Curriculum Overview
Intent:
At Eastfield Primary Academy our curriculum offer gives children the opportunity to understand the world around them through the acquisition of declarative knowledge (a rich and deep subject knowledge), alongside procedural knowledge (learning new skills) by way of a variety of interesting contexts, whilst experiencing the challenge and enjoyment of learning.
Our curriculum is taught through a pedagogy that offers all children a memorable experience within each topic, at an appropriate point, which then leads the children into problem solving, being creative and communicating their thinking in a variety of different ways, sustaining the children’s interests. Woven within this, is a focus on the acquisition of basic skills: reading, writing and maths and providing a curriculum that is language rich ensuring our children can articulate their learning and thinking through both verbal and written communication.
Our children learn about respecting themselves and others through working collaboratively and are given time to reflect and think mindfully about their learning. They are encouraged to take part in democratic activities across the curriculum, expressing their opinions on a range of different topics and issues so that they can make a positive contribution to Eastfield, the local and global communities.
Curriculum enrichment is important to us and we ensure that our children have access to high quality resources, both in and out of the classroom; promoting a sense of pride in all that we do. Trips out and visitors in, ensure that our curriculum is exciting, memorable and we provide experiences that our children do not always have access to; deepening their understanding of the world around them. We welcome parents and carers in at every available opportunity to take part in their children’s learning experiences. Our out of school provision allows children to further develop their skills in sport, music, art, DT, computing and forest schools. Links are made with local comprehensive schools and local businesses to ensure that children, particularly across KS2, have an opportunity to think about long term goals, aspirations and career development.
Implementation:
Our curriculum implementation is underpinned by our 3 main drivers:
- Pride – we take pride in ourselves, our environment and in all we do.
- Collaboration – we use Kagan structures to support us working collaboratively; what we can do in a team today, we can achieve on our own tomorrow.
- Understanding – we use a bespoke curriculum, designed by our subject leaders to provide a vehicle for learning about and understanding the world around us, and this is supported by our Reading and Writing Strategies.
We have a clear long-term plan that identifies each unit plan to be taught on a half termly basis. Units are taught according to the main subject focus; in each half term from Early years to Year 6 the same subject focus is taught, for example in Autumn 1 a geography focused unit is taught and so on. Across the year:
- 2 x History units
- 2 x Geography units
- 1 x DT unit
- 1 x Art Unit
There is also an art or DT based week long unit at the end of each geography and history unit.
Each year group follows its own unit plans, ensuring that prior learning is built upon, revisited and progression is clear. Our Writing Strategy is driven by a text, and this is chosen to support and enrich the unit plans, to provide opportunities for our children to use and build upon their declarative and procedural knowledge. Whilst our Reading Strategy’s main aims are to develop our children’s love of reading, and literal and inference skills using a wide range of texts, it too, provides opportunities for our children to use and build upon their declarative and procedural knowledge as and where appropriate.
Subject Coverage:
Geography, History, Art, Design & Technology, RE and Science are taught through unit plans that have been designed by our subject leaders. Music, PE, PSHE/RSE and Spanish are taught discreetly. Planning for these subject areas is delivered by paid experts and discreet schemes.
Maths - we use Pre-tests to identify gaps in children’s knowledge (fluency) prior to starting a unit of work in Maths. Teaching is directed at closing these gaps in knowledge and then problem solving and reasoning opportunities are provided to allow children to apply their knowledge in a range of different contexts. Concrete, pictorial and abstract resources are provided to develop, enhance and deepen children’s understanding of Maths.
Computing - we teach a bespoke curriculum designed by our academy trust in order to cover the three key areas of: Computer Science, Information Technology and Digital Literacy. We teach the curriculum to ensure all children are taught a range of key skills to help prepare them for the fast-changing technological world that we live in. We teach all children to use the internet in a safe and responsible way. They are taught how to deal with inappropriate content that they may come across in their school and home life, and how to report any concerns. However, some unit plans for other subject areas do provide opportunities for children to use their computing knowledge for a range of different audiences/contexts.
