Foundation Subjects
A broad and balanced curriculum provides children with the skills, knowledge and understanding they need to develop into well-rounded, informed individuals.
Our curriculum includes core subjects and foundation subjects that ensure statutory coverage of the National Curriculum for England. For all subjects, there are clear whole-school and year group overviews as well as progression documents for each year group that build and develop an appropriate and relevant sequence of knowledge and key skills for each subject as pupils move through the school. Learning for pupils is connected through the progression of knowledge and skills and through meaningful links to other subjects.
Social responsibility features as a thread that runs through pupil learning across all subjects for pupils to explore their place within society and the contributions they can make now and in the future.
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All pupils will have the equivalent of an hour and a half Science lesson per week. This may be blocked if more appropriate to the topic.
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All pupils will have a weekly Computing lesson where they are taught discrete computing skills.
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All pupils have 2 hours of PE a week. This can include PE skills and mental wellbeing (e.g. mindfulness). Some of the designated PE hours each week are cross-curricular with PSHCE. There are also additional PE hours in the school year – Sports Week and Sports Morning.
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All pupils will also receive the equivalent of an hour a week for PSHCE, including RSE and SEAL (this may be blocked and linked to a topic).
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All pupils will have the equivalent of an hour RE lesson per week which may be blocked learning as part of a topic.
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History and Geography knowledge and skills are taught predominantly through topics. These can be blocked to enable more connected, richer learning.
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Art and Design and Design and Technology lessons may be taught discretely in order to teach specific skills or delivered as part of cross-curricular learning and used as a medium to teach other subjects.
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All pupils have the equivalent of a 50 minute music lesson per week with a specialist music teacher on alternate half terms. Pupils also experience additional music hours when taking part in a performance, e.g. The Year 5 performance at Christmas time or the annual Music Extravaganza. Peripatetic music lessons with tutors from the Local Authority Music Centre are also available at school should parents wish to purchase them.
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In Years 3 and 4 all pupils have the equivalent of a 30-minute lesson of Italian per week. Years 5 and 6 have the equivalent of a 30-minute lesson of French per week. This can be blocked, but needs to be taught regularly for the effective acquisition of language.
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Subject Teams have created a vision for their subject area and knowledge and skills led curriculum plans which begin in EYFS and are progressive, building in complexity as children move through the school. The knowledge and skills curriculum plans were implemented in 2020-21 and are working documents that wil be reviewed, evaluated and updated in response to subject teams monitoring activities.