Subjects
Intent
The teaching of English at Meadow View is designed to create endless opportunities to provide a positive reading and writing culture, where both are promoted, enjoyed and considered ‘a pleasure’ for all children. Our school vision Growing Happiness, Healthiness and Lifelong Success guides and influences learning by ensuring that all of our children are given learning opportunities to achieve their full potential in all areas of English. By giving children the key skills and knowledge in English they will be enabled to access material in all curriculum areas, and provide a foundation for their learning throughout their school career. We want to inspire children to be confident in the art of speaking and listening that will last them a lifetime. We want children, who can use discussion, to communicate and further their learning. We are very aware of our high percentage of children with English as an additional language and that some of our children’s early language acquisition is limited, and this is why we believe that providing a language rich environment, with a strong focus on oracy, is essential for success across the curriculum.
Reading
At Meadow View, it is our aim to provide the necessary lifelong skills to be able to become avid readers. We expect our children to confidently read fluently and widely for pleasure and information; allowing them to express preferences and opinions about the texts that they read. Having had access to a wide range of quality text types, genres and authors, children will be enabled to make informed opinions about their favourites. We want children to develop a love of reading and a good knowledge of a range of authors, and be able to understand more about the world in which they live, through the knowledge they’ve gained from texts.
Reading for Pleasure
At Meadow View, we expect our children to confidently read fluently and widely for pleasure and information. The importance of reading for pleasure is paramount and through conversation and the sharing of books children see that reading for pleasure can be fun and very rewarding. When children enjoy reading, it will support and benefit their whole education.
Writing
At Meadow View, we believe that the ability to communicate effectively through writing is a critical lifelong skill. We want children to write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. Throughout their time at Meadow View, we want children to acquire a wide vocabulary, a solid understanding of grammar and the ability to spell new words by effectively applying the spelling patterns and rules they have learnt. We aim to ensure children strive for continuous improvement in our inclusive culture of learning.
Implementation
At Meadow View we view the teaching of English as fundamental to the holistic development of our children, fostering positive behaviours and attitudes toward leaning and providing key knowledge and skills to benefit children throughout their education and beyond.
Reading
To form the foundations for lifelong readers, systematic daily teaching of Little Wandle phonics has a high priority in EYFS and KS1. In nursery, children begin to develop their listening skills and to discriminate between sounds, recognising rhythm, rhyme and alliteration. In Reception and KS1, children learn to read using the Little Wandle phonics. Staff systematically teach learners the relationships between sounds and spelling patterns. Phonics is delivered in groupings. It enables staff to ensure that application is there across all subjects embedding that process in a rich literacy environment for early readers. Children who require further support in phonics in KS2 continue with dedicated phonics sessions, joining a best fit group.
By Year 2 and moving into KS2, children access daily guided reading lessons. These follow a three week program whereby the first two weeks children are taught about the various skills of answering questions based upon a text. In the third week, children are reading and orally rehearsing a text for a performance at the end of the week.
At Meadow View, we encourage a love of reading through our well-resourced library, special events; such as National Poetry Day and World Book Day, themed days, author visits, half termly visits to the local library and our weekly ‘Reading Crew’ sessions. During ERIC time (Everybody Reading In Class) as well as through literacy lessons, all children have classic texts read to them in all year groups. This may include Traditional Tales and Rhymes in EYFS and KS1 through to classic novels in KS2.
Reading is not only encouraged at school, but at home too. Along with use of our reading spine (Y1-Y6) and library books, children have a reading task for homework each week. Reading is shared through Friday ‘book talk’ where children use their oracy skills to talk about what they have been reading that week. This sharing of books encourages recommendations and high quality book talk in the classroom.
Writing
At Meadow View we strive to create a positive writing culture to ensure sufficient progress to meet or exceed age related expectations through our engaging and structured curriculum.
We ensure this positive writing culture by showing children how we value their writing. At the end of some teaching sequences, children also have the opportunity to perform their writing to other classes or members of staff. We also send this to the outer world through social media platforms so that our learning does not stop in the classroom.
Teachers develop confidence in children’s writing through transcription and composition. Transcription is taught through the teaching of spelling. SPaG lessons are linked to the context of learning alongside continuous teaching of SPaG during all English lesson through texts and writing skills, weekly letter-join lessons support handwriting. Composition is taught by supporting children in articulating ideas through drama and discussion giving them a foundation to start their writing, as well as children having an awareness of audience, purpose, context and widening vocabulary.
To engage children in their reading and writing, we have developed a progression that ensures coverage of all genres as well as opportunities of teaching across the curriculum. Genre coverage is mapped out to ensure whole school progression. Daily literacy lessons are organised through a common teaching sequence used by KS1 and KS2. This teaching sequence integrates benchmarking prior knowledge, reading exemplars and exploring comparative texts, exploring vocabulary, explicitly teaching spelling and grammar objectives in context to what children are learning. It provides a gradual release from shared and guided writing allowing children to produce their own independent writing.
Children receive daily feedback through whole class or one to one conversations to address and cover misconceptions.
Progress of children’s writing is tracked through our online tracker system, as well as termly key stage moderation sessions. Children have regular opportunities to self and peer assess their writing. Along with verbal and written feedback, children are able to understand their next steps in their writing journey, supporting them to reach the end point of their finished piece of writing. Teachers will use this assessment to inform their planning moving forward.
At Meadow View, we have a KS1 and KS2 moderator for the local authority in school that oversees whole school moderation. This is also done annually alongside the Local Authority Literacy Lead. We have moderated with other schools that have similar cohorts of children.
Impact
By the end of their journey at Hadrian Primary School, we hope that children leave with highly developed communication skills that they can take with them to secondary education and beyond. Success is not only achieved through children’s attainment, but through their engagement with, and enthusiasm for, the many English opportunities that have been provided throughout their time with us. Through our inclusive culture of learning, regardless of children’s starting point on their journey with us; particularly those with early developing English speaking skills, are all challenged in their own thinking and problem solving. We give children the skills and knowledge to communicate effectively to make valuable contributions locally, globally and to contribute to their own sustainable future.
Reading
When our children leave our school, we expect them to be avid readers. Children can read fluently and widely, with a thirst for reading a range of genres and text types; including poetry. Children appreciate the joy and wonder of reading and are able to express preferences and opinions about the texts that they read.
Writing
Through the teaching of writing at Meadow View our children develop the skills to effectively communicate and express themselves with the written word. Children are able to write across a range of forms and adapt their writing successfully considering the purpose. They are well-prepared to move into secondary school and to further develop their skills to tackle more challenging tasks. Outcome of work in English and Topic books evidence the high quality of work and the impact of cross curricular writing opportunities.
We have used Development Matters as our non-statutory curriculum guidance and The National Curriculum in England to develop our school curriculum.
We have developed our curriculum to ensure we not only meet but exceed the requirements of Development Matters and the National Curriculum in providing our pupils with a knowledge-rich education to ensure their success as they move through each key stage and onto KS3.
At Meadow View Primary School we offer a broad, balanced and academically rigorous curriculum for all our learners. Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are taught all seven areas of learning with an emphasis on developing key skills, knowledge and understanding. We have a heavy focus on developing language, communication and vocabulary through books in order to prioritise a love of stories and the skills within the prime areas ready for F2 where the curriculum starts with the child and expands into the community and then the wider world. This develops a strong sense of self and the children begin to appreciate the similarities and differences between us.
Our curriculum is designed with our children at the heart to ensure that all of our children make good progress and are ready for their next phase of learning. Maths, English and emotional literacy are taught every day. Religious Education, Physical Education, Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education and Mental Wellbeing are taught each week. The rest of the curriculum time is blocked into knowledge-rich, well sequenced enquiry topics based around the following subjects: History, Geography, Science, Art, Music and Computing. The following six themes: invasion, settlement, evolution, civilisation, economics and existence evolved as a natural structure to underpin the curriculum. In each subject area we have incorporated both the disciplinary knowledge and subject specific knowledge that we want children to know.
