Curriculum Intent:

Our school ethos is at the heart of all that we do:  we want our children to be motivated to learn, to
persevere and to recognise their own successes in a variety of contexts (M+P=S). Furthermore, we want our pupils to be great communicators and enthusiastic collaborators but, above all else, to be respectful citizens of the world. Our curriculum is designed to ensure our children are proud of their own heritage and culture (British Values) but also has an intercultural and international perspective because we believe that we can achieve more by coming together rather than staying apart.

Our Methley Magic FIVE: motivation, perseverance, respect, communication, collaboration

Motivation:

We believe that childhood should be a fun, investigative and enquiring time in our lives where there
are no limits to curiosity and there is a thirst for new experiences and knowledge. We deliver an enriched, inclusive curriculum filled with cultural experiences and opportunities

Our pupils are self-motivated. We encourage our pupils to be aspirational and have big dreams. We show them the possibilities through our aspirations weeks and encourage them to set themselves targets. Our curriculum explains the relevance of the knowledge, skills and understanding the children are developing and the opportunities available to them in later life.

So that our children are life-long learners, learning to learn is also a key part of our curriculum.

Perseverance:

Our curriculum is designed to include challenges that encourage our pupils to persevere. They understand that to FAIL is a First Attempt in Learning. They will experience the pleasure of ‘desirable difficulty’.

Success:

We want to give our pupils every opportunity to be successful and so we have developed a curriculum, based on the National Curriculum, which has clearly sequenced content and stages of progression. Our curriculum is designed to support sustained mastery in all areas and is responsive to what they need. Our approach allows children to create schema that they frequently return to and build on what they already know.

At the heart of our curriculum is vocabulary development and intrinsic to that- reading. Simply put: knowing more words makes you smarter!

 Implementation:

The curriculum is organised into themes where related content is taught under one topic. The subjects covered within the themes are History, Geography, DT, Art and Design and sometimes, Science. This encourages children to see that subjects can be both independent and interdependent.

Themes start with the Entry Point to ‘hook’ in children’s interest and get them thinking about what the learning that will follow. After the Entry Point we find out what the children already know about theme with the Knowledge Harvest. This is so we can personalise the learning to the needs and interest of the children and reinforce connections between prior and new learning. The Big Picture of learning is then explained so the connections in the learning can be clearly seen. The children then take part in a series of Research and Recording Activities for each subject area covered in the theme. Reading is a key element, allowing the children to ‘Read to Learn’ and giving them access to subject specific vocabulary. Children engage in a wide variety of experiential and exploratory activities including visits out of school and visitors to school. This also includes working collaboratively. Children are encouraged to record their learning in a variety of ways including art work, maps, graphs, music, writing and drama. The learning concludes with the Exit Point. This helps children to draw on their prior learning, reminding them of all the connections between subjects that they have made, and creates time and opportunities to consolidate learning, and to reflect on this individually and as a group. The exit point is an excellent chance for us to engage with parents and carers, involving them in celebrating the learning that has been achieved.

Should you wish to know any more information about any aspect of our curriculum, please contact your child's class teacher.

For information about our curriculum, please email: [email protected]