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Curriculum

 

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INTENT

Our curriculum is designed to ensure all pupils leave Vale School at the end of Year 6 as:

Successful Learners

Who:

  • Have enquiring minds and are creative, resourceful and able to identify and solve problems
  • Have the essential learning skills of literacy, numeracy and IT
  • Communicate and collaborate well
  • Enjoy learning and are motivated to achieve the best they can now and in the future
  • Know more, can do more and remember more across the full range of subjects leading to greater understanding

Confident individuals

Who:

  • Have a sense of self-worth and personal identity
  • Become increasingly independent, are able to take the initiative and organise themselves
  • Make healthy lifestyle choices
  • Take managed risks and stay safe
  • Recognise their talents and have ambition
  • Are willing to try new things and make the most of opportunities

 

Responsible Citizens

Who:

  • Respect others, act with integrity and distinguish right from wrong
  • Understand cultures and traditions, and have a strong sense of their own place in the world
  • Challenge injustice and are committed to human rights
  • Sustain and improve the environment locally and globally

We aim to:

  • enable children to be motivated, effective and independent lifelong learners
  • provide an environment which caters for the needs and talents of the individual child, nurturing their all-round development and enabling them to play a positive role in the wider community.
  • provide a stimulating and enjoyable curriculum which is broad, balanced and relevant, which shows progression and continuity.

This is achieved by Valuing All Learners Equally.

KNOWLEDGE

We recognise the importance of knowledge acquisition as a key driver in raising attainment for all pupils, especially pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.  Therefore, we have designed a curriculum that identifies the knowledge pupils should acquire in each year, whilst also recognising the importance of developing pupils’ skills, understanding and attitudes.  E.D. Hirsh said:

“Breadth of knowledge is the single factor within human control that contributes most to academic achievement and general cognitive competence.  Breadth of knowledge is a far greater factor in achievement than socioeconomic status.  Imparting broad knowledge to all children is the single most effective way to narrow the gap between demographic groups through schooling.”

E.D. Hirsh

Our intention is that by enabling pupils to become successful learners (acquiring the knowledge, skills, vocabulary and understanding required), they will in turn become confident individuals (who have a positive personal identity), resulting in them becoming responsible citizens.

HOLISTIC

At Vale School we recognise that everything we do, say and model affects our pupils and therefore forms part of our holistic curriculum.  At the core of our curriculum is the desire to see all pupils become successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens, as well as young people who demonstrate in thought, word and deed our values.

We are honest & true.

We aim to go beyond our best.

We appreciate others, what we have and the world around us.

We respect others and celebrate our differences

More can be achieved together than on our own.

The National Curriculum is used as the foundation for the teaching of subjects, but we recognise that other opportunities children experience have a significant impact on their development.  Therefore, we seek to provide varied experiences, activities and events to supplement and enhance the more traditional subjects studied at school.  Here are a few examples:

Before and after school clubs and activities (sport, cultural, academic)

Visits and visitors for each year group (e.g... Mary Rose, theatre companies)

Local Visits (Cissbury Ring, South Downs, the coast)

Residential trip in Year 6

Special days and weeks (e.g.. In Your Shoes Week – focus on disabilities)

Singing together weekly as a whole school (developing a sense of community)

Swimming in Year 4

Learning a musical instrument (All children learning recorder & glockenspiel in Key Stage 2, with opportunities to learn other instruments)

Food Technology – 12 sessions a year, culminating in Year 6 running a cafe

Production and concerts (all year groups have opportunity to perform every year)

Behaviour plan that has clear rules, rewards, consequences and, as its focus:

“Catch them being good.”

School Council, Eco Warriors,  & Digital Leaders, providing opportunities for pupils to develop as responsible citizens

We seek to use our local environment and history as a stimulus for learning, including our close proximity to the South Downs National Park, an ancient hill fort, windmill, beach, places of worship and our local shopping precinct.

Reading

The teaching of reading, resulting in pupils becoming confident readers who enjoy a wide range of texts is a priority throughout the school.  The children’s journey to become fluent, proficient readers starts in our Early Years and Year 1 classes, where we use the Read Write Inc. programme of phonics teaching. We heavily invest resources and adults into these initial years at school to ensure all pupils, no matter their starting point, make rapid progress in becoming independent readers. Pupils then progress to more challenging texts and teachers use a wide range of teaching strategies to challenge all pupils to make progress, whilst retaining an enjoyment and love of books. Teachers use whole class texts (alongside the children’s individual reading) as the basis for much of their teaching to ensure all pupils are exposed to good quality texts and vocabulary. We recognise the importance of developing good reading habits at home and encourage parents to take an active role in helping their child develop the knowledge and skills to become a competent reader.

