All Saints School’s Curriculum

Rationale

This document is a statement of the values and aims used for the development of the curriculum undertaken at All Saints C.E. (A) Primary School. This takes into account diversity and provides equality of opportunities for all within a changing educational landscape and our Modern British Society.

Curriculum Intent

Our curriculum is underpinned by the words of Jesus who said to His disciples ... - Matthew 17:20

If you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can say to this mountain move from here to there and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.

“Together we Aspire, Believe, Explore, Achieve”

At All Saints School, our broad and balanced curriculum is designed to: recognise children’s prior learning, provide engaging first hand learning experiences, encourage the children to develop interpersonal skills, build resilience, develop reasoning skills and become creative, critical thinkers. We also provide children with the opportunities to grow and develop their confidence, self-esteem and well-being.

Every child is recognised as a unique individual. We celebrate and welcome differences within our school community. Our carefully chosen termly projects, engage the children and spark curiosity, develop skills and knowledge and provide enrichment opportunities and innovate challenges to apply their learning. We believe that childhood should be a happy, investigative and enquiring time in our lives where there are no limits to curiosity and there is a thirst for new experiences and knowledge. We use the “Characteristics of Effective Learning” and the 5 R’s to promote positive attitudes to learning which reflect the values and skills needed to promote responsibility for learning and future success. We value and celebrate mistakes as part of learning and the use of a Growth Mindset and the word ‘yet’ is ingrained in learning to inspire ambition.

Our curriculum is personalised to us. Our local environment and community involvement is an essential part of our curriculum. As a school we celebrate local traditions and make the most of the learning opportunities in our locality. We also teach new skills to enable the children to take an active role in events throughout the year. Children leave All Saints with a sense of belonging to a tightly knit community where they have the confidence and skills to make decisions, self-evaluate, make connections and become lifelong learners.

Curriculum Implementation

High quality texts form the core of our English curriculum and create meaningful links to the wider curriculum by providing our children with opportunities to read and write across a range of contexts and purposes and in response to a variety of exciting first hand experiences.

Every element of our curriculum has been carefully considered, to be ambitious; from when the children start in our Nursery up to when they leave at the end of Year 6 in the form of projects. The skills needed for each subject area and the knowledge that is linked to those skills is planned to ensure progression and depth of understanding.  For example, in the Foundation Stage the children begin to learn about plants as part of the Knowledge and Understanding strand of the EYFS framework where the children learn that different living things grow and die through the planting of seeds and flowers. Then in Year 1, children learn about the basic structure of a variety of common flowering plants and trees and identify features such as the leaves, flowers, petals, seeds, roots and stem. This is then developed upon in Year 2 when the children investigate the conditions which effect the growth of a healthy plant. Throughout Key Stage 2, children will have the opportunity to plant their own plants in the school allotment and observe the key stages of growth. They will also continue to develop a greater understanding of plants when learning about germination and pollination. 

Children in our school experience a well-rounded curriculum, where they are exposed to a broad and ambitious range of subjects, knowledge, opportunities and experiences in order to prepare them for their life’s journey. All Saints School engages all learning styles using a variety of resources including Early Years Outcomes, National Curriculum Statutory Guidance, Mastery, Values Based Learning, Outdoor Learning, including challenge based activities and enhancement opportunities which support teaching of the curriculum. Fundamental British Values and a Christian ethos are interwoven throughout the curriculum. 

Learning Research

All Saints School has recognised the use of clear, focused and purposeful learning intentions and success criteria as an effective tool in gaining intended learning outcomes. Staff use effective questioning techniques to develop higher order thinking skills and reasoning. Children and staff are encouraged to hold a growth mind-set and value 'marvellous mistakes’ as part of the learning journey. In lessons, we provide opportunities for enquiry, recall and application alongside research based projects and hands-on learning which is enhanced through workshops and educational visits.

The 5 R’s

The learning culture is promoted through 5 R’s which are used to remind and empower children so that they become responsible for their own learning. The children are encouraged and expected to either use or be:

• Responsible
• Resourceful
• Reasoning
• Reflective
• Resilient

Our Curriculum

The Nursery and Reception children follow the Foundation Stage Curriculum, providing purposeful play and exploratory activity both indoors and outdoors.

To find out more about the Early Years Education click here.

We follow the 2014 National Curriculum in Key Stage One and Key Stage Two. For full details of the National Curriculum can be found here click here 

 The subjects included in the National Curriculum for Key Stage One and Two are:

• English
• Mathematics
• Science
• Religious Education (RE)
• Computing (ICT)
• Design and Technology (DT
• History
• Geography
• Art and Design
• Music
• Physical Education
• Foreign Languages (KS2)
• PSHE

In KS1 we follow the Letters and Sounds phonics programme and we use the Oxford Reading Tree scheme to support individual reading and for some guided group sessions.

For more information about our Curriculum, please click the relevant tab.

Parent Workshops

We held two meetings for parents to come along and learn how we teach Maths and Writing. Please see below for the presentations for those evenings.

Maths Workshop