Curriculum Intent
At Holy Trinity CofE Primary School it is our intent that the curriculum opens pupils’ minds to a range of possibilities, raises their aspirations for the future whilst equipping them with the necessary skills and knowledge and inspires a love of learning whilst enabling them to maintain healthy minds, bodies and relationships.
Through our curriculum we aim to
Increase pupils’ receptive and expressive vocabulary
Support pupils to develop a strong set of learning behaviours
Encourage a passion for pupils’ own futures
Ensure that pupils are on track to gain the qualifications and experience needed for future employment.
Build an understanding that all pupils’ can contribute to and make a difference in society.
Our Christian ethos encourages pupils to be friendly, respectful, honest, forgiving, peace loving and to have hope for the future.
Pupils’ work on developing learning behaviours that will support them throughout their academic life and in to their future careers, these are: risk taking, reflection, resilience, perseverance, problem solving, inquisitiveness, making links, independence, cooperation and collaboration.
Implementation
Our curriculum team ensures that the curriculum offered is broad and balanced, challenging and relevant to learners and continues to develop so that all pupils have every opportunity to succeed. Subject leaders complete regular reviews and support staff through training and paired planning.
Our curriculum is underpinned by three drivers chosen to ensure focus on our vision and curricular aims. These are Possibilities, Questioning and Spirituality.
Possibilities – opening up the world to our pupils, raising aspirations, recognising their ability to impact upon their own futures.
Questioning – developing pupil engagement through inquiry, promoting learning behaviours to encourage a thirst for knowledge and a love of learning.
Spirituality – developing a set of values, principles and beliefs, an ability to show courage and a readiness to challenge human injustice in the world ( eg poverty, sexism, racism).
Our curriculum develops pupils’ disciplinary and substantive knowledge across each subject in the primary national curriculum and allows time for pupils’ to rehearse and revisit these thus ensuring they are embedded for the next stage in their learning.
Firm foundations for learning are built through a continued focus on basic skills and language acquisition is a thread throughout the curriculum.
Research evidences that the more substantive knowledge pupils have the easier it becomes to gain new knowledge, this is because they begin to make links and attach new information to existing knowledge building schemas. Retrieval Practice, in the form of low stakes quizzes, is used at Holy Trinity to ensure that new learning is shifted to the long-term memory through regular recall, this in turn frees up working memory, by reducing cognitive load, as pupils make links in learning more naturally and categorise knowledge.
English
Writing
At Holy Trinity we understand the importance of nurturing and developing competent and creative writers at all stages of development. Our youngest children first experience writing through purposeful play where emergent writing is encouraged. Children are supported to develop their core muscle strength and gross and fine motor skills through planned activities including Write Dance and the teaching of Early Writing Shapes. High quality adult interactions and enabling environments allow children to embed these skills in their play.
Throughout the Early Years and initial transition into Year 1, Pie Corbett’s Talk 4 Writing is used. This enables children to internalise stories and non-fiction writing as well as learning how different types of writing are structured.
Y1 – 6 use the principles of ‘Write Stuff’ for writing lessons. Through this process children are exposed to high quality model texts and ambitious vocabulary. They develop their writing through experience days and sentence stacking lessons where grammar, punctuation and vocabulary is taught. Learning about different authors as well as short burst writing sessions, allows children to develop their own style and borrow from authors. The teaching of vocabulary is introduced through a word aware approach, where children are introduced to ambitious vocabulary and encouraged to use it in their speaking and listening and writing. Pupils have opportunity to practise writing skills and apply them independently in other curriculum areas, as well as regular opportunities to write for pleasure in independent writing sessions.
Phonics
Our systematic synthetic phonics programme is Bug Club Phonics. Children have daily phonics sessions that are delivered in a consistent way from Nursery to Year 1 (and Year 2 when required). Children in EYFS and KS1 have Phonics Bugs reading books (both hardcopies and e-books online) that allow children consolidate their learning of letter sounds. Please go to our useful Phonics page for parents more details and guidance ----> Phonics! | Holy Trinity CofE Primary School
Reading
Guided reading lessons focus on specific reading skills which are mapped out as a long term whole school overview. Pupils have access to a variety of different types of texts including year group ‘HT Book Club’ titles which have been specially selected to encourage a love of reading.
Pupils all have a banded reading book which is changed regularly; parents are encouraged to read with their children and to 'sign' their electronic reading diary. Pupils visit the well-stocked school library weekly and can choose a book to take home. Pupils also have access to Bug Club which enables them to access learning independently at home.
To promote reading for pleasure staff share a story every day in each class. Parents are invited to join some class reading sessions.
Below is a list of "HT Reading Essentials" that demonstrate clearly what our reading provision looks like!
Maths
During maths lessons we use a concrete, pictorial, abstract approach where children regularly manipulate practical resources to help them deepen their understanding of key concepts. Teachers use a range of teaching strategies to engage the children in maths and ensure progress is made by all children within a class; no set formula is used. A typical lesson would include:
Number sense – We believe that it is imperative that children gain an intuitive understanding of numbers, their magnitude, relationships, and how they are affected by operations. The concrete, pictorial and abstract approach is widely regarded as the leading approach to achieve a good sense of number. Children regularly manipulate practical resources such as egg boxes, numicon and abacuses to help them develop a good sense of number.
