What is the curriculum?

Our curriculum has been developed to follow the needs of our children. We have identified starting point for our children and also encompass their interests. Our curriculum starting points have been identified through prior learning and aim to address the National curriculum while developing the whole child. We are specifically concentrating on the acquisition of a wider vocabulary and word awareness this year. Our curriculum is ever-evolving. New vocabulary will be learnt and introduced as the topics and interests of the children develop. We adapt our curriculum to suit the needs of every child. Reasonable adjustments are made to support children with additional needs and / or disabilities. This can include sharing information in different ways, different teaching styles and / or individual support within the classroom.

Key Stage 1 / 2

Our Key Stage 1 class is called Fireflies.  In Fireflies we follow the National Curriculum which sub-divides into:

Religious Education, English, Mathematics, Computing, Science, History, Geography, Art and Design, Music and Physical Education

We use the Collins Big Cat  scheme as our main reading scheme which compliments our Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Phonics scheme and is aligned to the same sounds. This is supplemented with various other texts and real readers.  We use Little Wandle to teach phonics.

Foundation Stage

In our school the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is called Sunflowers. The EYFS curriculum is for children attending Nursery and Reception. The EYFS profile summarises and describes the children's attainment at the end of Reception Year. It is based upon Development bands and age appropriate stages of learning. Ongoing assessments and observations, which we record on Tapestry, form the basis for the profile summary. They are based upon three prime areas and four specific areas of learning.

The prime areas of learning                                                    The specific areas of learning

Communication and language                                              Literacy

Physical Development                                                             Mathematics

Personal, Social and Emotional Development                   Understanding the world

                                                                                                        Expressive Arts and Design

The curriculum provides a wide variety of learning and achievement with an emphasis on learning through activities which are mainly practical. There are three learning characteristics of playing and exploring, active thinking and creating and thinking critically.

Reading and the curriculum

We are currently re-evaluating our reading offer and have purchased new books through fundraising activities. We are linking our new reading books to the phonics levels and the new scheme will be launched fully after February half-term. This is really exciting news for our children and school. Our new books are Collins Big Cat for letters and sounds which link to our phonics scheme - Little Wandle Letters and sounds.

What does your child learn at school each day? Find information about our curriculum subjects here. If you have any questions about our curriculum or would like any further information please contact the class teacher.

Phonics

The school is moving over to Little Wandle Letters and sounds from Letters and sounds. The staff are currently training and implementing their training gradually throughout the year to ensure a smooth transition and consistency for all pupils. Little Wandle is a Government approved phonics scheme and is fully implemented across the school.

We use Jigsaw PSHE as a basis for our PSHE and SRE education. We use this to ensure continuity and progression across the school. Below are the skills progression outlines for PSHE and also ideas for parents to support at home.

We are redeveloping our curriculum to respond to the needs of the children. Our termly plans can be found below. 

Vocabulary linked to Hot and cold

Topic 

Tier 1

· Arctic

· Snow

· Ice

· Cold

Tier 2

· North Pole

· South Pole

· Antarctica

Tier 3

· Icicles

· Glacier

· Continent

Literacy

Tier 1

· Fact

· Glossary

· Index

· Title

Tier 2

· Heading

· Caption

· Writer

· Information

Tier 3

· Definition

· Chronological

· Alphabetical

Maths

Tier 1

· Greater

· Less

· Equal

· Numbers to ten

Tier 2

· Number words eleven to twenty

Tier 3

· Number words thirty to one hundred

Summer Term vocabulary

Tier 1 

Measure

Centimetre

Regular (Y2)

(Irregular(Y2)

Tier 2

Length

Height

Unit

Straight (Y2)

Regular (Y2)

Tier 3

Shorter

Taller

Shape (Y2)

Face (Y2)

Side (Y2)

Literacy

Tier 1

Report

Picture

Fact

News

Tier 2

Caption

Writer

Information

Tier 3

Opinion

Headline

Topic

Tier 1

Star

Moon

Space

Tier 2

Rocket

Landing

Solar

Tier 3

Space station

Astronaut

We are learning new vocabulary with each topic.

Our vocabulary is split into tiers.

Tier 1 vocabulary is general vocabulary that everyone should know, remember and use. These are the 'sticky' words.

Tier 2 vocabulary are the more unusual words related to our topics. Children will be encouraged to remember and use them as much as possible.

Tier 3 vocabulary are the trickier words related to our topics that the children need to know but may not use so often.

We have 'triangles' in each classrooms with the topic vocabulary displayed in them. These are there for children to access and use. 

We follow the Derby and Derbyshire agreed syllabus for Religious Education as a basis of Religious Education. We also refer to celebrations and festivals from different religions through our topic planning as appropriate.