Curriculum Information

Spelling:

Children are taught spelling through the Read Write Inc scheme, which is for children in Years 2 to 6 who are starting to read more accurately, with increasing speed. With 15 minutes of daily teaching, children develop confident spelling. They are taught specific spelling rules which are then assessed at the end of the week. Click here for parental spelling advice.

Reading:

Love of reading:

At Woolden Hill Primary School, we believe that nurturing confident and competent children who have a love of reading is absolutely key to a child’s development and future success. We see reading as the key to unlocking the curriculum and a love of learning. Therefore, we prioritise time for independent reading in school and at home and work hard to ensure that children have access to an engaging text that is well-matched to their age and stage of reading development.

Children are taught to read in whole class Guided Reading sessions. Throughout KS1, children have access to a great range of fiction and non-fiction books that are arranged using a coloured book band system.

In KS2, children are taught the reading skills: decode, retrieve, explain and choice using a range of picture books, film, fiction and non-fiction titles.

As a school, we use Accelerated Reader which assesses the children and helps teachers guide them to books that are on their individual reading levels. After each book, children are quizzed to check their understanding.

PM Benchmarking:

In Key Stage 1, once children have completed phonics, we use PM
benchmarking as a tool to assess and monitor the progress children are
making with their reading. This assessment is then used to ensure
children are on the right level of book and that their reading book is wellmatched to their reading ability allowing them to apply what they know
and make sustained progress over time.

Accelerated Reader:

In Key Stage 2 teachers use the Accelerated Reader programme to
monitor and assess the children’s reading ability. Children take a STAR
reader test three or four times per year to check their reading progress
and ensure they are reading books at the correct ZPD (Zone of Proximal
Development). The programme also allows children to take a quiz after
reading a book which assesses their level of comprehension of what they
have read. This supports teachers in assessing if a child is reading a book
at the right level and diagnosing and barriers to good comprehension and
progress.

Accelerated reader guide

Class Texts:

At Woolden Hill Primary School, we also understand the importance for
children to be exposed to range of genres and rich vocabulary. In every
year group, classes have a class text which is read to them daily. This
exposes all children to a range of high-quality texts and genres which they
may not being able to access elsewhere. These books are carefully chosen
and feature on our whole school reading spine below.

As a school, we value reading and have several ways to celebrate and engage our pupils:

• Reading buddies
• Race to a million words
• World Book Day
• Story Time Selfie Challenge
• Our best books Year 5/6
• Harry Potter Book Night

English Book spine

Patron of reading

Woolden Hill’s reading patrons

Writing:

At Woolden Hill, we encourage our children to be creative and independent writers. We encourage them to write clearly and with confidence across genres. The children are taught to use punctuation and grammar accurately and edit to
make improvements as go they go. We value the development of correct letter formation and neatly presented handwriting through our use of PROUD. We give the children a wide range of opportunities in which to develop their writing skills
and display the wonderful work they have produced. Through our English curriculum, we aim to nurture in the children a love of literature and language, and the confidence to continue reading and writing throughout their lives. Teachers work collaboratively to plan writing learning journeys using progression maps. These ensure content is coherently sequenced in small steps and designed to help learners to remember, in the long-term, the content they have been taught and to integrate new knowledge into larger concepts. The progression maps clearly show which skills need to be taught in each term for each year group

EYFS:

In Autumn 1, the children begin by working on their letter formation, teacher’s model writing in whole class lessons and children write words and captions with guided support in small groups. During phonics sessions, children will also be expected to write words linked to the phonics sound they are learning. Independent writing starts in Spring 1, these lessons always consist of an input linked to the topic or story of the week. Teachers will model simple words, captions and sentences depending on stage of year. The children will then work independently to write what was modelled into their books. Once a week each group will work with the teacher for a focused guided writing lesson.

KS1/ KS2:

Writing lessons take place at least four times per week and are planned as an English learning journey. Skills are taught by building on prior learning and linking new learning to things they already know. Each learning journey is planned to have an outcome with a clear purpose and audience so that children can learn to write and make specific grammar, vocabulary and compositional choices based on that outcome. Teacher plan using a combination of stimulus and approach including oral storytelling, non-fiction units and writing based on a novel or class text and poetry

Woolden Hill Primary School is committed to embedding a Maths Mastery curriculum with pedagogies and practices built around the true principles of this.

To support this, we are using a mastery scheme produced by the White Rose Maths Hub, as well as continuing to use our knowledge of the Maths No Problem Singapore approach.

Woolden Hill Primary School is committed to embedding a mastery curriculum with pedagogies and practices built around the true principles of this.