As a school we recognise that the skill of reading is essential for children to access the wider curriculum and to prepare them for secondary education.  Therefore, in all year groups, Reading and the teaching of reading remains a priority across all subjects. We provide children and parents with a list of 100 recommended books across 2 years (Key Stage 1, Lower Key Stage 2, Upper Key Stage 2) and encourage the children to read from this list as it guarantees quality, progression and a wide range of genres.

More details about our Reading curriculum along with our whole English Curriculum, please click here.

Implementation

As a school we have identified, for each curriculum subject, the key concepts, knowledgeskills and vocabulary we expect all pupils to learn and understand.  Pupils' prior learning is also listed in each unit plan to ensure teachers know what has been taught in previous years and how the new learning builds and links to this previous work. Understanding pupils’ possible misconceptions about the theme being studied is also an important consideration that teachers must make to ensure, where at all possible, misconceptions are not allowed to form in a child’s grasp of a concept, knowledge, understanding or skill.

To ensure progression, teachers have made sure there is continuity, progression and challenge in each unit plan, with knowledge, skills, and understanding developing year-on-year.

We recognise the importance of revisiting concepts and knowledge regularly and use a wide range of strategies to accomplish this:

  • Quizzes – repeated retrieval improves long-term retention. In 2013, five cognitive scientists [Dunlosky, Rawson, Marsh, Nathan & Willingham] collated hundreds of studies looking at memory retention and showed that quizzing (practice testing) is the most successful tool for improving retention and learning. 

  • Low-stakes testing – Retrieval practice has many benefits for memory and motivation. It:
    • Improves long-term retention
    • Identifies gaps in knowledge
    • Causes pupils to learn more from the next unit of work
    • Produces better organisation of knowledge
    • Improves transfer of knowledge to new concepts
    • Provides feedback to teachers
    • Encourages pupils to study
  • Vocabulary – identifying, using and in many cases, pre-teaching key vocabulary supports understanding. Word-poor pupils are at a significant disadvantage to pupils who are word-rich.  Therefore, we select class texts that provide pupils with more complex and challenging content to widen their vocabulary knowledge. Subject specific vocabulary is used by teachers and pupils in all lessons.
  • Reading – Reading quality texts is key in improving vocabulary learning. We provide pupils and parents with a list of 100 books that we encourage them to read over a 2 year period (KS1, Years 3 & 4, and Years 5 & 6). These books offer a range of genres, styles and topics, but are all selected for the impact they will have on increasing a child’s knowledge of literature and to aid them on the journey of becoming word-rich.
  • Knowledge organisers – These are single A4 sheets that contain the key knowledge, vocabulary etc. that pupils need to acquire to be a successful learner in a particular unit of work. Year groups build on previous organisers to further extend children’s grasp of a subject.
  • Re-visiting themes - units within a key stage are revisited to secure understanding and to embed learning.

National Curriculum

As a school, we follow the National Curriculum.  The requirements for each subject within each key stage are grouped together, where applicable, under a Theme heading.  This theme is often underpinned by a core text and subjects that naturally link together are taught within the theme.  Other subjects, that don’t easily fit the theme, are taught discretely.

Teaching

We believe that for young children to thrive at school, they need to develop a positive, strong relationship with their class teacher. Therefore, in all year groups the class teacher teaches their class for the majority of the time (including English and maths).  As pupils progress through the school, year teams play to their strengths so that all 3 classes are taught by one teacher for a subject they specialise in e.g. Spanish.  Subject specialists are used to ensure high quality provision is offered to all in the following subjects:  PE, art, food-technology and music.

When teaching phonics we group the children according to their ability to ensure the texts they are reading are decodable by the child and that they are challenged appropriately whilst also having success. Children also have a wide range of other texts to select from to encourage a love of reading.  

 In maths all classes (except Year 6) are taught in mixed ability classes. In Year 6 we set the 90 children across 4 ability sets. (Due to the impact of COVID we have introduced smaller group teaching in Years 4 & 5 for 2021/22.  This is linked to our assessment of the children's needs).

During the year and across subjects, teachers will make decisions to ability group pupils for a limited time for a specific activity, lesson or intervention, but our priority is to keep the class together as much as possible across all lessons.

Our teaching of the curriculum is based on 6 pedagogical principles: challenge, explanation, modelling, deliberate practice, questioning, feedback. These principles are taken from “Making Every Primary Lesson Count”, written by Jo Payne and Mel Scott, a previous and current teacher at Vale School.

