National Curriculum: KS1 Art and Design 

To produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording experiences. Children start collecting and developing ideas using sketchbooks. They continue to build up resilience, making mistakes and suggesting improvements to improve their work. Children practise and share their learning and skills with others, giving and receiving feedback to improve.

National Curriculum: KS2 Art and Design National Curriculum

Pupils should be taught to develop their techniques with creativity, experimentation and an increasing awareness of different kinds of art, craft and design.

The national curriculum for art and design aims to ensure that all pupils:

• produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences
• become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques
• evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design
• know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.

We aim to develop confident, independent learners who are able to plan, design, create, program and evaluate information through the use of ICT. As well as the benefits of ICT, we are also aware of the risks. This is why we prepare our children to stay safe online through the use of e-safety awareness sessions and safer internet days. The teaching of computing is also taught as a discrete subject to ensure the breadth of the National Curriculum is taught effectively. All three areas of the Computing National Curriculum: Digital literacy, Computer Science and Information Technology are taught throughout school. 

The National Curriculum for computing aims to ensure that all pupils:

• can understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, logic, algorithms and data representation
• can analyse problems in computational terms, and have repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problems
• can evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problems
• are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology

Staff are encouraged to tailor the curriculum using the range of resources available to them through ‘Teach Computing’, our chosen scheme of learning, in order to best suit the children in our school and their varying needs. With this approach, our children are provided with the best opportunities to become familiar with a range of digital platforms, software and apps, preparing them best for the real world. 

Having discrete lessons means that the children are able to develop depth in their knowledge and skills over the duration of each of their computing topics. Where appropriate, meaningful links will be made between the computing curriculum and the wider curriculum. In computing lessons, the children will use either IPads or laptops in order to access a range of apps and software. Children are also taught vocabulary linked to computing and key skills for life.

Online safety is taught regularly at an age appropriate level and forms the basis of all Computing learning. Each year, as a school we tailor lessons around ‘Safer Internet Day,’ where children complete activities linked to the theme in a range of curriculum areas. During these lessons, there is concentrated focus on Digital Literacy, with PSHE objectives intertwined where possible.

 At Reedham, we use a mixture of formative and summative assessment (based on the objectives in the 2014 National Curriculum) to determine children’s understanding and inform teachers’ planning. Children will be given feedback and ways to improve their work. The subject leader regularly reviews each part of the Computing curriculum and Learning Walks and observations are carried out throughout the year.

Miss Spaul is subject lead

Anups De Silva is the governor responsible for monitoring computing

Impact

By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme of study.

• Children will be prepared for both future education and jobs, with a bank of computing skills and knowledge.
• Children will be confident when using technology and be able to achieve their desired goals.
• Children will be able to use their computational thinking and apply this to their everyday lives.
• Children will have a secure and comprehensive knowledge of digital systems and technology.
• Children will be able to apply the British values (democracy, tolerance, mutual respect, rule of law and liberty) when using different systems and technology.

Early Years Foundation Stage

During the EYFS, pupils explore and use a variety of media and materials through a combination of child initiated and adult directed activities. They have opportunities to:

• Explore how things work.
• Make imaginative and complex ‘small worlds’ with blocks and construction kits, such as a city with different buildings and a park. 
• Explore different materials freely, in order to develop their ideas about how to use them and what to make.
• Make plans and construct with a purpose in mind using a variety of resources 
• Select appropriate resources for a product and adapt their work where necessary 
• Develop skills to use simple tools and techniques appropriately, effectively and safely 
• Cook and prepare food adhering to good health and hygiene routines 

KS1 and KS2

As a school we are dedicated to the teaching and delivery of a high-quality Design and Technology curriculum. This is implemented through:

• A well thought out, rolling two-year cycle overview of the DT curriculum which allows for progression across KS1, lower KS2 and upper KS2 in all areas of DT (textiles, mechanisms, structures, food and electrical systems) 
• Well planned and resourced projects providing children with a hands-on and enriching experience 
• A range of skills being taught ensuring that children are aware of health and safety issues related to the tasks undertaken
• Teachers being given ownership and flexibility to plan for Design and Technology; usually teaching DT as a block of lessons to allow the time needed for the children to be critical, inventive and reflective on their work
• Planning guided by the DT Association ‘Projects on a Page’ schemes of work which are based on universal principles of effective teaching and learning in D&T. They ensure progression of skills from KS1 to lower KS2 to upper KS2, and coverage of the Design and Technology national curriculum. Each project follows the process of designing, making, and evaluating and incorporates relevant technical vocabulary and understanding in relevant contexts. Where possible and appropriate, projects are linked to other curriculum areas. For example, in Y3/4, children complete an electrical systems project after studying electricity in science so they can apply what they’ve learnt to a real life context. 
• In addition to the 3 DT projects children undertake a year, each class also undertakes a Lego Education unit which enables children to build and design models for a specific purpose, and apply their understanding of computing to program, monitor and control them.

