Curriculum
Our Curriculum Rationale
Intention
At Harvills Hawthorn Primary School, our vision is ‘To be the very best we can be.’ We aim to achieve this through our mission, which is to prepare all of our children for the next stage of their lives to enable them to contribute positively to their community.
We have designed a curriculum that will provide the opportunity for all of our children to be successful in this mission. The curriculum we deliver is built around the National Curriculum, whilst incorporating Programmes of Study that meet the needs of our children as identified by staff. These include barriers to learning for those children who are disadvantaged or face adverse childhood experiences. The curriculum aims to develop skills that fuse with the progression of knowledge. It is ambitious and designed to give all learners the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life. It is coherently planned and sequenced to provide our learners with the knowledge and skills needed for future learning and the next steps in their education. We understand that a child’s ability to learn is based on gaining knowledge and building on learned knowledge, as well as the ability to use and apply any associated skills adeptly and competently. Our curriculum is designed to marry these key components to ensure progress and a greater depth of understanding that leads to sustained mastery.
Depth of learning is important. We do not narrow our curriculum. We ensure that children receive a broad and balanced curriculum and that learning is relevant, exciting, aspirational and challenging. All National Curriculum subjects within our curriculum are viewed as being equally important and are underpinned by the understanding that basic literacy and numeracy competency is vital in all learning.
Our curriculum is enhanced by the school’s core values which are ‘lived’ daily through our relationships and school ethos. The children are encouraged to believe in themselves through our school motto ‘I Believe I can Fly’. We have the same ambitions for all learners: to be the very best they can be. This will be achieved through careful consideration of individual needs and, in some cases, individual programmes of study based around the needs of the individual. These may be more able, gifted and talented or a special educational need or disability. All learners study the full, broad and balanced curriculum which aims to provide our children with a wide range of experiences.
Our curriculum aims
The aims of the school are the same for all pupils. In a caring, disciplined, safe and happy environment, pupils are provided with many opportunities to develop spiritually, socially, physically and intellectually.
This will enable and prepare pupils to take their place as responsible citizens in the culturally diverse society in which we live.
Specifically, the school is aiming to:
• Value all members of our school community as individuals and provide equal opportunities for all
• Provide a broad and balanced education for all pupils
• Enable pupils to develop knowledge, understand concepts and acquire skills and be able to choose and apply these in relevant situations
• Create an environment which promotes high expectation, mutual respect, self-confidence, self-discipline, good manners and positive models of behaviour, whilst focusing upon success for all within a culture
that encourages self-belief
• Encourage greater understanding of the world in which we live and to develop respectful attitudes towards this world
• Develop independent learners who have clear goals and play an active role in their own development
• Enable all members of our school community to achieve their full potential
• Achieve high standards in terms of attainment and progress
• Nurture active, collaborative learners
• Promote lifelong learning
• Promote and achieve the basic skills of English and mathematics
• Support pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development
• Support pupils’ physical development and responsibility for their own health, enabling them to be active.
• Develop resilience and good mental health and well-being.
Implementation
Our curriculum promotes spiritual, moral, social, cultural, mental and physical development alongside preparing our children for the next stage of their education.
At Harvills Hawthorn Primary School, all pupils in KS1 and 2 will access the following curriculum areas:
1. English – reading (including the discrete teaching of phonics) writing, speaking and listening
2. Mathematics
3. Science
4. Computing
5. Geography
6. History
7. Art
8. Design &Technology (D&T)
9. Physical Education (P.E.)
10. Religious Education (R.E.)
11. Modern Foreign Language (M.F.L) – French in KS2
12. Music, including lessons taught by specialist teachers
13. Personal, Social, Health Education (P.S.H.E.) including Relationships and Health Education (R.H.E)
14. Values
15. Life Skills
16. Enrichment including visits, residentials, visitors, experiential learning, Harvills 101, school clubs, community links etc.
17. Forest School
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum follows Development Matters and is based on the Prime and Specific Areas of Learning as well as being led by the children’s interests. See our EYFS Policy for further information.
In addition to our main curriculum, some children may also need to access elements of our mental health and well-being provision:
1. Nurture - EYFS & KS1 or KS2
2. Therapeutic Mentoring
3. Drama Therapy
4. Family Therapy
Each area of our curriculum is led by a competent teacher, who is responsible for the subject policy, resources and curriculum. They design the curriculum following National Curriculum expectations, whilst considering the needs of our pupils. They map out the long-term plan, ensure its implementation and monitor the teaching, learning and assessment of their subject to ensure that the intended impact is achieved. The curriculum mapping also ensures that progression can be seen across terms and year groups. The subject lead provides training, support and guidance to ensure all teachers are confident to deliver the set curriculum. Please see individual subject policies for further information.
All teachers are responsible for planning, teaching and assessing each subject for their class. Each year group plan the curriculum for their pupils accordingly:
• The curriculum is planned thoroughly, starting with the children's current knowledge and skills, so that real progress can be made and measured.
• Each term, year groups plan for a variety of visits and visitors to enrich the learning and create lasting memories through real experiences
• Children’s prior knowledge is assessed at the outset of the topic and learning is planned accordingly.
• On-going AaL ensures the learning is built upon week by week.
• Further details of assessment procedures for individual subjects can be found in subject policies.
At Harvills Hawthorn Primary School, we pride ourselves on the consistent approach to teaching and learning that can be observed across all phases of school. This is achieved through our commitment to cutting edge CPD and quality first teaching on a daily basis.
We are working hard to promote our pupils’ English and ensure that they all achieve to the very best of their ability. Pupils are encouraged to read widely and often. English is fundamental to all subjects. Consequently, we believe that all stakeholders have a role to play in supporting and developing our pupils’ English skills to ensure that they can communicate effectively in today’s society. All children are expected to follow our school’s non-negotiables for presentation. This includes a focus on learning to write in the cursive script.
Impact
The effectiveness of our curriculum will be measured by how well our children develop knowledge and skills across the curriculum and, ultimately, how well they achieve. This may be reflected in results from national tests but also, in some cases, by the personal progress made by an individual.
If every child has become the very best they can possibly be, and they are well prepared for the next stage of their lives by the time they leave Harvills Hawthorn Primary School, we will be confident our curriculum has done its job.
