Curriculum Statement

Intent

At Pinehurst Primary School, we believe deeply in the importance of helping our pupils develop as a whole person – happy and ready to take the next steps into their education and lives beyond primary school, regardless of their starting point.  We celebrate our difference.

Our aim is to create an exciting, interesting set of activities that are underpinned by the knowledge, skills and understanding relevant for each year group. 

Our curriculum will promote and foster confidence, independence, co-operation and self esteem throughout the time the children are at Pinehurst Primary School, which will prepare them for life in 21st Century Britain.

Our offer is underpinned by our vision and ethos of ‘Experience, Excel and Enjoy’.  We want all of our children at Pinehurst to leave with a range of experiences, the self belief to excel and to understand the feeling of enjoyment. 

Our curriculum is carefully crafted so that our children develop their academic, social and cultural capital. 

We have made informed choices about what experiences we want to include and how they build over time across the curriculum.  We include both off and on-site experiences in our curriculum and make the most of what we have locally including local businesses and charities. 

We are developing a standard pupil offer of experiences in an academic year.  The visits and visitors are determined by the coverage of curriculum knowledge and skills.

Educational Visits	Educational Visitors	Residential Visits	Outdoor learning opportunities	Arts and Culture	Community and Partnership Learning	Specialist curriculum
2	1	Year 6	School grounds   Local Area   Stanley Park   Fieldwork	Librarian Visits   Theatre Visit   Football Stadium Visit	St Columba’s Church Visits   LFC Foundation	Apple of my Eye Food Technology   Spanish from native Spanish speaker   LSSP Coach   Resonate Music Hub sessions

Based on our knowledge of the National Curriculum 2014, we have broken down the programmes of study into a series of skills and knowledge  and our long term curriculum plans show how at Pinehurst we intend to cover the fundamental concepts of each national curriculum subject.  Each subject has a ‘Subject Leader’ who has an overview of planning for that area of learning across the school.  Each Subject Leader has considered how each skill and knowledge statement connects and builds over time in their subject. They have also given consideration to how larger concepts are developed over time and in a variety of contexts to create a bespoke curriculum offer matched to our children’s needs. 

Every aspect of the curriculum is underpinned by a range of texts, vital in our promotion of a language rich environment to support the increasing communication needs of the children in our school. Books are selected to reflect equality, alongside spiritual, moral, social and cultural needs. Thematic and subject displays across the Key Stages, are designed to promote a wider variety of vocabulary and subject specific language.

The primary purpose of our curriculum is to guarantee a successful learning experience for every child. With this in mind, we are committed to ensuring that every child is developed to their full potential:

• Every child will be educated to the highest possible standard, as set by the Department for Education.
• Every child, in every lesson, will be provided with opportunities to: be engaged in, challenged in and process their learning. 
• Every child will be provided with opportunities to increase their self-esteem, motivation and aspirations.
• Every child will be encouraged to be enterprising and entrepreneurial in order that they may succeed in an ever-changing job market.
• Every child will be provided with opportunities to experience the wider world as a core part of their curriculum.
• Every child will be taught about budgeting and financial management in order that they may succeed in an increasingly unpredictable financial world.

 

Our daily Assessment for Learning and timely feedback means that teachers and pupils always know exactly how much progress they are making and where they may need more help.  

 

Our broad and balanced curriculum is designed to:

• Develop strong characters in order to be resilient and cope with adversity.
• Develop creative individuals who collaborate and co-operate and can solve problems seeing failure as an opportunity to learn.
• Develop pupils who can think critically and care about their learning so they always do their best.
• Develop pupils who care about their role as part of a family, community and the wider world; encouraging them to feel part of, and to contribute positively to fundamental British values.
• Ensure all pupils have high aspirations.
• Develop a thirst for learning for all pupils

 

 

Examples of how our curriculum is delivered:

English

English skills are taught in daily English lessons at both Key Stages. The focus is on the teaching of reading and writing with opportunities for children to listen and speak in many different situations across the curriculum. To make writing purposeful and interesting and develop and enhance opportunities to write and learn in different areas of the curriculum.
The enjoyment of books and a love of reading are fostered from the early stages of their education. The children have access to a range of books so that reading skills can progress.
We begin the teaching of phonics at the beginning of the Foundation stage. This gives the children confidence to attempt writing of their own and as they progress through the school these early strategies help them develop into fluent and confident readers and writers.
In class, reading is taught primarily through a shared reading approach in which the class share a book or extract of text together and are supported by the teacher to improve their vocabulary and comprehension skills.
Drama and role-play allow the children to explore their own feelings, develop speaking and listening skills and learn about the world around them.
In Key stage 2, children study a wide range of fiction and non-fiction texts, they use different genres for writing and are taught to draft and re-draft before producing their final piece of work. High expectations in correct spelling, grammar, punctuation and sentence formation are emphasised.

Reading

We encourage Pinehurst parents and carers  to read with their child every night.  All children have a Home Reading Record book. We invite parents to sign or make a comment to help support their child’s reading at home. Children  have the opportunity to change their reading books regularly.

We encourage a love and respect of books and it is helpful when children spend time at home talking about books and reading. Encouraging the children to ask questions and say what is happening in the pictures and why are good starting points.  Whilst out and about, we encourage the children to look at the print around them - in shops, posters, road names, signs, etc. 