Impact

Children will have clear enjoyment and confidence in Design and Technology that they will then apply to other areas of the curriculum. Through carefully planned and implemented learning activities, the pupils develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world. They gain a firm foundation of knowledge and skills to see them equipped to take on further learning in High School. Pupil’s skills and knowledge are assessed ongoingly by the class teacher, throughout lessons. This informs the Design and Technology subject leader of any further areas for curriculum development, pupil support and/or training requirements for staff. EYFS pupils’ progress and attainment tells us whether each individual child is below expected, at expected or above expected attainment for their age.

Approaches to teaching and learning encourage pupils to voice their ideas in small group and class discussions, as we recognise that sharing and explaining concepts with peers enhances learning. Staff model the use of higher level vocabulary within their speech and expanding children’s vocabulary is a key focus from EYFS. Subject specific vocabulary is embedded across the curriculum, through teacher modelling, in context. Contextual learning helps children to understand new words and supports them in including them in their work.

Guided Reading sessions encourage pupils to explore unfamiliar vocabulary and expand their knowledge of words. Staff model correct grammar in speech and encourage children to reflect this in their use of spoken and written language. Children are given the chance to orally rehearse ideas for writing regularly.

Drama is used across the curriculum to explore and engage children in their learning. This gives children the chance to embed vocabulary in shared activities. Each class leads worship once a year for parents, at least once a year in church and individual pupils lead class worship on a weekly basis.

Impact

In a safe and encouraging environment, children develop into confident communicators who illuminate the kindness in each other by listening, speaking with respect and empathy and explaining with clarity and confidence.  Children recognise that speaking and listening can lie at the heart of conveying character, and that through speaking and listening effectively, misunderstandings can be addressed and relationships enhanced.

READING

Phonics (early reading and spelling)

At Reedham Primary and Nursery School, we believe that all our children can become fluent readers and writers. This is why we teach reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme. We start teaching phonics in Reception and follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised progression, which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school.

As a result, all our children are able to tackle any unfamiliar words as they read. At Reedham Primary and Nursery School, we also model the application of the alphabetic code through phonics in shared reading and writing, both inside and outside of the phonics lesson and across the curriculum. We have a strong focus on language development for our children because we know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing in all subjects.

Comprehension

At Reedham Primary and Nursery School, we value reading as a crucial life skill. By the time children leave us, they read confidently for meaning and regularly enjoy reading for pleasure. Our readers are equipped with the tools to tackle unfamiliar vocabulary. 

Because we believe teaching every child to read is so important, we have a Reading Leader  (Mrs S Bethell), who drives the early reading programme in our school. This person is highly skilled at teaching phonics and reading, and they monitor and support our reading team, so everyone teaches with fidelity to the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme.

Implementation

Foundations for phonics in Squirrel Class

We provide a balance of child-initiated and adult-led experiences for all children that meet the EYFS for ‘Communication and language’ and ‘Literacy’. These include:

• sharing high-quality stories and poems
• learning a range of nursery rhymes and action rhymes
• activities that develop focused listening and attention, including oral blending and tuning into sounds
• attention to high-quality language
• practitioners activate curiosity and comprehension of reading

We ensure Nursery children are well prepared to begin learning grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPCs) and blending in Reception.

 Daily phonics lessons in Reception and Year 1

• We teach phonics for 30 minutes a day. In Reception, we build from 10-minute lessons, with additional daily oral blending games, to the full-length lesson as quickly as possible. Each Friday, we review the week’s teaching to help children become fluent readers.
• Children make a strong start in Reception: teaching begins in Week 2 of the Autumn term.
• We follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised expectations of progress:

• Children in Reception are taught to read and spell words using Phase 2 and 3 GPCs, and words with adjacent consonants (Phase 4) with fluency and accuracy.
• Children in Year 1 review Phase 3 and 4 and are taught to read and spell words using Phase 5 GPCs with fluency and accuracy.

 Daily Keep-up lessons ensure every child learns to read

• Any child who needs additional practice has daily Keep-up support, taught by a fully trained adult. Keep-up lessons match the structure of class teaching, and use the same procedures, resources and mantras, but in smaller steps with more repetition, so that every child secures their learning.
• We timetable daily phonics lessons for any child in Year 2 and above who is not fully fluent at reading or has not passed the Phonics Screening Check. These children urgently need to catch up, so the gap between themselves and their peers does not widen. We use the Rapid Catch-upassessments to identify the gaps in their phonic knowledge and teach these using the Rapid Catch-upresources – at pace. 
• These short, sharp lessons last 15-20 minutes daily and have been designed to ensure children quickly catch up to age-related expectations in reading.

