Curriculum

Curriculum Aims

The curriculum is the means by which we develop the potential of all the pupils at Kirkoswald C of E School. Our school vision: 'Explore, Dream, Discover'  is at the heart of the curriculum at all stages; it allows us to provide a variety of opportunities and experiences to develop key knowledge, skills and understanding that children can apply in life, so they can 'be the best that they can be.' In doing so, children can move on to their next phase of education as confident, resilient learners and are ready to become active citizens in their communities.

We pride ourselves upon our creative curriculum, using contexts for learning to deliver the National Curriculum. Our curriculum is mapped to ensure coverage, with cumulative, vocabulary rich sequences of learning that children enjoy. Each sequence of learning will have lessons to 'hook' the children in, raising their interest and curiosity; 'stretch' their thinking; and 'apply' their knowledge, skills and understanding in a meaningful way. Nature is an important part of our school identity and we strive to use the outdoors to support and enhance the curriculum. We operate a two yearly cycle of thematic learning, to cater for mixed aged classes, delivering the curriculum through contexts such as: Celebration, Incredible Inventions and Lakes and Fells for 2024/25. Thought is given to the contexts so that they link to current affairs happening on a local, national and global scale and the children are involved in establishing the emphasis and focus in order to ensure their involvement from the onset.

The foundation subjects are introduced through our contexts for learning and we feel that it is important that children know what subject they are studying, so that we can support their growing depth of learning in that particular subject area, and enable them to build on previous skills and knowledge in a well planned and considered context. We are continuously developing our curriculum, ensuring that it is rich, broad and balanced, and customising it to meet the needs of our learners. We think that all children should be offered opportunities to study in depth in all subject areas, using their basic skills in mathematics and English as tools to support and promote learning. As a Church of England school, our values of Friendship, Forgiveness and Trust support our Christian beliefs and help to ensure our vision is embedded through the curriculum.

We place a great emphasis upon learning to read and promoting a love of reading across the school. Early reading is taught through our new and exciting phonics scheme, 'Little Wandle,' with the corresponding 'Big Cat' book collection linked to the phonic stages the children are working on, allowing them to practice and progress quickly. It is also key that children develop mathematical concepts and we do this in ways that are meaningful to the children. Concepts are studies in depth with lots of opportunity to practice and consolidate key learning, allowing all children to build confidence before challenging them with problems requiring deeper thinking. All children are capable of achieving. We therefore provide opportunities for all children to develop skills and competences across the full range of curriculum subjects, as well as an 'I can do this' approach to learning. 

Independence is encouraged and children have ownership of, and are responsible for filing their own work, developing a keen sense of pride in what they do. They are then actively involved in the selection of work for their Record of Achievement which is used to celebrate all children's successes and is built upon throughout their entire primary experience, providing a detailed record of the progress of each child.

Children are taught in a variety of groups, have established talk partners and different teaching styles are adopted to suit the needs of classes, groups and individuals. Lessons have focused objectives and success criteria for learners are established.

Contexts for Learning 2023 - 2025

Autumn Spring Summer
British Isles & Europe Monsters Journeys
Celebrations Incredible Inventions Lakes and Fells

Curriculum Subjects

Subjects covered within our curriculum are:

  • English
  • Maths
  • Science
  • Computing
  • History
  • Geography
  • Languages (KS2 only)
  • Design & Technology
  • Music
  • Art & Design
  • PE/Games
  • R.E.
  • Personal, Social & Health Education
  • Citizenship

These follow the guidelines from the National Curriculum Document. Teachers adapt and invent new schemes or work to fit the chosen contexts for learning keeping teachers and children interested.

 

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