The Curriculum at The Ridge Primary School

Intent

At The Ridge Primary School the inclusive curriculum is designed to provide a broad and balanced education that meets the needs of all children. Central to this is the school’s core values of Respect, Independence, Determination, Gratitude and Empathy.

These are woven through our curriculum which provides opportunities for children to develop as independent, confident and successful learners, with high aspirations, who know how to make a positive contribution to their local community and wider society.

The curriculum at The Ridge is underpinned by two principles -

· the requirements of the National Curriculum and

· the knowledge, skills, understanding and qualities which the school community has deemed it important for its pupils to develop – our Curriculum Drivers. These are:

- Possibilities – helping to expand the horizons of pupils, raising their aspirations and developing personal qualities to achieve success

- Diversity – helping pupils to understand diversity within their local and wider community and through this, develop a sense of belonging, empathy and tolerance

- Global Citizenship – helping pupils to develop an understanding of life in different parts of the world and how they can impact on the lives of others

As a vehicle to deliver the curriculum we have recently adopted the use of CUSP (Curriculum with Unity Schools Partnership) as a base curriculum for Reading, Writing, Science, History, Geography and Art and DT. Although we have only been using CUSP for a short period, we can already see the impact this approach is having on our children as learners.

The CUSP Curriculum is:

· ‘Connected’

· ‘Cumulative’

· ‘Coherent’

CUSP is underpinned by evidence, research and cognitive science. Modules are deliberately sequenced and there is an emphasis on oracy and vocabulary acquisition and retention and use. A rich diet of language and vocabulary is deliberately planned for and used in carefully sequenced lessons, where teachers connect learning, explain, provide examples support pupils to attempt and apply in guided or independent practice and challenge pupils.

Specific skills are discreetly taught and practised so that they become transferrable. The sequenced modules activate prior learning, build on skills and deepen knowledge and understanding. Learning, vocabulary and content is cumulative; content is learned, retrieved and built upon.

Essential and desirable knowledge is clearly identified in ‘Knowledge Organisers’ and ‘Knowledge Notes’. These use words and pictured (duel coding) to support all children to deepen their understanding of the area being taught but are especially supportive to those with cognition and learning needs (SEND) allowing them to break down learning barriers and make accelerate progress.

Where relevant and meaningful, a cross curricular ‘topic’ approach is employed by teachers to make links between subjects: practical real life experiences, including opportunities for educational visits and visitors coming in to school, inspire and motivate our children.

During the transitional phase of the implementation of CUSP, thoughtful decisions have been taken about which key content each year group should cover. These adjustments have been made to ensure that for example in History, pupils continue to study the breadth of history in a chronological order.

The principles and pedagogy of CUSP are adopted in areas of the curriculum where programmes of learning, other than CUSP are used. The teaching programmes that we use in these subjects are

· Phonics - Sounds-Write (DFE approved systematic synthetic phonics teaching programme)

· Handwriting - Kinetic Letters

· Mathematics – Power Maths

· Computing - i-Compute

· Music – Charanga

· French - Kapow

· RE - Discovery RE

· PE - Complete PE

· PSHE and RSE - Dimensions Curriculum: 3D PSHE

Our curriculum ensures that academic development, creativity and problem solving, as well as physical development, well-being and mental health are key elements that support the development of our pupils and promote a positive attitude to learning. It promotes an understanding and respect for our local community and the diversity outside of the local area. The curriculum supports 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 and other experiences and opportunities which best meet the learning and developmental needs of the children in our school. The curriculum provides children with memorable experiences, in addition to diverse and rich opportunities from which children can learn and develop a range of transferable skills.

The school’s curriculum is broad and balanced. The outdoor environment and the local community are considered an opportunity for active learning for all our children. The school grounds have been developed so that Forest school learning can be provided for all children. All learners have access to high quality educational experiences beyond the classroom, including residential visits. A varied timetable for extra-curricular activities is offered by the school, with clubs that support the core curriculum offer in PE and Music, as well as those which develop specific interests such as chess and cooking.

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.

Impact

The teaching and learning practice across the school provides a strong foundation and opportunities for children to collaborate and develop social skills both indoors and out. This curriculum design ensures that the needs of individual and small groups of children can be met within the environment of high quality first teaching, supported by targeted, interventions where appropriate. In this way it can be seen to impact in a very positive way on children’s outcomes.

Enjoyment of the curriculum promotes achievement, confidence and good behaviour. Children feel safe to try new things. Developing their independence and motivation as learners and their sense of responsibility as future citizens is at the heart of all our teaching and learning.

You can find out more information about the National Curriculum here:

National Curriculum 

You can find out more about EYFS here:

EYFS - Development Matters

Curriculum Newsletters

Our termly curriculum newsletters are sent to parents via Class Dojo.

More Information

For more information on our curriculum, please email our curriculum lead, Mrs D Hudson:

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