Statement of Implementation
Curriculum Structure
Within our curriculum, we have defined the content that pupils will learn, subject by subject. These are the headlines for the sequence. We have designed a cumulative curriculum structure, starting with EYFS provision, ensuring prior knowledge is always a pre-cursor to a study. Teachers then make skilful connections to prior knowledge as they are aware of the previous studies, over time, and they make the most of the Big ideas maps that we use to navigate the sequence of the study.
Prior learning is mapped into every learning module to show and remind teachers of the previous provision pupils will have encountered. This enables teachers to orchestrate meaningful retrieval and connect past learning. This has an added benefit of giving new learning an organised place to be stored in the memory, and therefore retrieved. Spaced retrieval practice has been incorporated to ensure areas of study are revisited, deepened and sophisticated.
Curriculum Planning and Resources
Our curriculum planning and resources support a knowledge-rich curriculum that is coherent and cumulative.
Core knowledge is defined and articulated across subjects through a focused teaching sequence that is coherent, interleaved and built around spaced retrieval practice.
The BIG Ideas Maps help teachers and pupils see the complete learning sequence. These are also useful for parents to support home learning and engage with meaningful questions.
Knowledge Organisers convey the essential knowledge in one place to reduce the split-attention effect. Tier 3 vocabulary and word generation are developed within the core concepts that the knowledge organiser projects. Knowledge notes support each lesson, conveying concepts and vocabulary. They are used to elaborate on the core concepts and content.
Knowledge Notes support each lesson, conveying concepts and vocabulary. They are used to elaborate on the core concepts and content. Knowledge notes redefine the purpose of pupil books. Children use their books to retrieve and reuse prior knowledge. Knowledge notes also scaffold and support the selection, organisation and integration of new understanding. These strategies strengthen cognitive connections, deepen learning and increase procedural and conceptual fluency.
Resources are dual coded and designed to support easy retrieval. The use of contrasting black, simple icons is deliberate. Words and icons are designed to support decoding, use, connection and analysis of core vocabulary and concepts.
Vocabulary is mapped across Y1 – Y6 for Science, geography and history. It includes Tier 2 and Tier 3 words as well as etymology, morphology, colloquialism and idioms for each learning module.
Study Sequence is planned lesson by lesson using a question to focus the learning. Foundational knowledge is identified as an essential component within the sequence of learning.
Lesson by lesson questions enable teachers to know where strengths and misconceptions appear before the end of the study
Cumulative questions. These are designed to test the understanding of the taught content, lesson by lesson. They are repeatable and reusable. They also are used to ease the forgetting curve and enable quick retrieval after dialogue and conversation that prime the memory. At the end of a study, pupils will respond and answer the full quiz to show what they know. This final quiz represents all the questions encountered and summarises learning for individuals and the class, then shared with subject leaders.
Pupils’ books are repurposed, so they become more than just a place to collect completed work from a lesson. Pupils’ books, supported by knowledge organisers, vocabulary modules and knowledge notes are used to engage children in a variety of teacher-led, guided and independent tasks to help them generate, build on and connect prior learning.
Task design specifically takes account of the need to build pupils’ conceptual fluency. By building pupils’ confidence and competence in tried and tested learning approaches, we can refocus their cognitive capacity to the most important thing – the content that they are learning. An example of this could be the use of an organisational Venn diagram in multiple contexts. At first it could be used to categorise Animals, including humans in Year 1 and then later in the sequence, through spaced retrieval practice, children compare and contrast Animals, including humans, using the same diagram. Likewise, pupil may meet similar response frameworks throughout the Reading units for skills such as retrieving facts to complete a table or sequencing events from a narrative and this will allow them to approach this task in the context of ever-more challenging texts.
Deepening concepts are revisited in each topic and form the foundations of learning for each subject, giving children the opportunity to revisit key skills in a number of contexts, utilising the spacing effect, to ensure they are retained and built upon in the long term. These are skills which underpin learning and deepen understanding of how to become a master within each subject.
Statement of Impact
Our children leave us with a broad, rich and deep knowledge of the curriculum studied, mastering skills and retaining knowledge so that they are well prepared for the next stage of their education. At the end of each key stage, the vast majority of pupils have sustained mastery of the content taught, that is, they remember it all and are fluent in it, with some pupils having a greater understanding. Children leave us as citizens of the future, able to make a positive contribution to our society and the wider world, drawing on their experiences and building on the foundations built during their time at our school.
Formative assessments are used as ongoing assessment tool. These opportunities throughout the lesson allow teachers to identify gaps in knowledge, misconceptions and where knowledge may not be embedded. Teachers use in the moment feedback and adaptations to planning to address these as they arise.
SEND children are assessed in the same way however their barriers are removed. For example, if a child’s specific needs relate to writing, they may have a scribe/multiple choice to help them answer the same questions as the other children. At the start of a new lesson, previous knowledge notes are used to bring learning to mind for those pupils who have retention issues to reduce cognitive load. Where appropriate, knowledge notes may also be adapted to ensure the core knowledge is the main focus. Children working 2 years or more below their chronological age are tracked using our A2E progress tracker and next steps planned for bespoke provision or small group sessions. This helps SEND pupils achieve in line with their personalised trajectory from their starting points.
Our curriculum is both ambitious and challenging. If children are able to keep up with the demands of their lessons, they will make progress
We measure the impact of our curriculum in the following ways:
- the quality of standards achieved against the planned outcomes;
- a celebration of learning for each term involving pupils, parents and families – OSCARS;
- Proof of Progress – accumulative quizzing;
- vocabulary understanding;
- pupil discussions about their learning;
- independent learning carried out by children, beyond lessons within school;
- assessment of the retention and recall of substantive and disciplinary knowledge.
- Progress Postcards