Our curriculum is designed to create well-rounded children - meaning we devote 50% of our curriculum to the core subjects of maths, English, science, and information technology, all our children have weekly lessons in drama, music, dance, art and design, history, geography, French, Spanish, ethics, physical education/games, and Latin in year 6.

In addition to the academic curriculum, we offer a range of extracurricular activities, including a dance club, choir, orchestra, a range of sports, a vets club, board games, yoga, cookery, jam-coding, keep calm and create, and outdoor pursuit holidays.

This broad and diverse curriculum is enabled by structure and routines, clear expectations, and homework set every night. By creating a happy, safe, and inclusive environment, our children demonstrate high levels of self-confidence, self-awareness, and resilience, which will stand them in good stead for the next stage in their education. Pupils of all ages respond to challenges with enthusiasm and determination without fear of failure.

To ensure that children are making the progress we expect, they are assessed by their teachers regularly throughout the year and externally by GL Assessment. Parents are kept updated on their childs' progress via written reports, parent-teacher evenings and our annual open evening. However, we know queries can occur at any time, so  all our staff are happy to see parents immediately a problem or question presents itself.

A Coherent and Relevant Curriculum to Prepare Our Pupils for the Future

Our Curriculum is mapped from reception class to year 6 and each element is sequenced to ensure children continue to build and develop on their existing knowledge as they progress through the school and elements of knowledge and skills are carefully sequenced in every curriculum subject.

A coherent curriculum follows a logical progression. Our teachers pay attention to the order knowledge, in whatever form it takes, is introduced and revisited.

Effective sequencing helps our pupils to build a clear picture of what may seem like disconnected fragments of knowledge, over a period of time.

We understand that working memory is limited, so we must sequence our Curriculum by drawing on prior knowledge and logically sequencing new learning episodes. This approach allows our children to accumulate new knowledge in small stages, securing understanding at one stage before moving on to the next.

When returning to crucial knowledge, our staff revisit and dig deeper than simple retrieval: and will draw attention to where children may have seen this vocabulary, concept, behaviour or pattern before and then connect it to the new content.

The Role of Memory in the Learning Process:

Memory plays a crucial role in the learning process. It enables us to encode, store, and retrieve learned information. 

There are various types of memory, including working, short-term, and long-term. Working memory holds information being processed, while short-term memory stores information for a brief period, usually less than a minute. Long-term memory retains data for an extended duration, potentially a lifetime.

Several factors, including attention, motivation, and repetition, influence the retention of learned information. Concentration involves focusing on the information to be learned, while motivation affects the level of interest in the material. Repetition strengthens the connections between neurons involved in memory storage, leading to better retention.

Our teachers' efforts to understand the different types of memory and the factors influencing memory retention helps our pupils to improve their learning outcomes.

Strategies for Effective Learning:

We teach our pupils various styles and strategies to recall new information effectively. These strategies promote understanding, improve retention, and enhance problem-solving abilities - which are essential to success in education and beyond. Examples of cognitive skills include active discussion, the use of learning tools, and problem-solving.

Effective cognitive strategies include identifying and organising relevant information, summarising key points, and self-testing to ensure understanding and recall. Active discussion is another method that promotes cognitive learning by encouraging learners to engage in dialogue and reflection with their peers.

The ongoing training of our teaching staff is focused on developing pupils' cognitive skills and by incorporating these techniques, we support our pupils to enhance their critical thinking and reasoning abilities, leading to more excellent academic and future professional success.