Curriculum

Our Curriculum

We are excited to deliver an ambitious, purposeful and inspirational curriculum to our children through Cornerstones Curriculum Maestro.

There are a range of ‘Imaginative Learning Projects’, ‘Knowledge Rich Projects’ and ‘Companion Projects’ where children are given opportunities to solve problems, apply themselves creatively and express knowledge and understanding across the curriculum. From Nursery to Year 6, children experience a wide range of aspirational subject-led projects which are broad and balanced. Deep learning is planned alongside spaced practice and opportunities for retrieval carefully mapped across the whole curriculum.

Cornerstones is underpinned by a robust knowledge and skills framework that builds on the national curriculum programme of study and breaks all subjects down into sequenced chunks of skills and knowledge. Curriculum projects are carefully sequenced and interconnected to support children’s learning over time.

As a school, we are enthusiastic and share our own love of learning, whilst equipping children with the cultural capital they need to become life-long learners.

In Nursery, children are visited by dinosaurs as part of their ‘Dangerous Dinosaurs’ project, and in Reception, children visit a local farm to learn where their food comes from and what plants and animals need to grow in their project ‘Ready Steady Grow’.

In Year 1, children experience different animals from Zoolab and as part of their ‘Childhood’ project, explore colour mixing by creating artwork inspired by Piet Mondrian. In Year 2, children are visited by Safety Seymour when learning about road safety, alongside a visit to local Kenilworth Castle as part of their ‘Magnificent Monarchs’ project and a dress up day!

In Y3, the main project ‘Emperors and Empires’ involves a trip to a Roman fort, with equal importance placed on foundation subjects such as RE with a trip to the Gurdwara when learning about Sikhism. The Wider Strings Ensemble enables every child in Year 3 to participate in whole class music lessons with music school specialists resulting in a spectacular end of year performance.

In Year 4, children visit Ingestre Hall (residential) for three days to participate in art activities, and in Year 6 children spend the week (residential) in the Isle of Wight with adventurous activities accessible for all.

In Year 4, children study the Anglo-Saxons with an exciting Invasion Day workshop to start their project, and later in the year study the Egyptian’s in their ‘Ancient Civilisations’ project with external visitors delivering workshops.

In Year 5, ‘Groundbreaking Greeks’ makes way for a workshop learning about Greek Gods, whilst later in the year children learn key cycling skills when completing their Bikeability on the roads. In Year 6, children participate in an African drumming workshop when studying Maafa and listen to Windrush speakers. Their project Frozen Kingdoms also encourages children to learn about worldwide causes and consequences.

Each individual project is split into four cornerstones of learning:         

Engage, Develop, Innovate and Express.

THE FOUR CORNERSTONES

Further information about Cornerstones, can be found here: www.cornerstoneseducation.co.uk

Subject Specific

The following subjects are supported and taught using subject specific resources and schemes including:

Maths – White Rose Premium

PSHE – Jigsaw

Music – Charanga Music

Computing – Barefoot (linked into the Cornerstones Curriculum)

PE – Under revision

Computing, French Language, Swimming and Games are taught by specialist teachers in fortnightly sessions from Reception to Year 6; French is taught from Year 2 onwards. All children in Year 1 to Year 6 receive weekly PE lessons in gym, games or dance, with children in Reception receiving fortnightly lessons alongside swimming.

Phonics – Little Wandle

We place a large emphasis on the love of reading and reading for pleasure, as it is a skill that allows access to all areas of learning. Reading is taught through a systematic delivery of synthetic phonics using Little Wandle: Letters and Sounds. This is started as soon as the children enter Reception and once assessments are completed, children are placed within learning groups of equal ability to ensure targeted lessons can take place. This allows children to make rapid progress in being able to decode words through segmenting sounds and blending. From Reception to Year 6, children take part in both guided and individual reading with the class teacher.

Extra- Curricular

Children are offered an extensive range of extra-curricular opportunities, such as:

• School Council (Y2-6)

• Eco-Ambassadors (Y2-6)

• Literacy Leaders (Y6/2)

• Football (Y3/4 and Y5/6 Girls, Y3/4 and Y5/6

  with Boys and Squad training for boys and girls)

• Cross-country Boys and Girls (Y5/6)

• Netball (Y5/6) and Netball skills training

• Swim Squad training

• Land training

• Dive training

• Tap Dancing

• Top Trumps

• Cross stitch

• Homework

• Lego

• Art Club

• Olympic Times Tables

• KS1 and KS2 Choir leading to Young Voices

• Radio Club

• Computing Club

• Digital Leaders

• Sports Leaders

• French Club … and many more!