 Teaching reading: Reading practice sessions three times a week

We teach children to read through reading practice sessions three times a week. These:

• are taught by a fully trained adult to small groups of approximately six children
• use books matched to the children’s secure phonic knowledge using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessments and book matching grids on pages 11–20 of ‘Application of phonics to reading’.
• are monitored by the class teacher on a regular basis.

Each reading practice session has a clear focus, so that the demands of the session do not overload the children’s working memory. The reading practice sessions have been designed to focus on three key reading skills:

• decoding
• prosody: teaching children to read with understanding and expression
• comprehension: teaching children to understand the text.

In Reception these sessions start in Week 4. Children who are not yet decoding have daily additional blending practice in small groups, so that they quickly learn to blend and can begin to read books.

In Years 2 and 3, we continue to teach reading in this way for any children who still need to practise reading with decodable books.

Home reading

The decodable reading practice book is taken home to ensure success is shared with the family.

• Reading for pleasure books also go home for parents to share and read to children. We share the research behind the importance and impact of sharing quality children’s books with parents through workshops, leaflets and the Everybody read! resources.
• We use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised parents’ resources to engage our families and share information about phonics, the benefits of sharing books, how children learn to blend and other aspects of our provision, both online and through workshops.

Additional reading support for vulnerable children

Children in Reception and Year 1 who are receiving additional phonics Keep-up sessions read their reading practice book to an adult daily.

Ensuring consistency and pace of progress

• Every teacher in our school has been trained to teach reading, so we have the same expectation of progress. We all use the same language, routines and resources to teach children to read so that we lower children’s cognitive load.
• Weekly content grids map each element of new learning to each day, week and term for the duration of the programme.
•  Lesson templates, Prompt cards and ‘How to’ videos ensure teachers all have a consistent approach and structure for each lesson.
• The Reading Leader and SLT use the Audit and Prompt cards to regularly monitor and observe teaching; they use the summative data to identify children who need additional support and gaps in learning.

KS2 Reading plan

LKS2 – daily for 20/25 mins

UKS2 – 3 x week for 20 mins

• Schemes of Work to include 60 second reads and Ashley Booth resources
• Also use fluency approaches in foundation subjects such as choral and echo reading
• Extract based – sometimes linked to other subjects studying at the time, sometimes extracts from good quality books to encourage them to read the full book. Also video and picture comprehensions occasionally to allow equal access for all.
• Approx. 20% of texts are non-fiction, 80% fiction/poetry as these are the areas they struggle with most in assessments
• Lessons should focus on the same text for at least three sessions to build on prior knowledge.

Typical plan for extract

Session 1

1. Pre-teach vocab – Discuss vocabulary that you think they will struggle with before reading – show pictures etc.
2. Read the text to the children, modelling expression/fluency (ensure you read this the same every time!)
3. Echo reading and choral reading of aspects of the text – for expression, discuss how to read specific words etc.
4. Refer to reading strategies poster/bookmark and discuss the text
5. Speed read – Children to mark how far they get in 1 minute of reading

Session 2

1. Recap vocabulary from session 1
2. Read the text to the children modelling expression/fluency (ensure you read this the same every time!)
3. Echo reading and choral reading of aspects of the text – for expression, discuss how to read specific words etc.
4. Speed read – Children to mark how far they get in 1 minute of reading
5. Discuss reading comprehension style questions – main focus on word meaning, retrieval and inference (For inference = PEE/APE answers, Answer it, Prove it (Evidence from the text) and Explain (Why does your evidence support your answer) 

Session 3

1. Recap vocabulary from session 1
2. Read the text to the children modelling expression/fluency (ensure you read this the same every time!)
3. Echo reading and choral reading of aspects of the text – for expression, discuss how to read specific words etc.
4. Speed read – Children to mark how far they get in 1 minute of reading
5. Discuss reading comprehension style questions – main focus on word meaning, retrieval and inference (For inference = APE answers, Answer it, Prove it (Evidence from the text) and Explain (Why does your evidence support your answer) 

Ensuring reading for pleasure

‘Reading for pleasure is the single most important indicator of a child’s success.’ (OECD 2002)

‘The will influences the skill and vice versa.’ (OECD 2010)

We value reading for pleasure highly and work hard as a school to grow our Reading for Pleasure pedagogy.

