Curriculum
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Whole School Curriculum Intent
Concepts and Cycles
Project Questions
Phonics
Our commitment to growing successful readers and writers starts with quality phonics sessions and matching reading texts. We use Twinkl phonics as our scheme to develop our early readers.
At Kewstoke School we also encourage and teach our children to become fluent and accurate readers who select texts for purpose and pleasure.
English
At Kewstoke Primary School we encourage our children to develop their English skills in creative and imaginative lessons which employ high quality texts supported by the Power of Reading Programme. Effective teaching starts with the spoken word, and reading and writing are reciprocal. Children are encouraged to identify the next steps in their learning, ensuring they are learning without limits.
As the National Curriculum states “A high-quality education in English will teach pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Literature, especially, plays a key role in such development. Reading also enables pupils both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know. All the skills of language are essential to participating fully as a member of society; pupils, therefore, who do not learn to speak, read and write fluently and confidently are effectively disenfranchised.”
Mathematics
At Kewstoke Primary School we have chosen to use White Rose Maths to underpin our mathematics curriculum as it provides an ambitious connected curriculum that is accessible to all pupils. It has a clear progression through the primary years and beyond.
We enable our children to become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics as well as developing their ability to reason and solve problems. Pupils are introduced to new mathematical concepts in small steps and develop reasoning and problem solving skills using concrete resources; pictorial representations and numbers and symbols. This enables pupils to understand mathematics and make links in their learning. We place great importance on mathematical language and questioning so pupils can discuss their understanding and develop their thinking across the curriculum.
The National Curriculum states that “Mathematics is a creative and highly inter-connected discipline that has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems. It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. A high-quality mathematics education therefore provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.”
Science
Our science curriculum has been designed and supported by innovative and inspirational CPD which is based on a ‘hands on’ approach to investigative science. Through practical tasks and using a range of apparatus, children are provided with opportunities to ask questions, gather evidence and present their data, explaining their findings using scientific vocabulary.
The National Curriculum states “A high-quality science education provides the foundations for understanding the world through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. Science has changed our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity, and all pupils should be taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science. Through building up a body of key foundational knowledge and concepts, pupils should be encouraged to recognise the power of rational explanation and develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. They should be encouraged to understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave, and analyse causes.”
Relationship and Sex Education
Relationship and Sex Education is taught through our Jigsaw programme and our science curriculum.