Challenge

  • Concise learning objectives, success criteria and feedback are used to provide challenge for all 
  • Children are expected to develop their knowledge and skills during lessons
  • Formal, subject specific, academic language is modelled by teachers and expected from children
  • The expectation is high for all children
  • Appropriate support and scaffolding are in place to enable all children to achieve expected outcomes
  • Examples of excellence are shared, discussed and deconstructed with the class
  • A growth mindset will be developed in all children
  • Teachers' subject knowledge is essential
  • Children are encouraged to visit the ‘struggle zone’

          

Explanation

  • Children’s prior knowledge is used to ‘hook into’ new knowledge
  • Explanations:
    • focus on key learning points, success criteria and subject specific knowledge
    • are made concrete and credible (demonstration, visual images/video, practical) using stories and emotion where applicable
    • generate curiosity and identify children’s gaps in learning
    • are clear and concise.
    • are used to identify and address common misconceptions

Modelling

  • All learning is carefully modelled
  • Examples of work are shared and deconstructed. “This is great because….” “This needs improving because…”
  • Children are introduced to subject specific vocabulary                           
  • High quality language is used when modelling
  • Modelling is scaffolded to maximise the learning for all children
  • Questioning is used to check understanding
  • A three-step progression is used when modelling:

Me

Us

You

I do

I do; you help

You do; I help

You do together

You do independently

The teacher demonstrates the learning

The teacher works with guidance from the pupils.

Pupils work with guidance from the teacher.

Pupils work in pairs or small groups.

Pupils work on their own.

Direct Instruction

Guided Practice

Independent Practice

Deliberate Practice                                

  • Practice makes permanent
  • Children are given time to practise new knowledge and skills
  • The teacher identifies mistakes, intervenes when necessary and so ensures that practice is perfect
  • Mistakes are used as a key aspect of learning
  • Scaffolding and support are removed when appropriate
  • Key skills and knowledge are practised regularly to improve retention
  • Homework, IT, knowledge organisers and pop quizzes are used to support deliberate practice.

To support our view that deliberate practice is important, every week all children in KS1 & 2 receive a deliberate practice and computing session, led by a designated member of staff.  During this time, class teachers are released to work with individuals and small groups to revisit previous learning or deal with identified misconceptions.

Questioning   

  • Questioning both deepens and develops thinking and checks for common misconceptions
  • The teacher develops children’s responses by asking more complex follow-up questions
  • Insufficient responses are expanded by further questioning
  • Children answer in full sentences when appropriate
  • Children respond to each other’s contributions in lessons
  • Children ask questions, and seek clarification if they are unsure
  • The reward for right answers is deeper questioning
  • We have a “no opt out” policy. If a child doesn’t know:
    • Ask another child, then return to the original child to repeat the answer.
    • Give a couple of options from which they can choose
    • Give them the answer and ask them to explain why it is correct
  • Give children time to think before they answer.
  • Use talk partners to think-pair-share
  • Cold call, so you can target specific children and show you want to hear what they have to say.
  • Use a variety of ways to randomly select pupils ( no-hands approach; lolly sticks)
  • Closed and open questions are used to elicit knowledge and deepen understanding.

Feedback                                 

Feedback is:                               

  • Kind
  • Specific
  • Encouraging
  • Helpful
  • Challenging
  • Children give feedback to their peers and teachers
  • Feedback is timed right so that children have enough ‘struggle time’ before being supported
  • Children know what they have to do to achieve
  • Children understand and reflect on the feedback given by the teacher.  They respond when appropriate.
  • Teaching is flexible, based on the feedback from the performance of children
  • Self-assessment strategies such as proof-reading, editing and redrafting are used to aid children’s thinking and learning
  • Feedback is:
    • effective when it is timely, (not too late after the task), frequent and acted on (not ignored).
    • used to identify the ‘learning gaps’ of individuals.
    • specific and clearly focused on learning.
    • focused on what children are getting right – so they can continue to do so.
    • not an add on. It is an ongoing and essential part of excellent pedagogy, used to deepen learning and improve teaching.
  • Feedback will be different for different subjects.
  • Feedback should encourage pupils to aspire to excellence.
  • Feedback should be high impact but manageable and sustainable for staff.

Planning

Planning starts at the whole school level.  Our Whole School Curriculum Document shows, by subject, the objectives taught in each year group.  Our curriculum overview shows how these objectives are taught in each year group across each half term.

Unit plans are then used to ensure all teachers deliver the core content, building on children’s prior knowledge.  These plans include:

  • National Curriculum requirements (learning objectives)
  • Prior knowledge – what has been studied in previous years
  • Key concepts, vocabulary and skills – using common language across the school.
  • Content of lessons
  • How learning is going to be checked
  • Knowledge organiser – to assist both teachers and pupils in identifying the key knowledge etc. to be taught.

CORE SUBJECTS

English

Please follow the link to our English page.