To support this, we are using a mastery scheme produced by the White Rose Maths Hub, as well as continuing to use our knowledge of the Maths No Problem textbook approach.

Our philosophy to the Maths Curriculum at Woolden Hill

In EYFS, children explore mastery in mathematics through teacher led activities as well as independent continuous provision. Children explore different representations of numbers and learn about number sense.

Here are some statements which explain what Maths lessons look like at Woolden Hill:

• Learning questions are focussed on the use of precise mathematical vocabulary
• Success criteria with mathematical vocabulary
• All children will work towards the expectations of their year group and no child will be given activities relating to objectives beyond their own year group.
• Whole class teaching
• Vocabulary and the learning journey are displayed on working walls
• Teachers model full sentences for answers given and encourage pupils to do the same
• Challenges are planned throughout lessons to deepen understanding
• Children with SEND needs who are unable to access the curriculum may have separate activities planned
• Manipulatives are accessible to all children throughout the school and are included in lesson delivery
• Concrete, Pictoral and Abstract stages are used throughout a lesson
• Teacher’s questioning encourages children to give reasons for their answers to develop their reasoning skills.

To support our children learning their multiplication facts, we subscribe to the Times Table Rock stars (TTRS) website which has been extremely successful and has encouraged pupils to practice their times tables in a way that is competitive and fun. Our Battle Day, when we dressed as rock stars, really kick started this and we will continue with regular battle days from now on.

As a school we have taken pupils to the DSAT Maths conference and have been involved in maths activities in school during the DSAT Number day. We celebrated this day by holding an assembly where classes could share their learning and perform a number song, rhyme or rap learnt during the day!

Website links for parents:

 Oxford Owl Times table- Help at home

 BBC Super Movers Times Table Songs

 White Rose Maths Hub Primary Scheme of Learning

 Times Table Guide for Parents

DSAT Calculation Policy

DSAT Bar Modelling Policy

Woolden Hill Maths Policy

Our aim in Science is to inspire and motivate our children so they become curious and inquisitive learners. We introduce children to the skills needed to conduct experiments and investigations and ensure that these include a range of different enquiry types. We teach them to observe, record and draw conclusions about the living, material and physical world around them. We ensure that the knowledge that is imparted will be retained, through regular spaced and retrieval practice activities. Knowledge Organisers play a key role in this and children are asked to share these with parents so that learning can be reinforced at home.

Our personalised curriculum allows children to focus on Science for two full weeks at a time so learning is progressive and meaningful, with clear outcomes. Forest Schools and the outdoor
environment enrich the children’s experiences as well as school trips and visitors to school. Our aim for pupils of ‘achieving success, creating futures together’ runs through our teaching in
Science and our curriculum includes drivers centred around the past, present and future.

In Science, children discover how scientific inventions in the past have influenced their lives, the place of  Science plays in our lives today in terms of current innovations and jobs and then their personal aspirations for the future.

We developed seven Science Principles that reflected the views of the children and staff which now form the basis of every Science lesson:

Sensory
Curious
Investigative
Exciting
Natural
Cool
Exploratory

We were awarded with the Primary Science Quality Mark (PSQM) in July 2018 and have now begun to work towards the Gilt Award.

Intent

A high-quality Music curriculum should engage, inspire, and motivate pupils to develop a love of music, and their talents as composers and musicians. It is a vehicle for personal expression, increasing self-confidence, creativity, and sense of achievement, and thus plays a significant role in the personal development of pupils. As pupils progress, they should develop the skills and knowledge needed to compose, perform, and appreciate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions. Thinking critically will allow them to review and evaluate their developing and growing musical knowledge and skill set. By using the 201 Model Music Curriculum (MMC) to inform subject knowledge and planning, pupils are exposed to a vast repertoire, from classical to popular music, from all around the world.

Aims of the Music Knowledge-led Curriculum:

• 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 ontheir own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and 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.

Implementation and Leicestershire Music Hub

Teaching staff use the Leicestershire Music Hub (LMH) Primary Scheme of Work. Teaching staff use the online scheme of work, provided by LMH and its related resources to teach the subject. Staff teaching the subject have received
specialised training allowing effective teaching of all aspects of the scheme. Each year group will use previous learning to inform the future, looking back on pieces of music covered in the past. This spiralised delivery of the curriculum allows children to see their progression throughout the years.

This scheme aims to block learning and re-visits practice over time through a spaced practise approach (Learning Scientists, 2016) as research suggests this will lead to better long-term retention of knowledge.

