Curriculum and Assessment Overview

Our 'Indelible' Curriculum.

indelible

adjective

1.(of ink or a pen) Making marks that cannot be removed.

"an indelible marker pen"

2.Not able to be forgotten.

"the story made an indelible impression on me"

After Safeguarding, the curriculum we offer our children is the most important aspect of our work. The curriculum is the vehicle through which all children learn. Promoting strong outcomes is therefore strongly linked to an engaging, purposeful and enjoyable curriculum.

At Easingwold Primary School we want to provide memorable and thought provoking learning opportunities within a curriculum that has three distinctive aspects; intent, implementation and impact.

Intent – What are the aims of our curriculum?

To prioritise reading to ensure that children can read to learn
To at least meet the expectations of the National Curriculum and go beyond wherever possible
To be ambitious for all of our pupils, including our SEND and disadvantaged pupils so that no pupil will have a narrowed curriculum
To break the skills and knowledge of the curriculum down into small steps (components) so that staff know how to ensure children reach a set of clearly identified end goals (composites)
To provide ample opportunities for children to practice and overlearn key components over time to achieve automaticity
To ensure that CPD provides staff with the confidence, skills and knowledge for each subject
To instill and equip children to uphold our school values of; resilience, respect and responsibility and the British Modern Values of rule of law, respect and tolerance, democracy and individual liberty

Implementation – How is our curriculum to be delivered?

Accurate assessment informs planning
Reading books are accurately matched to children’s phonic knowledge and fidelity is shown to our SSP
Lessons are driven by learning more and remembering more - not by activity/outcome
To enable children to build schema to link their learning over time within and across subjects
Pupils are not cognitively overloaded in lessons in terms of content and the learning environment
There is a clear understanding of what challenge looks like
A mastery approach is applied to all subjects
Learning is skillfully adapted so that all children can access it, whatever stage their learning is at
Lesson planning, preparation and assessment takes into account teacher workload and aims to minimise this wherever possible
Trips, visitors and residentials are carefully planned to ensure that learning is explicit and they support children learning more over time
Independence and resilience are well developed

Impact – What will our children achieve?

Our children will be fluent readers who have a love of reading and can read to learn
Our children will be resilient learners who have a variety of strategies to use when things are challenging
Our children will be academically and socially ready for the next stage each time they reach one
Our children will be prepared for life in a modern British society and have tolerance and respect for all members of society
Our children will be at least in line with national outcomes at the end of each key stage and the phonics screening check
Our children will have a lifelong love of learning beyond the classroom
Our children will know how to keep themselves safe including; when online and know how to look after their physical and mental health
Our children will know the importance of community and have the skills and desire to become responsible and caring citizens

Learning Beyond the Classroom:

We believe that learning does not stop when children leave the classroom so we offer a range of overnight and residential visits across the school from a young age to maximise these valuable experiences and build independence and resilience. We offer the following overnight and residential visits:

Year 2: Sleepover at school - a chance to spend the night away from home with friends, learn how to set up and tidy away their beds and make their own breakfast.

Year 3: Camping - Children learn how to work together to put up tents for a night of camping on the school field. They practice making their own breakfast and tidying up after it. They develop resilience when sleeping in the great outdoors and how to cope with the noises and shadows of the great outdoors.

Year 4: East Barnby - Children get to experience all that the coast has to offer during this two night stay near to Whitby. Activities may include; fossil hunting, rock pooling, body-boarding, walking up Roseberry Topping and orienteering overlooking Robin Hood's Bay. Children are introduced to sharing and managing being part of a dorm and learn to take responsibility for their kit and being appropriately dressed for activities. They also learn how to put on a bed sheet, duvet cover and pillowcases and how to strip a ned ready for laundry. In the dining room, they set up crockery an dcutlery, serve the staff and work together to clear the tables and wipe them down ready for the next meal.

Year 5: Liverpool - During this two night city stay, children get to explore a major UK city. They develop their map reading skills, learn how to use public transport and develop their knowledge through visits to; the Liver Bird Museum Tour, the Great British Music Experience, the ferry across the world famous Mersey River, the historic docks and the World Museum. They will also learn to navigate a busy city and develop road crossing and self awareness skills. During the stay in the hostel they will learn to manage their free time and share spaces with other schools and visitors.

Year 6: Bewerley Park - The final residential that children take part in is a four night stay in the Yorkshire Dales. Children get the chance to further develop their teamwork and resilience when tackling more advanced outdoor activities such as; gorge walking, the high ropes course, canoeing, bouldering, mine exploration and the night walk. They will take full responsibility for managing their time, being correctly kitted out and managing their dorm and belongings with minimal support from adults.

Our aim is that by offering these experiences we not only develop a love of the outdoors and promote active lifestyles but that they also become an indelible part of the children's lives bringing many happy memories and new skills and knowledge that will last them a lifetime.

National Curriculum

The National Curriculum for schools was rewritten and launched in schools in September 2014. This statutory document sets out the content that schools must teach throughout the primary phase. The National Curriculum is comprised of English, Mathematics, Science, History, Geography, Design & Technology, Music, Art & Design, Physical Education, Languages (from Year 3) and Computing.

Religious Education (R.E) and Personal, Social, Health Education (PSHE) are not part of the National Curriculum, but are also taught in school and cover health and relationship education which both became a statutory requirement from September 2020.

Assessment and Tracking

Teachers use accurate assessment before they plan lessons and ongoing (formative) assessment during lessons to ascertain how successful the learning is. This information is then used to plan the next lesson and any extra support which may be required. At the start of each lesson, children will carry out a short retrieval activity which helps the teacher to ensure they have remembered key learning from the previous lesson. At the end of each unit, teachers carry out a summative assessment activity to find out how successful the unit has been and which of the knowledge and skills have secured. This information is then used to; plug any gaps, plan the next unit and is also passed to the subject leader so that they are aware of any changes to the curriculum which may be required.

Long and Medium Term Plans

Our whole school Long Term Overview for years 1 - 6 can be seen below. It is written to provide a broad view of coverage. We send out parent friendly versions of the long term plan every term to each year group so that parents can see what will be covered to support learning at home. These plans also include a bookshelf to promote reading with suggested texts linked to the topic and texts that will be used in class. There is an example of one below.

From the long term plans, teachers then work from a Medium Term Plan which sets out clear end points and the explicit skills, knowledge and key vocabulary that must be taught. Key assessment objectives are also identified on these plans. To see our medium term plans, please visit our curriculum subject pages.

Weekly Plans

Weekly plans are the most detailed of the planning formats. They set out exactly what the teacher will cover in a specific lesson. They include the previous and post learning, possible misconceptions which may occur, a weekly retrieval opportunity, the objectives to be taught, key skills, knowledge, questions and vocabulary, how any work will be recorded and any required support and stretch.

We only ever complete the first 1 or 2 days for each weekly plan in detail. This is to ensure assessment is used accurately and effectively to inform the next lesson. It gives teachers the opportunity to reflect and adapt plans to meet the needs of the children based on what happened in the lesson.

Weekly plans often look quite tatty by the end of the week! Teachers and Teaching Assistants will have scribbled, annotated and changed the order of the learning based on what they know about the children. This is exactly what we like to see as it demonstrates reflective and flexible teaching.