R.E – The RE leader has designed a bespoke curriculum based on the requirements of the Lincolnshire Agreed Syllabus. The approach is an enquiry-based approach to teaching and learning. Christianity is taught in every year group, with Christmas and Easter given new treatment each year, developing the acquisition of declarative knowledge in a progressive way. Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism are also covered. Our belief is that if an enquiry-based model is used well, children’s critical thinking skills can be developed, their motivation to learn increased, and their knowledge and understanding of, and empathy towards people and their beliefs, religious or otherwise, will be enhanced.
This approach takes very seriously the philosophy that children are free to make their own choices and decisions concerning religion and belief. RE does not try to persuade but rather to inform and develop the skills with which evaluation can take place.
Across the Early Years the children study Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism. In Key Stage 1 the children study Christianity, Judaism and Islam. In Key Stage 2 the children study Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Hinduism. There is also the opportunity for children to research into Sikhism in Year 3. The whole school has access to a Buddhist visitor each year with an opportunity for Year 4 to visit the Buddhist temple. Each year group has access to a religious visitor or visit per term to enhance their lines of enquiry and help the children to deeply understand and respect the views of the religion that they are studying.
P.E. – we deliver a broad range of physical activities to children in Nursery through to Year 6 which aim to inspire children to become competitive, physically confident and lead a healthy lifestyle. We participate in a range of local competitions and afterschool provision is available. Dance is taught by a local dance professional.
PSHCE – we use the ‘Jigsaw’ programme to deliver a comprehensive whole-school approach from Nursery to Year 6 that includes PSHE, emotional literacy, social skills and spiritual development.
Music – we currently use a music specialist form our local authority to deliver music tuition across all year groups.
Spanish – we use the ‘Primary Languages Network’ scheme of work to deliver a comprehensive approach to Spanish across KS2. It uses Kagan structures to enhance teaching and learning, and support collaboration.
Science – The science leader has developed a bespoke curriculum based on the National Curriculum and the needs of our children. This is delivered via the use of unit plans that again, allow for the development of both procedural and declarative knowledge to develop progressively over time.
Impact:
We measure the impact of our curriculum in a variety of ways:
- Evidence of children’s learning journey’s in their books.
- Children and staff assess against clearly identified outcomes for each unit plan. This is recorded in children’s Curriculum books. It is a visible record for both children and staff, demonstrating what the children have achieved and what they need to do next.
- Marking, feedback and children correcting and/or editing their work demonstrates progress within a learning sequence.
- Children’s voice is sought regarding their learning; enjoyment, engagement, pride, opportunities for collaboration, what would make their learning even better etc.
- Photographs capture hands-on opportunities.
- Displays within classrooms and across Eastfield showcase children’s learning, the experiences and opportunities they have had; progression within a sequence of learning, and across a Phase and/or Eastfield.
- Summative assessments provide a baseline, mid-year and end of year benchmark of attainment and progress for Reading, Spelling and Grammar from Y1 to Y6. Statutory tests also provide a benchmark for attainment and progress.
- Monitoring behaviour through incidents recorded in CPOMs.
- Monitoring attendance; over the past three years our attendance has been above 95%.
- Subject monitoring – we have a clear cycle of monitoring for staff to share good practice, identify CPD needs and enhance staff practice.
- Gaps in learning are quickly identified via the use of a ten key questions quiz which allows staff to assess the need for any pre-teaching prior to commencing with any new learning.
Learning Showcase
Curriculum newsletters are updated half-termly and provide information to parents about what is being taught in that half term.
Curriculum Newsletters
Reading at Eastfield Primary Academy
Reading at Eastfield Primary Academy is not something that we leave to chance! We believe every single child has the right to learn to read regardless of social and economic circumstances, ethnicity, gender, the language spoken at home and special educational needs. We believe the teaching of reading is fundamental to a child’s success in life and we are continuously striving to enhance our provision of the teaching of reading. As a result, we have developed a Strategy for the teaching of reading based on current research and staff expertise.
