisation. That is, everyone involved with the school is responsible for providing the best education for our pupils. By sharing a vision and working together, we try to ensure that every pupil succeeds. In order for our pupils to receive the best education, we research and learn about effective pedagogy and we set the professional development of our staff as a priority in order to realize this outcome.

Pedagogy is the art of teaching, and here at Ysgol yr Hendre, we try to provide rich experiences and opportunities that include outcomes that are shared between pupils and staff in a stimulating and positive atmosphere. We encourage everyone to try their best and persevere with various challenges which in turn develop the resilience of our pupils.

Effective pedagogy means provision that meets diverse needs. Every single pupil at Ysgol yr Hendre is unique and we try to plan lessons and experiences that respond to this. We listen to the pupils, giving them a voice on what is important to them and in terms of what they would like to learn. When building a curriculum that is open to all, we implement the 12 Principles of Pedagogy which focus on effective teaching and in turn ensure deep learning and realise the 4 Purposes.

12 Pedagogical Principles

Areas of Learning and Experience

Curriculum for Wales gives us the freedom to plan our own content based on:

·6 Areas of Learning and Experience and their Statements of What is Important;

·Developing Cross-Curricular Skills;

·5 Cross-cutting Themes;

The 'Statements of What Matters' for each Area form the basis of our planning for progress, depth and breadth of skills and knowledge and for the progress of learners.

We have Areas of Learning and Experience Teams who have worked together to unlock the 27 Statements of What Matters to create connections across all the Learning and Experience Areas as appropriate.

Planning

Welsh is day-to-day language of the school. We're principles the Charter to the complete and practical curriculum of our work.

Taught entirely through Welsh up to the age of 7. choose English for learners in accordance with their readiness for that from the age of 7 onwards. 50-70% are taught in Welsh from the age of 8-11, learning according to the needs of the years. Our aim is to ensure that all learners are bilingual in the school.

When planning at Ysgol Yr Hendre, emphasis is placed on offering our learners rich, wide and deep learning experiences of high quality that are suitable for their age and development: We believe that giving learners enough time to nurture, practice and application of knowledge and skills is key in order to embed their learning.

We will raise the learners' enthusiasm towards their learning by ensuring that they play a central role in the planning of the 'Big Question' and the learning experiences each term. Within our planning we will ensure that our learning experiences and teaching develop the holistic and cross-curricular skills that our learners need to achieve the 4 purposes.

ALN and Inclusion

As a school we ensure that the needs of all learners are met through high quality teaching and learning provision. Everyone's Health and Wellbeing is a focus and a high priority across everything we do at Ysgol Yr Hendre.

'One of the school's strengths is the sensitive support for the most vulnerable pupils. The staff support pupils with emotional, health and social needs very effectively.'

- Estyn

Progression and Assessment

Our role in the transition along the 3 to 16 continuum:

Our learners are at the heart of the transition process. We support all learners along the learning continuum, as they move between different groups, different classes, different years and different settings. We ensure that the welfare of all learners is an important and integral part of our processes, recognizing the needs of individuals, at the same time as supporting progression and progress in their learning. Our understanding of each individual learner, gained through our assessment strategies, is essential to support this process.

We have appointed a Learning Leader for each 'Progression Step':

Learning Leaders are responsible for helping to Design the Curriculum within their stage of progress, including ensuring appropriate attention to the Areas of Learning and Experience together with appropriate progression and progress within their stage.

The Learning Leaders work with the Senior Leadership Team to contribute to the 'wider picture', ensuring progression and progress throughout the whole school.

Phase 1

Nursery/Reception

Miss Lisa Thomas

Phase 2

Year 1, 2 and 3

Miss Lowri Jones

Phase 3

Year 4, 5 a 6

Mrs Glenda Jamieson

The progression of learners along the learning continuum between the ages of 3 and 16 is central to the Curriculum for Wales. We will use a number of different strategies for assessment which will enable each individual learner to make progress at an appropriate pace, ensuring that they are supported and challenged to make the expected progress.

Purpose of Assessment:

Assessment plays a fundamental role in ensuring that each individual learner is supported and challenged appropriately and we use the strategies to contribute to developing a complete picture of the learner - their strengths, the ways in which they learn, and the areas which need to be developed - in order to guide the next steps in terms of teaching and learning.
Our assessments continuously support the progress of individual learners on a day-to-day basis (Assessment for Learning); note, record and reflect on the progress of individual learners over time; and understand the progress of groups in order to reflect on and improve our practice.
We also assess and monitor each learner's wellbeing (PASS) and their cognitive development (CAT4). These assessments are used to draw up a detailed snapshot that provides attainment, progress and well-being targets.

We communicate effectively with parents/carers on an ongoing basis to create positive relationships and to include them in purposeful and meaningful dialogue. If this is done well, this can help learners' progress by helping parents/carers understand how to support learning inside and outside the school environment.

Communication and engagement with parents:

We have developed and implemented processes that support effective two-way communication and engagement with parents/carers. When developing these processes, consideration was given to using a wide variety of different communication methods, e.g. face to face and digitally via SeeSaw, Facebook, Instagram and email.
Information about any support, interventions or additional needs required for the learner's development is shared with parents and carers.

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