Our school values of achieve, aspire, include and wellness are built into our curriculum both in the content and the influential people we choose to study. We have carefully chosen a bespoke set of drivers that has influenced the design of our curriculum:
The curriculum promotes long-term learning and we believe that progress means knowing more and remembering more. We have developed a curriculum built on current research regarding how memory works to ensure that children can remember the curriculum content in future years. This is why we place particular emphasis on children knowing and remembering the core knowledge we have identified and building rich webs of knowledge as they progress through the curriculum.
More details about how each subject is taught and educational philosophy that underpins this can be found on the subject specific page.
At Meadow View Primary, we value Mathematics. We are MATHEMATICIANS! We want our children to understand that Maths is essential to everyday life: critical to science, technology and engineering, and a necessary life skill. We want our children to grow up with a deep understanding of mathematics, applying it to their chosen career paths as accountants, air craft engineers, teachers, gaming directors and more! We value our vision – Growing Happiness, Healthiness and Lifelong Success - using this to guide and influence our learning. We want our children to leave Meadow View feeling not only confident but with memories of Maths that spark joy and encourage a life-long positive relationship with the subject.
Intent
Here at Meadow View it is of paramount importance to ensure that our children have the best possible grounding in mathematics during their time with us. With this in mind, we aim to spark a curiosity and excitement for maths learning, while instilling confidence and knowledge in children as they embark on their journey to mastering the maths curriculum. Our curriculum is designed to be inclusive for all abilities and needs, providing support and challenge as needed.
The three aims of the Primary Maths Curriculum are at the heart of everything we do, these are:
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Fluency in the fundamentals of mathematics so that pupils develop conceptual understanding, and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.
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Reasoning mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language
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Greater Depth Problem Solving by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.
Implementation
Children from Reception to Year 6 use The White Rose programme as a guide to meet the criteria for high-quality teaching of mastery in England. This is complimented and supplemented with other resources such as NRich and Focus Maths.
All of our resources follow an exciting growth mind set and problem-solving approach. All children are encouraged to believe in their ability to master maths and are empowered to succeed through curiosity and persistence, while tackling the same concepts at the same time and progressing together as a whole class. The 'small step approach' allows children to keep up not catch up.
For example: Every day we start our Maths lessons with retrieving previous knowledge and skills. This is a series of quick questions covering something from the previous lesson, last week and then topics from earlier in the year – maybe even last year! This encourages children to constantly refer back to their previously learnt knowledge and skills, ensuring multiple opportunities to look at topics again in new contexts. This enables teachers to support students who have struggled with a topic to spend more time reconsidering and developing their understanding, as well as identifying any 'problem' areas.
Also, within each unit that is covered, the 'concrete - pictorial - abstract' approach to mastery maths is used.
The use of manipulatives allows children to have a tangible link to their learning.
The use of pictorial representations enables children to understand how the focus maths skills can be represented in a number of different ways - mastering the small steps to learning and ensuring the learning is not just 'discrete'.
From this process, children are then able to approach the maths in a more abstract problem but, by using their previous knowledge and skills, can apply the small steps to understanding and solving the problem.
What does it look like?
Maths in the Early Years at Meadow View
At Meadow View, we recognise that maths is an integral part of day to day life and we instil mathematical concepts not only in our direct teaching and opportunities in child initiated play but we also thread mathematics through our daily classroom routines. We want our children to not only develop a love of maths but also have the opportunity to learn practical skills through real life application.
For example, each day in we count at every possible opportunity. We count how many children are present, when lining up, counting out milk and fruit, recording the date and counting out the story votes. We look at concepts of sharing, more/ less, size and measurement at every available opportunity and carefully promote that all adults reinforce and strengthen children’s knowledge.
In both Nursery and Reception children take part in adult directed and child initiated mathematics. It is important children are given the opportunity to learn maths through practical, active, hands-on experiences. We implement this approach into our focused lessons and our continuous provision areas. After learning new concepts, children are given opportunities inside and outside the classroom to apply their understanding through challenges and enhancements to best support our children to internalise and master their learning.
Beyond the Early Years
Using the units set out by White Rose, children are given the opportunity to work in small steps, building upon their prior knowledge and creating a concrete understanding of the learning taking place. Each session is designed to develop questions designed to unpick the structure of the maths and deepen the children’s understanding. When children talk about maths concepts, they develop the vital mathematical language that helps them explain their ideas.
Impact
Evidence in knowledge: Pupils know how and why maths is used in the outside world and in the workplace. They know about different ways that maths can be used to support their future potential, including jobs that require a deep understanding of maths knowledge. Mathematical concepts or skills are mastered when a child can show it in multiple ways, using the mathematical language to explain their ideas, and can independently apply the concept to new problems in unfamiliar situations. Children demonstrate a quick recall of facts and procedures. This includes the recollection of the times table.
Evidence in skills: Pupils use acquired vocabulary in maths lessons, seeing a progression of this throughout the school. They have the skills to use methods independently and show resilience when tackling problems. Children show a high level of pride in the presentation and understanding of the work. Teachers plan a range of opportunities to use maths inside and outside school in order to develop the ability to recognise relationships and make connections in maths lessons.
Outcomes: At the end of each year we expect the children to have achieved Age Related Expectations (A) for their year group. Some children will have progressed further and achieved greater depth (GD). Children who have gaps in their knowledge receive appropriate support and intervention. Rapid interventions and bespoke groupings are used to ensure that there is no delay in moving the learning forward for all learners.
Mastery: All children secure long-term, deep and adaptable understanding of maths which they can apply in different contexts.
At Meadow View Primary, we value Mathematics. We are MATHEMATICIANS! We want our children to understand that Maths is essential to everyday life: critical to science, technology and engineering, and a necessary life skill. We want our children to grow up with a deep understanding of mathematics, applying it to their chosen career paths as accountants, air craft engineers, teachers, gaming directors and more! We value our vision – Growing Happiness, Healthiness and Lifelong Success - using this to guide and influence our learning. We want our children to leave Meadow View feeling not only confident but with memories of Maths that spark joy and encourage a life-long positive relationship with the subject.
Intent
Here at Meadow View it is of paramount importance to ensure that our children have the best possible grounding in mathematics during their time with us. With this in mind, we aim to spark a curiosity and excitement for maths learning, while instilling confidence and knowledge in children as they embark on their journey to mastering the maths curriculum. Our curriculum is designed to be inclusive for all abilities and needs, providing support and challenge as needed.
The three aims of the Primary Maths Curriculum are at the heart of everything we do, these are:
-
Fluency in the fundamentals of mathematics so that pupils develop conceptual understanding, and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.
-
Reasoning mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language
-
Greater Depth Problem Solving by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.
Implementation
Children from Reception to Year 6 use The White Rose programme as a guide to meet the criteria for high-quality teaching of mastery in England. This is complimented and supplemented with other resources such as NRich and Focus Maths.
All of our resources follow an exciting growth mind set and problem-solving approach. All children are encouraged to believe in their ability to master maths and are empowered to succeed through curiosity and persistence, while tackling the same concepts at the same time and progressing together as a whole class. The 'small step approach' allows children to keep up not catch up.
For example: Every day we start our Maths lessons with retrieving previous knowledge and skills. This is a series of quick questions covering something from the previous lesson, last week and then topics from earlier in the year – maybe even last year! This encourages children to constantly refer back to their previously learnt knowledge and skills, ensuring multiple opportunities to look at topics again in new contexts. This enables teachers to support students who have struggled with a topic to spend more time reconsidering and developing their understanding, as well as identifying any 'problem' areas.
Also, within each unit that is covered, the 'concrete - pictorial - abstract' approach to mastery maths is used.
The use of manipulatives allows children to have a tangible link to their learning.
