School Curriculum – Reedham Primary School

Important policies relating to school curriculum (please see separate policies page on menu):

As a maintained state school we must follow the Department for Education’s National Curriculum Programmes of Study. In light of this the school provides a balanced curriculum relevant to the individual needs of each child.

At Reedham Primary and Nursery School, through a positive community ethos, we listen, engage and nurture a can-do attitude in order to prepare all learners for their future lives, enabling and enjoying learning within the context of a rapidly changing technological society.

We aim:

To create a rich, stimulating and caring school environment in which every child feels happy, safe, secure and confident.
To provide high quality teaching and learning experiences to enable all children to achieve the highest possible standards in all areas of the curriculum.
To provide a curriculum that is broad, balanced, relevant and differentiated to meet the needs of all children, including those with special needs.
To encourage a love of learning and high expectations of standards of achievement and behaviour.
To develop strong values of tolerance, self-respect, respect of others, responsibility and politeness in all our children.
To praise, encourage and celebrate success.
To foster good relationships between the home and school, welcoming parents into the school and encourage them to work in partnership and harmony with the staff.
To ‘bring out the best’ in every child so they can all be the best they can be. Together, we endeavour to develop the following skills: Independent Enquiry, Creative Thinking, Reflective Learning, Teamwork, Responsibility.
By developing these five skills, we aim to promote motivation, resilience, and aspiration in all children, enabling them to effectively participate and engage with learning.

Provision

As part of the school’s aims, our whole curriculum, teaching and learning and continuous provision will enable children to develop skills in Independent Enquiry, Creative Thinking, Reflective Learning, Teamwork and Responsibility. Topics and activities are designed to enable children to learn these skills to become lifelong learners; this includes their journey from Squirrel class (nursery, age 2-4 years) to year 6.

Our curriculum for the Foundation Subjects (Geography, History, Music, Design and Technology, Physical Education, Art and Design and Modern Foreign Languages) develops knowledge and understanding, alongside skills and processes; recognising all of these elements are important in creating effective learners.
All subjects are taught in any one year concentrating on the knowledge, understanding, skills and processes of the topic, whilst also drawing on other subject areas – with so much curriculum coverage subjects are taught cross-curricularly. For example, science content is taught through English writing or maths content, such as data handling, through computing.
Our curriculums in nursery, key stage 1 and key stage 2 are taught over a two-year plan to ensure that children receive coverage of all content laid out in the EYFS and National Curriculum across each key stage.
Subjects are taught in half-termly blocks, allowing for sustained learning and deeper immersion in each topic, and to ensure that all subjects receive balanced coverage according to the National Curriculum.
Some topics and concepts are revisited across the key stages, for deeper understanding and to support progress in critical thinking.
Systems for on-going formative and summative assessments of every child’s progress in every subject are firmly in place and reviewed regularly, through Pupil Asset Multi -tick tracking, teacher judgements and assessments.
All members of staff at Reedham are educators and therefore teachers of our children; we all recognise that we have a role to play in the academic progression and social nurture of our pupils. When teaching, we focus on motivating the children and building their skills, knowledge and understanding of the world around them.
Teachers are accountable for progress of all children; meetings with staff and governors are held throughout the year to ensure every child makes progress in all areas of the curriculum.
Teachers take part in peer evaluations of lessons and book looks carried out in learning walks to ensure high standards of Teaching and Learning are met across the subjects. Teachers have areas of responsibility, to ensure vigorous systems of accountability are in place.
Teachers take part in continuous professional development to enhance skills and to ensure their subject knowledge and teaching strategies are current.
Teachers support the professional development of their colleagues and enhance the provision of Teaching & Learning. They review curriculum subjects and set new goals. These policies will be reviewed every year or earlier in the light of changing circumstances.
We celebrate children’s efforts and creativity through showcasing work on social media, through our termly publication the ‘Reedham Read it’, through our Superstar assemblies and sharing Class Dojo successes with parents and children. Exemplary work from each half term is collected and showcased in the ‘Reedham Read it’, which is put together by children and staff each term.