Our Curriculum Intent
Our leadership team have worked with specialists to ensure we offer a well-sequenced, knowledge-rich curriculum- the Primary Knowledge Curriculum (PKC). The principles of our knowledge-rich curriculum are:
· Knowledge is valued and specified
· Knowledge is well-sequenced
· Knowledge is taught to be remembered
The content in our curriculum has been carefully chosen by subject experts and has been sequenced in a meaningful way that enables children to make connections and progress from unit to unit, term to term and year to year. We recognise and value each subject and teach them discretely, ensuring that our children develop a deep understanding and love of each distinct discipline.
Where appropriate, links are made across disciplines to enable children to make meaningful connections (e.g. our children learn about Northern Europe in geography before learning moving onto the local Junior schools, where they learn about the Vikings in history). Realising that we support our children at the very beginning of their educational journey, we have worked collaboratively to ensure that their experiences here lay the foundations for success in all areas at key Stage 2 and beyond.
We specify exactly what we teach in each subject and communicate this with teachers and parents. Our intended curriculum can be found in these documents:
• Our whole school curriculum overview outlines the units covered in each subject across the year
• Subject curriculum maps: detail exactly what we cover in each subject, with additional detail showing what is covered in each lesson
• Subject rationales: explain the reasoning behind how our curriculum was developed for each subject
• Unit rationales: outline the substantive knowledge, concepts and disciplinary knowledge taught in each unit, and how each unit fits in with the bigger curriculum picture
• The knowledge goals (KG) and assessment goals set out in our planning documents for each subject: KGs explain what we plan for all children to know by the end of each lesson, and the assessment shows what we expect children to commit to long term memory by the end of the unit
Curriculum Implementation
Our intended curriculum is translated over time in the classroom following a structured approach. Teachers are provided with detailed documents for each unit, prepared by subject specialists, to support with subject knowledge and planning. This ensures every teacher has secure subject knowledge and reduces workload, enabling teachers to spend more time thinking about how each lesson can be effectively enacted in their classroom to support their class. Each lesson starts with a prior learning review, where children are supported to retrieve prior knowledge and make connections. We have an emphasis on explicitly teaching vocabulary, and each lesson starts with introducing, orally rehearsing, and engaging with key vocabulary (e.g., looking at the etymology of new words). Key vocabulary is contextualised throughout the lesson and children are given opportunities to apply new words. Our teachers enact our intended curriculum using research-based pedagogy, such as Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction, to ensure information is presented in small steps, clearly explained and modelled, and children have many opportunities to talk, answer questions, explain their learning and work independently. Throughout lessons, teachers assess/monitor pupil responses (e.g., through questioning, written and oral responses, MCQs, using Knowledge Organisers) and provide effective feedback.
Curriculum Impact
As we have clearly specified what we want our children to know, do and remember, when reviewing impact, we assess against the Knowledge Goals laid out in the intended curriculum, enabling us to check whether children can remember what we set out for them to learn. We carry out subject-specific monitoring and curriculum reviews to assess impact and use these to plan for future development. As we know that curriculum impact, implementation and impact go hand in hand, one cannot be successful without the other and the curriculum cannot be successful without careful thought in all three areas. We are always reflecting upon the impact of our intent and implementation and identifying ways in which we can improve outcomes for our children. Our curriculum work is never finished - it is at the very core of our purpose and our children deserve the very best curriculum we can create.