The use of pictorial representations enables children to understand how the focus maths skills can be represented in a number of different ways - mastering the small steps to learning and ensuring the learning is not just 'discrete'.
From this process, children are then able to approach the maths in a more abstract problem but, by using their previous knowledge and skills, can apply the small steps to understanding and solving the problem.
What does it look like?
Maths in the Early Years at Meadow View
At Meadow View, we recognise that maths is an integral part of day to day life and we instil mathematical concepts not only in our direct teaching and opportunities in child initiated play but we also thread mathematics through our daily classroom routines. We want our children to not only develop a love of maths but also have the opportunity to learn practical skills through real life application.
For example, each day in we count at every possible opportunity. We count how many children are present, when lining up, counting out milk and fruit, recording the date and counting out the story votes. We look at concepts of sharing, more/ less, size and measurement at every available opportunity and carefully promote that all adults reinforce and strengthen children’s knowledge.
In both Nursery and Reception children take part in adult directed and child initiated mathematics. It is important children are given the opportunity to learn maths through practical, active, hands-on experiences. We implement this approach into our focused lessons and our continuous provision areas. After learning new concepts, children are given opportunities inside and outside the classroom to apply their understanding through challenges and enhancements to best support our children to internalise and master their learning.
Beyond the Early Years
Using the units set out by White Rose, children are given the opportunity to work in small steps, building upon their prior knowledge and creating a concrete understanding of the learning taking place. Each session is designed to develop questions designed to unpick the structure of the maths and deepen the children’s understanding. When children talk about maths concepts, they develop the vital mathematical language that helps them explain their ideas.
Impact
Evidence in knowledge: Pupils know how and why maths is used in the outside world and in the workplace. They know about different ways that maths can be used to support their future potential, including jobs that require a deep understanding of maths knowledge. Mathematical concepts or skills are mastered when a child can show it in multiple ways, using the mathematical language to explain their ideas, and can independently apply the concept to new problems in unfamiliar situations. Children demonstrate a quick recall of facts and procedures. This includes the recollection of the times table.
Evidence in skills: Pupils use acquired vocabulary in maths lessons, seeing a progression of this throughout the school. They have the skills to use methods independently and show resilience when tackling problems. Children show a high level of pride in the presentation and understanding of the work. Teachers plan a range of opportunities to use maths inside and outside school in order to develop the ability to recognise relationships and make connections in maths lessons.
Outcomes: At the end of each year we expect the children to have achieved Age Related Expectations (A) for their year group. Some children will have progressed further and achieved greater depth (GD). Children who have gaps in their knowledge receive appropriate support and intervention. Rapid interventions and bespoke groupings are used to ensure that there is no delay in moving the learning forward for all learners.
Mastery: All children secure long-term, deep and adaptable understanding of maths which they can apply in different contexts.
At Meadow View Primary we aim for all children to develop the key skills and scientific knowledge they need through encouraging our pupils to raise questions and investigate the world in which they live. Science teaches an understanding of natural phenomena; it stimulates an inquisitiveness in finding out why things happen in the way they do and it develops methods of enquiry and investigation to inspire creative thought. Children learn to ask scientific questions and begin to appreciate the way in which Science will affect the future on a personal, national and global level.
Intent
The Meadow View Science curriculum allows our children to develop curiosity, perseverance and an ability to challenge what we know about the world. We aim to make Science as practical as possible, linking to real life contexts and giving a meaning to our learning. Our intent is to give every child a broad and balanced Science curriculum which enables them to confidently explore and discover what is around them, so that they have a deeper understanding of the world we live in. We want our children to love Science. We want them to have no limits to what their ambitions are and grow up knowing they can be astronauts, forensic scientists, toxicologists or microbiologists. We want our children to remember their science lessons in our school, to cherish these memories and embrace the scientific opportunities they are presented with.
Implementation
To achieve our curriculum goals, we provide exciting, practical hands-on experiences that encourage curiosity and questioning. Through these stimulating and challenging experiences, we support every child secure and extend their scientific knowledge and vocabulary. At Meadow View, we have a coherently planned and sequenced curriculum which has been carefully designed and developed with the needs of our children and our community at the centre.
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At Meadow View, Science topics are taught within each year group in accordance with the National Curriculum.
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Topics are blocked to allow children to study each one in depth.
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Each year group builds upon the learning from prior year groups therefore ensuring depth of understanding and progression of skills.
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Children explore, question, predict, plan, investigate and observe as well as conclude their findings.
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Children present their learning using Science specific language and diagrams.
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Regular opportunities to review the learning taken place in previous topics as well as previous lessons supports the children in their ability to ‘know more and remember more’.
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Teachers access a range of resources, planning and effective CPD opportunities
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Educational visits and visitors to the school are planned, to enrich and enhance the pupils’ learning experiences.
Impact
The impact of our curriculum design is that children will make outstanding progress over time, relative to their individual starting point and their progression of skills. Children will leave Meadow View reaching at least age-related expectations for science. Through various workshops, trips and interactions with experts our science curriculum will lead pupils to be enthusiastic Science learners and understand that Science has changed our lives and that it is vital to the world’s future prosperity. We will empower our children so they understand they have the capability to change the world. This is evidenced in a range of ways; pupil voice, children’s’ work and their overwhelming enjoyment for science.
At Meadow View we encourage our pupils to love reading. Reading develops curiosity and exploration which are skills that run throughout our science curriculum. Here are some examples of some texts that are used in each year group, using reading as a creative catalyst for science lessons.
Music is taught at Meadow View Primary School in Years 1- 6 within a contextualised curriculum following the objectives from the National Curriculum. In the Early Years Foundation Stage, it is taught as part of expressive arts and design.
Intent
At Meadow View Primary School, we strongly believe that music helps to develop a pupil’s creativity, imagination, listening skills, confidence and their ability to express their thoughts and feelings. Developing a musical interest can foster many transferable life skills. Through music, pupils can develop listening, performance and evaluation skills as well as developing the skills required for effective learning such as perseverance and commitment. Music offers pupils the opportunity for children to explore their learning, make mistakes and build confidence to develop as independent thinkers, which links closely to the school’s approach to the teaching of metacognition. It is our intention that the music curriculum at Meadow View Primary School will be both stimulating and motivating in order to capture the children’s curiosity and fuel their motivation to learn. Learning, Playing and Growing Together in music provides the children at Meadow View Primary School with exciting learning opportunities so that they can enjoy acquiring and developing their skills, deepening their understanding, and committing key knowledge to long-term memory to apply it fluently in a range of contexts.
Music is taught and assessed at Meadow View using four key areas:
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history
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composition
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performance
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evaluation
Implementation
The school’s music curriculum is rooted in the consensus of the school’s leaders about the knowledge and skills that pupils need in order to take advantage of opportunities, responsibilities and experiences in later life. Music at Meadow View Primary School is taught using our long-term and contextualised learning plans, which are derived from the National Curriculum. The key skills and key knowledge for music have been “mapped” across the school so that new knowledge and skills build on what has been taught before and progresses learning towards clearly defined end points or “milestones”. The milestones for the end of each term build systematically on prior learning to ensure progression. In this way, the teaching staff are aware of what pupils should ‘know’ by the end of each term, year and key stage.
Our music curriculum at Meadow View Primary School plays a key role in providing a broad and balanced curriculum across the school. We teach music explicitly and practically through the school’s day-to-day teaching, music days and the wider curriculum. The practical exploration of music alongside the other key areas of music ensures objectives are covered in a way in which our children will retain vital knowledge and skills so that they will be able to transfer and apply it fluently in a range of contexts.
The school benefits from expertise in music from within the school’s teaching staff, and music is such a high priority at Meadow View Primary School that the school employs a specialist music teacher who teaches all children for one half term each year in the classroom as well as in the wider curriculum. Through their use, the teachers own subject knowledge in music is developed so that all of our staff can provide the very best education in music.
