Curriculum

Intent

At Worple we have a very distinct, clear vision, and set of values that underpin the passion that we share as a school community to ensure that our children grow up ‘ready for life in the future’. The distinct principles underpinning our vision are:

• We believe in ourselves
• We have the confidence to try new things
• We love to learn
• We care for each other and the environment
• We are ready for the future

The children live the experience of this vision through the embodiment of our school values, which in turn supports them to become the child of our school’s vision. Our school values in turn ensure that our strong ethos drives all aspects of our school community and therefore the curriculum is a central vehicle for delivering on these.

• Challenge
• Motivation
• Integrity
• Resilience
• Curiosity

The curriculum offered at Worple has been designed to provide opportunities for children to develop as independent, confident and successful learners, with high aspirations, who know how to make a positive contribution to their community and the wider society. It is driven by our vision and values and is constantly evolving, determined by our changing priorities and diverse community.

Our aim is to provide a broad and balanced, knowledge-rich curriculum which motivates all our children. Throughout the curriculum, opportunities are created which aim to foster curiosity and develop a love of learning. Academic success and the development of self, physically and emotionally, are all critical outcomes of our strong curriculum provision. The children learn to be creative and develop problem-solving skills as well as becoming resilient learners who are able to embrace new challenges tackling any difficulties they may face with confidence.

Self-worth, general well-being and mental health are all key aspects of our school provision. On our journey to becoming ‘trauma informed’, the children’s robust mental health and wellbeing is a priority; the curriculum and its delivery reflects this. Embedding ‘brain breaks’ and timetabling sensory sessions for those who may need them has become a priority. We understand that in order to learn, a child must first feel safe and valued.

The children learn to become responsible citizens, demonstrating integrity and having a positive contribution within the community and beyond. Our curriculum celebrates the diversity and utilises the skills, knowledge and cultural wealth of the community while supporting the children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, ensuring that children are well prepared for life in modern Britain.

Implementation

The curriculum incorporates the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum 2014, as well as all other statutory requirements including those relating to PSHE and Religious Education. We use a subject-specific project approach with foundation subjects being delivered through the Cornerstones curriculum programme. This has been adapted to meet and respond to the needs of the children and families within our community.

The Mastery Approach

Across the curriculum we have adopted a mastery approach to teaching. Using Pathways to Write in English lessons and both Third space learning and White Rose Maths for maths, ensures the curriculum is delivered in small steps with opportunities for interleaving and repetition. We teach to ARE and provide challenge for those who grasp concepts quickly. Our Interventions are closely linked to the content that is being taught in the classroom ensuring that those who may struggle have pre teaching and opportunity to practice and become fluent outside the lessons.

Prioritising Reading

The direct teaching of reading starts with oracy and phonics. We currently follow the Essential Letters and Sounds programme (ELS), with this being complemented by purposeful talk and the use of shared reading experiences that expose pupils to a wider range of vocabulary, syntax and sentence structure. As part of Essential Letters and Sounds, the children have a daily phonics lesson in which they participate in speaking, listening and spelling activities that are matched to their developmental needs. The teachers draw upon observations and continuous assessment to ensure children are stretched, challenged and to identify those children who may need additional support.

By KS2, we aim for all children to be ready for the whole class reading lessons that are undertaken at least four times a week. The focus here is on vocabulary development, the development of specific reading skills and the immersion in a wide range of texts. These lessons use class novels as a stimulus for deeper thinking and link a range of fiction and non-fiction texts to these in order to further develop contextual knowledge and understanding. In addition, geography and history lessons from the Cornerstones curriculum incorporate knowledge organisers and information leaflets which form part of our reading curriculum. To support this work, teachers have access to a bank of lesson activities that can be applied to any text, with different activities developing specific aspects of pupils’ comprehension and understanding.

Cornerstones Curriculum

We have recently adopted the Cornerstone Maestro curriculum to ensure coverage and progression in a number of curriculum areas. Whilst ensuring a clear path of progression for skills and knowledge in Art and DT, Humanities and Science, a key principal of this curriculum is to also to provide children with memorable experiences. These memorable experiences are often drawn from children’ own community, its heritage and traditions are frequently used as a starting point for engaging interest.

The curriculum’s content is delivered through a range of subject-specific projects, which last either a full or half term. Each project follows the Cornerstones pedagogy of Engage, Develop, Innovate and Express.

The Wider Curriculum

Worple makes full use of the skills of a wide range of professionals; throughout their time at Worple, children will work with specialist teachers and coaches who deliver their subjects with expertise and enthusiasm.

The school works alongside Hounslow Music Service to deliver high quality whole class and individual instrument lessons as well as offering all KS2 children the opportunity to learn an instrument. Through our commitment to Sport Impact both children and staff receive excellent tuition and support. The school holds the ‘Active Schools Gold Award’ for competitive sports.

A varied timetable for extra-curricular activities is offered by the school, with clubs that support the core curriculum offer, as well as those which develop specialist skills.

The school takes pride in providing a highly inclusive environment, where learners demonstrate high levels of enjoyment in their education and most make very good progress in most subjects and areas of learning. Children at all levels are helped to achieve their potential. Those who are most able are challenged and supported through being offered tasks which provide opportunities for greater depth and those who struggle are encouraged and given targeted support to embed skills, to develop at their own pace or simply to learn in a style that best suits their individual needs.

Supported by SLT, the school’s new subject leaders will play an important part in the success of the curriculum by leading a regular programme of monitoring, evaluation and review and the celebration of good practice contributes to the ongoing commitment to evolve and improve further.

All subject leaders are given training and the opportunity to keep developing their own subject knowledge, skills and understanding, so they can support curriculum development and their colleagues throughout the school

Impact

Pupils’ progress is measured through ongoing assessment and through three key assessment points during the year. Work is planned to address misconceptions and gaps in learning are identified to ensure that the curriculum effectively meets the needs of all pupils.

We measure impact through learning walks, book looks, formative and summative data and pupil, parent and teacher voice.

This curriculum design ensures that the needs of individual and small groups of children can be met within the environment of high quality first wave teaching, supported by targeted, proven interventions where appropriate. In this way it can be seen to impact in a very positive way on children’s outcomes.