Mathematics

Please follow the link to our Mathematics page

Science

Our Science curriculum introduces children to key concepts and skills through a range of themes.  These themes are re-visited during Key Stage 1 and 2 to ensure children fully understand the concepts and skills studied.

Year 1 Seasonal change, Everyday materials, Animals, Ice melting, Plants
Year 2 Animals and Humans, Living things, Materials
Year 3 Living things, Rocks, Plants, Forces and magnets, Earth and space
Year 4 Light, Keeping healthy, Sound, Electricity, Changes of state
Year 5 Space, Materials, Staying alive, Living things
Year 6 Evolution, Electricity, Living things, Forces, Light

 

Concepts:

We use the following concepts to help the children understand the science curriculum.

  • Systems: A system is a collection of parts that work together and influence each other.  e.g. solar system, digestive system.
  • Cycles: A cycle is a series of connected events that repeats. e.g. life cycle, water cycle
  • Constancy: States that do not change. e.g. equilibrium
  • Change: Reversible or irreversible change. e.g. rust forming, water becoming ice

Skills:

The following skills are taught across the science curriculum.

Asking questions; Planning enquiries; identifying & classifying; Performing tests; Using equipment; Observing & measuring; Gathering & recording data; Reporting, presenting & communicating data/findings.

Science one-page summary

Art

In Key Stage 1 Art is taught by each class teacher. In Key Stage 2 children are taught by a specialist.

Key Stage 1

  Drawing Painting 3D Collage
Yr1

Wax crayons

sketching

Colour mixing

Colour wash

Fire picture using art straws, pastels, crayons

Autumn leaves - rubbings

Geometric shapes

Yr2

Tingatinga

sketching

Pop Art   View from a telescope at Portsmouth

Artists studied in Key Stage 1: Georgia O'Keeffe, Kandinsky, Arcimbodo

Key Stage 2

 

Drawing

Painting

3D

Collage

Printing

Architecture

Year 3

Explores line using pencils and watercolour pencils.
Angie Lewin
Fossils
Experiments with and enjoys colour. Secondary colour wheel by mixing primary colours.
Henri Rousseau
Cave art
Stone age jewellery
Experiments with basic tools.
Clay fossils
Stone age jewellery
Bronze age hill forts.
Engages in more complex activities, using a range of media.
Bronze age hill forts
Stonehenge
Extends repeating patterns, overlapping using two colours.
Angie Lewin
 

Year 4

Uses line and tone to represent things seen, remember or observed.
Egyptian portraits
Van Gogh
Create pattern using different tools and colours.
Bryan Wynter
David Hockney
Prepares and recreates form and shape.
Clay sunflowers
Sunflower canvas
Has experience of adhesives and decides on the most effective for task given.
POP Art
Roman mosaics
Starry Night pictures
Explores and recreates pattern with an extended range of materials.
Andy Warhol
To explore a range of styles through periods in time.
Victorian Architecture

Year 5

Explores shading using different grades of pencils.
Mattise
William Morris
Use colours and marks to express mood.
Kandinsky
Lowry
Create texture using rigid materials and a variety of tools.
Clay planets
Mod roc surfaces
Wool planets
Develop skills of overlaying.
Mattise
Explores creating multiple prints on a variety of papers.
William Morris
 

Year 6

Draws familiar things from observations and memory.
To have a concept of perspective.
Rainforest - South America
One Point perspective
Can plan and paint a composition when exploring artists’ styles.
Picasso
Hunderwasser
George Seurat
To explore how a stimuli can be used as a starting point with focus on texture, form and pattern.
Elements of art
Greek paper mache pots
Mosaics
Clay tiles
To explore tints, tones and shades using a range of media.
Collage colour wheel
Picasso, three musicians
   

Concepts:

  • Line: A mark on a surface
  • Space: Area inside or between shapes
  • Shape: Formed by a line or when lines cross to make an enclosed space
  • Form: a 3-dimensional shape
  • Texture: The feel of an object to the touch
  • Value: The range of darkness and light                 
  • Colour: Spectrum of light

Skills:

Drawing; painting; printing; constructing; observing; analysing

Art one-page summary

Computing

At Vale Schoo, we teach computing effectively by providing a rich and balanced curriculum fully mapped to the National Curriculum for Computing. The three main strands of the computing curriculum are:

Information and Communication Technology.  This covers the use of computers for functional purposes, such as collecting and presenting information, or using search technology.  Pupils also become familiar with how computer systems work and how information becomes accessible and manipulated by technology.

Digital Literacy and Citizenship. This covers the area of safe and responsible use of technology, including recognising its advantages for collaboration or communication.

