St. Peter's C.E. Primary School, Ashton

St Peter's CE Primary School Curriculum

As a Church of England Primary School we ensure that the teaching of Christian Values is embedded throughout our curriculum and an integral part of our school day where we are 'Growing and Learning' together.

Personalising learning is a fundamental aspect of learning and teaching at St. Peter’s.  We aspire children to strive to do the best that they can do and approach their learning in a manner that is best for their unique selves.

Alongside our exciting curriculum: we organise whole school enrichment weeks including:  Feel Good Week (Mental Health and Fitness), Anti - Bullying, Spirituality Week (RE/DT), Aspirations Week (PSHE/RE), Courageous Advocacy Week and Book Week.

 

Our St.Peter's Curriculum

INTENT: At St. Peter’s we teach a broad and balanced curriculum which prepares our pupils for life in a modern world.  We use a  ‘Book Led’ approach to teach discrete subjects; drawing on exciting texts and using our progressive plans to direct and shape content. Within this, we also consider children’s curiosities, cultural capital needs and subject specific vocabulary. A focus on a broader curriculum gives children more opportunities to excel and fulfil their potential. Subject leaders have worked closely alongside the Early Years lead to design curriculum plans that will build on from the foundation skills of the Early Years framework. 

IMPLEMENTATION: In designing the curriculum, teachers ‘hook’ the pupils into a topic through a key question and subsequent Design and Technology 'Wow day’ and/or trip or visitor.  Each classroom has a 'Doorway to Learning' which is linked to their curriculum area of study to encourage the children to become immersed in their learning.  Geography and History topics are mapped out using a series of descriptors, which identify the curriculum coverage, introduction of vocabulary and activity suggestions tailored to reflect our pupils and the wider community. This coverage is then adapted by the teachers to ensure they meet the learning needs of all pupils.  

Within Art and DT, children are encouraged to use a wide variety of tools and materials for drawing, painting and creating imaginative and observational three dimensional work. As well as developing their own style they look at the work of other artists and explore the use of their techniques and media. It is important that children are taught how to select and look after a range of different materials. We believe Technology to be a vital component of the curriculum. Not only does it give children the opportunity to develop design and construction skills but it also draws on and enhances learning in other areas of the curriculum and develops problem solving skills.

Within Computing, we are using a progressive scheme of work which is innovative and creative. The scheme develops pupils' computing skills across and within a creative curriculum and uses software that is familiar to the teachers and children. The aim is to provide the children with up to date computing skills, including coding, that can be used at home or in the future. The children will use both Ipads and laptops to develop their skills.

IMPACT: Teachers assess against subject specific assessments. These vary between termly and half-termly are discussed in pupil progress meetings. Foundation subjects such as geography and history are assessed at the end of each topic using tailored quizzes and then 'signed off' on end of year assessment. Art & DT is assessed through regular moderation and feedback. The subject lead collects examples of sketch book work from WTS, EXP and GD pupils from each year to monitor coverage, assess skills against descriptors and to ensure the challenge of pupils in this area of study. These sketch books follow the children from year to year to show their journey. Spanish, PE, Computing  & Music are assessed using progressive half-termly descriptors and monitored by subject leaders. 

English, Mathematics and Science are mostly taught in discrete sessions, however good use is made of cross-curricular opportunities to read, write and apply mathematical knowledge.  Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development is promoted through everything we do.  The personal development of pupils plays a significant part in their ability to learn and achieve. Development in both these areas is essential to raising standards of attainment for all pupils

To find the content of the curriculum for each academic year, please access our Subject Curriculum Plans.

English:

INTENT: English is an extremely important part of the curriculum and a permanent feature in society.  This part of our children's learning at St Peter's is delivered to a high standard to ensure pupils can use speech clearly and effectively; read with confidence and express themselves through writing and use their listening skills to communicate with others.  English is taught everyday through a combination of daily writing lessons; daily guided reading sessions; timetabled handwriting and spelling sessions to encourage the best curriculum coverage and grow pupil confidence in their own English abilities.

IMPLEMENTATION (Writing): We have introduced a new writing planning and assessment procedure in 2018 to ensure a consistent approach to teaching writing across school and further raise our high standards in writing. Writing is also encouraged across other subjects and we are actively promoting scientific and wider curriculum writing. A unit of writing from Year 2 to Year 6 (slight adjustments for Year 1) is taught through a unit journey consisting of the following steps: un-picking the chosen text for grammar and genre features and to understand the text's purpose and audience alongside reading the chosen text for further understanding and language enrichment; talk for writing to immerse pupils further in their writing journey; planning for writing; grammar for writing to teach and practice year group appropriate skills; shared/ind writing followed by the editing process. This journey takes 2-3 weeks for each child to complete.and is customised in this scaffolded mannor to provide our St Peter's pupils with the best chance in accessing the curriculum. 

Spelling is taught in Years 2 to 6 (Reception and Year 1 use RWI)  using a Rising Stars scheme of work. Spelling is taught for 15 minutes three days a week. Each week covers a different year group specific spelling objective that follows a teaching pattern of teach, practice and apply. This ensures year group appropriate spellings are taughts in a progressive manner. Spelling homework is sent home weekly via PING to consolidate the spelling sequence of the week and these are then tested weekly. 