We ensure that children have access to a wide range of different types of literature by identifying the texts that are to be used within the reading sessions, the literacy sessions and the class reads. This enables the literature across school to support the wider curriculum and broaden children’s knowledge of the wider world. Reading and the use of high quality texts permeates all curriculum areas.
We encourage children to develop a love of reading through:
- listening to a wide range of stories in class and at assembly time
- sharing books with peers
- sharing books with a Reading Buddy
- using a book/story to support learning in other curriculum subjects
- having access to a wide range of high-quality scheme reading books to support the skill of learning to read
- having access to a wide range of high-quality books to read at home
- author visits
- theatre experiences both within and outside of school
We have a wide range of reading material that children access to read at home. These follow a coloured book banding system that is aligned to our phonic progression (Little Wandle Letters & Sounds). We acknowledge it is the job of the school to teach children how to read but we know that the best readers will also be reading in the home environment. Each child has a reading book and a reading record and whenever a child reads, it is recorded in there.
Workshops are held throughout different times of the year to inform parents and carers how we teach reading and phonics and the different skills involved.
Learning Showcase
Writing at Eastfield Primary Academy
Writing is a key aspect of our curriculum and along with reading, speaking and listening, it makes a significant contribution to the development of children as thinkers and learners. It is a central part of the school’s role that all pupils develop their writing ability and enjoy the process of cultivating this life-long skill.
At Eastfield Primary Academy we strive to provide our children with exciting, purposeful and inspiring contexts in which to become writers. Our curriculum provides lots of opportunities for children to write, for lots of different purposes as well as writing opportunities in Literacy that link directly to a high quality picture book.
All writing opportunities are carefully planned sequences of learning, and staff use our Writing Progression to ensure that our children are taught all aspects of the writing National Curriculum sequentially.
A typical writing sequence
We use the Letter-Join handwriting scheme to teach our children to develop a fluent & legible joined handwriting style.
Learning Showcase
Phonics at Eastfield Primary Academy
We teach Phonics using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds synthetic phonic programme. This is a comprehensive programme, with children’s phonic journey beginning in Nursery and continuing through to the end of Year 2. If children need further phonic intervention, this is then provided in Year 3 & Year 4. All of our staff are experts in the teaching of phonics.
To support parents we offer phonic workshops in the autumn term and staff are always more than happy to provide resources to support parents & carers at home.
Our information sheet below provides an overview of the programmes progression for Reception and Year 1.
Maths at Eastfield Primary Academy
We deliver a Maths curriculum that is personalised to individual children. We assess at the beginning of a new unit or skill (pre-tests) to identify gaps and strengths in children’s fluency knowledge. We use this information to carefully match learning opportunities to where gaps in understanding are to ensure that we are targeting and designing our learning opportunities in a personalised way. Teaching is directed at closing these gaps in knowledge and developing and deepening children’s understanding of concepts, through problem solving and reasoning opportunities in a range of contexts.
Concrete, pictorial and abstract resources are provided to develop, enhance and deepen children’s understanding of Maths. Children will then sit the same assessment after the unit of learning so that we can measure their progress and just as importantly the children can measure their own progress and take ownership of it.
A typical maths lesson begins with fluent in five (10 minutes where children practice and are taught arithmetic skills then a review of previous learning (reflection time). Children complete corrections and apply their learning in a different way and then new learning is taught. During every unit of work all children are exposed to problem solving and reasoning tasks. Children are taught how to tackle problem solving tasks and they are supported with visuals of key steps that will help them to work through a problem. This has been agreed upon by all teachers and is designed with our children at the heart of it. The key steps are vocabulary, have a go, reflect, solution, explain and extend. The children may keep going back to different steps during a process of problem solving.