Music In Action

As well as specifically planned music lessons throughout the year, children may appreciate music during music assemblies. These assemblies are planned to expose children to a diverse range of music, whilst also allowing them to sing and experience music they already enjoy. Music assemblies explore genres of music that children might not have heard before.

By taking part in music lessons and learning journeys within the classroom in addition to music assemblies, children are able to have multiple opportunities to listen to and appreciate music.

Rocksteady

Rocksteady started at Woolden Hill in September 2018 and has been very popular both with pupils and parents. Pupils can enrol to become a member of a rock band. Pupils choose their instrument and have weekly band rehearsals (during school time). This group mixes instruments with performance and wellbeing. The rock bands perform every term to parents and the school.

Music Progression Map

Music Development Plan

Intent – Art and Design

A high-quality Art and Design curriculum should engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. As pupils progress, they should
be able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design. They should also know how art and design both reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.

Aims of the Art and Design Curriculum:

• Produce creative work, exploring ideas and recording 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 art forms

Implementation

Teachers work collaboratively to plan Art and Design using the learning journey planning format (Appendix 2). Art and Design is planned using progression maps
to ensure teaching is designed to help learners to remember, in the long term, the content they have been taught and to integrate new knowledge into larger concepts.

For the wider curriculum, we block learning and re-visit practice over time through a spaced practise approach (Learning Scientists, 2016) as research suggests this will lead to better long-term retention of knowledge.

Impact

Assessing Progress

Formative Assessment:

Pupils’ progress will be assessed using regular formative assessment in lessons through strategies such as questioning, regular retrieval practice, quizzing, independent learning tasks and assessment of work in sketch books and feedback.
Each learning journey block will be assessed formatively through the use of a knowledge-based quiz and/or a high-quality independent piece of art. Teachers will use this assessment to provide further feedback or re-teach concepts where necessary to close gaps and ensure pupils have mastered the curriculum content at that point.

Assessing long-term learning:

Skills will be sequentially re-visited and built upon due to the coherently planned
and sequenced progression mapping across the school.

Intent – Design and Technology

A high-quality Design and Technology curriculum should be practical in nature, using creativity and imagination to inspire pupils to design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within the context of their own lives and the world. Through the evaluation of past and present design and technology, a critical understanding of its impact on daily life and the wider world will be developed. Alongside this, pupils will consider their own and others’ needs, wants and values in relation to product design and manufacturing. Learning how to take risks will allow them to become resourceful, innovative, enterprising and capable citizens. Pupils will continually acquire a broad range of subject knowledge and make links to other disciplines such as mathematics, science, engineering, computing and art.

Aims of the Art and Design Curriculum:

• Develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform
  everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly
  technological world
• Build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order
  to design and make high-quality prototypes and products for a wide range of
  users
• Critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others
• Understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook

Implementation

Teachers work collaboratively to plan Design and Technology using the learning journey planning format. Design and Technology is planned using progression maps to ensure teaching is designed to help learners to remember, in the long term, the content they have been taught and to integrate new knowledge into larger concepts.

For the wider curriculum we block learning and re-visit practice over time through a spaced practise approach (Learning Scientists, 2016) as research suggests this will lead to better long-term retention of knowledge.

Impact

Assessing Progress

Formative Assessment:

Pupils’ progress will be assessed using regular formative assessment in lessons through strategies such as questioning, regular retrieval practice, quizzing, independent learning tasks and assessment of work in books and feedback.
Each learning journey block will be assessed formatively through the use of a knowledge-based quiz and/or a high-quality independent skills application outcome. Teachers will use this assessment to provide further feedback or re-teach concepts where necessary to close gaps and ensure pupils have mastered the curriculum content at that point.

Assessing long-term learning:

Skills will be sequentially re-visited and built upon due to the coherently
planned and sequenced progression mapping across the school.

Intent – Geography

A high-quality Geography curriculum should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.

Teaching should 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.
Geographical knowledge, understanding and skills provide the frameworks and approaches that explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.

Aims of Geography knowledge-led curriculum:

To ensure that all pupils:

• Develop contextual knowledge of the location of globally significant places – both terrestrial and marine – including their defining physical and human characteristics and how these provide a geographical context for understanding the actions of processes
• Understand the processes that give rise to key physical and human geographical features of the world, how these are interdependent and how they bring about spatial variation and change over time.

Ensure that pupils are competent in the geographical skills needed to:

• Collect, analyse and communicate with a range of data gathered through experiences of fieldwork that deepen their understanding of geographical processes.
• Interpret a range of sources of geographical information, including maps, diagrams, globes, aerial photographs and Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
• Communicate geographical information in a variety of ways, including through maps, numerical and quantitative skills and writing at length.

