Curriculum Statement
As a Church school, our vision is that children learn to live life in all its fullness. This fullness involves developing academically, physically, socially, spiritually, morally, culturally, and artistically. Our curriculum is the means by which we engender this development.
Our planned curriculum offer has our Framework For Independence at its core and delivers all areas of the National Curriculum including PSHE, Relationships Education and RE. Our taught curriculum is influenced by a repertoire of pedagogy, the adherence to our school’s vision, the leadership conversations, routines, rituals and provision and of course the learner’s dispositions. All this results in the curriculum experienced by the children.
We believe the experienced curriculum should:
Deliver real life opportunities which promote meaningful, purposeful learning challenges;
Teach children that learning is worth doing;
Create confident, capable communicators who participate effectively;
Provide inclusivity for everyone; meeting the needs and interests of all;
Encourage understanding of one’s own abilities and how we can be the best we can
Promote learning as something done by communities
Encourage curiosity leading to exploration and investigation of the world including a global outlook
Help understanding of the disciplines of subjects; linking areas and making connections to deepen learning
Engagement of the whole community; exposing and enriching talent
Offers real choices to children, allowing reflective and creative thinking, independent enquiry and self-management.
Our taught curriculum is driven by the following key influencing factors.
Personal Attributes
We believe children learn best when they:
Are taught how to think, learn and communicate effectively.
Are encouraged to be curious, ask questions, and develop an enquiring mind.
Value themselves and others.
Share a set of core values that reflect what it is to be a good learner, work well with others and be a contributing member of a community.
Pupil Involvement
We believe children learn best when they:
Are involved in their learning and have opportunities to take ownership and have responsibility.
Have opportunities to make meaningful choices, such as who to work with, what equipment they would like to use, and the method of presentation.
Are allowed to take risks.
They are given a voice
Understand how they will be successful and measure their efforts and outcomes against this.
Meaningful Links
We believe children learn best when:
They understand the links between different areas of learning.
Learning is based on real-life experiences.
Learning relates to knowledge and skills necessary to manage their own life
They can share their learning with others through whole school themes.
They can see how learning affects others and their environment (global and environmental dimensions).
They see how learning affects their lives
Enjoyment and Achievement
We believe that children learn best when:
Learning is fun and engaging.
They challenge themselves.
It is experiential
Learning is practical.
Learning is personalised.
They can work with pupils of similar ability and different ability irrespective of their age.
Contexts for learning are inspirational.
It promotes a joyous childhood
Effective Organisation
We believe that children will learn best:
Within a planned cycle to ensure progression for all groups in classes.
When similar work is taught together to allow continuity of learning.
When teachers have the flexibility to respond to the needs of the children.
When children have opportunities to work with different groups.
When the whole environment – indoors and outdoors - is used for learning.
Through the curriculum provided, all our pupils will:
Be Independent Enquirers
Be Creative Thinkers
Be Reflective Learners
Show Confidence, Resilience and self-awareness
Show Cooperation and be a positive member of Society
Show Listening and attention skills
Be aware of their own Health and self-care
This alongside the stated outcomes in each subject area can be monitored to demonstrate the impact of our provision.
MONITORING AND ASSESSING
We believe that effective assessment of pupils’ capability has the following features:
procedures which are not over-complex, were consistently applied and informed teachers’ planning
Teachers who identify the things pupils could do well and where they needed to improve
teachers who provide high-quality feedback to pupils to help them to increasingly take responsibility for their own learning
Pupils who understand why they had specific targets and how they might achieve them in their current work
Teachers who ensure that consistent systems were in place to track and analyse pupils’ progress and attainment over time.
At Gislingham we use a formative assessment system. Teachers assess children’s work by making assessments as they observe them working during lessons. They record the progress that children make by assessing the children’s work against the learning objectives for the lessons. This allows us to:
Set out steps so that pupils reach or exceed the end of key stage expectations
Judge whether pupils are on track to meet end of key stage expectations
Pinpoint aspects of the curriculum where pupils are falling behind and recognise exceptional performance
Support planning and teaching for all pupils
Report to parents and, where pupils move to other schools, provide clear information about each pupil’s strengths, weaknesses and progress
INCLUSION
Gislingham CE Primary recognises the importance of inclusion and our curriculum offer ensures equal access to all pupils regardless of their ability, aptitude, race, religion or gender. A wide range of gender specific and cultural images and contexts may be used, and we will use these opportunities to challenge stereotypes.
THE ROLE OF THE SUBJECT LEADER
The subject leader is instrumental in the delivery of high-quality provision of their subject area. The subject leader acts as a guardian for their subject and represents it well. Their role is to be the face and voice of their subject; encouraging and supporting colleagues, leading to further improvement; inspiring learning; as well as monitoring and evaluating the outcomes. The subject leader will be guided by the subject development cycle.