Our Curriculum Statement

Wadebridge Primary Academy – Curriculum statement 2018

“Learn, thrive, excel”

Our school aims to provide … ‘a rich, supportive and stimulating environment in an atmosphere of mutual respect, in which each child entrusted to our care, can develop a love of learning and a desire to succeed'.

Our curriculum is unique to Wadebridge Primary Academy in that it is specifically tailored towards the needs and interests of our children. Through the curriculum, we aim to prepare pupils for the opportunities, experiences and responsibilities of adult life and to lay a firm foundation for future learning. We seek to provide a broad, balanced differentiated curriculum and offer a wide range of exciting, challenging activities and experiences to all pupils irrespective of ability, background, ethnic origin or gender.

We acknowledge that people learn in many different ways and we recognise the need to develop strategies that allow all children to learn in ways that suit them. Opportunities are planned to cater for a range of different learning styles to ensure that all children can access the curriculum and learn in a way that is best for them. Our commitment to a creative approach, empowers our children and promotes opportunities deeper learning, imagination and ingenuity.

So how do we organise learning?

In the Foundation Stage we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage EYFS curriculum, which comprises three prime areas: communication and language, physical development and personal, social and emotional development. We also support children in four specific areas, through which the three prime areas are strengthened and applied. The specific areas are:

Literacy; mathematics; understanding the world; and expressive arts and design.

We teach this framework through topics that excite the children; we gather their ideas through mind-mapping and plan according to their needs and interests a variety of structured play and practical activities to help them develop in the prime and specific areas of learning.

Where pupils move into Year 1 without having achieved the Early Learning Goals, they may continue to be taught in line with the Foundation Stage Curriculum. Transition to the Year 1 curriculum can therefore happen when pupils have reached that stage in their development.

From Year 1 to Year 6 we organise learning through the 2014 Primary Curriculum under the curriculum areas of:

• Personal, social, health and emotional development and citizenship
  
• Understanding English, communication and languages
  
• Mathematics
  
• Science
  
• History
  
• Geography
  
• Computing
  
• Languages (currently French)
  
• Physical education; Art and design
  
• Design and technology
  
• Music
  
• Religious Education (delivered through Cornwall’s agreed syllabus)
  

Key Stage 1 and 2

We recognise the importance of reading, writing and maths for all children. We have a comprehensive and thorough approach to the teaching of reading across the school including, daily phonics lessons in Reception and KS1. All phonics in Reception and KS1 is taught following an order similar to Letters and Sounds. The best elements of Jolly Phonics and RWI are used to support the children's phonics learning. Daily lessons follow the structure of Revisit and Review, Teach, Practise and Apply in a creative manner. All adults that deliver phonics in EYFS and KS1 have a phonics folder containing the same support material of the order of teaching, red warning words, best practice guide and a range of effective resources. Guided reading is taught daily and systematically across the school, in banded groups according to reading level. Writing is taught through a topic-based approach, as much as possible, in order to provide purpose and audience for the children. Grammatical accuracy is embedded in the teaching of writing but also as a discrete element of the English curriculum alongside spelling and handwriting.

The Mathematics curriculum aims to ensure that all pupils become fluent in the fundamental of Mathematics including the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately. Children at Wadebridge are taught to reason mathematically, solve problems and apply their mathematical skills in a variety of real life contexts.

In addition to English and Mathematics, children are taught to develop their skills, understanding and creativity in Science, Computing, History, Geography, Design Technology, Music, Art, Physical Education and Religious Education. Additionally, French is taught from Year 3 onwards. These subjects are taught with a cross curricular approach, making links between learning. We provide children with purposeful experiences that are meaningful for them and work towards real life outcomes with appropriate audiences. High quality ICT equipment and software also means digital technology is an integral part of many teaching and learning experiences.

PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) forms an integral part of the curriculum at Wadebridge Primary Academy. It helps to give pupils the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to lead confident, healthy, independent lives and to become informed, active, responsible citizens. All members of staff are committed to encouraging in our children, a knowledge of right and wrong and to take responsibility for their own behaviour.

Children are taught about the community in which they live and are encouraged to work in co-operation with other members of the school community. Supporting charities, both local and further afield, is encouraged. All children are expected to undertake appropriate responsibilities within the class and school, e.g. caring for the classroom environment, participating in class assemblies and participating in out of school activities.

We aim to develop children’s enjoyment, confidence and competence in physical activity and introduce them to the pleasures of sport to help develop active children who benefit from a healthy lifestyle. Through a multi-skills approach in Key Stage one, children develop their skills in locomotion, manipulation and stability which they can then apply in a range of sporting and competitive contexts. In Key stage two these skills are applied to more formal settings and rules in sports and activities such as: football, netball, hockey, tennis and cricket as well as athletics, gymnastics, dance and outdoor adventurous activities. Due to our unique location and proximity to the coast all children receive 5 hours of coached swimming and water safety every year so as to develop their confidence and awareness in the water.

We enhance and enrich the curriculum through a variety of activities including educational visits, school performances, visitors to school including artists, craftspeople, actors, musicians, support of parents and other stakeholders, after school clubs and links with our local cluster schools and secondary school.