Intent:

The curriculum has been designed to empower pupils with virtues that enable them to excel academically and spiritually inspiring them to serve humanity selflessly, with an abundance of love, compassion and forgiveness.

 

Our curriculum is constructed around our vision to ensure we remain:

 

Faith-inspired: learning from the wisdom of religion

At Primley Wood we aim to foster holistic growth and character development. We focus on nurturing compassionate, responsible human beings who aspire for excellence in all aspects of life. Exploring religious wisdom allows pupils to respect diverse faith traditions and the beliefs of those without faith.

 

Virtues-led: We aim to develop pupils to become compassionate, responsible human beings

This is done through promoting virtues which we believe form the foundation of all goodness and prepares children for lifelong learning. Our curriculum is carefully enriched to allow experiences where our pupils, teachers and parents alike learn to grow through a conscious focus on virtues. Our virtues-led education approach helps to provide guidance to enable pupils to understand their choices in order to help lead better lives. Our pupils become self-reflective and flourish; they are able to build strong, meaningful relationships and understand their responsibilities to the wider world.

 

Aspiring for Excellence: in all that we do.

Our pupils and staff alike aim to become the best human beings they can possibly be, in all aspects of spiritual, social, intellectual and physical life. We foster a school culture which inspires optimism and confidence, hope and determination for all to achieve their best possible. This is accomplished through a rich and challenging curriculum, along with excellent teaching to nurture awe and wonder. Pupils gain a breadth and depth of knowledge and a love of learning to achieve their full potential.

 

 

The curriculum at Primley Wood Primary School has been carefully crafted to be broad, balanced and stimulating, giving every student the opportunity to be knowledgeable, multi-skilled, highly literate, highly numerate, creative, expressive, compassionate and confident people. 

 

Geographers hold the world in their hands and in the words of Michael Palin it ‘is the subject which holds the key to our future’. At Primley Wood our aim is to create geographers that are inspired, curious and fascinated by the world they live in. To create inquisitive and resilient learners, empowered and equipped to deal with the challenges that lie ahead. We have a collective responsibility and commitment to think of alternative, creative yet sustainable futures, for people and places that we may not have visited or met, ensuring we leave this place better than when we arrived.

 

Our aim is to create well-rounded global citizens, who are compassionate yet optimistic and respect the complexity of our ever-changing physical world, whilst appreciating the diversity of cultures that exist across continents and using the knowledge gained to bridge divides and bring people together.

 

Implementation:

The Geography curriculum has been created to explore big enquiry questions, linking the student’s knowledge and learning across the curriculum and across the key stages.

 

The National Curriculum objectives are split into four overarching strands: locational knowledge, place knowledge, human and physical Geography and Geographical skills and fieldwork. A detailed progression map has been produced to support teachers to effectively plan and assess Geography. The Kapow Primary scheme is a spiral curriculum, with essential knowledge and skills revisited with increasing complexity, allowing pupils to revise and build on their previous learning. Locational knowledge, in particular, will be reviewed in each unit to coincide with our belief that this will consolidate children’s understanding of key concepts, such as scale and place, in Geography.

 

At Primley Wood we block the delivery of subject content for Art & Design/Design Technology/History/Geography so that we can limit the risk of what is known as cognitive overload - the process where an individual's working memory is overloaded and unable to process new information effectively due to the amount of information it is being required to process. Block teaching allows for all subjects to be taught equitably and have quality focused time. It allows us to ensure that no single subject or subjects are given reduced attention and that no subjects are missed from the curriculum. We ensure that there is full coverage of the knowledge and skills required in each block for Art & Design/Design Technology/History/Geography across each year group, as per the Kapow scheme. 

 

It also allows for staff to focus on quality implementation, as the intent of each block is pre-determined. Staff spend time ensuring there is effective building of sequential knowledge, with shorter time periods between adding new knowledge to existing knowledge. We also provide meaningful opportunities to revisit, recap and assess following a teaching sequence. We believe block teaching also allows for staff to address any misconceptions quickly and within a block.  We recognise that cognitive overload could be a key barrier to preventing the full learning of subject content for our pupils. We are aware that if we can limit the amount of new information from different subjects that the pupils must hold in their short-term memory then this will have obvious benefits. This approach is grounded in careful research and neuroscience.

 

Transitions

 

Moving from EYFS to KS1:

Our learning journey starts in the Early Years where children are exposed to simple mapping skills and use their senses to explore, draw and describe the contrasting environments visited through stories and understand how their own environment changes with the seasons. Whilst allowing pupils to work successfully towards the Development Matters statements and Early Learning Goals, the Geography elements taught in the EYFS provide a solid foundation of geographical skills, knowledge and enquiry for children to transition successfully onto Key stage 1 Geography learning.

 

Moving on to KS3:

After exposure to our Geography curriculum, pupils will leave school equipped with a range of skills and knowledge to enable them to study Geography with confidence at Key stage 3.  We hope to shape children into curious and inspired geographers with respect and appreciation for the world around them alongside an understanding of the interconnection between the human and the physical. We make links with our local secondary schools asking teachers to come in and provide Geography opportunities for our pupils.

 

Enrichment Opportunities:

 

Pupils have the opportunity in geography to explore a range of examples, from the local to the global and countries at varying stages of development, from developed to developing and everything in between. Contemporary examples are used where possible, where pupils can see how content looked at in class such as global warming, deforestation and natural hazards unfold before them in everyday life and on the news.

 

Across all Year Groups, pupils take part in educational visits, visitors, fieldwork and workshops to enhance their locational and place knowledge. They are exposed to human and physical geography in their local area in KS1 and take this learning further by visiting and exploring rivers in Upper Key Stage 2.

 

Impact:

 

Evidence of work will show a range of questions explored, links across the curriculum and work pitched to support and challenge a range of abilities and starting points. Formative assessment is an integral part of our approach to Teaching and Learning.

 

At Primley Wood teachers use assessment for learning within lessons to provide live feedback to allow pupils to deepen their understanding and identify gaps in knowledge and skills. Knowledge reviews are planned for spaced retrieval and allow for misconceptions to be addressed and further embed pupils understanding of key knowledge, skills and vocabulary. The progression of skills and knowledge allows teachers to assess the impact over the course of a unit, year and across a key stage. The scheme of learning is used to identify prior links and future learning which informs teacher assessment and allows building blocks of learning to further develop schemas within topics and across subjects.  

 

Summative assessments are used alongside knowledge organisers to assess the impact of learning at the end of a unit. This in turn informs future teaching adaptations, based on misconceptions and gaps in knowledge and skills. Enquiry questions are used to assess the impact of the teaching of knowledge, skills and vocabulary by allowing pupils to apply their understanding through reflections and critical thinking.