CURRICULUM POLICY
HILL WEST PRIMARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM POLICY RATIONALE The whole curriculum as approved by the Local Governing Body is concerned with the holistic needs of all the pupils. The school is committed to providing the valuable opportunities of the National Curriculum but with emphasis on the development of the positive attitudes and a love of learning. Our curriculum aims to develop key skills across a range of subjects to enable effective learning. The National Curriculum is seen as stimulating, challenging and enriching ensuring an equality of opportunity for our pupils with pupils nationally. We enrich the National Curriculum subjects by teaching through cross curricular key questions that are aimed to improve the children’s ability to; Ask questions Investigate Interrogate information Present Argue Problematise Develop skills and knowledge OUR SCHOOL AIMS AND VALUES At Hill West Primary School we are dedicated to the whole child and as such we endeavour to: Develop and foster a strong home-school partnership through open dialogue; Provide a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum that shows progress and continuity from Foundation Stage to the end of Key Stage Two so that each child meets their full learning potential; Develop challenging experiences and activities to foster individual self-esteem and confidence; Develop stimulating and inclusive learning environments; Promote the awareness that each child is unique and develop opportunities to celebrate differences; Develop in each child a sense of awe and wonder.
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CURRICULUM AIMS Our Curriculum is designed to be dynamic and flexible to the changing needs of our pupils and wider community. As such our curriculum is under a continuous cycle of review and evaluation. As part of this our pupils contribute to curriculum design by informing us how they learn best and what they enjoy learning most. Pupils therefore play a significant part in planning, assessing and recording their personal learning journeys and targets for improvement. Our specific aims are to: promote high standards in Literacy, Numeracy, Science and ICT; allow children to develop knowledge of themselves as learners; enable children to acquire knowledge and key skills across the curriculum; enable children to be confident in the use of ICT in a range of subjects; promote spiritual development; promote physical and mental development and an awareness of the importance of a healthy lifestyle; enable children to be aware of the importance of and participate in the arts and related cultural themes; enable pupils to develop moral sensibility through carefully taught values; develop the personal and social skills of each child; provide equality of access and the opportunity for all pupils to make progress; prepare pupils well for transition and the opportunities, responsibilities and experience of adult life; underpin our curriculum with building learning power competencies and dispositions.
The curriculum is planned effectively, providing continuity and progression. It promotes an enjoyment of learning and a commitment to learning and achieving. Through the provision of rich and varied activities, we aim to: encourage the best possible progress and the highest achievement for all pupils; enable pupils make connections across different areas of learning; help pupils to think creatively and solve problems; develop pupils’ capacity to learn and work independently and collaboratively; enable pupils to respond positively to opportunities, challenge and responsibility; enable pupils to acquire and develop a broad range of knowledge, skills and understanding at a deep level.
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THE ORGANISATION OF THE CURRICULUM The curriculum is taught through key questions linked to a cross curricular theme. Each year group follows the national curriculum, our curriculum overviews indicates the broad objectives and the links between subjects; Key Questions for the year are mapped out for each year group, considering what the National Curriculum specifies to teach and topics that are personalised for our children. These are looked at adapted each year dependent on the children Units of work are planned, usually over half a term’s duration. These are called MEDIUM TERM PLANS and contain the detail of the work to be covered with a progression of learning objectives. The plans indicate how the work will be differentiated and what the pupil outcomes will be; SHORT TERM PLANNING is carried out in detail on a weekly basis using an agreed format; The children are taught with their year groups with some children being withdrawn for small group support; Setting takes place in some year groups only where appropriate e.g. phonics groups or most able mathematicians. This enables the teaching to focus on a particular age range or level of ability; Units of work (key questions) are planned using the framework of the National Curriculum; The RE scheme of work follows The Birmingham Agreed Syllabus.
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES The Head Teacher in collaboration with the Deputy Head Teachers have overall responsibility for the leadership of the curriculum and delegate responsibility to key staff: the Literacy and Numeracy Leads oversee all aspects of Literacy and Numeracy subject delivery Assistant Heads for each phase co-ordinates all aspects of the Non-Core subject delivery The senior leadership and middle leadership team ensures that the curriculum has progression and appropriate coverage; Individual Class Teachers are responsible for writing the medium term plans and liaising with each other over the content and delivery of the units of work. They evaluate and monitor progress with the support of the Assistant Head Teacher assigned to their phase; The Senior Leadership Team in collaboration with Middle Leaders and Year Group Lead Teachers measure standards in all subjects across school; Class Teachers ensure that the curriculum is taught and that the aims are Curriculum Policy September 2015
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achieved for their class. They plan collaboratively to ensure parity across the year group; At Hill West there is a corporate responsibility to ensure that the progress of each pupil is tracked and that there is appropriate challenge, support and intervention;
Approved/Ratified By
Hill West LGB
Review Date
September 2016
Curriculum Policy September 2015
Date: 17.11.15
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