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Overview

We have introduced the new National Curriculum and have spent some time exploring new topics. It has meant that we have moved away slightly from our creative topic themed curriculum but we have worked hard to look for links so that the New Curriculum flows well and makes sense to the children.

We focus on knowledge and skills when we work with the pupils. We want the children to learn new information but we also want them to have learning skills which will allow them to work outside of the classroom environment.

We want the curriculum to be real and relevant for the children and therefore we look for ways of bringing the surroundings into our topics.

If you have any ideas or are interested in any of the topics (or want any other information) please do not hesitate to ask.

Our curriculum is designed to be planned and sequenced to ensure that children build on what they know and can remember what they have learned. Every teacher knows what they should teach, when they should teach it and why they are teaching it. We deliver this teaching in the knowledge that we are sure what has gone before and that the learning is relevant and interesting to the children.

Our Curriculum Statement is written around what we think is important in our teaching and guides all of our Curriculum Leaders in their plans. Much of this is also what makes a school distinctively Catholic. There is a copy of that available here.

We teach subjects separately and not as topics but do look for links where we can find them. We also look for links with our local area which enhances learning given the rich and valuable resources which we find on our doorstep.

Each curriculum area has its own area with a policy, long term plan and examples of what goes on. We hope you enjoy exploring what your child has already done and what is going to come during the rest of the year.

Phonics

We ensure that developing secure phonetic awareness and the ability to accurately segment and blend phonemes and graphemes is the first step towards fluency in reading. Bug Club Phonics as our main scheme for the daily, focused teaching of systematic synthetic phonics in Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and for intervention in Year 2 as required. This scheme links directly to the Bug Club reading books scheme, which is used from Reception until children become independent readers, to ensure the children are reading books containing sounds they already know and have been taught. Teachers and teaching assistants also provide additional practice and support for the children who require it. A teaching and assessment timeline is in place to ensure children reach key milestones by certain dates, whilst identifying children in need of further support and intervention.

Reading

We use Oxford Reading Tree as our main scheme for reading. We find that this allows the children to learn new and tricky words and also allows them to practice at a certain level before moving on too fast. We supplement our reading scheme with other books so that all needs and interests are catered for. Books are coloured banded and children will read a range of books from a colour band before moving on. This year we are focussing on using  expression and punctuation when reading. We would expect that ALL children read every day but at least 5 times a week and ask that parents support them by signing their reading diaries.

Mrs Holmes is our reading teacher and can help and advise any parents who would like new ideas to support their child with reading.

Further information

If you would like to find out more about the curriculum our school is following then please just contact us directly.

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