Our curriculum is driven by the aim to prepare our children for lifelong learning. At Sparkenhoe, we offer a unique, bespoke and vibrant curriculum which is ambitious for all children.
Curriculum Rationale
Most children start our school with well below national average levels in all areas and many come from homes classified as deprived, with little opportunity for life experiences outside of the local area. Taking this into consideration, we developed our curriculum to suit the needs of the children and enhance their life experiences, exposing them to a wide range of topics and at the same time teaching the basic skills and oracy skills needed to unlock learning. The curriculum is adaptable, flexible and reviewed regularly to ensure that all children, including those with SEND, are able to access and make good progress.
Through our curriculum, we develop the essential knowledge, skills and understanding to give our children the grounding needed to succeed at secondary school, enable them to make informed choices about future career decisions and make a positive contribution to British society.
Our curriculum is cohesive and engaging with explicit, purposeful and relevant outcomes for learning which give it context. It is designed to broaden the horizons of our children and expose them to a wealth of experiences and opportunities. Meaningful links to previous learning and between different subjects, our school values, British values and the wider world enable children to make connections.
Curriculum Organisation
Planning within our Early Years Foundation Stage follows the Early Years Framework and Development Matters Guidance and incorporates a mixture of play-based, adult-led and child-initiated learning opportunities. See the Foundation Stage page for further details.
In Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, children are taught the full range of National Curriculum subjects. Some subjects are combined into Topic Units and others are taught discretely. Within these, links across subjects are made where relevant.
The Topic Units are comprised of Art, Design and Technology, History and Geography. Topics have been planned with the children’s needs at the forefront, ensuring that the local community plays a part alongside the wider world.
Science, Computing, French, P.E, Music. PSHE and R.E. are taught discretely and where relevant have an outcome either linked to a Topic Unit or one of the other discrete subjects.
We have split the National curriculum objectives into progressive objectives, sequenced over the year groups. These are planned into the various units and tracked to ensure that over the course of all key stages, all the objectives are covered. Every unit has a rationale, which explains the content and point of the unit as well as a statement which highlights how previous learning has led to and relates to this work. This includes movement from Foundation 1 and 2 top Key Stage 1. This ensures that the teaching is progressive across the school, from Nursery to Year 6.
The curriculum further enriched by a programme of educational trips and experiences or visits from outside experts to add excitement, enthusiasm and memorable experiences. These motivate, inspire and give practical learning opportunities to bring subjects to life and allow children to contextualise their learning.
A culture of Oracy has been strongly instilled across the curriculum for all children. Children participate in a variety of activities in lessons which are carefully curated to ensure that high-quality talk is the outcome. Through these activities and teacher modelling, children are taught how to become confident, eloquent speakers who are able to adapt their tone and formality according to their audience. Children are also taught how to become effective listeners. All children’s voices matter and therefore children are regularly invited to express their thoughts and opinions on a wide array of topics.
In the Foundation Stage and in both Key Stages PSHE pervades all that we do. In every Topic Unit children tackle a topical, and often contentious, issue related to the wider world. For example, in the Year 2 Wonders of the World unit, the children discuss whether we should limit tourism, while Year 6, during their World War unit, examine whether war is ever justified. Every week the children throughout the school attend a PSHE themed assembly and PSHE is built into daily school life through our school values, awards systems and everyday practice.
Outcomes
Our curriculum allows children to make connections in their knowledge, skills and understanding which are vital across all subjects. We intend that our children will be fully prepared for their next stage of education and ready to contribute positively to society as a whole.
By the time children leave Sparkenhoe, attainment in core and foundation subjects is in line with or exceeding age-related expectations. End of Key Stage 2 outcomes are consistently in line with or above national comparators for all groups of pupils.
Our work on promoting social skills, including values, resilience and well-being enables the children to continue to engage with learning and make choices that offer them the best outcomes in the future.
For details of assessment at Sparkenhoe, click the link for the Assessment Policy.
Assessment Policy