The importance of learning times tables and key facts is shared with the children and parents. Times tables are practiced regularly and achievements are celebrated as a whole school. 10 Keys facts for each year group are taught and practiced throughout the year. Children’s progress is celebrated and recorded through testing.
Working walls in all classrooms are divided into fluency, reasoning and problem solving, and support children during their maths lessons.
At the end of the academic year teachers share end of year information with the next class teacher and the long term plan is adapted accordingly.
Maths
Learning Showcase
Science at Eastfield Primary Academy
Science is a vital part of the curriculum. It not only enables children to understand the world around them and how things work, but also develops curiosity.
At Eastfield Primary Academy and we aim to ensure that our children:
- develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics
- develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science through different types of science enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them
- are equipped with the scientific knowledge
The teaching of science begins in our Early Years provision, with the area of learning ‘Understanding the World’ and more specifically, ‘The Natural World’ from the EYFS framework. We use Development Matters to support our curriculum planning.
Procedural and declarative knowledge is taught both discretely and woven into the over-arching half-termly topic depending on the content to be taught. Continuous provision provides opportunities both inside and outside for children to ask questions, enquire and reach conclusions both as part of adult-led and independent activities. The scientific knowledge taught in Early Years supports learning into KS1 and beyond.
From Year 1 through to Year 6 science is taught discretely. We follow the National Curriculum and procedural & declarative knowledge is organised into half termly Unit Plans.
Subject content is made explicitly clear via the three disciplines:
- Biology – is the study of living organisms and their structure, life-cycles, adaptations & environment.
- Chemistry – is the study of matter and their properties & reactions.
- Physics – is the study of matter and how it interacts with motion & energy.
The teaching sequence for each lesson is based around a clear scientific approach that supports children to learn through:
Within any one lesson, children will visit this cycle, sometimes they will ask and investigate more than one question in order to deepen and develop their understanding. Units are planned to incorporate different scientific enquiries (comparative & fair testing, identifying, classifying & grouping, pattern seeking, observing over time and using secondary sources to research) enabling the children to develop their skills (asking questions, making predictions, setting up tasks, observing & measuring, recording date, interpreting results, evaluating).
When investigating, we aim to find ways to give the children hands on experiences to ensure learning is memorable and meaningful.
Science
Learning Showcase
Each term we will upload 12 photographs to show our Art learning journey and our final pieces
Each term we will upload 12 photographs to show our Art learning journey and our final pieces
Each term we will upload 12 photographs to show our Art learning journey and our final pieces
Art - Year 1
Each term we will upload 12 photographs to show our Art learning journey and our final pieces
Art - Year 2
Each term we will upload 12 photographs to show our Art learning journey and our final pieces
Art - Year 3
Each term we will upload 12 photographs to show our Art learning journey and our final pieces
Art - Year 4
Each term we will upload 12 photographs to show our Art learning journey and our final pieces
Each term we will upload 12 photographs to show our Art learning journey and our final pieces
Art - Year 6
Computing
Learning Showcase
Each term we will upload 12 photographs to show our DT learning journey and our final pieces
DT - Nursery
Each term we will upload 12 photographs to show our DT learning journey and our final pieces
DT - Reception
Each term we will upload 12 photographs to show our DT learning journey and our final pieces
Each term we will upload 12 photographs to show our DT learning journey and our final pieces
Each term we will upload 12 photographs to show our DT learning journey and our final pieces
Each term we will upload 12 photographs to show our DT learning journey and our final pieces
Each term we will upload 12 photographs to show our DT learning journey and our final pieces
Each term we will upload 12 photographs to show our DT learning journey and our final pieces
Geography
Learning Showcase
History
Learning Showcase
PE
Learning Showcase
PSHE / RSE
Our PSHE Curriculum
At Eastfield Primary Academy, we endeavour to educate our children to help keep themselves and others safe and healthy. To nurture their natural inquisitiveness and to support them morally and pastorally to prepare them to contribute positively to their community in the 21st century.