•  We read to children every day. We choose these books carefully as we want children to experience a wide range of books, including books that reflect the children at Reedham Primary and Nursery School and our local community as well as books that open windows into other worlds and cultures.
• Every classroom displays books to invite and encourage children to develop a love for reading. We curate these books and talk about them to entice children to read a wide range of books.
• In EYFS, children have access to the reading area every day in their free-flow environment and the books are continually refreshed and carefully chosen.
• Children from Heron Class onwards have a home reading record. The parent/carer records comments to share with the adults in school.  In school, adults record any 1 to 1 reading sessions on a school reading record which is kept in the class intervention folder. 
• UKS2 record their views and feedback on the books they have read in a book review which is displayed to inspire others to read.  
• The school library is made available for classes to use. Children across the school have regular opportunities to engage with a wide range of Reading for Pleasure events (book fairs, author visits, reading cafes, national events etc)
• We use the Everybody read! resources to grow our teachers’ knowledge of current books, the most recent research and to grow our own Reading for Pleasure practice.
• School Council have organised Peer Reading between children in EYFS/KS1 and KS2 children. 

Peer Reading

Once a week, across the school, children work with their peers to hear each other read.

Impact

Assessment

Assessment is used to monitor progress and to identify any child needing additional support as soon as they need it.

Assessment for learning is used:

• daily within class to identify children needing Keep-up support
• weekly in the Review lesson to assess gaps, address these immediately and secure fluency of GPCs, words and spellings.

Summative assessment for Reception and Year 1 is used

• every six weeks to assess progress, to identify gaps in learning that need to be addressed, to identify any children needing additional support and to plan the Keep-up support that they need.
• by SLT and scrutinised through the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessment tracker, to narrow attainment gaps between different groups of children and so that any additional support for teachers can be put into place.

Fluency assessments measure children’s accuracy and reading speed in short one-minute assessments. They are used:

• in Year 1, when children are reading the Phase 5 set 3, 4 and 5 books
• with children following the Rapid Catch-up programme in Years 2 to 6, when they are reading the Phase 5 set 3, 4 and 5 books
• to assess when children are ready to exit their programme. For Year 1 children, this is when they read the final fluency assessment at 60–70+ words per minute. Older children can exit the Rapid Catch-up programme when they read the final fluency assessment at 90+ words per minute. At these levels, children should have sufficient fluency to tackle any book at age-related expectations. After exiting their programme, children do not need to read any more fully decodable books.

A placement assessment is used:

• with any child new to the school in Reception and Year 1 to quickly identify any gaps in their phonic knowledge and plan and provide appropriate extra teaching.

 

The Rapid Catch-up assessment is used

• with any child new to the school in Year 2 and above to quickly identify any gaps in their phonic knowledge and plan and provide appropriate extra teaching. 

Statutory assessment

Children in Year 1 sit the Phonics screening check. Any child not passing the check re-sits it in Year 2.

Ongoing assessment for Rapid Catch-up in Years 2 to 6

Children in Year 2 to 6 are assessed through:

• the Rapid Catch-up initial assessment to quickly identify any gaps in their phonic knowledge and plan appropriate teaching 
• the Rapid Catch-up summative assessments to assess progress and inform teaching
• the Rapid Catch-up fluency assessments when children are reading the Phase 5 set 3, 4 and 5 books for age 7+.
• The fluency assessments measure children’s accuracy and reading speed in short one-minute assessments. They also assess when children are ready to exit the Rapid Catch-up programme, which is when they read the final fluency assessment at 90+ words per minute.

Reading in KS2

As we believe reading is a key tool for life; teaching children to move from decoding words to becoming excellent readers is a key and integral part of what we do at Reedham. We have lots of opportunities for reading exciting books and materials. Reading is taught as an integral part of our new curriculum, where it is embedded into our everyday learning, as well as being explicitly taught through the week, focussing on specific strategies to develop their reading comprehension right through to Year 6.   We have a range of high interest/ low ability and dyslexic friendly books to help those children in KS2, who find reading more challenging. These books are a hook to help interest children in reading.

Once a child can read fluently through the levels, they become a free reader and have access to a wide range of chapter books in our library. All children are encouraged to read and to answer questions about what they are reading every day and explicitly in guided reading teacher-led sessions.

Summer holiday challenges are given to children to keep them excited and engaged in reading over the summer. World Book Day is celebrated at Reedham. Throughout the year we encourage children to have a love of reading by offering book shops and borrowing. Parents are invited in, throughout the year to a number of workshops known as reading cafes. In these sessions parents are given an insight into a variety of reading areas such as vocabulary and inference. We have a strong belief that children benefit from hearing stories read to them as well as them reading to themselves. Each class has a daily timetabled story time, where a class book is shared. The teachers stress the patterns and intonation in the words during these sessions to help children understand how to read out loud and the fluency needed.

We begin making children word aware from the Early Years Foundation Stage, throughout the whole school, vocabulary is a key priority. Topic related words and those related to concepts in science, history and geography are taught explicitly. These are then revisited and used many times throughout the topic and beyond, with the hope that children will retain them in their long term memory and become part of their everyday vocabulary.

