Find out more about
Our Curriculum
Knowledge, Skills & Learning Behaviours
We equip our children with a broad range of Knowledge, Skills & Learning Behaviours to become successful and responsible learners, ready for the next stage of their education. We achieve this through delivering irresistible learning opportunities that excite and engage all of our pupils.
Curriculum Intent
Irresistable
Our curriculum is irresistible promoting a love of learning through exciting, engaging topics and carefully planned tasks which inspire children to want to learn more. Learning opportunities are developed beyond the classroom so that children can demonstrate their abilities in sports, art, music and through a variety of school leadership roles.
Rich
We provide a rich curriculum full of opportunities to read and engage with books from a broad range of genres and authors. Texts are used across the curriculum to develop vocabulary, build narrative skills and foster a wide range of views and diverse opinions about the world around us. Children learn through a variety of real life experiences on day trips, residential visits and theme days.
Ambitious
The curriculum is ambitious with a culture of providing children with learning in an environment of high challenge but low threat enabling all children to feel included and given access to learning which will make them think and offers them an appropriate level of challenge. Our enquiry led approach encourages children to ask and seek answers to questions, developing inquisitive minds and a spirit of curiosity.
Sequenced
The curriculum is carefully sequenced to build on prior knowledge and skills. Subject specific skills and knowledge form the basis of our curriculum in all subject areas but alongside this learning characteristics are taught to enable our children to be resilient, focused, respectful, independent, self-regulated individuals who understand boundaries.
Coherent
Our curriculum is coherent enabling relevant links to be made between subjects and providing meaningful opportunities for children to use and apply their knowledge and skills across the curriculum.
Curriculum Implementation
Subject Pages
Hook
Personalised
Enquiry Question
Topics start with a ‘hook’ to engage and inspire the children. A hook might be a trip or visitors, it could be an adult in role as a character to question or historical artefacts to explore and handle. The goal is to engage and generate interest and curiosity about the topic.
Learning is personalised as children explore and generate their own questions and lines of enquiry.
A key enquiry question drives the topic. The question is challenging and ambitious and not instantly answerable. Children will come back to this question as the topic progresses and respond to it in the hot task at the end of the topic. Opportunity here to develop metacognition, thinking about thinking!
Implementation
Personalised
Learning is personalised as children explore and generate their own questions and lines of enquiry.
Hook
Topics start with a ‘hook’ to engage and inspire the children. A hook might be a trip or visitors, it could be an adult in role as a character to question or historical artefacts to explore and handle. The goal is to engage and generate interest and curiosity about the topic.
Enquiry Question
A key enquiry question drives the topic. The question is challenging and ambitious and not instantly answerable. Children will come back to this question as the topic progresses and respond to it in the hot task at the end of the topic. Opportunity here to develop metacognition, thinking about thinking!
Knowledge
Our curriculum is planned around three key elements: the knowledge, skills and learning characteristics our children need to progress in their learning and be ready for the next stage of their education.
In our curriculum we ensure that both our children's' substantive and disciplinary knowledge is built on year on year. The knowledge for each curriculum subject is mapped out so that learning is a carefully constructed, coherent and sequenced over time.
Substantive knowledge
The substantive knowledge is the 'substance' of our curriculum it sets out what children will learn, for example the names of continents in geography or the key dates in the Roman empire.
Discliplinary knowledge
Disciplinary knowledge is used when children consider where their knowledge originates from and how they can learn the practices of that curriculum subject. Our enquiry led approach to learning supports the development of children's disciplinary knowledge.
Hot Tasks
Hot Tasks are an opportunity to revisit the topic’s enquiry question and seek to explain their thinking and demonstrate what they have learnt throughout the topic.
Children’s individual knowledge and skills are assessed through ‘hot tasks’ which are independent, final outcomes. These provide teachers with an understanding of each child’s knowledge and skills as well as any gaps which can be
Outcomes
Topics finish with a celebration of learning. This final outcome might be sharing their learning with a real audience or creative opportunities such as presentations, museum pieces or galleries of learning.
Skills
The skills which need to be taught are outlined in each subject skills progression document, building on the EYFS aspirations. Children are taught in mixed age classes and planning enables all learners to practice and apply the skills required for their year group within the same topic and outcome.
For example this might mean in DT children are producing a soft toy but different age children in the class will be taught and will apply differing skill levels in their sewing and construction skills
Learning Characteristics
Learning characteristics focus on the development of children's focus, independence, resilience, understanding of boundaries, respect and self-regulation.
These are taught and developed through learning opportunities in class, our PSHE curriculum, assemblies/ worship and extra curricular opportunities. This is supported through the use of the 6 Strands Curriculum developed by the Hampshire Primary Behaviour Service.