The children at Meadow View Primary School also perform to and with their peers using a range of instruments or technology. This not only provides links across the subjects of the curriculum but also provides a valuable opportunity to develop performing, listening and evaluation skills. In order to support the music curriculum singing occurs on a weekly basis because we believe strongly that outstanding music provision has singing as an integral part of it. All of these experiences ensure that our children get first-hand experience of performing alongside live as well as recorded music.
The contextualised plans detail the specific year group objectives which, along with teacher’s short-term plans, ensure that the four key skills of music are taught in a progressive way. By delivering our music curriculum in this way we aim to develop the children’s cultural capital and promote British values such as tolerance and respect by learning about, listening to and performing a variety of music. This helps us to encourage pupils to achieve their very best in music, including challenging our more able pupils and supporting our disadvantaged and SEND pupils.
Impact
At Meadow View Primary School we measure the impact of our work in Music in a variety of ways. The school uses its knowledge and vocabulary progression map for Music to compare the work that the children are doing with key points on the map. This allows the staff to assess where the children are, and check which elements are evident from the progression on the maps. In Music this is done by observing the children performing or completing or starting their work, through pupil discussion (when the children are asked about their work) the work in the children's books and their work on display and a scrutiny of social media posts about Music. The assessment process, used within Music, enables the school to evaluate the progress that the children are making, inform future work, measure the impact of what we teach and monitor specific groups. The process is tied together through the records of achievement at the end of the year that are shared with parents and carers.
At Meadow View Primary School children also have many opportunities to further their interest in music through extra-curricular activities such as musical instrument lessons. The implementation of our curriculum also allows our children to apply their musical skills purposefully to performances such at Christmas productions and assemblies, reinforcing the importance of practical first-hand experiences. These performances also encourage parental involvement and create valuable community links in music, as parents and children are keen to attend performances and support pupils both in school and in the local area.
The opportunity to learn a modern foreign language is a requirement of the National Curriculum for those children within Key Stage 2. However, at Meadow View Primary School we believe it is much more than a requirement. As a school we recognise the many benefits that our children gain from being introduced to languages at an early age and how learning a language best meets the learning and developmental needs of the children in our school, in line with the wider aims of the whole school curriculum.
Research shows us that there are 5 key benefits to children learning another language:
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it helps them to learn faster and easier,
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it supports them in making links between the new language and their own impacting on their progress in their first language,
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helps them to have improved problem-solving skills and creativity,
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promotes more career opportunities in adulthood
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supports them to connect with other cultures which makes them more open-minded and tolerant of diversity
All of which are things that we want for the children of Meadow View Primary School.
Spanish is our language of choice for those children in Key Stage 2, however other opportunities are incorporated within the wider curriculum plans to promote a love of language and make links to other countries, languages and cultures as well as teach the Fundamental British Values of tolerance and mutual respect.
We believe that an understanding of other cultures and languages is important for all children. At Meadow View Primary School these opportunities are delivered through exciting and engaging lessons, experiences and opportunities so children are exposed to different languages and cultures right from the start of their time in school. Through the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 our children build their intercultural understanding through the study of places, cultures and language as part of their contextualised curriculum. This learning prepares them to develop a positive attitude to the learning of modern foreign languages. Our formal language learning, as a coherent program of regular lessons, begins at the beginning of Key stage 2 in year 3 and uses the scheme ‘iLanguages’.
The ‘iLanguages’ program ensures that children are meeting expectations in their learning and progressing from year to year across the 5 key strands of language learning – listening, speaking, reading, writing and grammar. Children begin their language learning at a single word level and progress through to phrases and sentences and then short passages. As with all subjects, the more able are challenged further to deepen their learning though combining strands within learning e.g. listening to a question and speaking a response whilst children who find aspects of their learning more difficult are appropriately supported by additional staff and resources so that they too are enabled to experience success.
National requirements and school requirements are mapped out as a whole school and then individual year groups plan the curriculum for their children accordingly. The skills and knowledge they are expected to have in each year group are broken into Milestones for each term and the end of the year so that our objectives and approach towards our languages curriculum is rigorous, systematic and for a clear purpose.
Intent
The intention of the Spanish curriculum at Meadow View Primary School is that children are taught to develop an interest in learning other languages in a way that is enjoyable and stimulating. We encourage children’s confidence and we strive to stimulate and encourage their curiosity about language. We actively plan links to develop their awareness of cultural differences in other countries. Our MFL curriculum is designed to progressively develop children’s skills in languages, through regular taught lessons. Children progressively acquire, use and apply a growing bank of vocabulary organised around topics. Topics covered include: numbers, colours, house and home, food and drink, the classroom, clothes and hobbies.
It is intended that when children leave Meadow View Primary, they will have a natural curiosity and confidence to explore other countries, cultures and languages, accepting that, in a multi-lingual society, it is a valuable skill to be able to communicate effectively with others in another language. We strive to embed the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing necessary to enable children to use and apply their Spanish learning in a variety of contexts and lay the foundations for future language learning.
Implementation
Our MFL curriculum is designed to develop not only our children’s language skills, but also their love of learning a language. It progressively develops language skills across Key Stage Two. This allows the children to acquire new language then use and apply it in a range of different scenarios and topics. Children are encouraged and supported to develop their speaking and listening skills through conversational work, singing activities and games. As their confidence and skill grows, children record their work through pictures, captions and sentences.
Lessons are sequenced so that prior learning is considered and opportunities for revision of language and grammatical concepts are built into lessons. Lessons help children to build on prior knowledge alongside the introduction of new skills.
Each academic year begins with a recap (or initial teaching in Year Three) of core phonetic knowledge in order to solidify pronunciation skills and in turn enable a clearer and deeper understanding of the content to be taught throughout the year. We also have weekly taught sessions for Spanish in our ‘Daily Dash’ curriculum that aims to continually recall Spanish learning throughout the year.
All children in KS2 will have language lessons with their class teacher or HLTA. We currently use ‘iLanguages’ to support our teaching of Spanish.
Impact
Our MFL curriculum will ensure all pupils develop key language learning skills set out by the national
curriculum, as well as a love of languages and learning about other cultures.
Pupils will:
● understand and respond to spoken and written language
● speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what
they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving
the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation
● be able to write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of
grammatical structures that they have learnt
“Today’s children and young people are growing up in an increasingly complex world and living their lives seamlessly on and offline. This presents many positive and exciting opportunities, but also challenges and risks. In this environment, children and young people need to know how to be safe and healthy, and how to manage their academic, personal and social lives in a positive way.”
(DfE, 2019, Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education)
At Meadow View Primary School we want all our children to grow up healthy, happy, safe, and able to manage the challenges and opportunities of modern Britain. That is why, like all primary schools across the country, we teach Personal, Social, Health and Economic education. These two subjects are designed to equip our children with knowledge to make informed decisions about their wellbeing, health and relationships, as well as preparing them for a successful adult life.
Meadow View Primary School's Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education curriculum is delivered in an age-appropriate way and is about empowering children to have the confidence and giving them knowledge to ensure they have the skills needed to act appropriately to new or uncomfortable situations. The acquisition of key knowledge and key skills are planned so that they build on what has been taught before and move developmentally towards clearly defined end points or “milestones”. The milestones for the end of each term and each year ensure progression between year groups so that learning is always “built upon”. In this way, our curriculum aligns closely to the overall vision and intent for the curriculum at Meadow View Primary School.