• Strong links with our local library 

• Teacher reading at the end of each day
• In class reading lessons – excerpts from high quality texts, from a range of genres
• Yearly reading challenges

Handwriting

At Reedham Primary and Nursery we are very proud of our pupil’s handwriting and take particular care in our handwriting style. We use Letter-Join’s on-line handwriting resource and Lesson Planners as the basis of our handwriting framework, as it covers all the requirements of the National Curriculum.

Aims:

• To develop a neat, legible, speedy handwriting style using continuous cursive letters, which leads to producing letters and words automatically in independent writing.
• To establish and maintain high expectations for the presentation of written work.
• For pupils to understand, by the end of Year 6, the importance of neat presentation and the need for different letterforms (cursive, printed or capital letters) to help communicate meaning clearly.

Expectations

All teaChing staff are encouraged to model the printed or cursive style of handwriting chosen for each year group in our school in all their handwriting, whether on whiteboards, displays or in pupils’ books.  Pupils experience coherence and continuity in the learning and teaching of handwriting across all school years and are encouraged to take pride in the presentation of their work. Our objective is to help pupils enjoy learning and developing their handwriting with a sense of achievement and pride.  Handwriting is a cross-curricular task and will be taken into consideration during all lessons. Formal teaching of handwriting will be carried out regularly and systematically to ensure Key Stage targets are met.

Progression of the teaching of Handwriting – See Appendix 3

Spelling

Spelling is a high priority at Reedham. Children are given a weekly set of spellings to learn at home. Some are common exception words (tricky words where usual spelling rules or applying phonics do not apply) and others follow a spelling pattern or an element of grammar taught throughout that week. Children are given opportunities to use weekly and statutory spellings in their writing and are explicitly taught how to use them. 

Writing

At Reedham School, it is our vision that every child will learn to write by being given real and exciting materials and opportunities. At the beginning of their learning journey, in the Early Years, children are given opportunities to write in all areas of the curriculum and access this through continuous provision inside and outside. From the autumn term, the children experience many fine motor skill activities (for example, ‘funky fingers’ or ‘doh disco’) these enable the children to develop the muscles in their fingers and wrists, in order to be able to hold a writing implement effectively. 

In Reception, from the first half of the Autumn Term the children have a daily 20 minute phonics input, this includes children forming letters correctly and giving meaning to the marks they make.

Writing is an integral part of lessons at Reedham and children are taught to write for a range of purposes, by linking all our writing to topics, through our wider curriculum. At Reedham, we consistently use new research and ideas, staff take CPD opportunities to support teaching and learning and to help improve the quality of our writing. Children are taught to write imaginatively and articulate texts using the ‘Talk for Writing’ approach. This involves immersing children in powerful writing which they can learn and perform. To ensure progress is ongoing, we also use a ‘slow writing’ initiative that teaches the children the basics of sentence structure. As part of this, the children edit and improve the quality of their sentences. To ensure they are secure in a variety of age appropriate writing techniques, we have put in place a progression document which details the different sentence types to be taught in each year group. The sentence types are designed to help the children write exciting, sophisticated pieces of writing that use the right tone for their purpose. Children are explicitly taught age appropriate grammar and punctuation and encouraged to utilise these in their writing in line with the National Curriculum objectives for writing.

The teaching of history and geography at Reedham follows the National Curriculum and is integrated within our topics as part of our curriculum. Great emphasis is placed upon acquiring historical and geographical knowledge and vocabulary through investigations and explorations in both geographical and historical contexts.

History aims to help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world and inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past. As our pupils progress they will become equipped to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. We want pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time. Our history curriculum provides identity, improves decision making and judgement, alongside developing a sense of chronology. Our history curriculum is enhanced through the addition of visitors to the school, drama, use of artefacts, day trips and visits.

The geography element of our school curriculum aims to inspire pupils with a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Our geography curriculum enables children to develop a sense of place, whilst exploring, investigating and understanding the manmade and natural processes that impact on our planet. We aim to equip pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. As pupils progress, their growing knowledge about the world should help them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments. We want our children to gain confidence and practical experiences of geographical knowledge, understanding and skills that explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time. We achieve this through a variety of day trips, residential trips and local field work, exploring the immediate vicinity of the school.

In order to improve our mastery approach and further improve the quality and consistency of our maths teaching, we have chosen to use White Rose Premium Resources – a government recommended, high-quality mastery approach.

We recognise the value of making a coherent journey through the national curriculum and each year group follows a medium term plan, where small, cumulative steps build a solid foundation of deep mathematical understanding. Formative assessment is threaded throughout each lesson and unit of work; and appropriate revisions to planning are made by the class teacher to ensure all lessons are tailored to best meet the needs of their children. 

