Park Junior School Curriculum Statement
Park Junior School
Curriculum Statement
2023-2024
Intent
We are committed to providing a curriculum that has the following aims:
- To use curriculum drivers (community, emotional awareness, diversity) to shape our curriculum, derived from an exploration of the backgrounds of our children, ensuring they understand themselves and are able to celebrate diversity, respect and the value of others, in all communities.
- To develop cultural capital to give our children the vital background knowledge required to learn about and understand the world that they live in, so that they can flourish and reach their potential and in turn, develop local, national and global awareness.
- To ensure threshold concepts tie our subjects together into meaningful schema rather than blocks of unrelated knowledge, so students can revisit the same concepts constantly in order to build knowledge, skills, confidence and independence. This enables them to be successful citizens of their future world.
- To have a curriculum that is designed with an understanding that the working memory is limited and that we can aid learning and the acquisition of the long term memory with regular repeated learning experiences over time.
- To ensure our curriculum is ambitious and progressive for all learners. We recognise that for our children to become creative thinkers or to have a greater depth of understanding, they must first master the basics which then provides the foundation and knowledge for application and problem solving.
- To offer rich and vibrant opportunities and experiences which draw upon meaningful real-life experiences
- To empower the children with a holistic set of values to live effectively and safely in our ever-changing world.
- To develop each child’s unique potential within a secure and caring environment.
- To help children develop a thirst for knowledge and foster a love of learning
Implementation
Our Curriculum Maps and long term plans cover the National Curriculum objectives thoroughly, ensuring that each year group builds on the previous experience of their learners so there is clear progression in the acquisition of Cultural Capital (knowledge). Progress is also ensured through the continuous use and up levelling of the Threshold concepts (skills) in each subject as the children progress through their year and the key stage.
Curriculum knowledge and skills are revisited and built upon regularly throughout the year as well as year on year to give children an opportunity to embed their learning into their longer term memory. New knowledge and skills are also revisited frequently from lesson to lesson and in day to day classroom life to enable children to secure their new learning.
There is a rich mixture of topics in every term to provide the children with varied and stimulating learning. The topics are shaped by our Curriculum Drivers and ‘Experiences’ play a large role in Park Junior School, whether it be visits outside school or visitors or specialised teachers coming into school.
Weekly timetables ensure that the core subjects are covered daily and the foundation subjects weekly. It is important us that all children experience all aspects of the curriculum regularly in order to thrive and forge a pathway forwards in the areas of the curriculum that are their strengths.
Every child is encouraged to reach their potential through careful differentiation. Supported children are given more opportunity to embed the cultural capital before applying it, whilst the greater depth children are encouraged to reason and apply at a more complex level requiring justification and explanation if their knowledge is secure.
Impact
We strive for all pupils to achieve their maximum potential, by having high expectations and excellent standards. Our children make good progress by the end of Key Stage Two. We aim to ensure that the majority of our children’s attainment in core and foundation subjects is in line with or exceeding their age related expectations and we measure this carefully using a range of assessment materials to support teacher assessments. Our summative assessment practice is rigorous, indicating the child's progress and attainment on a termly basis in all subjects. Through frequent visitation of concepts to aid the long term memory, we see the progress children make and consequently, the greater depth learning they can then undertake. Our formative assessment is thorough, with children's achievements determining the pathway of leaning they take on a daily basis. With support and challenge, we would like the children to be academically and physically prepared for the next phase of their education and their future world. Our children enjoy lessons and we believe this early love of learning stimulates children to become life-long learners.
Our work on promoting social skills throughout the curriculum through the drivers enables our children to become good role models and the very best version of themselves they can be. Our learners will develop fully rounded characters with a clear understanding of values like equality, friendship, trust and many others. Only by really learning what these mean, will our learners be able to develop a character that prepares them for living in the community demonstrating tolerance and equality. They will be able to decide what is right and what is wrong and will be resilient to the influence of others. We measure this not just by the work our children produce, but in the behaviours we see each and every day in all learners on the playground, in the school building, in class and in the many roles we give them; the impact is seen in the daily interaction of all members of our school community. They will go out into the world and make a difference in their own life and to others. Our learners will be the owners of their own destinies.
Covid-19 Recovery
We are aware that some of our students and wider community will require additional support when returning after the pandemic. We understand that the impact of the pandemic may include a sense of loss linked to both their emotional and academic development. It is our role as a school community to support each other through this challenging time which we will endeavour to do as we begin to return to the ‘new normal’
We are committed to ensuring that all of our children feel that they are supported and equipped with the skills needed to overcome the challenges presented in such an unprecedented time. Wellbeing is at the forefront of our curriculum as children return. We will be ensuring that they have opportunity to share concerns and begin to learn skills of self reflection and an increased awareness of new emotions they may encounter as a result of the pandemic. We are aware of the importance of rebuilding both peer and staff relationships for children and encouraging a successful and positive reintegration to school life.
In response to missed learning time, teachers will shape the childrens' learning experiences in class to bridge any gaps they may have from school closures. Teachers and leaders will be monitoring children’s progress across all areas of the curriculum in order to ensure timely interventions can happen as and when needed so that children can continue to thrive. Catch up groups are being fully implemented to support children with identified needs as a consequence of school closure. A full curriculum of remote education and live learning has been followed during school closures and continues to be accessed by children needing to remain at home for a period of time due to Covid 19. Where remote education is in place, it is well integrated within courses of study and is well designed to support the wider implementation of the school's curriculum.