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The Pioneer Academy Curriculum Statement
Intent
The curriculum in TPA schools is designed to inspire and motivate children. Our aim is for every child to experience ‘an extraordinary school day’ every day. We place children at the heart of the learning process through a bespoke ‘Teaching and Learning Model.’ The Model, which is rooted firmly in research and analysis of effective learning and teaching, translates the Trust’s Expectations into classroom practice. This Model has been developed and embedded to provide consistency and continuity for all children.
We use the International Primary Curriculum (IPC) as a framework for learning. IPC provides a clear, thematic approach which ensures coverage of the National Curriculum. The thematic approach links well with our intent to make all learning exciting, active and meaningful for all our children. Learning with IPC also includes an international dimension, helping children to connect their learning to where they are living now, as well as looking at learning from the perspective of people in other countries.
The Pioneer Academy is committed to the highest quality teaching across the whole curriculum and promotes the use of specialist teachers to facilitate this. We currently have specialist teachers for PE, Music, R.E. and MfL teaching across our school.
Implementation
The IPC is used from Year 1 to Year 6 as the core framework for learning in the majority of subjects. In EYFS we have developed our own curriculum planning based upon continuous provision, and a transition curriculum which links with our IPC planning.
The White Rose Mathematics scheme, supplemented by additional resources, is used for teaching and learning in Mathematics. This was selected for it’s accessibility and strong approach to mastery.
Read, Write, Ink is used in a number of schools across the trust and has been selected for the level of structure and resourcing available.
Our teaching and learning model is designed and implemented in such a way that it builds on prior knowledge and skills and lays the foundation for future learning. Lessons are designed to be engaging and challenging with learners actively involved.
Our curriculum planning has been designed so that subjects are taught independently and interdependently and supplemented by a wide range of opportunities and enrichment activities which allow for cross curricular learning. This enables learners to see the ‘Big Picture’ of their learning and to make connections both through and across different subjects.
Progression Maps for each subject identify the knowledge, skills, understanding and vocabulary that pupils are expected to master each year in each subject and unit of learning. These have been used to develop ‘Pacer’ documents for each unit of learning which identify the learning sequence through key learning questions. The pacer documents ensure the national curriculum and our own bespoke learning questions are organised and taught in a progressive order so knowledge, skills and understanding are built upon year on year. Key learning is linked in each unit through knowledge organisers.
Subject leaders work in partnership across the schools and within a core framework to ensure consistency and continued development of each subject.
Through subject forums subject leaders across the Academy share planning, practice and resources, building and refining a central subject bank which is accessed by all teachers. This bank is used to drive consistency and reduce workload for our teachers and secure high quality teaching and learning in every subject.
Impact
We review the impact of our curriculum continuously in a variety of different ways. We monitor how effectively our curriculum and enrichment provision provides opportunities for each unique pupil to reach their full potential.
We look at the quality and breadth of work seen in learner’s books, online and in the learning environment, pupil voice discussions, outcomes of assessments and quality of teaching and learning through learning walks. All of these tools help us assess the consistency, impact and relevance of our curriculum.
Downe Primary School Curriculum
Our curriculum aligns with The Pioneer Academy. In addition we focus on an aspirational approach to curriculum design
Through our aspirational approach to curriculum design, we express our belief that education should inspire, challenge and engage to create lasting memories. Our aim is to ensure children achieve as highly as possible, especially in the essential skills, whilst also providing ample opportunity for broadening their learning experiences.
Our aspirational approach permeates all we do in school. As well as encouraging intellectual growth, we work with families to develop the ‘whole child’. We are relentlessly bothered about ensuring every child has every possible opportunity to reach their personal best.
Our curriculum design also considers the development of character at each stage of education and how this enables pupils to flourish. We take pride in our community, ensuring that pupils see themselves reflected within the curriculum, and have opportunities to share with and learn from one another. We value each child as an individual and work hard to foster resilience, creativity, responsibility, self-belief, respect and truthfulness.
It follows that our curriculum has been carefully cultivated to:
- Make every day an ‘extraordinary school day’ for our pupils, through high quality lesson design that enables excellent teaching;
- provide opportunities for pupils to develop their character through our core character values: resilience, creativity, responsibility, self-belief, respect and truthfulness;
- ensure that pupils develop the core skills of Reading, Writing & Mathematics;
- provide opportunities to develop skills in Science and the foundation subjects, alongside a deep knowledge and understanding of the essential facts about our world, informed by the National Curriculum programmes of study and the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework.
- instil a cultural literacy that conveys British values;
- recognise the potential variation in cultural experiences amongst pupils: we provide enriched experiences that our pupils might not otherwise enjoy and learn from (for example, through our Pioneer Pupil Passport);
- involve parents and carers at every opportunity;
- extend pupils’ involvement in the local community and beyond, developing their understanding of local, environmental and global issues
Sequencing
We carefully consider the sequencing of skills and knowledge within each subject area, at each stage of education, and how these build toward agreed end points. Guided by our quality schemes of work, each subject’s curriculum is planned and sequenced so that new knowledge and skills build on those that have been taught before, ensuring progression towards the end of key stage expectations. We look at each concept and each skill, and ask ‘why this; why now?’. Opportunities for repetition and reinforcement are capitalised upon to ensure that pupils ‘know more and remember more’. As a primary school with a Nursery, we are particularly well placed with our skilled Early Years practitioners to create very strong foundations in the EYFS. This ensures that we deliver a well sequenced learning journey across the primary phase, supported by consistency in the language of learning and the language for learning.
Adaptation
Our curriculum reflects the school’s local context by addressing typical gaps in pupils’ knowledge and skills. We are committed to recognising and meeting the needs of the following pupil groups:
- The number of pupils in school with English as an Additional Language (EAL).
- The number of pupils in school with Speech, Language and Communication needs (SLC).
- The number of pupils in school with Social Emotional and Mental Health needs (SEMH).
- Pupils in receipt of the Pupil Premium (PP)
Adapting our curriculum to respond to our school’s context involves considered selection of materials to interpret the National Curriculum – for example our adoption of the CUSP Curriculum in Key Stages 1 and 2. This provides a rich diet of language and vocabulary, emphasising oracy and vocabulary acquisition, use and retention to break down learning barriers and accelerate progress. We also considered our selection of experiences to supplement the National Curriculum (for example, our implementation of the ‘Pioneer Passport’) and the weaving of these experiences through our curriculum to create cultural capital, which we recognise as being significantly beneficial for our economically deprived pupils.
Curriculum adaptation at pupil level is indistinguishable from pedagogic adaptation and is a matter of implementation rather than intent. It is an ongoing dynamic process that modifies and adapts the prescribed programmes of study to meet the learning requirements of each pupil. It enables the teachers to teach learners of all abilities and ensures that every pupil is challenged