Curriculum Intent

Our curriculum framework ensures that all children access a broad, balanced, challenging and progressive knowledge rich curriculum based around the requirements of all subjects of the National Curriculum in Key Stage 1 and all of the prime and specific areas of learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage. It is age appropriate and sequential. The curriculum framework ensures that our contextual barriers to learning are overcome, ensuring that all children can fulfil their potential, regardless of background or ability. The curriculum framework at Westdale is specific to our context and has specific components which are achieved this by ensuring that our key drivers are at the heart of what we do.

We have developed a curriculum that suits our children and our community and focusses on the barriers to learning our children have and our local area. Pupils need to have an in-depth understanding of fewer topic areas rather than surface-level understanding of more content. We have already identified the areas where we feel our children need extra support and have developed key drivers to address these barriers.

Curriculum Drivers

Creativity

We are passionate that children have the opportunity to problem solve, design, create and think outside the box through our curriculum. We relish trial and error and making mistakes in our learning. We want children to have adventures through learning and be excited by the real world, having choice in what they do, taking risks and having fun!

We use the children’s interests as a starting point for a wide and varied learning experience for our children. We enrich it by our strong ethos based on respect for ourselves and others, equality and a sense of wonder at the world we live in. We are committed to developing the whole child. Our children will have the opportunity to be creative, to be physically active and to be academically challenged.

Communication

We want our children to find their voice! We will work hard to broaden their vocabulary and encourage talk in all areas of learning. We will focus on early reading skills so the whole of the curriculum can be opened up to our learners and they can become avid, passionate readers.

Celebrating Difference

We have based our curriculum on the barriers to learning our children face when they come into school and on the needs of our local community through the school health profile and local knowledge of the area. As our community is predominantly White British, Diversity and Celebrating Difference are key curriculum drivers in ensuring our pupils have the opportunity to experience different cultures and celebrating difference is at the heart of all we do. We will provide opportunities for children to respect and learn about the diversity of an ever-changing world. We will develop an attitude of respect, where children are supported to understand how actions and decisions influences others. We will celebrate our own talents and our school community with pride and respect.

Kindness to ourselves and others

Independence was the main barrier we have found through our monitoring to the pupil’s achieving success. Our school ‘I can do it’ philosophy, the use of learning skills, the learning pit and celebrating mistakes helps support the children becoming increasingly independent as they move through school. They are also given the choice of how to record various aspects of their learning and are encouraged to take responsibility for their belongings and learning from the beginning of their school life.

We will nurture confident and independent children who are able to make responsible choices and have the ability to show empathy and compassion towards themselves and others. We will give them the skills to be resilient, to try again and to love the learning that happens when we do!

Cultural Capital

What we are doing to help provide children with the cultural capital they need to succeed in life?

Improving Vocabulary

We take a proactive approach to improving vocabulary and see this as a main priority, increasing day to day vocabulary by using good quality texts and through class comprehension. We also plan the development of subject specific vocabulary so children can access the wider curriculum.

Increasing General Knowledge and Diversity

We recognise the importance of widening children’s general knowledge. In our community, which is predominantly white British we recognise the importance of exposing children to other cultures and learning whilst celebrating and exploring each other’s differences. We actively promote equality for race, gender, sexuality, disability and age at an age appropriate level.  Our PSHRE programme gives our children the language and space to question and challenge behaviours and attitudes. Our PSHRE programme is crucial in helping children to develop deeper understanding in many if these issues.

Improving Social Skills

Lunchtime and snack times are used as an opportunity to introduce children to the etiquette of eating and communication appropriately.

Our most vulnerable children are quickly identified and have access to lunchtime nurture, a calm environment where skills can be developed as a small group. Children are specifically taught about healthy eating, manners, using cutlery though social stories and encouraged to try lots of different foods. We are working to ensure that lunchtimes are calm and purposeful through school improvement planning.

Increasing emotional literacy and intelligence

Integral to our teaching and learning is the importance of good mental health and wellbeing. School recognises how important this is for later life for all of us and we pride ourselves on being a nurturing school. We want to children to have the capacity to face pressures in life and be able to articulate these and be able to use strategies to deal with them. Our learning powers and values underpin this teaching. Many children come to us with busy lives and high expectations of themselves, and from others. They can struggle when things go wrong and we teach them how to be resilient and celebrate mistakes, essential for lifelong learning.