Achievement-Creativity-Endeavour: Our Vision
The ‘values’ of the school community provide the building blocks for our curriculum offer, which is designed to equip the children with the knowledge and skills for future success.
Nurtured, Outward looking, Respectful, Happy, Achieving, Motivated
Achievement-Creativity-Endeavour: Our Vision
The ‘values’ of the school community provide the building blocks for our curriculum offer, which is designed to equip the children with the knowledge and skills for future success.
ACHIEVEMENTIn an ever-changing world, we will equip our children with the skills and qualities needed so they can embrace life’s challenges and opportunities. Our curriculum will open children’s eyes to new possibilities so they can develop aspirational attitudes and understand how to achieve their full potential. |
CREATIVITYUsing an inspiring range of quality literature allows our children to broaden their horizons and knowledge of the world; develop their imaginations and use a rich vocabulary so they are able to communicate effectively with confidence and enthusiasm with the world around them both orally and through the written word. We have an inclusive curriculum that reflects the needs of the individual, so ensuring opportunities to express talents and develop new skills are secured through a sequential approach to learning in all areas of the curriculum. |
ENDEAVOURWe believe that it is important for our children to understand that life is more than a virtual/digital world. We are passionate about their physical wellbeing and will therefore provide opportunities for the children to develop resilience and manage risk and elements of danger, through exploring the world around them. As citizens of the future, we recognise the importance of our children using their skills, knowledge and beliefs to not only benefit ourselves but also to impact positively on the wider community. Through experiencing challenges and celebrating the rich diversity of modern Britain, we hope our children will positively impact on the world around them. |
CHRISTIAN VALUESOur Christian Values under pin all that we do in school, guiding our daily actions and decisions as we work as a community of unique individuals whom share a common belief and goal, that is our community. |
Curriculum planning makes links to our values so they are embedded in how we teach the curriculum.
‘Pedagogy is defined simply as the method, and practice, of teaching. It encompasses: When people talk about the pedagogy of teaching, they will be referring to the way teachers deliver the content of the curriculum to a class. When a teacher plans a lesson, they will consider different ways to deliver the content.’
Subject Leaders and Classroom Teachers research and use different pedagogical approaches depending on what is being taught but as a school we are especially mindful of considering the following when planning how to deliver lessons and plan the curriculum:
The curriculum is a working document reflecting emergent need within cohorts and individuals, but also reflects the staff’s continuous professional development, that uses the fundamental of evidenced based research to strive for best outcomes.
We refer to core skills, as the skills:
To ensure core skills continue to be at the forefront, children access Timetable Rockstars (KS2), Doodle (KS1 and KS2) and Lexia (KS1 and 2) computer based programmes that provide continuous opportunities to practice and embed the core skills.
Phonics is taught daily using Read Write Inc in EYFS and KS1 with defined expectations and end points throughout academic years.
Reading and using quality children’s literature is at the heart of everything we do. All areas of study, across all subjects are linked at some point to year group reading curriculums. We are keenly aware that when children have ‘learnt to read’, they are then ‘reading to learn’. We use whole class reading and English lessons to gain knowledge about a subject so the time in subject based lessons can focus on the skills. The children are then able to make rapid gains in knowledge through this cross curriculum approach.
To ensure a broad and balanced curriculum the school has subject specific non-negotiables across the curriculum, enabling the children to share the high aspirations we have for them in everything they do.
We aim to provide interesting, varied and exciting visits and classroom visitors to enhance areas of learning. Visitors and trips are chosen to enhance the curriculum; provide experiences they may not usually have access to and to provide a range of cultural opportunities, often beyond their local community and previous life experiences.
According to the school inspection handbook, Ofsted’s definition of Cultural Capital is:
“As part of making the judgement about the quality of education, inspectors will consider the extent to which schools are equipping pupils with the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life. Our understanding of ‘knowledge and cultural capital’ is derived from the following wording in the national curriculum: ‘It is the essential knowledge that pupils need to be educated citizens, introducing them to the best that has been thought and said and helping to engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement.’”
We want all of our children, no matter what their background or experience, to be exposed to the best of the world around them in order to help them reach their potential and make progress in life beyond school. There are many experiences, some small such as a bedtime story and others which are bigger such as a trip to the zoo which many of us take for granted. Our aim is to redress the balance by aiming to provide opportunities and experiences for all. ‘…the accumulation of cultural capital – the acquisition of knowledge – is the key to social mobility”.
Some of the ways in which we think about Cultural Capital within in our curriculum are:
Knowledge, concepts and skills across subjects is progressive (builds on previous learning and takes account of prior knowledge) and all teachers know what has been taught before and what comes next. Our aim is for the curriculum to be cohesive so children are constantly building on previous learning and provided with a curriculum where connections can be made across areas of study and different subjects.
We want children to be literate in a subject and become experts. Therefore, we emphasise ‘areas of study’ rather than topics to develop subject specific skills, concepts and language
Leaders have develop a curriculum overview for each key stage, that structures each area of study will be taught. The subject leader has based these decisions on progression of knowledge; and to enable tangible and experiential links to be made between areas of study and subjects.
Monitoring and evaluation is a continuous process and is carried out by class teachers, curriculum leaders, senior leaders and external moderators. Monitoring takes place in a variety of ways – observations, learning walks, conversations with pupils and teachers, collaborative planning, work scrutiny
Classroom learning & Subject Monitoring – ‘drop ins’, team teaching, observations, learning walks, pupil scrutiny & external moderation. During these monitoring visits the following areas will be reviewed to evaluate the teaching and learning experience of the children:
Assessment
At Norham St Ceolwulf's we take emotional health and mental well being very seriously. Every class provides a range of activities that promote emotional health and mental well-being including the promotion of daily physical literacy, open access to pastoral partners, class and team building activities.
Inclusive approaches to the curriculum include aspects of the 5 steps for well-being promoted by the NHS, and we used texts within individual classes each half term to discuss specific issues and work out strategies on how best to overcome any issues we identify.
Check out the video below to find out more about the key ideas for supporting mental wellbeing.