Aims
We believe that the curriculum and the school are inextricably linked. The curriculum is the product of the expertise of our staff and high quality published programmes. It is built on a deep understanding of the children and the community we serve and a desire to spark wonder and instil a love of learning, and is structured to ensure that children leave our school with the skills and knowledge needed for the next stage of their education.
Children develop a defined bank of knowledge across multiple areas, continually making connections to earlier learning to deepen understanding, and building towards a point where they can confidently demonstrate the knowledge and skills they have acquired. We also believe that our curriculum must extend beyond ‘traditional’ subjects and include opportunities for enrichment, sport, performance and an understanding of our local area.
Our cultural ‘Aspire’ values, together with a strong commitment to PSHE, wellbeing, diversity and tolerance, ensure that personal development lies at the heart of the curriculum. Success must be measured by the extent to which our children demonstrate our values alongside their knowledge acquisition, skillset, assessment performance and readiness for the next stage in their journey as responsible, global citizens and community champions.
Implementation
Our curriculum development is guided by eight principles:
- be built from within
- be informed by our knowledge of every child
- ensure a rich and broad offer for our children
- provide children with a deeper understanding of their local area
- encompass the Atwood ‘Aspire’ values
- be structured to enable to connections between different topics
- set children up for success at secondary school and beyond
- provide opportunities for enrichment and extra curriculum learning.
Impact & Assessment
Effective assessment provides vital information to improve teaching and learning outcomes.
Our rigorous progress and target setting model supports this. We provide children with regular feedback on their learning so that they understand what they need to do to improve, and our lesson plans are formed with a detailed knowledge of each pupil and their needs.
We also give parents/carers regular reports on their child’s progress so that teachers, children and parents/carers can all work together to raise the attainment of the child.