Curriculum Introduction

Curriculum Statement of Intent

Over the last few years, we have invested a significant amount of time in developing a knowledge-rich, motivating curriculum to give our pupils access to the very best curriculum content. This ensures that pupils secure a solid base to build on as they move through school and into Key Stage 3 and beyond. Our curriculum is ambitious and goes beyond the requirements laid out in the national curriculum.

Our curriculum is designed with knowledge at its heart to ensure that children develop a strong vocabulary base and an extensive understanding of the world. The curriculum promotes long-term learning and we believe that progress means knowing more and remembering more. As pupils learn the content of the curriculum they are making progress. We have developed a curriculum that is sequential, builds on previous learning and sets up future learning. We want children who can remember and talk about the curriculum content in future years.

We believe that knowledge breeds curiosity – as pupils learn more about the world they become more curious. It is very difficult to be curious about something that you don’t know anything about. We understand that knowledge is ‘sticky’, in other words, the more pupils know, the easier it is for them to know more. As a result, we carefully check and activate prior knowledge to ensure our pupils are able to understand and remember new things they are learning.

As well as knowledge, we aim to equip our children with skills that will allow them to tackle new material with greater confidence. Our curriculum maps are backed up by skills progression documents for each subject, with an indication of which skills they will learn in each year group.