Intent
At Meadow View Primary School the content of our Personal, Social, Health and Economic education curriculum aims to put in place the building blocks needed for positive and safe relationships, including with family, friends and online. This means that our children are taught what a relationship is, what friendship is, what family means and who can support them. We cover how to treat each other with kindness, consideration and respect and by the time they reach the end of their time at Meadow View Primary School they will have been taught content about:
•families and people who care for me
•caring friendships
•respectful relationships
•online relationships
•being safe
At Meadow View Primary School the content of our Health Education curriculum aims to give our children the information they need to make good decisions about their own health and wellbeing, to recognise issues in themselves and others, and to seek support as early as possible when issues arise. This means that by the time they reach the end of their time at Meadow View Primary School that they will have been taught content about:
•mental wellbeing
•internet safety and harms
•physical health and fitness
•healthy eating
•facts and risks associated with drugs, alcohol and tobacco
•health and prevention
•basic first aid
the changing adolescent body (including Relationships and Sex Education which is taught through the themes of Relationships, Health and Wellbeing.)
The curriculum itself is the ROSIS PSHE Rotherham scheme of learning.
Implementation
The learning at Meadow View Primary School in Personal, Social, Health and Economic education is organised so that children will learn component parts to develop their knowledge and use this knowledge within their contextualised learning. Learning in this area is delivered in different ways using a range of teaching strategies – auditory, visual and kinaesthetic. It could be done as discrete lessons - learning that takes place that is focussed on a particular theme, such as Stereotyping. It could be done as a block - lessons which are delivered over a number of consecutive days, for example when looking at bullying or e-safety. Alternatively, it could be delivered as a sequence of lessons, which can be cross-curricular, and delivered across a number of weeks such as when learning about being healthy and living a healthy life. Whichever approach is used, it is our aim to ensure that learning builds systematically on prior knowledge. In this way, the teaching staff are aware of what pupils should ‘know’ by the end of each term, year and key stage.
Each year group develops their contextualised plans which identify which areas of the programme are being taught and how it links into the ‘Big Question’ each half term. The opportunities planned in the contextualised plans provide a context for the children’s knowledge in Personal, Social, Health and Economic. Our curriculum plans also reference the connections across subjects including to Science, Computing, Physical Education, Religious Education, and Design Technology for example, when the children’s learning is set in a context such as the Enterprise Fair. Through this approach, we aim to allow our children to be able to transfer key knowledge to long-term memory and apply it fluently in a range of contexts.
At Meadow View Primary School, we plan events to support learning such as House Captain elections, Anti-Bullying Week, E-Safety Day and Remembrance Services. We also plan and implement learning that focuses on contextualised safeguarding factors. This reflects the school’s setting and the unique local factors which face our children and their families, such as living close to the east coast mainline, open water and electricity provision. We believe that this is innovative and unique to the curriculum at Meadow View. We partner with a number of outside agencies to address this including Rotherham Police Service and Fire Service, who delivered learning about knife crime because of the increase in knife crime in the Rotherham area and Crucial Crew for learning life skills. We have also worked in partnership with the NSPCC who worked with our parents and carers and also spoke to the children about staying safe, different forms of abuse, understanding the ‘PANTS’ rule and where to go for help and support. These are alongside our work with the Anti-Bullying Company as part of our E-Safety learning.
The Relationships Sex Education curriculum is designed to progressively build on learning that has happened previously, so each year group will consolidate and develop their understanding of Personal, Social, Health and Economic gradually throughout KS1 and KS2. The delivery of the RSE curriculum will be age appropriate and tailored to the needs of the children at that particular time and involves:
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a combination of sharing information, and exploring issues and values.
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links with learning in Science, Computing and PE which means that it is part of the overall curriculum that our school already delivers.
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the emotional, social and cultural development of pupils, and involves learning about healthy relationships (including friendships), healthy lifestyles, diversity and personal identity.
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Teaching Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHCE) which also covers economic wellbeing, careers and enterprise education, as well as education for personal safety, including assessing and managing risk.
The teaching of Relationships and Sex Education focuses mainly on pupil voice and discussion, but it may also involve the use of age appropriate images, short films, photographs, scenarios and the use of visitors into the school from a variety of services, both emergency and non-emergency, and charitable and non-charitable organisations. At Meadow View Primary School, parents and carers have the right to withdraw their child from RSE sessions and the Head Teacher will grant this request, should you wish to make one. Parents and carers however, cannot withdraw their child from Relationships Education or from other curriculum areas which may deal with aspects of the RSE curriculum e.g. human development including reproduction in science or images and the sharing of appropriate and inappropriate images online.
Personal, Social, Health and Economic at Meadow View Primary School provides the children with exciting learning opportunities that they can commit to long-term memory and apply fluently. It is our intention that our curriculum at Meadow View Primary School in this area will be both stimulating and motivating in order to capture the children’s curiosity so that they can enjoy acquiring and developing the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to keep themselves healthy and safe, and prepare for life and work in modern Britain.
Impact
At Meadow View Primary School we measure the impact of our work in Personal, Social, Health and Economic in a variety of ways. The school uses its knowledge and vocabulary progression map for Personal, Social, Health and Economic to compare the work that the children are doing with key points on the map. This allows the staff to assess where the children are, and check which elements are evident from the progression on the maps. In Personal, Social, Health and Economic this is done by observing the children completing or starting their work, through pupil discussion (when the children are asked about their work) the record of children's work and their work on display and a scrutiny of social media posts about Personal, Social, Health and Economic. The assessment process, used within Personal, Social, Health and Economic, enables the school to evaluate the progress that the children are making, inform future work, measure the impact of what we teach and monitor specific groups. The process is tied together through the records of achievement at the end of the year that are shared with parents and carers.
At Meadow View Primary School our school vision is Growing Happiness, Healthiness and Lifelong Success. Therefore, we believe that all children should enjoy the lifelong benefits that come from sport. The PE provision across the school is delivered and designed with the aim to foster this within all pupils as well as ensuring that pupils receive the PE entitlement as set out in the National Curriculum 2014 as well as other experiences and opportunities that best meet the learning and development needs of the children in our school.
At Meadow View Primary School, we believe that physical activity and PE has the power to develop, improve and support physical, mental, emotional and social well-being, helping to develop important life and leadership skills. The Youth Sport Trust states that increased daily activity and access to high quality PE and sport leads to improved physical, social, cognitive and emotional wellbeing. The PE and physical activity that is delivered across the school has a positive, exciting approach to healthy and active lifestyles, which helps to develop a lifelong habit of participation in sport. As a result, there is increased progress, achievement and attainment as well as the gaining of skills for life. It is these skills for life, which are particularly important for the pupils at Meadow View Primary.
In Physical Education at Meadow View Teachers provide suitable learning opportunities for all children by matching the challenge of the task to the ability of the child. We achieve this through a range of differentiation strategies:
· Setting common tasks that are open-ended and can have a variety of results
· Setting tasks of appropriate levels, where all children are challenged to improve according to their individual ability
· Providing a range of challenge through the provision of different high-quality resources
Intent
The intent of our PE curriculum is to give children the opportunity to access an exciting, engaging and broad learning experience to build upon skills and knowledge. We aspire for children to take part in experiences that they will not only commit to their long-term memory but they will develop their cultural capital and understanding of many of the Fundamental British Values, in particular those of mutual respect and tolerance. As a result, the curriculum that we provide in Physical Education aims to produce excellent teaching of PE and joy in learning for all pupils across the full breadth of the PE Curriculum. In this way, the school is in line with DFE’s School Sports and Activity Action Plan to produce a curriculum that builds character, helps pupils develop resilience, determination and self-belief, whilst instilling the values and virtues of friendship and fair play.
In our school, we teach PE to all children, whatever their ability and individual needs. We adapt planning as necessary to the context of our school and the abilities of our children. We strive hard to meet the needs of those pupils with special educational needs, those with disabilities, those with special gifts and talents and those learning English as an additional language (EAL) in order for them to reach their full potential and achieve enjoyment and success at their own level.
