Curriculum Intent
At Coleridge we strive to provide a balanced and broad curriculum which meets the needs of all pupils by giving them the concepts, skills, knowledge and understanding to prepare them for the future. We want every part of our school community – pupils, families and members of staff – to experience success. Our vision is ‘Together: achieving excellence everyday’.
We are committed to supporting the development of the whole child and instilling in them a positive attitude to learning so our children can be successful, resilient and responsible learners.
To meet the needs of our community, our curriculum is designed to celebrate and exemplify diversity; it utilises the knowledge, concepts and cultural wealth of our school community whilst supporting pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Our Curriculum Matrix highlights the ‘Golden Threads’ of our curriculum that encompass the context and ethos of our school. These Golden Threads are observable principles, choices and routines at the heart of our curriculum and evident in daily lessons or within conversations with pupils or teachers: they are the foundations on what our curriculum is built upon. When devising our curriculum, we ensured concepts and knowledge are taught explicitly through our bespoke plans that have been designed to promote cultural identity and diversity, including empowering girls.
Curriculum Implementation
At Coleridge Primary School, we offer a curriculum which is broad and balanced and which builds progressively on the knowledge, concepts and the understanding and skills the children acquire each year, taking account of individual starting points. The curriculum incorporates the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum 2014 and other experiences and opportunities which best meet the learning and developmental needs of the pupils in our school. The aim of our curriculum is for pupils to have the requisite skills to be successful, independent and motivated learners in readiness for their next stage of education; our decision to implement mixed-ability partnerships within lessons means that a ceiling is never placed on pupils and all children are able to be successful through appropriate scaffold and design. We have purposefully decided not to make tenuous links across subjects and instead teach subjects discretely to ensure children have clarity on each subject being taught.
All National Curriculum subjects are carefully planned, structured and sequenced to ensure progression across units of work and across year groups or key stages. The curriculum is structured to stimulate, challenge and help pupils remember long-term content that they have been taught and pupils are encouraged to integrate this new knowledge into larger areas. It is rooted, and has grown from, a solid agreement between all subject leaders about the knowledge, concepts and skills that our pupils will need in order to ensure that they are successful, develop resilience and achieve academically, physically, socially and morally. We tailor and adapt our curriculum to fulfil every child’s potential, making sure there are ample opportunities to share purposeful endpoints.
Reading is prioritised across all areas of the curriculum. Key vocabulary for all subjects is prominent on working walls and knowledge organisers and children access a range of age-appropriate texts, which are mapped out by leaders to ensure Lexile measures become progressively more aspirational. There is a sharp focus on phonics for our younger pupils and Read, Write, Inc is delivered daily to children from entry into school and throughout KS1. Any pupil beyond this, for example children who join KS2 with little English or pupils with specific SEND, are supported to access Read Write Inc in Key Stage 2.
The spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of our pupils and their understanding of the core values of our society are woven through the curriculum, including through talk assemblies, Sunshine weeks and talk times in class, which focus on topical events that link to British Values and the SMSC curriculum.
Pupils have opportunities to share their learning and achievements with each other, their families and carers and other learners through regular assemblies, the HAF programme and our rich menu of afterschool clubs that promote and incorporate performances, competitions and events. Developing their independence and motivation as learners and their sense of responsibility as future citizens is at the heart of all our teaching and learning.
Curriculum Impact
We strive for children to reach their full potential, progress and attain in-line or better than with national expectations. Our curriculum is designed so that children can meet the expectations of the broad and extended curriculum, which in turn instils a thirst to become Global Citizens and explore careers beyond Rotherham. Our curriculum will ensure children have broad general knowledge and vocabulary that equips them for life. Careful thought has ensured children can eloquently articulate, use and apply the knowledge, concepts and skills that they have learnt which will feed into our assessment procedures though the use of pupil interviews, using their books and knowledge organisers to structure subject leaders’ questioning.
We also ensure that our curriculum develops children socially and emotionally so they form healthy relationships and show resilience in their learning and beyond. We also want to ensure our children have to confidence to articulate their views and opinions in a constructive way, without prejudice or bias, to ensure they make valuable contributions to our community and beyond. Most importantly, our curriculum has been created to ensure children display pride in our school community and local area by displaying leadership qualities that ensure they are ready for the next phase of their education at secondary school.