In order to meet our aims above and the requirements set out in the EYFS framework and the Primary National Curriculum, we will implement the following:

• Teachers reinforce an expectation that all children are capable of achieving high standards in Mathematics – EVERYONE CAN! Maths is for EVERYONE! 
• Teachers promote positive learning characteristics
• To develop secure and deep conceptual understanding, staff plan for the use of concrete resources, varied representations and structures (outlined and guided through White Rose) 
• The vast majority of children progress through the curriculum content at the same pace
• Regular and ongoing formative assessment informs teaching, as well as intervention, to support and enable the success of each child
• Summative assessments take place at the end of a unit and termly (half-termly in Y5 and 6) and planning is adjusted accordingly
• Children’s attainment and progress is discussed by teachers and pupil achievement leaders and if progress is not made, support is immediate and steps provided
• Children’s attainment and progress is discussed with parents/carers during parents evenings  
• Differentiation is achieved by emphasising deep knowledge and through individual support and intervention. It is seen through the concrete resources used, and/or the reliance on the representations and structures within a lesson to help embed a mathematical concept. All children are expected to be exposed to age related expectations and staff allow the time to plug gaps children may have in a particular area of mathematics. Staff understand what age-related expectations and mastering looks like for each objective and plan for how their children will get there. In order to meet the needs of all pupils, children working at a greater depth of understanding within an area of mathematics have ‘going deeper’ opportunities planned by staff
• Success criteria are set out in each session in order to guide children to achieve success
• Provision will be made for children who are not making the expected level of progress through I.E.Ps and interventions 
• Teaching that is underpinned by methodical curriculum design and supported by carefully crafted lessons and resources to foster deep conceptual and procedural knowledge
• Practice and consolidation play a central role. Carefully designed variation within this builds fluency and understanding of underlying mathematical concepts
• Teachers use precise questioning in class to test conceptual and procedural knowledge and assess children regularly to identify those requiring intervention, so that all children keep up. Children’s explanations and their proficiency in articulating mathematical reasoning, with the precise use of mathematical vocabulary, are supported with teachers placing a strong emphasis on the correct use of mathematical language
• The curriculum time for mathematics is non-negotiable and will be followed by all staff in school (15 minutes basic skills and 1 hour maths sessions daily from Y1-6; and 30 minute (Nursery) and 30 minutes (Reception) daily sessions, which are then consolidated through the enhancements in the learning environment 
• Daily basic skills sessions recap and rehearse key skills to aid retention and support fluency (weekly arithmetic take up part of these in Upper KS2)

All classes will have access to a very high-quality foreign languages curriculum using the Language Angels scheme of work and resources. This will progressively develop pupil skills in French through regularly taught and well-planned 30 minute weekly lessons in KS1 and KS2.

Children will progressively acquire, use and apply a growing bank of vocabulary, language skills and grammatical knowledge organised around age-appropriate topics and themes – building blocks of language into more complex, fluent and authentic language.

The planning of different levels of challenge (as demonstrated in the various Language Angels Teaching Type categories) and which units to teach at each stage of the academic year will be addressed dynamically and will be reviewed in detail annually as units are updated and added to the scheme. Lessons offering appropriate levels of challenge and stretch will be taught at all times to ensure pupils learn effectively, continuously building their knowledge of and enthusiasm for the language(s) they are learning.

Language Angels are categorised by ‘Teaching Type’ to make it easier for teachers to choose units that will offer the appropriate level of challenge and stretch for the classes they are teaching.

Early Language units are entry level units and are most appropriate for KS1 and Year 3 pupils or pupils with little or no previous foreign language learning. Intermediate units increase the level of challenge by increasing the amount and complexity (including foreign language grammar concepts) of the foreign language presented to pupils. Intermediate units are suitable for Year 4-5 pupils or pupils with embedded basic knowledge of the foreign language. Progressive and Creative Curriculum units are the most challenging units and are suitable for Year 6 pupils or pupils with a good understanding of the basics of the language they are learning. Grouping units into these Teaching Type categories ensures that the language taught is appropriate to the level of the class and introduced when the children are ready. Children will be taught how to listen and read longer pieces of text gradually in the foreign language and they will have ample opportunities to speak, listen to, read and write the language being taught with and without scaffolds, frames and varying levels of support.

Units, where possible and appropriate, will be linked to class topics and cross curricular themes.

Children will build on previous knowledge gradually as their foreign language lessons continue to recycle, revise and consolidate previously learnt language whilst building on all four language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Grammar is integrated and taught discreetly throughout all appropriate units.

The Progression Map shows precisely how pupil foreign language learning across the key skills of speaking, listening, reading, writing and grammar progresses within each Language Angels ‘Teaching Type’ and also how the level of learning and progression of each pupil is increased as pupils move across each subsequently more challenging Language Angels ‘Teaching Type’. It is a visual demonstration of the progression that takes place WITHIN a ‘Teaching Type’ and also ACROSS each ‘Teaching Type’.  

