Curriculum
THE FOUNDATION STAGE
This is the curriculum followed by children in nursery and reception classes. It covers six areas of experience:
Personal, social and emotional
Communication, language and literacy
Mathematics
Knowledge and understanding of the world
Physical development
Creative development
The curriculum is very carefully planned throughout this two year Foundation Stage. All activities have a strong emphasis on play. Young children have lively enquiring minds and through a range of structured activities they learn about the world around them, they develop personal and social awareness and communication skills that can be transferred through role-play into a wide range of language and mathematical activities. Books play a vital role in early learning as do number and nursery rhymes. This relaxed way of learning carries on throughout nursery and into the reception class. By the end of the reception year the children are gradually introduced to the more formal curriculum of the Literacy and Numeracy strategies, as presented within the National Curriculum.
This vital Foundation Stage creates a good base for later learning.
At the end of the Foundation Stage, children are assessed by using the Foundation Stage Profile. This national assessment is used to deterine how much children have learnt during the Foundation Stage and helps us to plan the right range of experiences to lead them into Key Stage 1 of the National Curriculum.
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KEY STAGE 1 - The National Curriculum
Work is planned to meet the needs of each child within the requirments of the National Curriculum.
The National Curriculum has 4 core subjects - English, Mathematics, Science, and Information Technology. There are also 7 foundation subjects - History, Geography, Design Technology, Physical Education, Music, Art, Personal, Social Health Education and Citizenship. We also follow the local R.E. syllabus.
Although this seems a very large curriculum for children at Key Stage 1, it also ensures that they receive a broad and balanced Curriculum.
ENGLISH
English covers all aspects of communication - reading, writing and speaking and listening. Children enter into school at different stages of development and we aim to develop these skills so that each child becomes increasingly confident and proficient in these vital skills. We plan the curriculum using the National Literacy Strategy. Children have a daily Literacy lesson, which lasts approximately 1 hour.
SPEAKING AND LISTENING SKILLS are developed in a variety of settings and throughout all curriculum areas to encourage communication in a purposeful, clear and orderly dialogue, that is appropriate for a range of occasions and purposes which invites, careful, sympathetic and responsive listening.
READING has a very high status within school and we seek to develop fluent, discerning lifelong readers, who value and enjoy books.
We actively involve parents in the process of reading and acknowledge the role of parents in the development of reading skills. We encourage parents and children to enjoy reading and sharing books together. When there is regular practice, children make significant progress. Time is set aside for regular reading and children are given experience of reading alone and sharing text. Children are encouraged to discuss the books that they read. We aim to provide attractive book corners, which are an integral part of the classroom.
WRITING - We aim to encourage children to recognise the skill they have already acquired at an earlier stage. We help them to understand that writing conveys meaning and is a purposeful activity. We actively encourage children to have a go and then with skilful teacher intervention, we work through recognised stages of development to achieve standard written English.
Spelling and punctuation are developed in the context of the children's writing. As they develop children are encouraged to see writing as apowerful means of self expression and communication and to write for a range of different purposes and different audiences.
Handwriting is recognised as a skill, which can only be improved by constant practice and refinement.
Children are encouraged through the use of Information Technology to develop word processing skills so that they can present their work in different formats.
MATHEMATICS
Our aim is that all children acquire mathematical skills and concepts in a way that has relevance for them in the world outside school as well as throughout the curriculum.
We want children to find mathematics enjoyable and exciting.
We work within the National Curriculum framework, which covers four areas:
Using and applying mathematics,
Number and algebra,
Shape, space and measures,
Handling data.
The children are given a variety of practical experiences to reinforce their development of mathematical concepts.
Teachers in each year group plan together using the framework of the National Numeracy strategy. Children have a daily numeracy lesson, which lasts for approximately 50 minutes.
SCIENCE
Children follow a programme of scientific study, which covers four main aspects:-
Experimental and investigative science,
Life and living processes,
Materials and their properties,
Physical processes.
Science is taught through first hand experience, usually as part of an integrated topic or theme. Regular visits are made to places of interest so that the children can extend their work being done within the classroom. Our aim is to help the children increase their knowledge of the world and to develop skills of observation, recording and analysis or interpretation, through scientific investigations.
The school has its own wildlife garden, which allows children to study plant and animal life at first hand as well as observing growth and develpoment of plants and change in the environment through the seasons.
