“The curriculum is ambitious and covers a broad range of subjects. All staff have high expectations of all pupils. Pupils are supported successfully to achieve well and pupils are keen to do their best. ” Ofsted Report June 2022
Statement
Intent
We believe All Saints CE First School should be a wonderful place where children want to be and learning takes place both in and out of the classroom. Learning should be through a mixture of exploration, discovery, creativity and a variety of sensory and kinaesthetic experiences which encourage learners to want to explore more in a journey of lifelong learning. They will learn the English and Maths skills needed for life and learning to progress in their education.
Whatever their background they will learn to shape their futures and develop their unique capacities and skills. They will be encouraged to be curious and use thinking skills to innovate, be creative and problem solve. They will develop the first understandings of employment and entrepreneurship. A primary education should set learners up for life, with the knowledge and skills to be well-rounded individuals, mentally and physically healthy, with an appreciation for and a generosity towards people, the world and the universe around them.
All Saints CE First School is very proud of the journey it has been on over the last few years in relation to its curriculum development. We feel our curriculum offers a broad and balanced approach which allows all children, no matter their ability, to be able to fully access the curriculum and enrichment opportunities. We follow the Commando Joe programme which is designed to enable young people to develop life skills, character traits, attributes and behaviours which have a positive impact on their educational attainment, engagement, employability and well-being. The programme specialises in behaviour management, growth-mindset development and life skills education.
Our teachers deliver quality first teaching alongside the highly skilled support staff. All staff collaborate to ensure all children are on track to meet and exceed personal attainment and progress targets through our ever-evolving curriculum.
As we are a First School we have the privilege of starting each child’s journey and therefore focus on ensuring the basic skills of each subject are secure. The basic skills are reinforced across the whole of our curriculum. We then build on these steps to ensure that each child is prepared for their next stage of education and in shaping their future ambitions.
When redesigning our curriculum we worked very closely with our Middle and High School partners within the Uttoxeter Learning Trust (ULT). Our primary aim when forming the ULT in 2017, was to become a locally geographic all through 3-18 schools network, with one of our key strengths being the strong transition and curriculum development.
‘Our vision is of a seamless educational journey for the children and young people from pre-school through to sixth-form and beyond. All of our children and young people will be equally and highly valued, no matter which school they are in: no child will be left behind and no school will be left behind. Everyone will be an achiever and every child will be well known within his/her school.’ ULT Visions, Values and Strategy Document, July 2019.
Implementation
We use a variety of techniques in order to deliver a broad and balanced curriculum which is based on the National Curriculum, that ALL children at All Saints CE First School can enjoy and succeed in.
The structure of the school day consists of the mornings being focused sessions including English lessons, Maths lessons, Phonics sessions, Guided Reading activities etc. Throughout the school. the children are in mixed aged classes.
The afternoons are when we deliver our ‘Commando Joe Curriculum’ and links are made between the subjects where possible so that the learning is seamless and connects together. Links between the topic and the morning English and Maths lessons are made wherever possible.
The topics for the curriculum throughout the whole school follow the same process. We start with a famous explorer or adventurer which is the fascinator to introduce the topic and hook the children in. The topic develops and the children learn about the famous person and their achievements whilst learning about the world they lived in. They will complete missions along their classroom activities to develop their character traits and values. These are based around RESPECT (Resilience, excellence, self-awareness, positivity, empathy, communication and teamwork)
We include parents wherever possible in the child’s learning in order for them to support the learning beyond the classroom and outside of the school. Parents receive a termly ‘parent information sheet’ and this outlines the learning that will be covered so that parents can further support them at home.
Impact
Our journey began when staff realised that some children were struggling with resilience, for example, if they perceived something to be difficult or they might get it wrong their motivation was very low. Some children were finding it hard to retain information from one weekly lesson to the next following week. It was obvious that this style of delivery did not suit all learners. Some found it hard to make the links between subjects and learning and they struggled with the recall of facts from one week to the next. Standards at this point were broadly in line or below age related expectations. Since introducing and tweaking our curriculum delivery, we are celebrating levels of much higher resilience, teamwork and effort from the children.
Where children are not on track to achieve expected outcomes personalised interventions and strategies are employed.
How do we celebrate children’s learning at All Saints?
• Rewards
• Positive role models
• Work on display
• Star of the Week certificates
• Parent assemblies
• Internal and external competitions
• School trips and visits
• School visitors
• Children’s University
• End of year celebrations
• Performances
• Social media reports
• Parents reports/parents evenings
Next Steps
Although very proud of our curriculum journey so far, we constantly keep the curriculum under review.
Current aspects under review are:
• Continue to work through the two year rolling programme and reviewing/ monitoring
• Introduction of our RHE curriculum
Curriculum Information
Click on the links below to download further information