The school has a unit planner in place which will serve as an overall ‘teaching map’ outlining for all teachers within the school what each class in each year group will be taught and when it will be taught. Each class will have an overview of units to be taught during the academic year to ensure substantial progress and learning is achieved. Each teaching unit is divided into 6 fully planned lessons.

• Each unit and lesson will have clearly defined objectives and aims.
• Each lesson will incorporate interactive whiteboard materials to include ample speaking and listening tasks within a lesson.
• Reading and writing activities will be offered in all units.
• Every unit will include a grammar concept which will increase in complexity as pupils move from Early Language units, through Intermediate units and into Progressive units.
• Extending writing activities are provided to ensure that pupils are recalling previously learnt language and, by reusing it, will be able to recall it and use it with greater ease and accuracy. These tasks will help to link units together and show that pupils are retaining and recalling the language taught with increased fluency and ease.

Units are progressive within themselves as subsequent lessons within a unit build on the language and knowledge taught in previous lessons. As pupils progress though the lessons in a unit they will build their knowledge and develop the complexity of the language they use. We think of the progression within the 6 lessons in a unit as ‘language Lego’. We provide blocks of language knowledge and, over the course of a 6-week unit, encourage pupils to build more complex and sophisticated language structures with their blocks of language knowledge.

Impact

Pupil learning and progression in the key language skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing) and against the 12 DfE Languages Programme of Study for Key Stage 2 attainment targets is assessed at the end of each 6-week teaching unit in Key Stage 2.

Children are expected to make good or better than good progress in their foreign language learning and their individual progress is tracked and reported to pupils and parents/carers annually.

Pupil voice interviews will reveal children who enjoy French lessons and are able to talk confidently about what they have learned. They will feel willing and able to continue studying languages beyond key stage 2.

The national curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils:

• perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians
• learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence
• understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations

Charanga lessons enable children to build on their musical skills over time, showing clear progression in listening, performing and composing. Lessons are well delivered by passionate and enthusiastic teachers, including: warm-up/cool down activities, activities to encourage tone, pitch, volume and rhythm.

Implementation

We teach the core areas through our PSHE curriculum and through our termly values-led assemblies and events as holding specific PSHE learning days each half term.

The curriculum caters for Early Years up to Year 6, in order to give a cohesive learning journey for all children and prepare them to be welcoming and tolerant citizens of the UK, as well as being excited about future opportunities. It gives time and space for their own emotional and spiritual development and shapes their sense of identity. It enables them to become more independent, free thinking and compassionate individuals with respects for themselves and others.

The aims of our PSHE education are:

• To provide children with the knowledge and skills they need to live healthy, safe, responsible and balanced lives.
• Mitigate ‘Barriers to Learning’
• Provide children with opportunities to explore their own needs, beliefs and values and appreciate differences in others.
• Ensure all children become positive and active members of society.

Children explore the following themes throughout their learning journey on a two-year rolling curriculum:

Team, It’s My Body, Britain, Be Yourself, Aiming High, Money Matters VIPs, Safety First, Respecting Rights, Growing UP, Think Positive, One World

These themes enable children to learn through independent enquiry, creative thinking, reflective learning, teamwork, and responsibility, to promote motivation, resilience, and aspiration in all children, enabling them to effectively participate and engage with lifelong learning. They are given opportunities to engage in a positive community ethos, to listen, engage and adapt a can-do attitude in order to prepare for their future lives, enabling and enjoying learning within the context of our rapidly changing technological society. We aim to ‘bring out the best’ in every child so they can all be the best they can be.

Relationship and Sex Education (RSE) is integrated into these themes and covers the following concepts, which are age appropriate:

• different types of relationships, including friendships, family relationships, dealing with strangers and, at secondary school, intimate relationships;
• how to recognise, understand and build healthy relationships, including self-respect and respect for others, commitment, tolerance, boundaries and consent, and how to manage conflict, and also how to recognise unhealthy relationships;
• how relationships may affect health and wellbeing, including mental health;
• healthy relationships and safety online; and 
• factual knowledge, around sex, sexual health and sexuality, set firmly within the context of relationships at an age-appropriate level.

Impact

All children understand the importance of PSHE, RSE and British Values; the effects it can have on life in and out of school. This is evident through analysis of low stake quizzes which demonstrates children have learnt key skills and show they have knowledge to be confident, independent thinkers and doers. PSHE monitoring is carried out by the subject leader (Miss Spaul) using bi-annually pupil voice and learning walks with the PSHE governor (Mrs Isla McFadden). By teaching pupils to stay safe and healthy, and by building self-esteem, resilience and empathy, an effective PSHE programme tackles barriers to learning, raises aspirations, and improves the life chances of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged pupils. The skills and attributes developed through our PSHE education are also shown to increase academic attainment and attendance rates, particularly among pupils eligible for free school meals, as well as improve employability and boost social mobility. 