Computer Science. This provides children of all ages the opportunity to learn basic computer programming, from understanding what algorithms are and programming BeeBots in Year 1 to creating personal online projects and designing games throughout Key Stage 2.

Details of our Computing Curriculum can be found here

Computing one-page summary - What pupils should know, be able to do, and remember in Computing by the end of Year 6

Design technology

Each year group have food technology lessons with a specialist teacher in our designated food technology room.

Food Tech Subjects and Skills - Per Year Group

Year Group

Phase 1 subjects

Phase 2 subjects

Skills

1

H&S/FT room.
Fruit recognition.
Practical cutting skills with fruit.
Healthy food and Eatwell Guide.
Design, make and taste own fruit salad.
Identify range of ingredients.
Breakfasts.
Demonstrate and taste porridge.
Smoothie making and tasting.
Peel - using fingers.
Cut soft foods using a table knife using; Claw grip and Bridge hold.
Mix using a spoon.
Arrange food on a plate.
Start to name and recognise equipment.
Measure with a jug.
Count ingredients.
Juice (using a juicer with adult supervision.)

2

H&S.
Bread recognition.
Spread and taste different breads.
Demonstrate and taste Welsh Rarebit.
Design, make and taste a healthy sandwich.
Vegetables - identify/where do they grow/which parts do we eat.
Prepare vegetables using different equipment, then taste.
Demonstrate and taste vegetable cupcakes.
Make and take home vegetable cupcakes.
Spread & cut using a table knife.
Prepare sandwich filling; cut, slice,spoon and mash with a fork.
Cut low resistance foods with a table knife - use Fork secure method.
Arrange food following a design.
Peel, grate, dice, slice vegetables using safety knives, grater and Y peeler.
Name and recognise previously used equipment.
Spoon ingredients between containers.
Measure using a spoon or count.

3

H&S/Eatwell Guide.
Understand the language of a recipe and how to adapt them.
Demonstrate and taste cheese straws.
Make and taste cheese straws.
Make and take home cheese scones.
Make and take home cheese biscuits.
Pasta recognition.
Demonstration and taste Macaroni cheese.
Make own pasta - Orecchiette.
Make Bechamel and Ragu sauce and combine with homemade pasta.
Design, make and take home own pasta dish.
(Italian biscuits.)
Grate using box grater.
Measure with jug, scales and spoons accurately.
Mix thoroughly increasing thoroughness to combine ingredients.
Whisk using a fork.
Sift (flour in a bowl.)
Spoon ingredients into different containers with increasing accuracy and minimal spillage.
Roll using rolling pin.
Shape using hands or equipment.
Cut out with cutters (positioning carefully to avoid wasting ingredients) or use a table knife to cut dough in equal portions.
Crack an egg and separate white from yolk using an egg separator.
Cut firmer foods with a sharp knife using; Fork Secure, Claw Grip and Bridge Hold.
Peel, grate, dice, slice ingredients (with greater control.)
Use a saucepan/frying pan on the hob with adult supervision.
Arrange food in an attractive way.
Use the oven with adult supervision.
Use the toaster/microwave with adult supervision.
Begin to name and recognise the purpose of equipment.

4


 
H&S.
Taste commercially bought dips.
Demonstrate and taste homemade Salsa.
Make a dip of their choice and taste.
Design, make and take home their own dip.
(Make Christmas biscuits.)
Taste shop bought salads.
Demonstration and taste Coleslaw.
Make and taste Coleslaw.
Design, make and take home own salad.
Cut and chop firmer foods using correct grips and equipment.
Use vegetable knife with adult supervision.
Crush (garlic press.)
Snip with kitchen scissors or tear using hands..
Measure accurately with jug, scales and spoons.
Use a food blender/processor with adult supervision.
Grate (with greater control and skill, eg zest from a lemon.)
Open a tin with tin opener.
Arrange food in an attractive way.
Decorate following a design.
Name and recognise equipment with confidence.
Know how and where to store food.

5

H&S/Eatwell Guide.
Demonstration and taste Rock Cakes.
Make Rock Cakes and take home.
Adapting a recipe.
Demonstration and taste Basic Biscuit.
Design, make and take home own biscuits.
Theory - Food Labels,
Demonstration and tasting of 5 commercially bought Pizzas.
Demonstrate and taste Pizza dough base and Ragu sauce.
Make Pizza & Ragu sauce and taste.
Design, make and take home own pizza.
Increase their skills when cutting, chopping, crushing and grating ingredients, demonstrating correct grips and equipment.
Peel (to create ribbons, eg carrots, courgettes.)
Measure accurately with jug, scales and spoons.
Use the Microwave with adult supervision.
Use a food blender/processor with adult supervision.
Crack eggs and separate white from yolk.
Use oven with adult supervision.
Shape (with greater precision.)
Cut (choosing a cutter and demonstrate good positioning.)
Mix (fold/rub ingredients together to make a mixture - rubbing in method.)
Knead (pizza dough.)
Get out all equipment independently.

