The School Curriculum
Information about the School Curriculum
It is the school’s intention for each child to enjoy their Primary Years Education, for parents to be fully involved in their child’s education and for each child to fulfil their individual potential.
The curriculum we provide enables children to live our school values, to: Achieve, Respect, Include, Support and Enjoy their learning.
At All Saints, our curriculum is designed to meet our children’s needs and interests, to engage and motivate them in their education and to develop a positive attitude towards learning that is instilled in them long into their future.
Please see an overview of the curriculum we provide below and refer to our individual subject pages for more information.
EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE
Pupils within EYFS experience six areas of learning:
Personal, social and emotional development
Communication, language and literacy
Knowledge and understanding of the world
The EYFS curriculum is planned and resourced to allow each pupil to expand and develop his or her skills in a safe, caring environment. Opportunities for learning are developed through a broad range of both indoor and outdoor activities. Daily phonics, writing and maths lessons take place in ability groups and learning is consolidated through child initiated play.
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION AND COLLECTIVE WORSHIP
The school is distinctive in character as a Church of England Primary School. The work in both Religious Education lessons and Collective Worship emphasises the Christian way of life.
A daily act of worship is undertaken in the form of assemblies led by teaching staff, children and visitors. A daily prayer or reflection is included in this time.
The school uses the Rochester Diocese Scheme of Work called Understanding Christianity as a basis for developing moral and spiritual awareness in weekly RE lessons.
Pupils develop an awareness of and respect for, the beliefs and feelings of those within the school and wider community.
The whole school attends All Saints Church on at least four occasions during the year to celebrate Harvest, Christmas, Easter and the end of the school year. Parents are invited to join us at Church on these occasions.
The children also attend festivals at Rochester Cathedral throughout the school year.
The school aims to develop and extend the skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening through purposeful use of language using a variety of experiences in daily Literacy lessons..Children are encouraged to become independent readers in order to access meaning and information from a range of media. Pupils follow a carefully balanced programme of guided reading from books of graded difficulty, matched to their independent reading ability. Through shared reading, pupils experience a range of more challenging and demanding texts. Children are encouraged to take home a range of books to share with parents outside of school. IN EYFS and Key Stage 1 the children follow the Read, Write Inc reading scheme programme. For details about this phonics approach please see information on our Literacy page. From year 2 upwards the children all work on the Accelerated Reader programme which involves them reading books from the school library and then completing online quizzes about what they have read.
We aim to make children competent writers who are able to write their own fiction, poetry and non-fiction texts. The teaching of phonics, spelling and handwriting are built into each class timetable in order to develop fluent and confident writers. Opportunities for drama, discussions and oral presentations are provided to enhance spoken language. Pupils are encouraged to listen attentively and respond appropriately to one another at all times.
Within this subject every child is taught in single year groups, appropriate to either their age and/or ability on a daily basis. Their work includes using and applying maths concepts in everyday situations, number work, shape and space, measuring and handling data / statistics. Children are encouraged to learn basic number facts mentally such as number bonds and times tables and parental help with this aspect will assist children’s learning greatly. The daily numeracy lesson at school is provided through use of the Maths No Problem scheme which teaches maths concepts using mental and oral recall, followed by exploratory work, mathematical discussion, guided work and independent tasks. For more information about the Maths No Problem programme please see our Maths subject page.
Through science we enable children to develop an understanding of the world by using and applying scientific knowledge, skills and ideas as well as developing their natural curiosity. Each child participates in a weekly science lesson that extends their scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. Each term pupils plan and conduct a scientific investigation to help them answer questions about the world around them. They are taught to understand the uses and implications of science for them today and in the future.
As well as being an important curriculum requirement, the ability to use computers effectively is a vital life skill in society. We therefore aim to produce learners who are confident and purposeful users of all aspects of ICT. We encourage them to use technology across the curriculum for investigating, recording, organising, control and communication.
The school has 96 wireless laptops and 32 iPads. In addition there are computers based in each classroom and laptops connected to projectors for whole class teaching. As well as learning computer skills, children are taught to use other equipment such as scanners, digital cameras and other recording devices.
All the classrooms enjoy the facility of interactive whiteboards that support the quality of teaching and learning.
The school has a website which gives information about the school and promotes children’s work. Each child has an individual logon to our network, an e-mail address and access to the internet which is fully supervised. Children participate in Computing lessons on a weekly basis.
