Curriculum vision
Success for all... That is what we encourage for every child at our school. Through fostering in them the skills and belief of success needed to be successful children in whatever they do.
Intention
At Stapleford Abbotts our curriculum aims to provide our children with an engaging, exciting and empowering curriculum that equips our learners with the knowledge and skills necessary for an ever-evolving world.
Our curriculum is designed to recognise children’s prior learning, provide first-hand learning experiences which allows our children to develop interpersonal skills, build resilience and become creative learners through the development of critical and deep-thinking metacognition.
Every child at Stapleford Abbotts is recognised as a unique individual and we celebrate and welcome differences within our school community. Our children’s ability to learn is underpinned by the teaching of basic skills, knowledge, concepts and values with a vision to prepare them for life beyond primary school. We constantly provide enrichment opportunities to engage our learner’s belief that childhood should be a happy, an investigative and enquiring time in their lives when there are no limits to curiosity and there is a thirst for new experiences and knowledge. We use our Stapleford Value of success for all, to promote positive attitudes to learning which reflect the values and skills needed to promote responsibility for learning and future success.
Community involvement is an integral part of our curriculum which involves inviting families and visitors into the school to enhance and facilitate learning new skills and sharing experiences. This is complimented by mental health and well being experiences such as workshops from Red Balloon, the NSPCC and Crucial Crew. Our children also learn about water safety delivered by the RNLI and knife crime from Essex Police.
Children leave Stapleford Abbotts with a sense of belonging to a tightly knit community where they have the confidence and skills to make decisions, self-evaluate, make connections and become lifelong learners.
Implementation
At Stapleford Abbotts our curriculum is delivered in a single year group for Reception and in mixed year groups for KS1 and KS2.
Curriculum plans are based on engaging themes such as 'Survival of the fittest' which is a Year 5/6, science based theme around Evolution and Inheritance. Much of our teaching and learning at Stapleford Abbotts Primary Academy stems from a vocabulary rich text which is often used as a springboard for the children’s learning across subjects. Learning in every subject is sequenced appropriately to ensure depth and mastery of a subject which directly mirrors our Mathematics Mastery approach for teaching maths. We have implemented a Skill and progression framework for all subjects which ensures learning is progressive but also provides our children with the vital opportunity to revisit skills and knowledge regularly to embed and master learning; therefore becoming experts. Our foundation subjects of Computing, Art, Design and Technology, Geography and History are taught in blocked units of a number of weeks which allows for a greater depth of understanding for our pupils as they focus on one or two subjects in the afternoon on a weekly basis. Science, PSHE/RSE, and Spanish are taught every week as well as Handwriting sessions.
The learning behaviours we encourage in our school are:
- Drive
- Concentration
- Quality
- Independence
- Resilience
Children showing these behaviours earn a Cape of Success, which they then wear around the school to showcase this success for all to see.
Impact
Teachers assess their pupils throughout each term to measure the impact of the curriculum and individual attainment is recorded through our rigorous tracking systems for example we assess reading ability using Accelerated Reader Star assessments and every time a child in KS2 finishes a book they complete an online quiz to check their understanding of the text. All forms of assessments are used to inform teachers of achievements and gaps in learning which then inform planning of the next terms curriculum. In foundation subjects, children share 'What they already know' about an area of learning e.g. The Iron Age and then at the end of the teaching unit, they are asked 'What do I know now? This measures how much the children have learnt and informs where they need to go next in their learning journey.
We believe effective tracking is important because every child is brilliant at something and deserves the chance to receive feedback, make progress and experience opportunities to deepen their learning in all subjects. By the time our children leave us in Year 6 they have acquired the skills, knowledge and tools to ensure success and readiness for next stage of their education.