6

Sandwich planning - bread and filling.
Sandwich costing and tasting.
Plan and make cake variations - freeze, decorate and taste following week.
(Mince Pies for carol concert.)
(Christmas biscuits.)
Cafe project.
Show confident skills when cutting, chopping, crushing and grating ingredients, demonstrating correct grips and equipment needed.
Follow a recipe independently.
Use equipment, eg food blender/processor/microwave/oven/hob/oven/kettle and grill with minimal or no adult supervision.
Spoon ingredients (using two spoons to transfer ingredients into different size/shape containers with minimal spillage, eg liquid foods into baking case and gauge the quantities spooned to ensure an equal amount of ingredient in each container.)
Juice using a juicer.
Mix, fold and stir ingredients together carefully.
Whisk using a hand whisk.
Thread (medium resistance foods onto a kebab stick, eg mushrooms, courgettes.)
Decorate using own imagination and/or following a design.
Arrange food in an attractive and imaginative way.
Adapt a recipe (consider flavour, colour and appearance.)
Organise and run a cafe demonstrating; planning, cooking, allergy recognition, storage, communication, serving, cleaning, financial, advertising, people and organisational skills.

Design Technology Topics

Year 1 Finger Puppets
Year 2 Wacky vehicles
Year 3 Bridges
Year 4 Pop-up 3D cards, Environmentally friendly bags
Year 5 Computer programming
Year 6 Robot Wars
  • Design: Plan what is required to meet brief
  • Make: Develop range of skills to construct designs
  • Evaluate: Look at existing products and own creations - assess strengths and weaknesses.
  • Technical knowledge: To know specific knowledge for area of study e.g. Food technology.

DT & Food Technology one-page summary

Geography

We believe it is important that children not only grasp the concepts and skills within this subject, but that they also have a secure knowledge about the world.  Each year we hold an Inter-House Geography Competition that covers the following areas.

Early Years
To know their address
Year 1
Locate the 4 countries & capital cities of UK.  Name and locate 7 continents
Year 2
Locate and name the countries  & capital cities of UK.
Name the countries in Africa
Year 3
Name the countries in Europe
Name and locate the continents & oceans
Year 4
Locate  and name the countries & capital cities of UK & major rivers and mountains of UK. Name & locate 10 counties.  
Year 5
Name and locate the countries in Europe, and know which countries border others
Know the capital cities in Europe
Year 6
Name and locate the countries and capital cities in Europe and South America
Name and locate the continents & oceans

Each Year Group also studies the following themes

Year 1 United Kingdom
Year 2 Findon Valley, Africa
Year 3 A local study, Rain Forests, Europe, Stone Age
Year 4 Rivers and Mountains, Lake District
Year 5 Maps, Iceland
Year 6 South America, Greece

Concepts:

  • Place: Part of Earth’s surface
  • Environment: Living and non-living surroundings
  • Interconnection: Everything is connected by physical process or human
  • Sustainability: Something remaining into the future
  • Scale: Ranging from personal to global
  • Change: Physical and human change over time

Skills:

Map skills; field work; comparing & contrasting; analyse; cause and effect

Geography one-page summary

HISTORY

Year 1 Local History - Worthing, Great Fire of London, Living memory
Year 2 Nelson Mandela, Mary Rose
Year 3 Stone Age
Year 4 Ancient Egypt, Roman Britain
Year 5 Chronology independent project, Anglo Saxons
Year 6 Ancient Greeks, South America
  • Perspectives: Different points of view
  • Cause and effect: Why something happened and what the consequences have been
  • Empathy: Ability to walk in someone else’s shoes
  • Evidence: Primary and secondary sources
  • Continuity and change: What has changed and what has stayed the same
  • Impact: What effects did the event have on people at the time and into the future.

Skills: Observing; questioning; recording; communicating; concluding; researching; analysis; reflecting; responding

History on-page summary

Modern languages

We teach Spanish in Key Stage 2

Year 3 Alphabet, Greetings, Numbers 0 - 20, Days of the week, Months of the year, Birthday greetings and Age
Year 4 Review of prior learning, Numbers to 50, Articles, Family, Colours, Animals & Pets, Me gusta/ te gusta? Seasons and weather
Year 5 Review of prior learning, Numbers to 100, Conjugate regular verbs (ar, er, ir), Time, Daily routines
Year 6 Review of prior learning, Ser, Estar, Tener, Stories

Skills

  • Listening and comprehension: Able to listen and understand others
  • Speaking: Able to communicate in spoken for
  • Reading and comprehension: Able to read and understand
  • Writing: Able to communicate in written form

Modern Languages on-page summary - This outlines what a child should know, be able to do and remember in Spanish.

