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Curriculum Overview
Intent
Our vision is to provide every child with an ambitious curriculum that ignites curiosity and builds meaningful knowledge, skills and understanding of the world and their place within it.
It is our intention that all pupils at Northdown Primary School authentically connect with the curriculum offered. We aim to enrich their learning experiences through interesting, relevant and well-sequenced opportunities within and beyond the classroom that inspires life-long learning. This all builds towards our goal of developing pupils both academically and personally.
It is our intention that the curriculum at Northdown includes:
- Ambition for All: High expectations for every pupil, ensuring those with SEND or other additional needs, access the full curriculum through smart adaptation.
- Logical Sequencing: Knowledge is stacked intentionally so children build on firm foundations year-on-year.
- Clear End-Points: Explicitly defining what children should know and remember by the end of each stage.
- Reading as the Priority: A laser focus on phonics and literacy to ensure every child can unlock the learning across the curriculum.
- Vocabulary Development: A focus on understanding and using a broad range of subject-specific words.
- Oracy: Opportunities to engage in meaningful talk about the learning content covered.
- Contextual Relevance: Designing the curriculum to reflect our community.
- Enrichment and joy: Providing interesting and engaging experiences that broaden children's horizons.
Implementation
At Northdown, we implement much of the curriculum through carefully selected schemes of work that meet the needs of our intent. This helps us ensure clear and cohesive sequences of knowledge and skills from Nursery through to Year 6 and allows our teachers to focus on skillfully adapting, delivering and assessing the content to promote good progress. To find out more about the selected schemes of work for each subject, explore the subject section of this website.
Delivery and assessment across the curriculum
All curriculum subjects - whichever programme is used- are taught through carefully selected themes, mapped from Nursery to Year 6 to ensure full and cohesive coverage in units of learning.
In each lesson, teachers explain and model the new learning, linking this to prior learning. This helps our pupils connect ideas as well as helping them know and remember more. New learning is presented in manageable chunks to ensure learners can build confidence and extend their mental models over time.
Throughout each unit of study, pupils are explicitly taught to understand and use specific vocabulary that helps build deep understanding in subjects. Through lessons, pupils are given the opportunity to engage in oracy to help them discuss and explain their knowledge and understanding. Within the wider curriculum units, pupils also have the opportunity to apply reading, writing and maths knowledge and skills where appropriate.
Regular retrieval and formative assessment is used which helps pupils activate hard thinking and express their understanding out loud. This all helps teachers to assess pupils’ knowledge and decide what to teach them next, as well as decide how to adapt content in future lessons. In addition, at the end of each unit, teachers complete summary assessments of pupils’ outcomes.
Enrichment and resources
Enrichment in our curriculum might include workshops, visits and trips, special visitors or other special events and activities beyond the core syllabus. These aim to strengthen learning, broaden horizons and foster creativity and critical thinking- as well as promote joy and a love for learning. This all works to help children find their own areas of interest and raises aspirations.
We aim to make use of high-quality resources and texts that supplement the curriculum and foster learning.
Curriculum long-term overview
To explore the whole school curriculum overview, click here. .
Impact
By the time they leave Northdown Primary School, our pupils:
- Develop knowledge, skills and understanding in each curriculum subject and its discipline; learning to appreciate the value of each subject they learn.
- Gain understanding of their local community and the wider world.
- Make meaningful links within and across subjects.
- Develop subject-specific vocabulary and oracy to articulate learning.
- Understand their responsibilities as active citizens and show empathy for people from diverse backgrounds.
If you would like further information about our curriculum offer at Northdown Primary School, please do not hesitate to ask your child’s teacher or contact us via the main school office.
Parents and carers:
Explore these Knowledge organisers for your child’s project. This will help build a shared understanding of what your child has been learning and experiencing in school. It also helps your child further retain their learning by helping them process and share their knowledge.