Curriculum
Curriculum Statement
At Little Stoke Primary, we aim to provide an exciting, engaging, knowledge-rich curriculum which will inspire in children a love of learning and help them to dream, plan and achieve both short and long term goals. We believe the driving force of a high quality, creative and broad curriculum is a clear focus on delivering excellent teaching and learning. This will ensure children engage in a range of learning experiences that are challenging and embedded in links with real life and meaningful experiences. This in turn enriches the educational experiences of all children and motivates them to invest in a journey of lifelong learning which can be nothing less than life changing.
Learners at Little Stoke will make this journey in different ways but teachers will place consistent emphasis on our values; aspiration, collaboration, inclusion and responsibility. Our curriculum is designed to provide the building blocks of deepening knowledge so that, at every stage, children will build on the knowledge they already have. They will deepen their understanding by using this knowledge in different contexts and will be supported to make links and build connections between areas of learning. We believe developing children’s oracy skills is vital to allow them to progress and achieve in other areas of the curriculum and foster respectful and productive relationships with peers and adults alike. Teachers plan to develop spoken language skills through discrete oracy sessions and interweave the skills through the whole curriculum, in the process creating classrooms that are rich in talk. The cognitive benefits of oracy are reflected in the robust evidence that quality classroom talk has a measurable impact on academic attainment (Alexander 2012). These benefits include greater retention of subject-specific knowledge, vocabulary acquisition and reasoning skills and can be seen throughout the curriculum.
Little Stoke Primary School is committed to meeting the requirements of the National Curriculum in a challenging but holistic way with inclusion at the heart of all we do. Learning is connected by careful teacher planning of progression to meet the ever-changing needs of the pupils both in school and out of school. It is geared towards creating successful 21st century citizens who aspire to become the best they can be whist also ensuring they have a positive impact on the world and become positive global citizens. We aim to foster inquiring minds, logical reasoning, and collaboration to prepare them for a world where skills in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) are increasingly important. As such, STEM subjects and opportunities linked to them are highly regarded within our curriculum and aim to provide exciting opportunities to enthuse and inspire children to develop their understanding in these areas.
Facilitated through our fantastic outdoor spaces, outdoor learning, and in particular Forest School, are a regular feature of our curriculum that not only enhance the lessons developed by teachers but more importantly support and nurture children’s social skills and self-confidence. Our Forest School sessions develop risk taking, independence, resilience and self-awareness for all children. They foster curiosity and allow all children to thrive in a different setting whilst also providing them with vital knowledge and skills to become aware of sustainable living.
Our connected curriculum is enhanced with enriching opportunities that make up the wider school curriculum. Learning is always exciting, sequenced logically to allow children to make connections with prior learning and set in logical contexts for the children with plenty of meaningful opportunities to rehearse, use and deepen their understanding, building on strong foundations of prior knowledge.
To understand more about our approach to teaching and learning and delivering the curriculum, please find the Connected Curriculum Handbook and Whole School Overview documents below: