Curriculum

Grove Street Primary School

Curriculum Intent

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.” (Aristotle)

At Grove Street Primary, our intent is to create a school which inspires, guides and nurtures learners to achieve their full potential, supporting the whole child, regardless of their starting points.

At the core of our curriculum, due to barriers to learning (particularly regarding reading, vocabulary and oracy), is a focus on mastery of key skills and development of long-term memory, allowing children to access the rich and demanding content of our curriculum, leading to a conceptual knowledge which promotes fluent connections across all age phases and subject disciplines. Each year, our children will have an opportunity to study our world, our country and our local community; we want to ensure our curriculum suits the needs and interests of our children as well as exciting and inspiring their approach to learning. We want to expand our children’s horizons through an embedded approach to cultural capital. We want to develop our children as independent, problem-solving curiosity-seekers, with the ability to question learning and think critically: little people with big ideas.

Working with our families and the local community, we aim to create an aspirational school community in which everyone is valued and successes are celebrated.

Most importantly, we want to support the social and emotional needs of our children, as well as helping develop emotional and self-regulation skills; we believe that we are humans first, learners second.

Implementation

Please cross-reference to our Teaching, Learning and Feedback Policy for an in-depth focus on effective teaching and learning pedagogy in our school, however, teaching and learning is underpinned primarily by the following principles:

Teachers have good subject knowledge.
Subject matter is presented clearly – children know why they are doing tasks and what end point it will lead to.
Content is remembered long-term.
Assessment is used widely and effectively.
Texts, materials and resources reflect our ambitious intent.
Work is appropriately demanding.
Reading is prioritised.
There is meaning in the material.
Discussion and dialogue takes place to support and strengthen learning.
Teaching is responsive to the needs of the children – feedback is purposeful and prompt.
Staff have the very highest expectations of themselves and all children.
Teachers create a learning environment that is supportive, engaging and demanding.
Teachers support children in mastering key concepts through regular and rigorous application of taught concepts in a range of contexts.
Subject leaders create an inspiring, fluent and engaging vision for their subject discipline.
Children make sustained progress in all areas of their learning.
Staff help children develop independence and resilience.
Staff support children’s physical and mental health.
All children feel challenged in their learning.
Teachers impart knowledge accurately, systematically check understanding, organise personalised intervention as and when necessary and provide high-quality feedback, allowing all children, regardless of starting points, to progress in their learning.

Impact:

Children making excellent progress from their starting points across the curriculum.
Children talk confidently about their learning.
Children feel safe, calm and happy.