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
Our Key Stage 1 class is called Acorns. In Acorns 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 Oxford Reading Tree reading scheme as our main reading scheme. This is supplemented with various other texts and real readers. We use Letters and Sounds 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.
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 uses Letters and Sounds as a basis for phonics teaching. Our main reading scheme is Oxford Reading Tree. This is supplemented with a variety of other books. We also use Jelly and Bean for more reluctant readers to give them a confident start.
Please note planning is subject to change due to catch up curriculum.
Post Summer term 2021 we decided to adapt out curriculum planning to spread topics over 3 terms rather than 6 terms. This was to allow for more in depth learning to take place and ensure that learning is consolidated.
We are redeveloping our curriculum to respond to the needs of the children. Our termly plans can be found below.
Key Stage 1 coverage is planned over a two year cycle as the class caters for both Year 1 and Year 2 children. This prevents unnecessary repetition of topics within the two years. Some areas will be covered more than once to ensure depth of learning. Please see the termly topic webs for more detail of what the children will be learning within their topics and how you can help at home.