THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM It is the aim of this school to make the individual as articulate, literate and numerate as possible; to foster the acquisition of knowledge and skills and to develop an aesthetic awareness. We hope to develop the school environment to give children the opportunity to use their acquired skills and knowledge and encourage them to look, ask questions and think. We want the school to be a place where children will want to come and learn and learning to be an experience they will want to retain throughout their lives. We endeavour to inculcate a good all round caring attitude. The school has a Personal, Social and Moral Policy and every attempt is made to encourage children to be positive and considerate social beings. All children will follow the four core subjects of English, Maths, Science and ICT and the five foundation subjects of Music, Physical Education, Art, History and Geography. All subjects of the National Curriculum will be planned well in advance by the staff to provide a balance and breadth of experience and the opportunity to allocate sufficient time to each area throughout each academic year to cover the work programmes. In addition to these subjects, the children will be instructed in Religious and Multicultural Education. Throughout the curriculum, opportunities will be provided for equal opportunities, a personal, moral and social awareness, special educational provisions and information technology. All subject areas will be taught within the context of the Devon Curriculum Statement as approved by the Governors of the school. For the majority of the time, all aspects of the curriculum will be taught through a cross-curricular thematic approach. THE FOUNDATION STAGE Children enter school in the second year of the Foundation Stage and with a wide range of different experiences. In the reception class we will build on these to encourage; confidence, social skills, ability to communicate and independence. Children will be given the opportunity to develop through structured play activities and by using a wide range of learning strategies to help them progress. The Foundation Curriculum covers six areas of learning: The children’s learning and development is planned around the Early Learning Goals and in turn these link in with Numeracy and Literacy Strategies which help with a smooth transition into Key Stage 1. CORE SUBJECTS
ENGLISH During Key Stage 1 pupils learn to speak confidently and listen to what others have to say. They begin to read and write independently and with enthusiasm. They use language to explore their own experiences and imaginary worlds. The pupils’ interest and pleasure in reading is developed as they learn to read confidently and independently. They focus on words and sentences and how they fit into whole texts. They work out the meaning of straightforward texts and express preferences. They learn to communicate meaning in narrative and non-fiction texts and begin to spell and punctuate correctly. During Key Stage 2 pupils learn to change the way they speak and write to suit different situations, purposes and audiences. They read a range of texts and respond to different layers of meaning in them. They explore the use of language in literary and non-literary texts and learn how language works. They are encouraged to read enthusiastically a range of materials and use their knowledge of words, sentences and texts to understand and respond to meaning. They increase their ability to read challenging and lengthy texts independently. They reflect on the meaning of texts, analysing them and discussing them with others. They develop understanding that writing is both essential to thinking and learning, and enjoyable in its own right. They learn the main rules and conventions of written English and start to explore how English can be used to express meaning in different ways. They use the planning, drafting and editing process to improve their work and to sustain their fiction and non-fiction writing. MATHEMATICS The teachers at Seaton Primary School, through the Abacus Maths programme, follow a detailed plan to cover the teaching objectives in the framework for teaching Mathematics. The Abacus Maths scheme has been designed and written from the start to follow the same approach used to teach Mathematics as that of the National Numeracy Strategy. It is based on the following principles: Each Mathematics lesson taught at the school has a three-part structure: The mental/oral starter: Main teaching activity: Plenary: The three-part structure is of course flexible and is designed to accommodate different teaching styles as well as differences in organisation, situations and content. Homework that is set by the teachers should encourage children to share Mathematics activities with parents. The proportion of independent homework will increase as the children get older. SCIENCE The school is well resourced and we follow a two-year rolling programme in each of the parallel year groups: Year 1 and 2; year 3 and 4; year 5 and 6. The reception classes follow the foundation stage curriculum and study areas from “knowledge and understanding of the world.” The two-year rolling programme ensures that over two years all children cover several units of work but not always in the same order. During Key Stage 1 pupils observe, explore and ask questions about living things, materials and phenomena. They begin to work together to collect evidence to help them answer questions and to link this to simple scientific ideas. They evaluate evidence and consider whether tests or comparisons are fair. They use reference materials to find out more about scientific ideas. They share their ideas and communicate them using scientific language, drawings, charts and tables. During Key Stage 2 pupils learn about a wider range of living things, materials and phenomena. They begin to make links between ideas and to explain things using simple models and theories. They apply their knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas to familiar phenomena, everyday things and their personal health. They begin to think about the positive and negative effects of scientific and technological developments on the environment and in other contexts. They carry out more systematic investigations, working on their own and with others. They use a range of reference sources in their work. They talk about their work and its significance, and communicate ideas using language, conventional diagrams, charts and graphs. ICT The ability to use Information Communication Technology effectively is a vital life skill in modern society. We interpret the term ICT to include the use of any equipment, which allows users to communicate or manipulate information electronically. It is an important curriculum requirement and fits into a broad spectrum of the National Curriculum. It will primarily involve the use of computers within the school day. Every pupil has easy access to a computer, either within a class, at a base of three computers, or in the computer suite containing 16 workstations. However, ICT will also include the use of programmable toys, calculators, electronic monitoring sensors and keyboards, audio and video recorders, and digital cameras. |
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