Curriculum

‘All groups of pupils make outstanding progress due to the very well planned curriculum focusing on the needs of each child’ Ofsted, 2013.

The Headley Park Curriculum is designed to:

Inspire Learning – to develop successful learners.
Celebrate Achievement – to develop confident individuals
Strengthen Community – to develop responsible citizens

Our curriculum is structured to develop key skills that are needed in order to become successful learners.

There are six main strands of the curriculum designed to develop understanding of:

English & Communication
Mathematics
Culture
Well being
Science & Technology (including ICT)
Changes in our World

For each strand there is a team of people responsible for promoting and develop the skills, first hand experience and progression of each set of subject specific skills across the school. Please see curriculum policy in Key Information.

Every strand will include:

Importance statement-outlining why the strand is important in children’s development and how the combined subjects compliment and build upon each other.
Key ideas-Identifying the understanding the children need to develop throughout their time at school.
Skills-Stating what skills children need to learn and practise in order to be successful.
Range & Content-Identifying the contexts within which the key skills will be practised and developed.
Opportunities-Real experiences that are essential to children’s development.

As well as these curriculum strands there are also the Headley Park skills.

These are a range of essential skills that we believe are vital in allowing the children of Headley Park to become creative lifelong learners.

These are the skills that develop a child’s ability to do or show:

Plan
Persevere
Collaborate
Empathise
Creative
Manage
Responsible
Patience

We believe that these skills are the backbone for achieving our shared vision of Inspiring Learning, Celebrating achievement and Strengthening Community

These skills will be promoted across the whole school over two year cycles to enable progression and the children will be encouraged to self assess themselves in each skill in order to promote personalised learning and allow them to recognise what sort of successful learner they are.

English & Communications

English and Communication

The English and Communication Team is responsible for the provision of Literacy at Headley Park, which constitutes Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening and Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar.

We also aim to raise the profile of reading and writing through fun, whole-school events such as “The Big Write Day” when we wrote to a person we admire and “Book Week” when we enjoyed a schedule of exciting, book-related activities.

You can help us help your child by encouraging them to read every day and reading with them too.

Maths

Rainbow Maths Summary

Rainbow Maths Bronze Challenge

Rainbow Maths Silver Challenge

Rainbow Maths Gold Challenge

Mathematics

Here at Headley Park we focus strongly on developing mental maths through our Rainbow Maths scheme.

Children’s progress is regularly assessed and lessons are planned to have appropriate levels of challenge and support.

We believe strongly in using practical resources and games (both indoor and outdoor) to promote maths learning and also in relating maths to real-life contexts rather than just working through textbooks. We also use a wide range of models and images to help children understand tricky maths concepts.

Several changes were made to the National Curriculum in 2014. Key changes were:

nine year olds now need to know all their times tables up to 12 x 12
maths facts should be learned by heart
basic fractions such as half and quarter are now introduced at age 5
by the end of year 1, children are expected to count to 100. Five year olds also need to learn bonds to 20
by the end of Year 6, children should be adding and subtracting fractions(previously covered at secondary school
There is an increased requirement for pupils to use formulae for volume and to calculate the area of shapes other than squares and rectangles.
There is an increased requirement for understanding of proportional reasoning – for example through volume and calculations with fractions.
There is a greater emphasis on the use of large numbers, algebra, ratio and proportion at an earlier age
Roman numerals have been introduced in the Year 3 curriculum.
Abstract symbols have been introduced in Year 1.
Many of the new expectations in Years 5 and 6 were previously expected in Years 7, 8 and 9

Culture

Culture

The Culture Team are responsible for the following areas which aim to enrich the cultural experiences of Headley Park pupils:

Religious Education
Art
Design
Music
Philosophy
Drama
Modern Foreign Languages.

Well Being

Well Being

The Well-being team are responsible for P.E (Physical Education) and PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education). This is part of our commitment to offering a curriculum which is balanced and broadly based and which:

Promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at Headley Park
Prepares pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life

We try to support all pupils with their learning journey through school and have set up a mentoring system to aid this. We also enjoy giving pupils, of all abilities, an opportunity to participate in sports celebrating their achievements.

We also aim to meet a variety of physical educational needs, help pupils to make healthy choices, support their understanding of personal and social issues and help to organise many of the after school clubs that help enrich your child’s school experiences.

Science & Technology

Science & Technology

At Headley Park, we believe that science and technology is an important part of every child’s development. We believe that science will give children the opportunity to explore and develop their understanding of their surrounding world. Science also allows children build their confidence and use their imagination as they explore the three key topics which consist of Physical Processes, Materials and their Properties and Living Things. We truly believe that children must experience the world though independent learning and developing their knowledge of results, by asking question that they feel are relevant.

We understand that technology is developing every day, therefore we must ensure that our children build the confidence and understand their technical footprint and responsibility. Headley Park takes pride in encouraging children to actively use technology and engage in lessons that have a technical basis. In order to inspire learning further we have also introduced class blogs and Big Days to develop children’s learning and understanding further.

Our new curriculum means:

A greater focus on scientific knowledge and vocabulary
Six year olds now learn about animal habitats and food chains
Eight year olds need to describe how fossils are formed
Ten year olds learn about the human circulatory system
Evolution and inheritance is taught at the end of primary, developing the idea that living things change over time, adapting to their environment
Computing curriculum emphasises programming rather than using programs
Internet safety is taught at primary

Changes in Our World

Changes in our World

The team works with the schools Eco team and focuses on Geography, History and Citizenship.

British history is emphasised and events taught in chronological order
5 year olds learn about significant individuals from the past who have contributed to national achievements e.g. Elizabeth I, and William Caxton
From age 7, children learn about the changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age and study ancient civilisations and the impact on Britain
From age 7, children carry out a detailed study of their local area
There is emphasis on geographical facts, including locating countries and cities on a map
Geography includes physical and human geography
citizenship is not compulsory but is taught and highly valued at Headley Park and is used to promote British Values