Music

Children have opportunities to compose, perform and listen to a wide range of music each year.  In Year 3 and 5 there is a special emphasis on children learning to read musical notation through learning to play the recorder.

Singing together is an important part of our school culture.  Children join together every Monday morning as a whole school to sing and each year group has an opportunity to perform to the wider community (e.g. at Christmas, Easter, and concerts and productions)

Many children take up the opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument through the West Sussex Music Trust and other private teachers.  Please follow the link to find out more or ask in the office for more details.

www.westsussexmusic.co.uk

We currently offer lessons in violin, woodwind, piano, guitar, drums and keyboard.

Concepts

  • Duration: Length of a sound
  • Pitch: How high or low a sound is
  • Dynamics: How loud or quiet a sound is
  • Tone Colour: Sound characteristics of an instrument or voice
  • Texture: How sounds are combined
  • Structure: How sections of music are put together

Skills:

Perform, compose, listen

Music one-page summary

PE

Indoor PE

Early Years Gymnastics, Dance, Ball skills, Team Games
Year 1 Indoor Athletics, Dance, Multi-skills, Gymnastics, Invasion Games
Year 2 Gymnastics, Dance, Indoor Athletics, Invasion Games, Challenge Activities
Year 3 Gymnastics, Indoor Athletics, Dance, Challenge Activities, Invasion Games, Striking & Fielding
Year 4 Gymnastics, Invasion Games, Indoor Athletics, Swimming
Year 5 Indoor Athletics, Challenge Activities, Gymnastics, Dance, Invasion Games, Striking & Fielding
Year 6 Indoor Athletics, Challenge Activities, Gymnastics, Dance, Invasion Games, Striking & Fielding

Outdoor Games

Year 1 Ball Skills, Gross Motor Skills, Team Challenges, Multi-Sports, Striking & Fielding, Athletics
Year 2 Ball Skills, Gross Motor Skills, Multi-Sports, Team Challenges, Athletics
Year 3 Handball, Ultimate Frisbee, Netball, Football, Athletics, Striking & Fielding
Year 4 Handball, Lacrosse, Netball, Football, Athletics, Striking & Fielding
Year 5 Hockey, Lacrosse, Netball, Football, Athletics, Striking & Fielding
Year 6 Hockey, Lacrosse, Netball, Football, Athletics, Striking & Fielding

Concepts

  • Activity: Body movement produced by muscles
  • Exercise: Planned, Purposeful activities you do that improve fitness
  • Fitness: General well-being of body for daily living
  • Health: Overall physical, mental and social well-being

Skills:

Co-ordination, flexibility, balance, muscular power, muscular endurance, throwing, catching, kicking, hitting, tactics within a game

PE one-page summary

PSHE

In PSHE each year group covers the following topics:

Health and Well-being; Living in the wider world; Relationships.

In Years 5 and 6 pupils learn about the changes that happen to the human body over time, including puberty.  They also learn about the creation of babies.  [Parents can withdraw their child from these aspects of the curriculum if they wish to.  We would encourage you to discuss this with us before making a final decision].

Concepts:

  • Identity: Personal qualities, attitudes, skills, attributes and achievements
  • Relationships: Who they relate to and the different types of relationships
  • Healthy Balanced lifestyle: exercise, rest, diet,
  • Risk: Managed safely, not avoided
  • Diversity and Equality: Respecting differences and treating all equally
  • Rights, responsibility: I have rights, but these come with responsibilities as a citizen
  • Consent: Giving permission to others in different contexts
  • Change and resilience: Recognise when change can be managed and when it cannot
  • Develop skills, strategies and “inner resources” to face change
  • Power: How it is used – persuasion, bullying, negotiation

Skills:

Self-reflection, learning from experience, making decisions, self-management, Resilience, Self-regulation, Self-organisation, Listening, Empathy, Enquiry

PSHE & SRE one-page summary

RE

We follow the West Sussex Agreed Syllabus for RE.