All Saints C of E Primary School believes that physical education provides a vital and unique contribution to a pupil’s physical and emotional health and wellbeing. Children participate in lessons on a weekly basis. We give our children an opportunity to promote healthy life styles and develop skills in games, gymnastics, dance, athletics, swimming and outdoor pursuits.
We encourage children to understand the need for safety, help them develop skills such as co-ordination, working with others and discuss positive attitudes to sport including the ability to cope with success and failure.
All Saints C of E Primary School participates in out of school competitions each term and promotes the values of inclusion and fair play.
PSHE AND CITIZENSHIP
Within this subject, that is interwoven into all aspects of school life and learning, the school promotes good patterns of behaviour in personal, social, and health education. We provide learning experiences that enable children to develop the necessary skills to participate in their local community and within wider society as a whole. Termly ‘Circle Time’ sessions are used for discussion of themes and issues topical within society or school life and children are encouraged to seek resolutions to problems within them or to develop better strategies for coping.
The school provides opportunities for children to learn about themselves as developing individuals and to become responsible and active citizens in their community.
RELATIONSHIP AND SEX EDUCATION
We value the importance of Relationship and Sex education and offer an age appropriate programme from Year 2 upwards throughout the school. Through RSE lessons that are blocked and take place once a year, we teach the children about:
The physical development of their bodies as they grow into adults
Respect and care for themselves
The importance of family life
The way humans reproduce
Respect for the views of other people and respect for themselves
Music lessons that are linked to cross curricular termly themes, provide children with the pleasure of performing music in a variety of ways, and sharing their developing expertise with others. Music lessons give pupils the opportunity to acquire a basic knowledge of the elements of music and encourage them to make decisions about the music they hear and play in everyday life. Peripatetic teachers ae used to teach piano and guitar and the Music for Schools programme provides opportunities for our children to go out into the community and perform in front of others.
History is taught within our school as part of our cross curricular termly thematic approach to learning. In KS1 the children learn about people and events from the recent past, about important people and events in British history. Their learning involves listening to stories from the past, collecting information from a range of sources and beginning to develop an understanding of chronology. In KS2, the children’s learning includes aspects of local, national and international history. The children are expected to use a range of sources to ask and answer questions about the past and communicate historical understanding in a variety of ways.
Geography is taught within our school as part of our cross curricular termly thematic approach to learning. We provide opportunities for children to study the physical and human features of their immediate environment and of the wider world. The children learn about places and themes from local, national and international areas. They develop a range of geographical skills including making/using maps and using photographic evidence.
DT is taught within our school as part of our cross curricular termly thematic approach to learning. At appropriate levels, children are given the opportunity to investigate, design and make products to understand the process of planning and making, and to choose and use competently, a variety of tools and materials. Existing products are generally the starting point of each project, providing ideas and raising issues regarding quality, health and safety. Food hygiene and healthy eating are priorities within our DT teaching too.
ART AND DESIGN
Art is taught within our school as part of our cross curricular termly thematic approach to learning. The art lessons that we provide in school develop visual thinking and creativity. They allow children to make a personal response to the world and to communicate that response to others. Children’s creativity in art is developed by knowledge and understanding of art techniques, as well as investigating and making their own art works. Children use a range of materials and tools in their art lessons. They experience both 2D and 3D art and are encouraged to review and refine their work to produce a standard that is of a higher quality. Children are exposed to the work of professional artists on a regular basis. They evaluate the use of artistic techniques and the artist’s use of composition to create effects.
PUPILS WHO HAVE SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS
The school provides equality of access to the curriculum for all pupils. This supports our primary objective to raise the level of attainment and progress for all.
All pupils are assessed formatively on a daily basis and summatively termly, beginning in the Foundation Stage. If the results of any assessment indicate that intervention is required, specific provision is put into place as laid out in the Code of Practice. For specific needs the school has regular access to a range of specialist support services. In all cases parents are kept fully informed about the progress and teaching of their child and any additional support required.
PUPILS WHO HAVE ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE
Children whose first language is not English are given extra support, where needed, to develop their skills, concepts and knowledge and have equal access to all areas of the curriculum. Support programmes for our EAL children are devised initially by Mrs Jhass, our EAL teacher and are monitored by our SENDCO team.
PUPILS WHO ARE DISABLED
The admission arrangements for disabled pupils are the same as for any other pupils. The school does everything possible to ensure such pupils are treated fairly, have full access to the curriculum and have the same opportunities as all the other children. In compliance with legislation, the school make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to arrangements and premises in order to meet any child’s disability needs.