The Curriculum

We consider the development of reading skills to be of the utmost importance both in itself as well as a means to access other curriculum areas. We use many approaches tailored to the children’s needs including synthetic phonics. We aim to foster a love of books in all our children using Oxford Reading Tree as our core reading scheme, supplemented with a broad range of other reading books giving children the breadth they need to consolidate their learning as well as the challenge to progress.

We have a library area in school where children are able to go to browse and borrow books from an ever-growing range of fiction and non-fiction.

Mathematics

Mathematics equips children with a uniquely powerful set of skills to understand the world. These skills include logical reasoning, problem-solving, and the ability to think in abstract ways. As such, mathematics is a creative activity. It can stimulate moments of wonder when a child solves a problem for the first time, discovers effective solutions to a problem or suddenly sees hidden connections. Good numeracy skills are important for learning across all curriculum areas and are essential for life after school, opening a world of opportunity for our children. We teach mathematics through a combination of dedicated mathematics lessons and cross -curricular opportunities to apply and extend this learning. We emphasis the importance of mental calculation and knowledge of basic mathematical facts and seek to ground these in concrete, relevant contexts through practical activity, exploration and discussion. We strive to ensure that all children enjoy this subject and learn with confidence and a sense of achievement.

Science

Science often forms the core of our cross-curricular topics. In this subject, we build upon the children’s natural curiosity about the world around them, why things happen and how things work, and we teach children to see science as immediately relevant to everyday situations. We teach the skills of scientific enquiry such as making predictions, drawing conclusions, raising questions and spotting patterns through an investigative, hands-on approach. We have an outdoor classroom where the children grow flowers and vegetables, encourage and observe minibeasts and other wildlife, and sketch plants and flowers. This area is used to raise the children’s awareness of the need to care for the environment and all living creatures within it.