Implementation
In the Early Years, Foundation Stage pupils build the foundation of physical literacy. The DFE School Sports and Activity Action Plan defines this as building physical competence alongside confidence, enjoyment knowledge and understanding. In KS1 and KS2 are delivered through the PE curriculum, which has been developed to ensure coverage and progression throughout the school. These objectives are laid out in the long-term curriculum plans and clearly express the skills and knowledge that pupil will gain, develop and explore. All lessons are built upon through the systematic sequencing of lessons across the year groups. All units followed in the curriculum lead to the achievement of milestones and a final end point which allows children to use the skills they have acquired. Lessons and units of work are structured to allow students the opportunity to gain knowledge and skills within a physical education environment.
The PE provision and curriculum is tied together using continuous assessment and progress checkers to work towards the end of year record of achievement targets. The objectives from the long term and contextualised curriculum plans are used to assess the children against milestones each term, which show the skills and knowledge children are expected to have acquired.
The PE curriculum at Meadow View is both progressive and innovative in many different ways. The school provides swimming lessons for children in Years 3 and 4 that builds the skills of swimming and awareness of water safety to allow them to access adventurous outdoor activities on residential in Year 5 and 6. The PE Sports Premium has been used, to provide sports markings to allow children to access the daily mile, or develop games of their own. Sponsorship from Pro Strike has allowed kits and equipment to be provided events for active playtimes, which give children the opportunity to be continually active throughout their life at Meadow View Primary School. The development of PE into extra-curricular opportunities also provides a range of opportunities so diverse that children are able access different sporting activities. These include: Football, Cricket, Dodgeball, Rugby, Dance club, Bollywood dancing, Running Club, Orienteering and Gymnastics to name but a few. Some of these activities, alongside curriculum opportunities, also allow the children opportunities to take part in sporting competitions in the local area.
Impact
At Meadow View Primary School we measure the impact of our work in PE in a variety of ways. The school uses its knowledge and vocabulary progression map for PE to compare the work that the children are doing with key points on the maps. This allows the staff to assess where the children are, and check which elements are evident from the progression on the maps. In PE this is done by observing the children in their work, through pupil discussion (when the children are asked about their work) a scrutiny of social media posts about PE as well as evaluating any internal assessment information we have.
At Meadow View Primary School we have designed our computing curriculum using the national curriculum. In order to meet its requirements, we ensure staff follow a carefully planned and developed journey of learning to meet the requirements objectives of the National Curriculum.
Intent
Our computing curriculum in designed to give children the opportunity to access exciting, engaging and broad learning experiences in purposeful contexts. The knowledge and skills taught are carefully planned to be sequential and tightly focussed. We aspire for children to take part in experiences that they will commit to their long-term memory so that it reaches beyond their education at Meadow View Primary School. Computing at School (CAS) outlined, in their guide to the National Curriculum, that children will gain an understanding of computational systems through teaching – whether it involves a computer or not. Furthermore, they also state that the teaching will provide children with an experience that they can use in other sciences: ‘it provides motivation and context within which ideas are brought to life.’
At Meadow View Primary we follow the ethos of teaching the skills for jobs which have yet to be created. This is at the heart of our teaching in computing and reflected in the overall intent of the schools’ curriculum provision that references research by both the Creative Industries Federation and the Department For Education. This research indicates that, by 2025 and beyond, there will be an increase in creative and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) occupations. To achieve this we use experiences and visitors to inspire the children to achieve their very best. Paul Porter the Chief Operating Officer of SUMO digital, a worldwide and successful Gaming Company provided one such opportunity for the children to see how their lives and learning at school links into jobs currently in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) occupations.
Implementation
Our Computing curriculum enhances the skills in Computer Science and Information Technology. Computer Science links to the coding aspect and has links to algorithms, debugging and creating. The coding importance links to the STEM jobs highlighted in society and we are continuing to stress the importance of these skills to the children so they understand why they are learning these skills. As with every learning experience, they must be an importance as to why the children are learning this knowledge. Information Technology relates to word processing, creating PowerPoints and using programs for different purposes.
All lessons are built upon through systematic sequencing of lessons across the year groups. All units followed in the curriculum lead to the achievement of milestones and a final end point which allows children to use the skills they have acquired.
Impact
It is our intention that the Computing curriculum at Meadow View Primary School will be both stimulating and motivating in order to capture the children’s curiosity and fuel their motivation to learn. Growing Happiness, Healthiness and Lifelong Success in Computing provides the children at Meadow View Primary School with exciting learning opportunities so that they can enjoy acquiring and developing their skills, understanding and key knowledge so that they can commit it to long-term memory and apply it fluently in a range of contexts now and in the future.
Design and Technology is an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject. Design and Technology encourages children to learn to think and intervene creatively to solve problems both as individuals and as members of a team. At Meadow View Primary, we encourage children to use their creativity and imagination, to design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts, considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values.
The curriculum that we follow in Design Technology is the National Curriculum. From this, the design of our curriculum for Design and Technology ensures that it meets the expectations set out for Key Stages 1 and 2.
Intent
It is our intention that the Design and Technology curriculum at Meadow View Primary School will be both stimulating and motivating in order to capture the children’s curiosity and fuel their motivation to learn. At Meadow View Primary School with exciting learning opportunities so that they can enjoy acquiring and developing their skills, understanding and key knowledge so that they can commit it to long-term memory and apply it fluently in a range of contexts.
The school’s design and technology curriculum is rooted in the consensus of the school’s leaders about the knowledge and skills that pupils need in order to take advantage of opportunities, responsibilities and experiences in later life. Links with ‘real life’ are used regularly to give learning purpose and our contextualised learning allows our children to explore the knowledge and cultural capital they need in order to succeed in life.
Through a variety of creative and practical activities, we teach the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to engage in an iterative process of designing and making. The children work in a range of relevant contexts (for example home, school, leisure, culture, enterprise, industry and the wider environment). When working in Design and Technology, the children are taught four strands:
· To Design
· To Make
· To Evaluate
· To apply and understand Technical Knowledge
Implementation
Design Technology at Meadow View Primary School is taught through our contextualised learning plans. Along with designing and making their own products, pupils have the opportunity for other experiences that enrich and stimulate their learning, such as, survival workshops with den building, working with a chocolatier and many forms of cookery from whole class, enrichment sessions and after school clubs, all of which give greater emphasise to links to the wider world.
These opportunities provide a context for the children’s work in Design and Technology; that they learn about real life structures and the purpose of specific examples. Our curriculum plans clearly reference the connections across subjects including Science, Computing and Personal Social Health Education when the children’s learning is set in a context such as the Enterprise Fair. Through this approach, we aim to allow our children to be able to transfer key knowledge to long-term memory and apply it fluently in a range of contexts.
Key skills and key knowledge for Design and Technology have been “mapped” across the school. These long-term plans detail the learning that is planned so that new knowledge and skills build on what has been taught before and builds towards clearly defined end points or “milestones”. The milestones for the end of each term and each year ensure progression between year groups so that learning is built upon across a sequence of lessons and across the key stages and year groups. This can be as a discrete lesson focussed on a particular skill, as a block of lessons over a number of consecutive days, or as a sequence of lessons across a number of weeks, which builds systematically on prior learning. In this way, the teaching staff are aware of what pupils should ‘know’ by the end of each term, year and key stage.
Impact
At Meadow View Primary School we measure the impact of our work in Design Technology in a variety of ways. The school uses its knowledge and vocabulary progression map for Design Technology to compare the work that the children are doing with key points on the map. This allows the staff to assess where the children are, and check which elements are evident from the progression on the maps. In Design Technology this is done by observing the children completing or starting their work, through pupil discussion (when the children are asked about their work) the work in the children's books and on display and a scrutiny of social media posts about Design Technology. This assessment process, used within Design Technology, enables the school to evaluate the progress that the children are making, inform future work, measure the impact of what we teach and monitor specific groups. The process is tied together through the records of achievement at the end of the year that are shared with parents and carers.
