Our Curriculum Intent

Our curriculum ensures learning is effective, exciting and above all, relevant to the needs of our children. We believe in bringing learning to life, both indoors and out, with an emphasis on engaging and purposeful learning.

We firmly believe that our children are entitled to a broad and balanced curriculum. Our curriculum explores the natural links between each subject whilst also ensure that each subject’s identity is clear. Our aim is for our children to see themselves as ‘Historians/ Geographers/ Coders…’ who are equipped with the relevant knowledge and skills. For this reason, our curriculum is knowledge based and skills focused. Their knowledge, skills and understanding develop and build year on year, until they’re ready for the next step of their learning journey into secondary education, college, university and from there into a fulfilling career. To achieve this, all pupils will secure firm foundations in English and Mathematics as this underpins a growing excellence in other subjects.

Our curriculum is supported by our whole-school ethos and values. These underpin our children’s learning in all areas. We believe it is our responsibility to not only educate but also support our children in becoming well-rounded individuals. Our curriculum allows our children to grow, develop and blossom both academically and holistically.

Our Implementation

The majority of our teaching in History, Geography, Science, Music, Art, D&T and other subjects’ areas is driven by a question. The over-arching question is designed to give learning an enquiry focus. Each question will usually be driven by one subject with other cross-curricular links exploited where appropriate and necessary. For example, the question ‘Should war be solved with words or weapons?’ is driven by the historical study of WW2 but also encompasses geography, science and D&T. Our curriculum design ensures that all National Curriculum subjects are taught during themed questions that are best suited to them. The following subjects are taught weekly where appropriate as they do not always lend naturally to the theme: Computing, Science, Music, Spanish and RE.

To ensure that our curriculum is progressive and allows children to build on their knowledge and skills each year, subject leaders have mapped out ‘Knowledge Paths’ and ‘Skills Ladders’. Knowledge Paths detail the minimum expectation of substantive knowledge in each subject area that our children will need to be able to recall and know in order to progress each year. To support pupil’s retention of additional knowledge, we use knowledge organisers for each subject. These are available in the classrooms to support learning. Our Skills Ladders are designed to detail the progression in disciplinary knowledge that children need in order to access the subjects. Both these documents are used by teachers when designing their curriculum questions and informing their curriculum planning.

At the end of each enquiry question, we use a variety of methods to access pupil’s knowledge, skills and understanding in the taught subjects. These assessments may take the form our a written, oral or creative piece. Class teachers, in discussion with the subject leads, select the most suitable means of assessing the pupils. For example, a study into the historical chronology of crime and punishment may be assessed through a mock court trial whilst a study of European geography may be more suited to a non-chronological report. Where oral and creative assessment pieces are used, videos and images are captured. Assessments are used to inform class teachers assessment against the knowledge paths and skills ladders. Knowledge and skills are highlighted in pink in the cohort’s curriculum folder to indicate that the majority of pupils demonstrated a good level of understanding.

Our whole school curriculum maps outlines the key learning in each year group for each subject:

You can read more about our curriculum procedures in our policy below. You can also view our curriculum rationale which details the reasoning and philosophy behind our decisions. 

At Westglade, we pride ourselves on our inclusive practise. We strive to make learning accessible for all learners. You can view our policies and procedures for supporting pupils with SEND accessing the curriculum by following the link below:

If you have any further questions you can speak to Mr Brown, who leads on the curriculum, or any member of staff.