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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
We try to encourage all children to develop sound moral values of loving, caring, sharing, respect and growing up together in peace and harmony.
The aim of Religious Education is to help children to achieve the knowledge and understanding of religious beliefs, insights and practices, so that they are able to continue in, or come to, their own beliefs and respect the right of other people to hold beliefs different from their own.
We study Christianity, Islam and Judaism and introduce the children to these faiths through handling artefacts, looking at celebrations, learning abour worship and different places of worship, and listening to stories from those faiths.
The Religious Education provided at the school follows the R.E.Agreed Syllabus adopted by the Local Education Authority.
A collective act of worship is held daily. This is of a broadly Christian nature including stories form other faiths.
The 1988 Education Reform Act makes provision for the exemption from such Religious Education and collective worship. Parents who do not wish their children to participate in R.E. lessons or attend the daily collective act of worship, for religious reasons, are asked to request this by writing to the Headteacher.
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INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
Information Communication Technology skills are develpoed mainly through the use of the 'Roamer' and computer. Each classroom is equipped with a computer. The 'Roamer' is a central resource. We have a suite of 14 networked computers and all children experience time-tabled sessions each week. During these sessions their computer skills are developed.
Computers are used for a range of purposes by children, including games for maths, logic, language, word processing and storage and retrieval of information for projects. Initially the work involves activities to gain confidence with the computer. Children often use the computer to publish their stories and poems and print these for display purposes or to share them with others.
DESIGN TECHNOLOGY
Design technology will invariably lead to craft skills once the children have been actively involved in problem solving and devising practical solutions. Children are given a wide range of experiences to design and make things and evaluate their work. Through the use of good quality construcion kits and simple model making the children are introduced to many basic concepts, such as pulleys, gears and relationships between cause and effect. Simple toys, flap books, working models etc are some of the end products of the children's design and make skills.
HISTORY
Cross-curricular topics are used or a specific history led theme form the basis of the programme of study. Pupils are encoouraged to draw on immediate family history and to explore the historical background and way of life and different past events will be taught. Some information will be gleaned second hand, by visits to museums, the Victorian classroom, and the use of artefacts, photographs, books and video programmes. Children are encouraged to ask questions about the past in order to develop an understanding of why things and events are as they are today.
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GEOGRAPHY
Children learn about their local environment, within the school and beyond. As their understanding of areas away from their immediate locality develops, study of contrasting areas within the United Kingdom and beyond can be introduced. One-day visits are made to Whirlow Hall farm, local woodland and the surrounding area of the Peak District, as we encourage children to compare their own urban environment with a more rural location.
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ART
Children are given a range of opportunities to develop skills in art. They are encouraged to observe a range of stimuli, to develop an awareness of colour, shape and texture and pattern, as well as begin to understand the properties of materials. Art provides children with a spiritual dimension to their learning, it enhances their imagination and intensifies their feelings. Some of the materials that children work with are; fabric, paint, charcoal, pastel, wood, clay and dyes. Many activities such as painting, drawing, collage, model making, close observation work, tie dying, printing, sewing and weaving are covered. Art is to be enjoyed.
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MUSIC
All children are given the opportunity to experience a variety of musical activitieswhich include:
Performing and composing
Listeneing and appraising.
This is achieved by playing and singing, performing with others, composing and listening and appraising musical styles from all cultures, developing a sense of pitch, timbre, rhythm and tempo and developing early ideas of notationand using music as a means of self expression and source of pleasure. Music is to be enjoyed.
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PHYSICAL EDUCATION
We aim to provide a well balanced programme of physical education through gymnastics, involving floor work and large and small apparatus, games and dance.
Outdoor games takes place whenever the weather permits. This area of the curriculum, fosters a positive attitude towards a healthy lifestyle, co-ordination and body control. Participation in all physical education activities helps children to develop self-esteem and interpersonal skills. Physical education is a compulsory subject and all children are expected to participate fully.
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PERSONAL, SOCIAL, HEALTH EDUCATION AND CITIZENSHIP
These are key aspects in the preparation of children for their lives now, as adults and possibly parents of the future. It is hoped that the ethos of the school - which emphasises a caring and considerate atmosphere - develops respect for the individual, values everyone's achievements and encourages attitudes which enable children to make a positive contribution to live harmoniously with others in the community. Each class has circle times each week, when issues are discussed with the children to support P.S.H.E and Citizenship.
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