Implementation

Teachers work collaboratively to plan Geography using the learning journey planning format. Geography is planned using progression maps and knowledge mapping to ensure teaching is designed to help learners to remember, in the long term, the content they have been taught and to integrate new knowledge into larger concepts.

Impact

Assessing Progress

Formative Assessment:

Pupils’ progress will be assessed using regular formative assessment in lessons through strategies such as whole class questioning, regular retrieval practice, quizzing, independent learning tasks and assessment of work in books and feedback.

Each learning journey block will be assessed formatively at the end, through the use of a knowledge-based quiz and/or a high-quality independent skills application outcome. Teachers will use this assessment to provide further feedback or re-teach concepts where necessary to close gaps and ensure pupils have mastered the curriculum content at that point.

History – Intent

A high-quality history education will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. It should inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past. Teaching should equip pupils to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. History helps 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.

Aims of History knowledge-led curriculum:

To ensure that all pupils:

• Know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world
• Know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind
• Gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’
• Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses
• Understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed
• Gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.

Implementation

Teachers work collaboratively to plan history using the learning journey planning format. History is planned using progression maps and knowledge mapping to ensure teaching is designed to help learners to remember, in the long term, the content they have been taught and to integrate new knowledge into larger concepts.

For the wider curriculum we block learning and re-visit practice over time through a spaced practice approach (Learning Scientists, 2016) as research suggests this will lead to better long-term retention of knowledge. Subject leaders are responsible for ensuring that the taught curriculum in each phase mirrors the intended progression of knowledge and skills mapped out for each Phase in the progression document. Therefore, ensuring previous content supports subsequent learning and pupils are equipped with the knowledge necessary for the next stage in their education and that the full content of National Curriculum is taught before children leave Parkland Primary School.

Impact

Assessing Progress

Formative Assessment:

Pupils’ progress will be assessed using regular formative assessment in lessons through strategies such as questioning, regular retrieval practice, quizzing, independent learning tasks and assessment of work in
books and feedback.
Each learning journey block will be assessed formatively through the use of a knowledge-based quiz and/or a high-quality independent skills application outcome e.g. musical composition or piece of artwork.
Teachers will use this assessment to provide further feedback or re-teach concepts where necessary to close gaps and ensure pupils have mastered the curriculum content at that point.

RE – Intent

Our intent is for a high-quality Religious Education curriculum which is coherent, progressive, pedagogically and philosophically sound, and promotes the cognitive, spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of all learners. 

Aims of Religious Education knowledge-led curriculum

The principal aim of religious education is to explore what people believe and what difference this makes to how they live, so that pupils can gain the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to handle questions raised by religion and belief, reflecting on their own ideas and ways of living. 

The curriculum for RE (in line with the Leicestershire Agreed Syllabus 2021-2026) aims to ensure that all pupils: 

Make sense of a range of religious and non-religious beliefs, so that they can: 

• Identify, describe, explain and analyse beliefs and concepts in the context of living religions, using appropriate vocabulary. 
• Explain how and why these beliefs are understood in different ways, by individuals and within communities.
• Recognise how and why sources of authority (e.g., texts, teachings, traditions, leaders) are used, expressed and interpreted in different ways, developing skills of interpretation.

Understand the impact and significance of religious and non-religious beliefs, so they can: 

• Examine and explain how and why people express their beliefs in diverse ways.
• Recognise and account for ways in which people put their beliefs into action in diverse ways, in their everyday lives, within their communities and in the wider world.
• Appreciate and appraise the significance of different ways of life and ways of expressing meaning.

Make connections between religious and non-religious beliefs, concepts, practices and ideas studied, so that they can:  

• Evaluate, reflect on and enquire into key concepts and questions studied, responding thoughtfully and creatively, giving good reasons for their responses.
• Challenge the ideas studied, and allow the ideas studied to challenge their own thinking, articulating beliefs, values and commitments clearly in response.
• Discern possible connections between the ideas studied and their own ways of understanding the world, expressing their critical responses and personal reflections with increasing clarity and understanding.

(Leicestershire Agreed Syllabus, 2021-2026) 

Throughout pupils’ time at Woolden Hill Primary School, teachers should consider how their teaching contributes towards the principal aim of RE in the local area, and how they help pupils to achieve the further aims for a knowledge led RE curriculum. 

At Woolden Hill Primary School, teachers work collaboratively using subject progression maps and knowledge mapping to coherently plan and sequence learning journeys designed to allow our pupils to gain cumulatively sufficient knowledge to ensure they are ready for the next stage of their education. 

• RE Long Term Planning Document
• RE Progression Document