We aim to ensure that our children know how to keep themselves safe and healthy, and have positive and safe relationships with others.
The Jigsaw Programme offers us a comprehensive, carefully thought-through Scheme of Work which brings consistency and progression to our children’s learning in this vital curriculum area. Jigsaw brings together Personal, Social, Health and Economic education, emotional literacy, social skills and spiritual development in a lesson-a-week programme. Each half term, the whole school focuses on a specific theme:
Relationships & Sex Education (RSE)
RSE is about the emotional, social and cultural development of pupils, and involves learning about relationships, sexual health, sexuality, healthy lifestyles, diversity and personal identity. RSE involves a combination of sharing information and exploring issues and values. RSE is not about the promotion of sexual activity.
How do we teach about Relationships and Health Education including Sex Education?
Eastfield Primary Academy doesn’t teach ‘sex education’ as a stand-alone element to the PSHE curriculum and it is not a statutory part of the curriculum. However, we believe it is a crucial element to our children’s development and understanding of themselves and others. The ‘Changing Me’ unit within the Jigsaw Programme, is taught from Foundation Stage to Year 6 and is always in the second half of the summer term. Each year group is taught appropriate to their age and developmental stage, building on the previous year’s learning.
Please note: at no point will a child be taught something that is inappropriate; and if a question does arise and the teacher feels it would be inappropriate to answer (for example, because of its mature or explicit nature), the child will be encouraged to ask his/her parents or carers at home. The question will not be answered to the child or class if it is outside the remit of that year group’s programme. In Year 6, there will be an opportunity for boys and girls to pose questions separately. Parents do have a right to withdraw their child from this element of the programme.
The ‘Changing Me’ unit is all about coping positively with change and includes:
Parental Right to Withdraw
From September 2020, parents will not be able to withdraw from Relationships and Health Education, and this includes lessons on puberty, prejudice and discrimination, bullying, difference and diversity and different families.
For further information, please see our RSE Policy.
Learning Showcase
RE
Learning Showcase
Learning Showcase
Forest School
Forest school allows children to learn outdoors in our small forest area. They explore, gain knowledge and understanding of nature. Sessions can be either small groups, focused groups, or whole class groups as a hook for their new topic.
Forest school is beneficial for children in so many ways:
· They learn new skills
· Builds resilience
· Increases motivation and concentration
· Encourages problem solving
· Builds resilience
· Builds confidence
· Gives the children a sense of achievement
Activities may include:
· Knot tying
· Identifying plants, trees, or mini beast
· Story telling
· Den building
· Imaginative play
· Exploring
· Making fires
· Cooking
Forest school is an excellent way to learn in a different environment. Children show they not only enjoy being outdoors but thrive and most of all have lots of fun
What is Kagan?
Kagan Structures are instructional strategies designed to promote cooperation and communication in the classroom, boost students' confidence and retain their interest in classroom interaction.
Why have we chosen Kagan as a signature pedagogy?
- Increased achievement
- Reduction of the gap between low and high achievers
- Improved social skills
- Increased self esteem
- Increased engagement levels = increased enjoyment of school
- Improved behaviour
- More efficient way of teaching = saves time and gives opportunities for immediate feedback/corrections
Why we want to equip our children with skills for success:
- The world is changing at a rapid pace – we can’t predict the kind of jobs our children will work in.
- 75% of all new jobs involve working in a team at least part of the time – and this is increasing. So we can say that they will need social interaction skills: social skills, teamwork skills, thinking skills
- Half of what an engineer learns in college is outdated 5 years after graduation. Rather than filling children with known facts and skills, we must see our job as fostering thinking skills and instilling in children a love of learning. Children will need to become lifelong learners
- Kagan should enrich not replace – children need to learn to sit quietly and work independently. They need to respond with their own answers without interacting. They also need to know how to work with others. By adding Kagan interactive structures to our toolbox, we enrich the experiences of learners, providing a broader set of skills.
Learning Showcase