Our Curriculum

Intent
All children at Oakham Primary School are offered a curriculum that has suitable breadth, depth and relevance with appropriate levels of challenge. Our curriculum meets their needs and interests and provides them with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in the real world. We passionately believe in providing a curriculum that is inspiring and engaging for all children.

Underpinning our curriculum are carefully planned, skill progressions to ensure that children are taught key skills from each of the subjects in both the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework and the National Curriculum. This ensures that the children have access to a broad and balanced curriculum throughout their time at Oakham.

Our broad and balanced curriculum is designed to:
~Encourage the growth of individual pupils into all round effective ‘Oakham Learners’ and develop strong characters in order to be resilient and cope with adversity and approach all learning challenges with a ‘Growth Mind-set’
~Develop creative individuals who collaborate and co-operate and can solve problems seeing failure as an opportunity to learn.
~Ensure all pupils have high aspirations and experience opportunities to increase their self-esteem and personal motivation.
~ Provide frequent opportunities to apply key reading skills across a rich and varied range of texts and encourage a love of reading, for both pleasure and information.
~ Use and apply writing techniques in a wide range of styles, genres and contexts to enhance and reflect the acquired knowledge and information from across the EYFS and National Curriculum.
~Encourage reflective and critical thinking and foster a culture of caring about their learning so children always do their best and have ‘a thirst for learning.’
~Develop pupils who care about their role as part of a family, community and the wider world; encouraging them to feel part of, and to contribute positively to fundamental, shared British values in the 21st Century.
~Offer all children opportunities to: be engaged, challenged and be able to individually and collectively process their learning.

Implementation
The curriculum for each year group is carefully designed by the year group teaching team to ensure appropriate coverage and progression across all subject areas. Each unit has a clear rationale to explain key learning objectives/outcomes and where the specific unit fits in the curriculum area.

Sessions are planned to develop subject knowledge and apply this in a wide range of contexts. Lessons provide opportunities for opportunities for guided/independent practice and intelligent repetition which supports children to remember more and apply prior learning and knowledge.

Our children understand that we can use our 'sticky knowledge' to support our learning and make deep and meaning links across a range of subjects and contexts. 

We recognise the importance of children’s previous learning, encourage the children to develop interpersonal skills, build resilience and become creative, critical thinkers. Oakham learners are supported by a passionate teaching team to achieve their potential and progress with confidence to the next phase of their education.

Our approach to teaching and learning supports our curriculum by ensuring that a broad range of experiences and provide opportunities for guided and independent practice. This development of children’s knowledge and skills across all primary subjects is key when building on prior learning, this supports pupils for the next stage of their learning journey.

Staff encourage children to recognise how they are growing as learners through regular reference to our ‘Oakham Learner’ dispositions. Key skills such as evaluation, reflection and investigation are developed across our curriculum and lessons are planned in such a way that children can apply their knowledge in a wide range of thinking/problem solving contexts.

Impact
We evaluate the knowledge, skills and understanding that the pupils have gained against the expectations agreed. This ensures that we are constantly striving for improvement and ensuring that our curriculum is the best it can be.

Pupils and small groups are supported in school with extra support/resources deployed as necessary to help close the individual learning gaps. Significant funding is allocated to the employment and deployment of quality support staff across the school.

These experienced and effective practitioners support teachers in the delivery of core lessons and provide additional intervention sessions to reinforce key concepts, deliver pre-learning sessions as well as a wide range of formal, standardised interventions.

Teaching and Support staff regularly meet to share samples of children s learning from across the Curriculum. These meetings are known as ‘Curriculum Check Points’ and are a regular feature on our School Improvement calendar as they provide staff the opportunity to discuss learning across the school with colleagues and broaden their understanding of the learning journey in specific curriculum areas.

Our Curriculum Co-ordinator regularly reviews learning units with members of the SLT to ensure children are making appropriate progress and year groups are covering the required breadth of the curriculum in appropriate detail.

Staff provide planning and work samples to enhance our school portfolios to celebrate pupils learning and create a dynamic evidence record of achievement and attainment.

We will continue to review and evaluate each subject on a yearly basis in-line with Local Authority and DfE Guidance.

Early Years Foundation Stage
Staff in EYFS plan a foundation stage curriculum covering the seven areas of learning. The curriculum is ambitious and sequenced to focus on deep learning rather than shallow coverage. Communication and Language remains a key area of focus and development with all children being screened using the Wellcomm assessment tool to ensure appropriate support and challenge is offered to every child.

Out Staff recognise the crucial role that Early Year’s education has to play in providing firm foundations upon which the rest of a child’s education is successfully based.

It is our intention to provide, a broad, rounded and stimulating learning environment where children can work with adults and peers in a climate of mutual respect to develop;

• Confidence in their ability to learn.
• The social skills necessary to learn.
• The emotional capabilities to enable them to understand their feelings and to solve problems.
• A unique child.

We aim to provide children, with a well-structured, safe, active learning environment both indoors and outdoors. This will enable them to develop the skills, attitudes and understanding that will form the basis of lifelong learning and encourage them to become useful, active members of a diverse and constantly changing society.

Wider opportunities to support our Curriculum
Our ‘Oakham Learner’ sessions support children’s understanding of how they develop as learners and encourage children to reflect on how they can apply this knowledge to their own personal development and that of their peers.

Off-site visits take place on a regular basis for all year groups and are always linked to the theme that the children are learning about. The cost of each trip varies and is based on actual costs such as transport and entrance fees (These are non-profit making events).

Disadvantaged families are allocated additional funding for off-site visits and residential trips to ensure all children have opportunities to visit and experience a wider range of experiences as possible to support their learning and personal development.

Children in Years Two, Four and Six are given the opportunity to attend residential courses around the UK; Edgmond Hall – Shropshire, Frank Chapman Centre – Worcestershire and Plas Gwynant – Snowdonia.

Children are offered a range of out-of-hours sports clubs and teams regularly compete in ‘Rowley Learning Community’ competitions and events. No fees are charged for these sessions and are managed by our school sports coach to ensure a fair allocation of clubs and opportunities are offered across the school.

In addition, Year Four pupils have swimming lessons for a term at a LA leisure Centre as part of their National Curriculum (PE) entitlement.

Curriculum Overviews

Teaching staff share their overviews so families can support children's learning out of school. These documents show which subjects are being taught and the specific focus for each unit of learning.

EYFS

2-3 week units

Key Stage One

Half Termly overview

Key Stage Two

Termly overview