Chaucer Curriculum Intent Statement

At Chaucer Community Primary School our curriculum is designed to:

  • recognise children’s prior learning
  • provide first hand learning experiences
  • develop vocabulary across all subjects
  • reflects their community
  • Is aspirational

Every child is recognised as a unique individual. We celebrate and welcome differences within our school community. The ability to learn is underpinned by the teaching of basic skills, knowledge, concepts and values.

We constantly provide enhancement opportunities to engage learning and believe that childhood should be a happy, investigative and enquiring time in our lives where there are no limits to curiosity and there is a thirst for new experiences and knowledge.

Our school motto is: A place for All, Transforming Lives, Achieving Potential

We promote positive attitudes to learning which reflect the values and skills needed to promote responsibility for learning and future success.

The Implementation of our curriculum:

The Chaucer curriculum incorporates the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum 2014 and other experiences and opportunities which best meet the learning and developmental needs of the children in our school.

As a school with mixed age classes, we recognise the importance of carefully mapping out the curriculum to ensure that children receive the coverage to which they are entitled in all subject areas. For this reason, we have a rolling programme over two years.

Community

Community involvement is an essential part of our curriculum which celebrates local traditions and provides children with memorable experiences, in addition to diverse and rich opportunities from which children can learn and develop a range of transferable skills, enabling them to take an active role in local events throughout the year.

Disadvantage

A primary focus of our curriculum is to raise aspirations, engender a sense of personal pride in achievement, and provide a purpose and relevance for learning. As the school serves a community where there is a high percentage of disadvantaged pupils, we provide activities that children may not otherwise experience. We recognise that the children need both a sense of valuing themselves, and developing aspirations for their future and for their community.

Subjects

Subject leaders play an important part in the success of the curriculum by leading a regular programme of monitoring, evaluation and review, alongside the Senior Leadership Team. They each collate evidence in subject leaders’ files and regularly hold pupil interviews in order to check on knowledge and skill acquisition.

Subjects are planned to ensure progression of knowledge and skills across school. Creatively produced subject books give children a sense of pride in the presentation of their work. High quality visits and visitors enhance the curriculum and provide opportunities for writing for a purpose.

Striving for excellence

We are proud of our ‘Sainsburys GOLD award’ for quality Physical Education and encourage active lifestyles, ensuring children understand the importance of making healthy lifestyle choices. 

Enrichment

To further promote physical health, well-being and mental health, we aim to offer a varied timetable of extra-curricular activities, with clubs that support the core curriculum offer, as well as those which develop specialist skills provided through sports premium, such as archery and tri-golf , whilst also extending the range of children’s experiences.

Opportunity

A primary focus of our curriculum is to raise aspirations, engender a sense of personal pride in achievement, and provide a purpose and relevance for learning.

Our PSHE scheme (SCARF) provides children with opportunities to discuss and learn about personal health, well-being, mental health, safety, relationships (including anti-bullying work), differences and aspirations.

Pastoral

Our diversity work helps children to realise that everyone is special and unique and we should celebrate differences and different kinds of families. In recognising the development of the whole child the pastoral support given to children so they can access the curriculum is very strong. Our highly skilled Family Learning Mentor and SENDCO ensure various programmes of support are provided for children where a need has been identified such as self-esteem, anger management and bereavement.

Inclusion

The school takes pride in providing a highly inclusive environment, where learners demonstrate high levels of enjoyment in their education and most make good progress in subjects and areas of learning.

Children at all levels are helped to achieve their potential. Those who are most able are challenged and supported through being offered tasks which provide opportunities for greater depth and those who struggle are encouraged and given targeted support to embed skills, to develop at their own pace or simply to learn in a style that best suits their individual needs.

The impact of our curriculum:

The practice across the school provides a strong foundation and opportunities for children to collaborate and develop social skills both indoors and out. This curriculum design ensures that the needs of individual and small groups of children can be met within the environment of high quality teaching, supported by targeted, proven interventions where appropriate. In this way it can be seen to impact in a very positive way on children’s outcomes.

Enjoyment of the curriculum promotes achievement, confidence and good behaviour. Children feel safe to try new things. High quality visits and visitors to the school enhance the curriculum and provide opportunities for writing for a purpose.

Children have opportunities to share their learning with each other, their parents and carers and other learners through school-based performances, competitions and events involving other schools. Developing their independence and motivation as learners and their sense of responsibility as future citizens is at the heart of all our teaching and learning.

Children leave our school with a sense of belonging to a tightly knit community where they have the confidence and skills to make decisions, self-evaluate, make connections and become lifelong learners.