Vision & Intent
Our Curriculum is the beating heart of our school day. ‘The child is at the heart of the curriculum’ Ofsted 2019.
As a result of COVID-19 we introduced a 'recovery curriculum' Please CLICK HERE for more information.
When we designed our curriculum with our 5 core principles, we wanted children to love coming to school, and be totally immersed and excited with their learning. We also believe that the 'hidden' curriculum is as important as the 'taught' curriulum; we think it is important that we teach our children how to grow into caring, polite and responsible citizens, who can work and co-operate with others while developing knowledge and skills. We want them to be well equipped and ready for the next stage of their learning journey.
Click here for our curriculum intent, implementation and impact and our 5 core principles.
Intent - What are we trying to achieve with our curriculum?
‘Our education system has to prepare children for a world we cannot imagine’ (Dylan William 2013).
One of our principles for the curriculum is centred around the unique child and begins with the needs of the learner. Our inclusive approach ensures that all children grow as independent and confident individuals who will be successful life long learners. All have high aspirations of themselves and what they can achieve in a rapidly evolving world. They will be leaders of change.
The curriculum is designed to be relevant, meaningful and personalised to meet the needs of our children and will provide them with memorable experiences and rich opportunities from which they can use their knowledge, skills and understanding to make connections between their ideas and learning and use these in real life situations. (principles of key knowledge and love of learning)
We have developed our curriculum around 5 core principles:
- Unique Me
- Positive Relationships
- Key Knowledge and Skills
- A love of Learning
- Global citizenship.
Through our curriculum, Meadows First School’s children are empowered to make informed decisions and will know how to make a positive contribution to their school, local environment and wider community. (principles of global citizens and positive relationships)
- We want our children to love learning, so we make it as rich, broad and as interesting as possible. ’The curriculum is rich and exciting. It has been carefully planned with the school’s values of ‘caring, sharing and preparing for life’ at its heart.’ Ofsted 2019
- We are trying to foster life-long learning behaviours, through our Meadows Mouse mascot: determined, enthusiastic, focused and organised.
- We also embed our Well-being Wheel in order to develop children’s understanding of how to keep themselves safe and well. ‘The curriculum has firm foundations in the school’s values, reflected in the ‘well-being wheel’: happy me, clever me, unique me, calm me, active me, safe me and friendly me.’ Ofsted 2019.
- We are a Rights Respecting School, and children’s rights are at the core of our school values and vision. ‘Leaders’ thoughtful promotion of British values, within their ‘Rights Respecting School’ context, enables pupils to develop a meaningful understanding of life in Britain and of the difference they can make in society.’ Ofsted 2019
Implementation - So, how are we going to deliver this?
The National Curriculum and EYFS framework, are our starting points,which we embellish and deepen further as a school. At the heart of this, children are exposed to quality experiences and lessons with a need for independent thinking; children are immersed into experiences with visits, visitors, wow moments or off timetable days of discovery. We develop authenticity and our children understand what it is to become historians, artists, explorers and scientists. The foundation subjects are planned to develop core knowledge that are built on year after year.
Teachers have planning time together each week, in order to ensure consistency and also, so that they can support each other at the planning stage, thus allowing for staff with expertise to support other colleagues. For example, the Computing Leader delivers Computing to both classes within a Year Group. Staff work together to continually monitor and reflect upon practice, identifying strengths and areas for development.
Leaders strive to develop the necessary knowledge, expertise and skills to design and implement the curriculum. They ensure that they are up-skilled via the achievement of external awards, through being members of professional bodies, or through the regular attendance at Subject Leader Network Meetings. Leaders at all levels, including Governors, regularly review and quality-assure the curriculum, to ensure that it is implemented sufficiently well.
The needs of our children are changing all the time. There is now a far greater need for acquiring personal and social skills that can be used in life and in the work place. We think it is important that we teach our children how to grow into caring, polite and responsible citizens, who can work and co-operate with others while developing knowledge and skills.
We actively promote British Values such as democracy, individual liberty, rule of law, mutual respect, and tolerance. The celebration of special events and traditions play an important role in school life.Click here for SMSC within our subjects
We aim to give pupils every opportunity to fully achieve their true potential. We also spend time teaching children about what makes a good learner; the children have created a character called 'Meadows Mouse' who reminds us of how we can be a good learner. CLICK HERE to see how. .png)
Go to this page for detailed descriptors of our subjects.
Impact- So, what difference is this curriculum making to our children?
'There is a determination, shared by all, that pupils will be given the very best start to learning. As a result, pupils receive an outstanding educational experience at Meadows First School.' Ofsted 2019
'Parents and carers speak highly of all aspects of the school and the difference it makes to their children. They say that their children are happy, safe and making excellent progress.' Ofsted 2019
'Children make excellent progress from their starting points because of the stimulating and nurturing learning environment, well-planned activities and strong teaching.' Ofsted 2019