Reasoning – Mathematical reasoning is the critical skill that enables a student to make use of all other mathematical skills and to delve deeper into the area of maths being taught at that time. They learn how to evaluate situations, select problem-solving strategies and draw logical conclusions. Mathematical reasoning allows children to reflect on solutions to problems and determine whether or not they make sense. At Holy Trinity children get the opportunity to reason at least 3 times per week once they have mastered the area of maths they are learning at the time.
Investigations - Investigations enable children to make use of all of their mathematical skills and put them into real life context so investigations could be thought of as the 'glue' which helps mathematics makes sense. At Holy Trinity children are given the opportunity to investigate regularly. Whole class investigations usually have a competitive element which the children really enjoy.
At Holy Trinity, our children are SCIENTISTS! Our intent is to give our children the skills and opportunities they need to think like a scientist. This is provided through a broad and balanced curriculum that enables them to confidently question the world around them and have a deeper understanding of scientific process they encounter every day. This is done through exciting practical enquiry.
At Holy Trinity, science is taught in line with the national curriculum. Topics are taught in blocks to allow children to really embed their knowledge and continuously make links across the lessons. Progression is clearly planned out across the year groups to allow for knowledge to be built upon at a greater depth. Previous knowledge is consistently revisited at the start of each lesson through the use of quick quizzes. Each quick quiz follows the same structure (previous lesson, previous topic, previous year group topic, topic from 2 years ago). Children complete this independently and teachers take the chance to address misconceptions. Children explore, question, predict, plan, carry out investigations and observations as well as draw conclusions form their findings. Children are given a child friendly knowledge organiser at the start of each topic which details what they already know, what they will know, vocabulary, enquiries and links to the schools drivers. This is not used as part of an assessment, but to support children with their acquisition of knowledge and are used as a reference document. Effective trips, visitors and hooks are employed in the science learning journey to engage the pupils and put the learning into context. Cross-curricular links are planned for, with other subjects such as Maths, English and Computing. Children are given the opportunity to talk like a scientist at the end of each lesson and are expected to use the key vocabulary taught at the start of a lesson. Children complete pre and post assessments for each strand of science so teachers can then use this to aid assessment.
The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum supports children’s understanding of Science through the planning and teaching of ‘Understanding the World.’ Children access continuous provision linked to science and are encouraged to use high level vocabulary through talk with adults. Stories are used to help put the learning into context. Our children are encouraged to use the natural environment around them to explore. Our children are encouraged to use the outdoor environment as often as possible and ask questions.
Foundation subjects include Art & Design, Computing, Design Technology, Geography, History, Music, P.E. and French (KS2).
Lessons are subject focused but do incorporate other areas wherever possible to allow children to make links in their learning. Key concepts for teaching and learning subject specific skills have been carefully selected for each subject area.
Subject topics are introduced through questions, which pupils revisit as an outcome to demonstrate their new learning.
Context lessons ensure that pupils recognise when and where events are taking place and what else is happening around the world at that time.
Links are also made to pupils’ lives, the locality or current affairs to ensure that the curriculum is relevant, pupils are encouraged to share experiences from their own diverse backgrounds to add breadth to learning. Opportunities are provided for memorable experiences to be made engaging pupils’ and fostering a lifelong love of learning.
Intent
At Holy Trinity C of E Primary School, we believe that all children are entitled to receive a high-quality of education regardless of their needs or disabilities. We recognise that it is vital our children are equipped with the tools needed to become independent learners and to ensure that they have the confidence to communicate their needs and to make a successful transition to the next stage of their education and beyond.
Implementation
Through quality-first teaching and provision we:
Ensure that needs are identified as early as possible and support is put into place
Ensure that children have access to a broad and balanced curriculum which is appropriately differentiated to enable children to succeed
Provide an accessible learning environment which is tailored to the needs of all pupils
Develop children’s independence
Regularly monitor the progress of children with SEND
Work closely with parents and carers
Work closely with external agencies and other professionals to ensure that there is a collaborative approach to support children with SEND.
Pupils with SEND will:
Be included in all aspects of the school day
Be provided with quality-first teaching, adapted to meet their needs
Be respected and acknowledged
Pupils with SEND may:
Have specific 1:1 or group support to support them accessing different areas of the curriculum
Have interventions outside of the classroom
Take part in social, emotional and mental health interventions
Receive additional support through a Speech and Language Therapy programme
Impact
As a result of the provision above, children at Holy Trinity C of E Primary School will:
Feel safe, secure and cared for
Show confidence and resilience in the classroom
Demonstrate high levels of engagement in activities
Make progress from their starting points
Develop independence and skills to support them throughout life
Work collaboratively with their peers on a shared task
Further Information
If you would like to find out more about our curriculum please contact Mr Corby (Assistant Head Teacher), eamon.corby@holytrinity.sandwell.sch.uk