We have an extensive range of books in school including those from Read Write Inc, Oxford Reading Tree, and Big Cat Phonics.

Phonics

We use Read Write Inc to support our daily phonics teaching in EYFS and Key Stage 1. 

All children in Year 1 undertake the Phonics Screening Check at the end of the year.

Maths

Our children are encouraged and helped to develop a positive attitude to mathematics from their earliest days in school.
Children are taught to value the importance of mental maths in their mathematical development. Knowledge, understanding and skills to develop numeracy are taught in the daily maths lesson based around 'Maths No Problem.'
Maths is used in a wide range of contexts to help children appreciate the purpose and relevance of mathematics in the real world.

There is an emphasis on Basic Skills, as it is acknowledged that for children to know more and remember more, they need to have a solid understanding of the four operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

After focused teaching in each lesson, opportunities are provided for children to independently apply skills and all groups are provided with challenge.

Science

Science is essentially a practical subject intended to stimulate pupils' curiosity about the world around them. Science teaching helps children to develop enquiring minds and equips them with key skills, so that they are increasingly able to research answers to their own questions.

Our Science curriculum is based fundamentally on the principles that Science is good when it:

 - Is relevant and related to real life, current topics of interest, and means something to us

 - Allows us to ask lots of questions and develop our vocabulary

 - Lets us investigate and explore in a practical, hands on and experimental way

 - Challenges our understanding and encourages us to think about our scientific ideas

 - Encourages us to apply our knowledge, skills and understanding at home and at school

 - Gives us opportunities to work with others

 - Enables us to use appropriate, high quality resources.

 

Implementation

Our curriculum is underpinned by our vision and ethos of:

Experience

Excel

Enjoy

The curriculum for each year group is carefully designed to ensure coverage and progression across all subject areas; developing depth of knowledge and understanding together with opportunities for intelligent repetition which enables children to remember more.

We recognise children’s prior learning, encourage the children to develop interpersonal skills, build resilience and become creative, critical thinkers. Children are supported to achieve their potential and progress with confidence to the next phase of their education.

Our approach to teaching and learning supports our curriculum by ensuring that lessons build on prior learning and provide opportunities for guided and independent practice. The development of children’s knowledge and skills across all primary subjects is key when building on prior learning, this supports pupils for the next stage of their learning.

Everyone at Pinehurst Primary is encouraged to improve through our curriculum, understand others, not to give up, try new things, work hard, concentrate, excel in many subject areas, to experience real life contexts and embed these in memorable learning journeys, and to enjoy school life, to enjoy the subjects the children take part in, to develop a thirst, a love, a need to develop their own knowledge and thus become model British citizens of the world with a clear, reflective moral compass and independent skills to apply in the wider world.

Pupils are supported in school with extra support/resources deployed as necessary to help close the individual learning gaps.

Key skills such as evaluation, reflection and investigation are developed across our curriculum.  Lessons are planned in such a way that children can apply their knowledge in thinking/problem solving contexts.

 

Lesson Design Principles in the Curriculum

Teaching Principle	Implementation
Review	Review learning with the use of retrieval practice eg Multiple choice quizzes.
Small steps	Present new learning in small steps, linking to prior learning and moving on when new content is mastered.
Model	Model worked examples and teacher thinking to ensure steps are clear.  Model to be followed.
Questions	Question children’s understanding with a range of question types to determine how well material is learnt and remembered.
Check	Check what pupils know using reasoning and problem solving questions.
Guided Practice	Build in time for additional practice to commit learning to memory.
Independent Practice	Independent practice to produce “overlearning” so new learning can be recalled automatically.
Scaffold	Use temporary supports to assist learning including modelling, cue cards, checklists etc.
Challenge	Pitch expectations and content to challenge ALL learners.  Develop thinking skills.
Visual Prompts	Learners can use these to support their understanding of written and spoken instructions.

 

In their first year in school our Reception children follow the Early Years Curriculum and develop their knowledge, skills and understanding through a combination of both play-based learning and more focused teacher led sessions. Pupils learn to share, work independently and play with others. Our intention is for our curriculum to prepare our children well for their secondary education and has inspired them to find out more about the world and local area around them.

We have a commitment to expanding our pupils’ horizons, whether through learning outside the classroom in our extensive school grounds, working in the local community, or through enterprise projects or work–related learning. We see great value in working with visiting speakers, specialists and other professionals.

 

Curriculum schemes and resources overview

We utilise published curriculum materials to support our planning – all based on the Early Years and Foundation Stage (EYFS) Curriculum and the National Curriculum (2014). All aspects comply with legislation and national guidance, including the teaching of Sex Relationships Education (SRE).

We use a variety of published schemes to support us in school, these include:

•           Read Write Inc (Phonics)

•           Maths No Problem (Mathematics)

•           Charanga (Music)

•           Oddizzi (Geography)

•           Jigsaw (PSHE)

•           Liverpool Diocese Scheme of Work (R.E)

 

Impact

We evaluate the knowledge, skills and understanding that the pupils have gained against the expectations agreed and evaluate our teaching from this.  This ensures that we are constantly striving for improvement and ensuring that our curriculum is the best it can be.  We will continue to review and evaluate each subject.

 

Our Curriculum Lead is Miss R Fry 

Please contact her for more information about the curriculum we are following at Pinehurst Primary School

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