Curriculum
Our curriculum aims to:
- Provide a dynamic, broad and balanced education for all pupils.
- Our curriculum is progressive and allows pupils to build on their knowledge and skills year on year in all subject areas.
- Enable pupils to develop knowledge, widen vocabulary, understand concepts and acquire skills, and be able to choose and apply these in relevant situations.
- Support pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
- We prioritise outdoor activities and outdoor play, children work outdoors whenever possible to support learning from Nursery to Year Six.
- Support pupils’ physical development and responsibility for their own health, and enable them to be active.
- Promote a positive attitude towards learning and support the pupils to become resilient, independent learners.
- Ensure equal access to learning, with high expectations for every pupil and appropriate levels of challenge and support.
The English Curriculum and Maths Curriculum Y1 to Y6
Wets Park School follow detailed progression documents based on Ad Astra Trust principles and the National Curriculum.
The National Curriculum for English and Maths can be accessed below:
National curriculum in England: English
National curriculum in England: Maths
Reading and Phonics
Sounds-Write
What is Sounds-Write?
At our school, we teach phonics using a linguistic phonics programme called Sounds-Write – a proven Systematic Synthetic Phonics programme validated by the Department for Education (DfE). It is based on the science of reading and provides a structured, cumulative, and code-oriented approach to teaching reading and spelling. It starts with what children learn naturally, the sounds of their own language, and teaches them to represent those sounds in writing. Sounds-Write is a complete phonics curriculum that teaches the skills, concepts, and code knowledge necessary for children to read and spell.
Initial Code and Extended Code
In Reception, children are taught the ‘Initial Code’ in daily phonics lessons. In Year 1 and 2, children are taught the ’Extended Code’ in daily phonics lessons. Every two weeks or so, we’ll begin a new unit and build the new sounds into what we have already introduced. We always talk about ‘sounds’, so please help by using sounds with your child rather than letter names. We also use precise language. For example, we say that letters ‘spell’ or ‘represent’ sounds rather than ‘make’ or ‘say’ sounds. To begin with, children are taught to segment, blend and manipulate sounds in two- and three-sound words, such as ‘mat’. Later, they are also taught that some spellings can be written with two of the same letter (e.g. < ll >) in words such as ‘fill’. After this, children begin to read and spell words with more than three sounds. They also learn that some sounds can be written with two different letters (e.g. < sh >) and sounds can be represented by more than one spelling (e.g. /ch/ can be spelt as < ch > in ‘church’ and as < tch > in ‘watch’).
Children have a 30-minute Sounds-Write session every day. Some children require more time and practice when learning to read and spell, and provision is made for © Sounds-Write Sounds-Write a guide for parents 06.2023 3 them through ‘keep-up’ and ‘catch-up’ intervention sessions in addition to the whole class phonics sessions.
Saying the sounds
We want your child to learn that letters are symbols that represent sounds. When they see the letters < m > < a > < t >, we want them to say and hear the sounds /m/ /a/ /t/ and then blend those sounds to say and hear the word ‘mat’. Your child needs to say the sounds aloud and listen to hear the word. They need to learn to say the sounds very carefully – this means saying /m/ and not ‘muh’ when they see the spelling < m >. You can help your child by modelling the correct way to say the sounds. You may want to watch this video to see how your child will be learning to say the sounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8ZMfYjdN-s
Writing the spellings of sounds
After your child has said the sounds and read the word, ask them to write the word saying each sound as they do this. You can model doing this when you write a word, too.
Reading with your child
When you are sharing a book with your child, do all of the things you would usually do when reading for enjoyment, such as talking about the story, discussing the characters, predicting what is going to happen next and so on. Supporting your child with reading practice is the best way to help them learn and grow in confidence as a reader. Your child will have specific reading books (‘decodable books’’) to help them practise at home. Encourage your child to say the sounds and listen for the word when they are reading these books. If your child needs some help when they are reading you can: • Encourage them to use their finger under the word from left to right. • Ask them to ‘say the sounds and read the word’. • Tell them to ‘listen’ for the word as they say the sounds. • If they need more help, tell them the sounds in the word and ask them to listen and blend them to say the whole word.
A free course for parents/carers
We encourage all parents/carers to access the free Sounds-Write online course so that they are well informed about how best to support their children with reading and spelling at home. Please visit: https://sounds-write.co.uk/support-for-parents-and-carers/ for more information.
Whole School Curriculum
See below for our most recent newsletters with the overview of this terms curriculum:
The Quality of our Curriculum
Intent
West Park School adopts a thematic approach when planning our broad and balanced curriculum. The Early Years Phase follows the Foundation Stage Profile but also plans a theme for each half term. The Y1/2, Y3/4 and Y5/6 Phase have developed their own theme-based two-year rolling programme. The two-year rolling programme has six terms, each term has a theme and a non-theme based curriculum.
In addition to the theme-based topic webs, agreed knowledge and vocabulary will be planned into each unit for individual subject areas.
Implementation
Each Phase plans for the delivery of high quality lessons. A variety of resources are used including:
- Activities based on staff interests and expertise
- Access to Educational Visits
- Planned activities using internet-based resources
- Visitors to school
- Opportunities for outdoor learning
Subject coordinators monitor and evaluate the teaching of their subject area to ensure suitable development of skills, vocabulary and knowledge.
Impact
Each unit of work is assessed termly.
Our annual report to parents provides details of individual pupil attainment across all areas of our curriculum.
Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development
West Park School is committed to the well-being and personal development of its pupils. This is reflected in the curriculum and priorities within the annual School Improvement Plan. Priorities include:
- Health and Well-Being
- Relationship and Sex Education
- School and British Values
- SMSC (Social, Moral, Spiritual, Cultural)
Inclusion
Teachers set high expectations for all pupils. They will use appropriate assessment to set ambitious targets and plan challenging work for all groups, including:
- More able pupils
- Pupils with low prior attainment
- Pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds
- Pupils with SEND
- Pupils with English as an additional language (EAL)
Teachers will plan lessons so that pupils with SEND and/or disabilities can study every National Curriculum subject, wherever possible, and ensure that there are no barriers to every pupil achieving.
Teachers will also take account of the needs of pupils whose first language is not English. Lessons will be planned so that teaching opportunities help pupils to develop their English, and to support pupils to take part in all subjects.