Whitehill Community Primary School

Curriculum Statement  - May 2009.

At Whitehill we aim to : 

Provide a curriculum where children feel motivated and  excited, where all are included and valued, to create learning environments accessible to all. The children will experience an innovative and imaginative skills based thematic curriculum, which is broad and balanced with effective inclusion practices starting from the child’s perspective.     

Whitehill Ofsted Inspection June 2008 :

‘The needs of the pupils are always put first. The school’s highly inclusive ethos ensures that each individual pupil is valued and challenged to reach his or her full potential. Consequently, pupils thrive. Pupils personal development is strongly fostered by the enrichment opportunities that are built into the vibrant curriculum, which is of outstanding quality’.

‘The curriculum makes a major contribution to pupils personal development. The highly effective links made between subjects strengthen the quality of the curriculum and make it far more meaningful to pupils. Extra-curricular provision is outstanding. Regular visits , visitors into school and residentials enrich this already exciting curriculum and make the school a place where pupils really do want to be. Within the curriculum there is provision very well tailored to meet the needs of vulnerable children’

1. The Curriculum delivered to pupils in years 1 to 6 will incorporate three broad strands:-

i)            The National Curriculum and an agreed programme of religious education.

ii)           A programme of personal and social education, including health Education and Citizenship for all children will be provided as well as spiritual, moral and social education.  Where appropriate this will be integrated into the National Curriculum as defined by Q.C.A., this includes Modern Foreign Languages. Where it is not it will be an independent element.

iii)          Extra-curricular activities have been designed to enrich the curriculum and respond to the needs of pupils.  We also have a designated curriculum enrichment afternoon which is timetabled on Thursdays.

iv)          We are a fully extended school and place a major emphasis on Community Cohesion.

2.  Early Years and Key Stage I Curriculum, design, planning and delivery

i)            The curriculum for the Early Years (Nursery and Reception) will be planned to meet the diverse needs of children so that most will achieve, and where appropriate will go beyond the early learning goals by the end of the Foundation Stage.  Literacy and Numeracy will be put in place in term 3 of the Reception year in preparation for Year 1

ii)           Within Key Stage 1 curriculum there is an emphasis on Literacy and Numeracy, but a full range of Foundation subjects are taught.

iii)          Breadth, balance and coverage is ensured through long and medium term planning, jointly undertaken by staff within the Key Stage.  Equality of access to all aspects of the curriculum is planned for all pupils although the work of some pupils with special educational need (SEN) is guided by individual educational plans (IEP).       Day to day assessments inform planning. We have adopted a thematic approach throughout the school.

iv)          Monitoring of work is undertaken between parallel classes using work scrutinies.  Assessment tasks for the purpose of formative assessment are identified within planning and contribute to summative assessments communicated to parents and the receiving teacher.  Formal annual as well as statutory assessments are carried out and resulting data is recorded accordingly to the school assessment policy.

v)           Parents are encouraged to support pupils in home-based activities to support planned learning, in line with the school homework policy.

3.           Key Stage 2 – Curriculum design, planning and delivery

i)            Within the Key Stage an emphasis is placed on the delivery of the core subjects of Numeracy and Literacy and Science, but the provision for the foundation subjects increases in the prominence through the Key Stage, through the school’s thematic approach.  We have adopted a thematic approach to give the curriculum relevance and excitement for the children. Religious Education is taught throughout, complemented by a daily act of worship.

ii)           Non-core foundation subjects are planned jointly by staff across the year groups to ensure both common coverage by pupils, identified learning objectives from the required programmes of study.  This ensures progression and recognition of the need to develop skills appropriate to the age of pupils.  Some flexibility of content is recognised for individual classes to maximise the efficient targeting of resources.

iii)          The curriculum is delivered through themes, but makes reference to QCA schemes of work, and the National Curriculum.  In all areas, efforts are made to ensure staff and pupil awareness of health and safety issues, and such issues are further developed in the schools Health and Safety policy.

iv)          Equality of access to the curriculum is sought by staff engaging in joint long and medium term planning.  This takes into account the school policy on Equal Opportunities Policy.

v)           Children are encouraged to follow up school work at home and to engage in simple research to support topic work.  The development of a positive home/school partnership further enhances the building of reading and language skills which underpin of course everything we do.

4.           Progression and differentiation throughout the school

i)            The long term thematic grid underpins the curriculum in both Key Stages. Further differentiation to recognise the needs of pupils is identified within short-term planning arrangements.

ii)           The Code of Practice for pupils with S.E.N. is followed and a register of SEN maintained and, where appropriate, individual education plans are designed by the Inclusion co-ordinator in conjunction with the class teacher. This is now seen as a much broader inclusion register where we provision map each child.

5.           Information Technology and Core Skills

The school has developed a programme of information technology to support aspects of the general curriculum and incorporates some teaching of specific skills at all levels within the school.  ICT is an integral tool in the development of independent learning and is supported by our very well resourced independent learning areas. We achieved the NAACE and ICT Mark.

6.           Review and development of the curriculum

Staff are expected to review annually the progress and needs of the subjects for which they have identified responsibility.  Such reviews inform the identification of priorities within the school’s development plan and may form the basis of reports to the relevant committee of the governing body.  Each subject Action Plan is reviewed each April for the start of the new financial year.

7.           Elements of the curriculum augmenting National Curriculum provision

i)            The school plans to deliver a programme of personal, social, health and citizenship education, incorporating a positive behaviour reward programme and collaborative activities to encourage pupils to support and respect younger pupils. Having set up the School’s Council pupils will continue to be encouraged to make contributions and decisions regarding the way the school is run.

ii)           The governing body has also agreed a policy for sex education, and a planned programme is delivered throughout KS2.  Arrangements for this are identified in the school’s Sex Education Policy.  This important area, along with drug related issues will be review by staff and newly elected governors will also take into account new initiatives and approaches.

iii)          Staff seek to utilise local opportunities to raise awareness of environmental issues such as the canal, nature trails, Churches and museums to enrich National Curriculum provision. We maximise the use of visits and keep costs down for parents by the use of our two school mini-buses.

iv)          Pupils within both Key Stages participate in non-residential visits which support the National Curriculum and personal and social development.

The school also provides a wide range of extra-curricular activities and has received recognition through five awards, merit and distinctions from ‘Education Extra’ in recent years, plus the F.A. Charter Mark and Sport England’s Active Mark Gold Award. Calderdale Healthy Schools Award, Arts Mark Gold, Investors in People, Investors in Pupils, International Intermediate Eco-School Award, Basic Skills Quality Mark, Inclusion Quality Mark, Dyslexia Friendly School Award and NAACE Mark/ICT Mark.