Reading
- Reading is at the heart of our curriculum. Every member of staff recognises that this is a crucial skill to master in order to access the full curriculum. Pupils are given the opportunity to use the library on a weekly basis and silent reading takes place daily after lunch. Reading for pleasure is promoted through quality texts, attractive reading areas and paired reading between younger and older children. Adults in school share their reading habits and enthusiasm with the pupils. Staff regularly read aloud to children using high quality texts.
- Opportunities for wider reading are provided through curriculum subjects.
- Phonics is taught using the ‘Letters & Sounds’ scheme from nursery and throughout KS 1. Phonics teaching continues in KS2 for those pupils who do not pass the government’s phonics screening check.
National curriculum subjects
- All National Curriculum subjects are organised into a 2 yearly cycle. Schemes of work are blocked to ensure depth of learning takes place. Teachers have observed increased motivation through pupil’s home learning projects and retention of knowledge from past and present studies in retrieval quizzes.
- Teachers use subject progression documents to ensure a sequential acquisition of skills as pupils advance through school. Detailed planning demonstrates that teachers identify the key knowledge, vocabulary and skills associated with a study, whilst also thinking about cross-curricular links and developing key competencies. Work scrutinies confirm that plans have been implemented or amended in light of assessment. Regular review and discussion times are facilitated to provide opportunities for staff to improve their subject knowledge and share ideas.
Continuous provision
In order to support children to remember what they have learnt, we deliver some of the curriculum through continuous provision e.g.
- Weekly ‘Map Time’ sessions in each class, using a world map, focus on places in the world which are currently being studied or are of interest to the pupils e.g. holiday destinations and current news items. This content is reinforced in whole-school assemblies and a World News Display. Map Time is a way of improving children’s locational awareness and place knowledge linked to the National Curriculum for Geography.
- ‘Clock Time’ is on-going from early years, where they learn the days of the week and the months of the year, up to Year 6 where pupils study timetables and can differentiate between analogue and digital time. Every class has 12 hour and 24 hour analogue and digital clocks which teachers use on a daily basis to reinforce ‘time’ teaching.
- Seasonal nature tables in KS 1 and 2 corridors promote continuous learning in Science with examples of flora and fauna.
Retrieval practice
Weekly ‘Forget-me-Not’ Time sessions enable the pupils to revisit their previous learning so they remember more of what they have learnt and key knowledge is stored in their long-term memories. Opportunities for retrieval practice are also built-in to lesson starters across the curriculum.
Curriculum enhancements
After taking requests from children, we now have ‘Fun Time Friday’ afternoons where we provide children with additional curriculum activities that might not necessarily be covered through our long term plan. This might be an activity suggested by the children or be linked to a previous topic that has interested them. Some examples of this are French introductions in KS1, gardening or additional cookery sessions.
