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Curriculum Overview

Here at Pluckley Church of England Primary School, our curriculum is designed to be broad and balanced and to nurture curiosity and passion; inspiring lifelong learning in all of our children. Full of experiences, excitement and enjoyment, we have developed a bespoke curriculum to meet the needs, aspirations and interests of all of our pupils; equipping them with the skills needed to be responsible citizens.

Through a thematic approach, the children are immersed into the topic through environment, experiences and the highest quality of teaching and learning, allowing the children opportunities to remember, revisit and transfer skills and knowledge to other contexts.

Our curriculum gives equal importance to core and foundation subjects, allowing and promoting links to the topic in core subjects as much as possible.

Intent

The intent of our curriculum is to develop and nurture the development and application of knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes that are needed for children to development in to successful leaners. Our curriculum prepares children for further study and adult life by enabling them to become:

  • Resilient and ambitious children who use their initiative and aren’t afraid of making mistakes
  • Confident individuals who are able to live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives
  • Curious children with a thirst for knowledge
  • Successful learners who are self-motivated to learn and achieve
  • Responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society.
  • To provide outstanding outcomes for the future of young people in the 21st Century and beyond.
  • To develop children's desires to be ambitious, use their initiative, have a strong sense of community and have positive mental health that enables them to be happy.

At Pluckley Church of England Primary School, we feel passionately about giving children opportunities and experiences outside of the curriculum as well as in. Together, we have developed a long term plan that provides children with first hand experiences whether that be through visits off site or visitors to the school.

Implementation

We deliver our broad and balanced curriculum through discrete subjects taught through a series of thematic topics which are carefully planned to incorporate - as a starting point - both the skills and knowledge acquisition detailed in the National Curriculum. Our subject progression documents identify the core knowledge and skills required for each subject and ensure that previous learning is regularly consolidated and built upon at each stage, allowing for the children to become ‘experts’ in each area.

Impact

The impact of our curriculum is carefully monitored by our Subject Leaders and SLT. We track progress in all subject areas regularly, to ensure that all children are achieving and deepening their learning in all areas of the curriculum by remembering core knowledge and building upon their prior learning.

At Pluckley Church of England Primary School, we celebrate the learning by sharing our wider curriculum achievements through hosting termly ‘Learning Open Afternoons’ for parents, carers and families.

If you would like more information about our curriculum, please contact Sharon Loader (Office Administrator) on office@pluckley-tkat.org to arrange for further information to be provided.

Our curriculum uses an enquiry approach, designed to offer a broad and balanced curriculum that nurtures curiosity, questionning and develops a passion for lifelong learning. Full of experiences, excitement and enjoyment, we have developed a bespoke broad and balanced curriculum to meet the needs, aspirations and interests of all of our pupils; equipping them with the skills needed to be responsible citizens and to thrive in the modern world.

Through our enquiry approach, the children are immersed into each topic through a "thinking classroom" environment, shared experiences and the highest quality of teaching and learning, allowing the children opportunities to think, question, remember, revisit and transfer skills and knowledge to other contexts.

Here at Pluckley Church of England Primary School, all of our lessons are rooted around a Key Question (KQ) which forms the basis for the learning of that lesson.

Our pedagogical approach always begins with Spaced Learning; giving the children an opportunity to revisit previously learnt knoweldge through a "Last Term, Last Week / Last Lesson" approach. Rooted in the theory of Ebbinghaus's Forgetting Curve, this supports children's retention of learning.

Our Teaching and Learning model then follows the 'Accelerated Learning Cycle' which prioritises 4 key areas in which our learning is planned around.

These stages are:

  • Connect to Prior Learning
  • Activate
  • Demonstrate
  • Consolidate

Connect to Prior Learning

All new learning is built upon what the learner already knows or understands so it is important to connect our new learning to prior learning. Our lessons may start with elements such as an inspiring and thought-provoking activity, questions or discussions designed to re-cap and embed knowledge from a previous lesson / unit to give our children a sense of the bigger picture. 

Activate

Children are introduced to new knowledge, information and ideas during this part of a lesson. It is important that children explore these ideas to develop a deep understanding. During some sessions, we apply a ‘split input’ approach to the teaching, which enables some pupils to continue to work and be challenged, while others learning is consolidated, embedded or extended by the teacher.

Demonstrate

This stage gives children the opportunity to 'demonstrate what they know' and use the knowledge and ideas they have gained in new ways, from answering a test question or writing a response, to conducting a debate, performing a drama or inventing and building something new.

We often utilise a cycilcal lesson design so "Active" and "Demonstrate" phases can be interwoven throughout the lesson.

Consolidate

Ensuring all new ideas and skills are embedded and secured with opportunities to consolidate, recap and enhance the learning that has taken place. This includes making links with other areas of our curriculum and will generally involve the children forming an answer to the KQ (Key Question) from the start of the lesson. This answer forms part of the teacher's continous assessment of children's knowledge and understanding.