By the time they leave our setting, personal, social and health education (PSHE) enables our learners to become self-aware, healthy, independent and responsible members of a society. It helps them understand how they are developing personally and socially, and tackles many of the moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up. Our curriculum allows pupils to learn about rights and responsibilities and appreciate what it means to be a member of a diverse society. Our children are encouraged to develop their sense of self-worth by playing a positive role in contributing to school life and the wider community. 

Through their journey through the phases: Engage, Enquire, Explore, Evaluate, Express, children are encouraged to ask questions and work in a range of creative ways to learn new information, develop empathy, ask powerful questions and reflect on their own beliefs and values. Children explore Christianity, Islam and Judaism as the three ‘Abrahamic’ faiths which have strong similarities and comparisons to be drawn. They also explore Sikhism, Buddhism and Hindusim to broaden their understanding of world faiths.

We follow the Norfolk Agreed Syllabus, this curriculum caters for Early Years up to Year 6, in order to give a cohesive learning pathway for all children and prepare them to be welcoming and tolerant citizens of the UK, as well as being excited about travel opportunities in the future. It also gives time and space for their own spiritual development and shapes their sense of identity.

Early Years Foundation Stage

During the EYFS, science is introduced indirectly through activities that encourage every child to problem solve, observe, predict, think, make decisions and talk about the world around them. They have opportunities to

• Learn healthy choices about food, drink, activity and toothbrushing.
• Use all their senses in hands-on exploration of natural materials.
• Explore collections of materials with similar and/or different properties.
• Explore how things work.
• Plant seeds and care for growing plants.
• Understand the key features of the life cycle of a plant and an animal.
• Begin to understand the need to respect and care for the natural environment and all living things.
• Explore and talk about different forces they can feel.
• Describe what they see, hear and feel while they are outside.
• Recognise some environments that are different to the one in which they live.
• Understand the effect of changing seasons on the natural world around them
• Explore the natural world around them, making observations and drawing pictures of animals and plants.
• Know some similarities and differences between the natural world around them and contrasting environments, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class.
• Understand some important processes and changes in the natural world around them, including the seasons and changing states of matter

Children are encouraged to ask questions about why things happen and how things work. For example, they may increase the incline of a slope to observe how fast a vehicle travels. Children are asked about what they think will happen to help them communicate, plan, investigate, record and evaluate findings.

KS1 and KS2

We teach the National Curriculum and ensure that scientific enquiry skills and knowledge are built on as they move through the school and sequenced appropriately to maximise learning for all children. The National Curriculum is implemented through:

• A well thought out, rolling two-year cycle. Each class has a long-term plan which allows meaningful links to be made across subjects during a half term. This provides children with the opportunity to apply their knowledge in different contexts which will help them to remember more.

• Well planned and resourced units that provide children with hands-on and enriching experiences wherever possible

• Working Scientifically skills are embedded into lessons to ensure these skills are being developed throughout the child’s school career. To enable children to conduct practical investigations, science lessons are timetabled as 90 minutes once a week. Teachers demonstrate how to use scientific equipment and Working Scientifically skills in order to embed scientific understanding

• All science lessons begin with a recap, allowing children to recall previous knowledge to help them learn more and remember more

• Children are encouraged to ask questions and curiosity is celebrated within the classroom

• Long Term and Medium Term Plans are reviewed at the end of each term with a view to making any adjustments as necessary before the next cycle

Impact

We measure the impact of our curriculum through pupil voice surveys, AfL and summative assessment. Every science unit begins with a pre-unit assessment to see what pupils already know– this may be in the form of a whole class or individual mind map or quiz – and end with an independently completed quiz to measure progress and attainment against the learning objectives taught. The pre-unit assessment also informs planning. Teachers will be aware of the learning journeys that their children are on and be able to provide examples of where they have adapted or deviated from plans to meet needs and addressed misconceptions.

Subject specific vocabulary will be evident in children’s work. Where children find it difficult to record their thoughts in written format, alternative recording methods (e.g. video / voice recordings on Seesaw; use of an adult as a scribe) will capture their progress in a subject.

Pupil voice interviews will reveal children who enjoy science lessons and are able to talk confidently about what they have learned.

By the time children at Reedham Primary and Nursery leave our school, they will be ready to take on the challenge of a subject-based timetable at secondary level and have developed:

• An enjoyment of scientific learning and a love of science.
• Have an understanding and knowledge of scientific processes and developed the skills of investigation – including planning, observing, measuring, predicting, hypothesising, experimenting, communicating, interpreting, explaining and evaluating, with the use of scientific language.
• They will have developed the skills of working cooperatively with others and be able to tackle problems confidently and resiliently.
• They will have developed a respect for living and non-living things, building upon their own natural curiosity of the world around them and ask questions.
• They will have high aspirations, which will see them through to further study, work and a successful adult life.