At Meadow View Primary school we value Art and Design as an important part of the curriculum. Art and Design provides the children with opportunities to develop and extend skills and also gives them the opportunity to express their individual interests and ideas. We therefore believe Art and Design should be taught as an individual subject as well as incorporated into other curriculum lessons and have submersed ourselves into a rich arts-based curriculum for several years.
‘Art, craft and design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity. A high-quality Art and Design education 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.’ Department of Education 2013.
At Meadow View we are artists! We want our children to love Art and Design. We want them to have no limits to what their ambitions are and grow up viewing the arts as a career opportunity; wanting to be illustrators, graphic designers, curators, printmakers or such! The Art and Design curriculum has been carefully crafted so that our children develop their artistic capital. We want our children to remember their Art and Design lessons in our school, to cherish these memories and embrace the opportunities they are presented with! We are in the process of putting together an Arts Council who will meet half termly to discuss ways to keep consistently evolving our rich curriculum.
Intent
The Art and Design curriculum promotes curiosity and a love and thirst for learning. It is ambitious and empowers our children to become independent and resilient – like all curriculum areas.
We want to equip them with not only the minimum statutory requirements of the Art and Design National Curriculum but to prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life. For example, embracing cultural capital, seeing the value of art within our local community has helped to inspire our children.
We are committed to putting Art and Design on the map here at Meadow View Primary School. We want our children to use the vibrancy of our great town of Rotherham. We enrich their time in our school with memorable, unforgettable experiences and provide opportunities which are normally out of reach – these piques their interests and passions. For example, we visit local landmarks for inspiration. We firmly believe that it is not just about what happens in the classroom with the teacher, but what we can bring into the classroom, it is about the added value we offer to really inspire our children.
Implementation
As part of our ongoing Artsmark Journey audits have been conducted. On the back of the findings from these audits, the Art and Design curriculum is carefully shaped, extended and built upon so that the learning opportunities and assessment milestones for each year group can be crafted to ensure progression and repetition in terms of embedding key learning, knowledge and skills.
The way Art and Design is taught at our school has been developed and now follows a structure which lends itself to teacher autonomy, progression of skills and building upon previous knowledge. Retrieval Practice also plays a role in every art lesson. Initially, pupils take inspiration from artists throughout history to help generate ideas for their work. They explore and practice the practical skills and techniques involved in the topic and use their sketch books to record their observations and to review and revisit ideas before producing a final piece. This sequence is taken for every Art and Design topic. The way each discipline is taught in our school has also been adapted so that the disciplines are revisited in each phase, at a progressively deeper level.
Art and Design subject specific characteristics, which we expect the children to demonstrate, have been developed and shared with all stakeholders. These characteristics underpin all work in Art and Design and form a focal point for display areas and provide a common subject specific vocabulary for staff and pupils. These characteristics are:
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The ability to use visual language skilfully and convincingly (for example, line, shape, pattern, colour, texture, form) to express emotions, interpret observations, convey insights and accentuate their individuality.
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The ability to communicate fluently in visual and tactile form.
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The ability to draw confidently and adventurously from observation, memory and imagination.
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The ability to explore and invent marks, develop and deconstruct ideas and communicate perceptively and powerfully through purposeful drawing in 2D, 3D or digital media. An impressive knowledge and understanding of other artists, craft makers and designers.
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The ability to think and act like creative practitioners by using their knowledge and understanding to inform, inspire and interpret ideas, observations and feelings. Independence, initiative and originality which they can use to develop their creativity.
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The ability to select and use materials, processes and techniques skilfully and inventively to realise intentions and capitalise on the unexpected. The ability to reflect on, analyse and critically evaluate their own work and that of others.
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A passion for and a commitment to the subject.
Though knowledge and skills are mapped for each year group, we empower our staff to organise their own year group curriculums under the guidance of our subject leaders. Teachers are best placed to make these judgements. The vast majority of subjects are taught discretely but staff make meaningful links across subjects. They link prior knowledge to new learning to deepen children’s learning.
Art skills are revisited weekly through our ‘Daily Dash’ curriculum recall sessions. This helps to ensure sufficient time is allocated to Art and Design and that the subject matter can be revisited frequently. We believe that by crafting our curriculum this way, we improve the potential for our children to retain what they have been taught, to alter their long-term memory and thus improve the rates of progress they make.
Impact
We use both formative and summative assessment information in every Art and Design lesson. Staff use this information to inform their short-term planning and short-term interventions. This helps us provide the best possible support for all of our pupils, including the more able. The assessment milestones for each phase have been carefully mapped out and further broken down for each year group. This means that skills in Art and Design are progressive and build year on year.
Our staff use Art and Design formative assessment in class to systematically assess what the children know as the topic progresses and inform their future planning. These formative assessments inform summative assessment judgements for each topic.
Assessment information is collected frequently and analysed as part of our monitoring cycle. This process provides an accurate and comprehensive understanding of the quality of education in Art and Design. A comprehensive monitoring cycle is developed at the beginning of each academic year. This identifies when monitoring is undertaken. Monitoring in Art and Design includes: sketch book scrutinies, lesson observations and/or learning walks, pupil/parent and/or staff voice.
All of this information is gathered and reviewed. It is used to inform further curriculum developments and provision is adapted accordingly.
At Meadow View, we use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds systematic synthetic phonics programme (SSP).
Little Wandle do not yet have a pre-phonics programme for nursery aged children therefore in FS0 and FS1 we prepare children for their phonics journey by focussing on 3 key skills of Listening to and making sounds, listening to and remembering sounds and talking about sounds.
As soon as children enter into Reception, children make a strong start on the Little Wandle Phonics programme. This is a fully comprehensive programme where children start learning single letter sounds in the autumn term of their reception year and it builds in progression throughout Foundation Two and Year One, ensuring that the pupils build the knowledge and skills to crack the phonics code and read fluently with prosody and comprehension.
Intent
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To provide consistent, high quality phonics teaching which is accessed by all children regardless of gender, age, ability, disability, ethnic origin, faith, culture, social circumstances and sexual orientation.
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To ensure that the teaching of synthetic phonics is systematic and progressive throughout Foundation stage and Key Stage One to support phonetic knowledge and understanding.
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To ensure that children have secure phonetic knowledge, understanding and skills so that they can decode words confidently and apply this when reading and writing.
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To teach children aural discrimination, phonemic awareness and rhyme to aid reading, writing and spelling development.
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To enable children to use phonic awareness across the curriculum.
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To provide children with strategies to identify and decode ‘tricky words’.
Implementation
Phonics is taught every day and children learn to apply their phonics skills in reading practise sessions 3 times a week, developing their fluency and comprehension skills along the way.
We ensure that all of our staff are expert phonics and reading teachers through the high quality CPD, daily monitoring and coaching and a rigorous approach to assessment. The reading leader is supported to develop the reading team with access to regular reader leader meetings, support for practice and coaching and online CPD tools.
Resources are high quality and are aligned to the phonics teaching that the children are learning. All pupils access a book in school and take books home that match their phonics ability.
Assessments of phonics and rigorous and purposeful, dictating the groups that children need to be in to make good progress. We very much work on a mantra of keeping children on track however, due to the high levels of mobility and children new to school, children are grouped for their next steps and interventions are targeted. Pupil with EAL are targeted to progress quickly through the programme in order for them to catch up with their peers.
Interventions are targeted towards any child that is not on track with their phonics learning in order for them to catch up with their peers and attain at the expected level.
SEND pupils are targeted to keep up and achieve in line with their peers with their provision individualised to meet their needs for example, 1 to 1 learning, over learning opportunities, interventions, small group teaching. We also have a specialist Little Wandle SEND programme running for identified pupils with significant cognition and learning difficulties.
Impact
Pupil voice tells us that our pupils enjoy the phonics teaching and that they feel successful in their learning. Early Years staff observe pupils who are enthusiastic with their learning, demonstrate high effort levels and make good progress, seeing themselves as readers from an early age.