Concepts:

  • Identity: How faith provides a sense of identity within a religious framework
  • God: Deity that is worshipped
  • Worship: Giving something or someone all honour, focus
  • Community: A group with shared interests or beliefs
  • Belonging:
  • Remembering:

Skills:

Enquire, contextualise, evaluate, communicate

RE one-page summary

RE Overview

 

Quality Assurance

Leaders review the implementation of our curriculum through a wide range of monitoring activities.  These include:

  • Lesson observations
  • Monitoring planning
  • Looking at children’s work
  • Interviews with pupils
  • Review meetings with Year Leaders
  • Governor visits
  • Reports to governing body

Continuing Professional Development

To ensure all teachers are developing their subject knowledge, and understanding of pedagogy, they receive dedicated continuing professional development time to explore a particular aspect of their own practice.  This will include:

  • Reading educational research and publications
  • Observing other teachers
  • Coaching sessions with SLT
  • Videoing their own teaching
  • Reflecting on their practice
  • Presenting findings to the teaching team

Progression

To ensure progression in each year group and subject, our Unit Plans include prior learning and clear expectations about skills, vocabulary and knowledge to be acquired by pupils.  To ensure pupils make appropriate progress, examples of work that meet the expected standard are used to support teachers’ judgments and assessments.

Impact

The impact of our curriculum is measured in the following ways:

  • Assessment Information
  • Feedback from parents
  • Feedback from local secondary schools

We aim for all pupils to become successful learners which means they will achieve the expected standard in each subject by the time they leave us to go to secondary school.  We also aim for every child to be ready to thrive at secondary school as confident individuals and responsible citizens.

Assessment Information

We use assessment information to:

  • Monitor and record the attainment and progress of individuals, groups and cohorts
  • Guide teachers’ planning, strategies and use of resources and plan intervention
  • Inform parents and the governing body about progress and attainment
  • Ensure a consistent approach to measure progress towards and against national standards
  • Enable pupils to reflect on their own progress, understand their strengths and identify what they need to do to improve

This enables us to measure the impact of our curriculum and to evaluate if we have achieved our goal of producing successful learners, when they leave the school at the end of Key Stage 2.

Forms of Assessment

In-school formative assessment: This is the ongoing, day-to-day assessment carried out by teachers and other staff.  It is key to effective classroom practice. Formative assessment is used by teachers to inform planning, resources and support in order for all children to progress. At Vale School, pupils and teachers carry out assessment for learning activities which identify any gaps between where a child currently is in their learning, and where they need to be.

Children learn best when:

  • they understand clearly what they are trying to learn, and what is expected of them
  • they are given feedback (by word of mouth, marking etc.) about the quality of their work
  • they are given advice about how to make improvements

Teachers use learning objectives and success criteria in the classroom which are designed to allow the children to understand what they are learning and how they can achieve success in every task.

These success criteria are not a simple fix-it list, but aspects of the task the child needs to focus on.  When providing feedback on children’s work, the teacher will refer back to the learning objective of the lesson, the success criteria and sometimes to a specific target a child might be working on.  Engaging children in their own learning process using assessment for learning is also a key factor in raising children’s attainment. The children are encouraged to assess their own work against the success criteria and also collaborate with a partner to improve their work.

In-school summative assessment: Children are assessed in Reading, Writing and Maths twice a year and attainment data is recorded and analysed. A range of materials are used to support teachers with accurate teacher assessment judgements. These assessments are carried out throughout the year and are used to monitor the performance of individuals, groups and cohorts as well as identifying gaps and next steps for planning.  Assessments in Science and Foundation Subjects are undertaken at the end of each Unit of Work and an overall judgment is made at the end of each school year.

Materials we use:

  • PIRA (reading) tests
  • In-school Maths tests
  • White Rose Assessments (Maths)
  • RWI phonic assessments each term
  • In-school writing framework
  • In-school maths fluency & arithmetic checklist
  • End of topic or unit tests/tasks
  • Weekly quizzes and tests including knowledge organisers
  • IT software programs

Nationally standardised summative assessment

At key points children are assessed against national expectations. These are:

  • End of EYFS
  • End of Year 1 (phonics screening)
  • End of KS1 (Year 2 SATs and phonics screening)
  • Year 4 times table test
  • End of KS2 (Year 6 SATs)

The impact on our pupils’ outcomes at these national assessments demonstrates that academically children are reaching expectations in line with their peers, and at the end of Key Stage 2, they are reaching higher standards than their peers nationally. 

CURRENT TARGETS

  • 2022 school assessment data is 2% points above national at each assessment point (including at greater depth).
  • 2024 school assessment data is 5% points above national at each assessment point (including at greater depth)

Non academic curriculum impact on pupils

This is measured through our monitoring program which identifies the impact our holistic curriculum is having on pupils:

  • Behaviour
  • Pride
  • Presentation in books
  • Wearing of uniform
  • Attendance
  • Attitude towards our values, including equality and diversity

Through this monitoring we can evaluate if our curriculum is resulting in pupils becoming successful learners, confident individuals & responsible citizens.

Parent feedback Our yearly survey provides us with essential information about the impact our curriculum is having in developing pupils holistically, including their academic success.

Successful Learners, Confident Individuals, Responsible Citizens