The pupil strong subject knowledge targeted teaching and repetition of reading a text is creating greater fluency in pupils and pupils ae able to rapidly join in whole class reading lessons at an age-related level rapidly after completing the phonics programme.
Staff are enthusiastic about phonics and are well led by an eager Early Reading leader who is determined in her drive for children to have securely reached the end of the phonics programme by the end of Y1.
Joint observations with the English HUB demonstrate consistency across school both in direct phonics and early reading with phonics being applied effectively into other areas of learning beyond the phonics lessons.
Our Y1 phonics attainment trend over time in increasing despite the growing complexities of the cohorts.
2019 – 66.7%
2022 – 70%
2023 – 72.4%
Here is the link to the 'For Parents' section of the Little Wandle website. https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/
The resources on this page will help you support your child with saying their phonemes (sounds) and writing their graphemes (letters). There are also useful videos so you can see how your child is taught at school, to be able to confidently support their reading at home.
At Meadow View Primary School we follow the National Curriculum when teaching Geography. It is our intention that Geography will inspire our children with curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them throughout their lives.
Intent
As the core of our work in Geography we aim to offer opportunities for children to explore the world in order to develop an understanding of the human and physical world in which they live and their place within it. We aim to promote the children’s interest and understanding about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments together with a deep understanding of the earth’s key physical and human processes. We encourage the children to ask questions about the world, and provide opportunities for them to develop geographical skills and knowledge to be able to answer them by looking at aspects of Geography which occur both now and in the past and the impact of these for the future. Through our Geography curriculum, and beyond, the children are encouraged to think and learn about the issues which face them.
Implementation
At Meadow View Primary School the curriculum in Geography is built up over time starting in FS with building a secure sense of self, belonging and simple understanding of our place within the world. This is built on in KS1 expanding pupil knowledge on the UK, globs and comparisons of the UK with Kenya in Africa. This expands further into KS2 where pupils gain greater insight into the UK and wider world.
The curriculum in Geography is sequenced and coherent with clear milestones set for the end of each term and year of learning. Through our contextualised Geography curriculum, we aim not only to develop skills and knowledge that will prepare them for life in modern Britain but also build their cultural capital by supporting them to develop life-long skills, knowledge and understanding that they can use, including:
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Developing age appropriate, accurate knowledge of the location of a wide range of globally significant places and develop skills in describing the physical and human characteristics of these places.
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Using their locational knowledge to provide a geographical context in which to study and understand important geographical processes.
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Developing an understanding that these key processes play a vital role in the development of key physical and human geographical features of the world.
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Discussing the interdependence of physical and human Geography and how they bring about variation and change to the geographical landscape of an area.
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Developing their ability to use and interpret a wide range of sources of geographical information including maps, atlases, globes, aerial photographs and geographical Information systems.
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Developing skills to collect, analyse and present a range of data, gathered through experience of fieldwork, to deepen their understanding of key geographical processes.
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Developing the skills to be able to communicate geographical information in a variety of ways, including through maps, numerical and quantitative skills at writing.
We recall previously learned geographical skills and knowledge weekly through our ‘Daily Dash’ curriculum recall lessons.
It is our intention that the Geography curriculum at Meadow View Primary School will be both stimulating and motivating in order to capture the children’s curiosity and fuel their motivation to learn so that they continue to have a curiosity of the world throughout their life. Learning, Playing and Growing Together in Geography provides the children at Meadow View Primary School with exciting learning opportunities so that they can enjoy acquiring and developing their skills, understanding and key knowledge so that they can commit it to long-term memory and apply it fluently in a range of contexts.
Impact
At Meadow View Primary School we measure the impact of our work in Geography in a variety of ways. The school uses its knowledge and vocabulary progression map for Geography to compare the work that the children are doing with key points on the maps. This allows the staff to assess where the children are, and check which elements are evident from the progression on the maps. In Geography this is done by observing the children in their work, through pupil discussion (when the children are asked about their work) the work in the children's books and on display, as well as evaluating any internal assessment information we have that is shared with parents and carers, for example in the End of Year Report (Record of Achievement).
At Meadow View Primary School we believe that History, like all domains of knowledge, is not a collection of inert facts but that it also depends on enquiry. It is our belief that History offers an understanding of the present and future and is central to valuing culture and community, local, national and global citizenship and that it shapes consciousness and identity. At Meadow View Primary School History is taught in Key Stages 1 and 2 within a contextualised curriculum following the objectives from the National Curriculum.
Intent
Our history provision aligns closely to the intent and vision of the school’s curriculum. Our curriculum seeks to empower our children, through shared experiences and collaboration that will support perseverance and problem solving and enhance our children’s moral and social development. In our history provision we aim to provide our children with rich, vibrant and memorable experiences that not only promotes knowledge, understanding and the application of skills but it explicitly promotes an understanding of the methods of historical enquiry and a coherent chronological understanding.
The school’s history curriculum is rooted in the consensus of the school’s leaders about the knowledge and skills that pupils need in order to take advantage of opportunities, responsibilities and experiences in later life. Through our work in history, we aim to ensure that our children will be inspired by a curiosity to know about the past so that they ask questions, think critically, weigh evidence and develop perspective and judgment so that they can discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed. In this way, through our history provision, we believe that this is will develop our children as citizens who are prepared for life in modern Britain.
Implementation
Growing Happiness, Healthiness and Lifelong Success in history at Meadow View Primary School provides the children with exciting learning opportunities that they can commit to long-term memory and apply fluently. It is our intention that the history curriculum will be both stimulating and motivating in order to capture the children’s curiosity and fuel their motivation to learn.
The long-term plan for history ensures that it is taught in a progressive way and knowledge about, and from one period of history is built upon in another. This is done through the study of the settlement of different peoples in history and the reasons and causes of that, their everyday lives, their culture, their beliefs and governance, and their legacy to an area, a country or the world.
Our history curriculum uses, whenever and wherever possible links to the locality of the school, which is not only an important resource, but fosters relations between children and aims to promote interdependence, respect, reciprocity and citizenship. The celebration and understanding of our unique local history and place in the world provides a context for the children’s work.
Our curriculum plans reference the connections that history has across different subjects including Science, Computing, Religious Education, and Geography and how it actively promotes reading for purpose and pleasure through research and listening to information from and quality texts set in the period. Through this approach, we aim to allow our children to be able to transfer key knowledge to long-term memory and apply it fluently in a range of contexts.
In order to plan our history provision each year group uses the long-term plan to develop daily taught sessions. The contextualised plans consider the historical skills that will be developed and details the key knowledge that children will be taught to ensure that history is taught in a progressive way. This means that the children build on what has been taught before and move developmentally towards clearly defined end points or “milestones”. The milestones for the end of each term and each year support progression between year groups so that learning is always “built upon”. By delivering our history curriculum in this way we aim to develop the children’s cultural capital and promote British values such as tolerance and respect.
Learning in history is delivered in different ways. It can be a discrete lesson, a block of lessons or a sequence of lessons, which often links different subjects and learning experiences. Within the Early Years Foundation Stage the children develop their knowledge and understanding of history by finding out about events in their own lives and through listening to stories and finding out about places, people and the events in the lives of others.
Impact
At Meadow View Primary School we measure the impact of our work in History in a variety of ways. The school uses its knowledge and vocabulary progression map for History to compare the work that the children are doing with key points on the maps. This allows the staff to assess where the children are, and check which elements are evident from the progression on the maps. In History this is done by observing the children completing or starting their work, through pupil discussion (when the children are asked about their work) the work in the children's books and on display and a scrutiny of social media posts about History. This assessment process, used within history, enables the school to evaluate the progress that they are making, inform future work, measure the impact of what we teach and monitor specific groups. The process is tied together through the records of achievement at the end of the year that are shared with parents.