Handwriting is taught at the begining of every morning during registration. Pupils will be practising their ability to write with joined writing for longer periods of time in preparation for their assessed pieces of writing in accordance with the national curriculum expectations. Within the EYFS, our pupils focus on gross and fine motor control, a recognition of pattern and shapes and movements so that they develop a legible, fluent and fast handwriting style.

IMPACT: Writing assessment is teacher assessed using the year group tailored national curriculum writing objectives measured against the writing outcome of each pupil to gather enough evidence to justify judgements against age related expectations.These written assessments are conducted at least twice a half term and shared with the english lead. Internal moderation takes place throughout the year to quality assure judgements. 

Reading

INTENT: Reading is promoted across school within all areas of learning.. This includes all areas of EYFS provision and also our KS1 library and reading areas, KS2 library and reading areas and our reading corridor. Reading is embedded heavilty throughout the writing process through our book-led learning and within cross-curricular subjects. Books have been specifically mapped to each year group to be fully utilised and celebrated within all areas of learning. These books have been progressively mapped to ensure progression of reading skills and expsure to new content and language. 

IMPLEMENTATION: Phonics and Guided Reading in EYFS and KS1 are combined using the RWI programme detailed below to ensure phonic development and decoding are closely linked.

Guided Reading in KS2 takes place 4 times a week using a St Peter's tailored sequence of learning. This sequence is tailored to the needs of our pupils vocabulary deficit therefore each session has a language rich focus. The first session unpicks Tier 2 (high-level) words from a chosen book-led text and then encourages the pupils to manipulate these words in different contexts by finding synonyms/antonyms and using them in different sentences, the second session focuses on one reading comprehension skill  (that has been mapped per year group) and the third session focuses on multiple reading skills followed by a final session of Reading for Pleasure whereby pupils cover the reading for pleasure objectives in the curriculum and allow time for free-read and free choice sessions.

Identifying the need for some of our pupils to have futher practice to help infer meaning from texts, in 2018 we implemented the More Reading and More Thinking Inference programme for our border line reading pupils from Years 3 to 6. These are then changed depending on their progress each term. 

We actively promote the love of reading through close links with our local library and our involvements with community reading projects alongside celebrating the importance of reading through the gifting of books, allowing our pupils to be involved in the choosing and trialling of new books and providing pupils with a reading voice through the Library Committee. 

IMPACT: Reading skills are assessed continuously through formative teacher assessment within guided reading sessions and at the end of each term using the  NTS Reading Assessment material. These then inform further intervention and tailored teaching for the following term. The profile of reading has been promoted confiderably throughtout school which has empowered our pupils to become independent free-thinking readers. 

SHINE READING

Forming part of the recovery curriculum post-COVID-19 in 2020, and with the anticipation of gaps in the knowledge of our pupils we implemented a Rising Stars intervention scheme for reading and maths. This programme identifies the knowledge gaps of pupils, who performed lower than the expected score in their termly NTS tests and then creates a tailored scheme of work to plug the gaps of knowledge between assessments. The reading material focuses on heavy modelling of focus comprehension skills followed by independent practice and then a final vocabulary focus. We feel confident that this will help boost the progress of our pupils and cater to their needs. 

Phonics and Early Reading:

INTENT: Learning to read is the most important thing your child will learn at our school. Everything else depends on it, so we put as much energy as we possibly can into making sure that every single child learns to read as quickly as possible.  We want your child to love reading – and to want to read for themselves. This is why we put our efforts into making sure they develop a love of books as well as simply learning to read. At St. Peter’s CE we use Read Write Inc Phonics/Reading. Read, Write Inc. has 5 underlying principles – the five Ps:

1. PACE – no time is wasted during teaching sessions! Children are active and involved in a fun and creative way. The aim is for the children to complete the programme as quickly as possible.

2. PRAISE – teachers praise the children constantly throughout the teaching sessions. Children learn more quickly when they are praised for what they do well, rather than nagged for what they do wrong. The children are encouraged to praise each other and as a school we have developed several ‘Praise Phrases’ and ‘Praise actions’. Ask your child to demonstrate!

3. PURPOSE – each activity has a very clear purpose. The teacher will set this purpose at the beginning of the lesson so that the children know exactly what they will be learning.

4. PARTICIPATION – all children take part in all parts of the lesson. Full participation is gained through partner work and choral response.

5. PASSION – as a staff we are passionate about our teaching and the benefits of the Read, Write Inc. programme! We love teaching the sessions and this enthusiasm rubs off onto the children.

IMPLEMENTATION: Read, Write Inc is a tried and tested, highly successful phonics programme for children aged 4 to 7 who are learning to read and write. It teaches children how to both decode and understand written language to become confident and enthusiastic readers and writers. This is achieved by a dynamic approach to teaching phonics that is consistent across the school using the Read, Write Inc phonics resources and fully decodable reading books. Children are grouped according to their ability in Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 to ensure that teaching is matched to their level. Phonics in Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 takes place on a daily basis. Children in Key Stage 2 that still require phonics teaching, continue with a specially tailored programme (RWInc) to meet their individual needs.   Shared Reading forms part of the daily phonics lessons and is led by the reading teachers. All texts are linked to the child's phonic ability. Children enjoy one focus text per week and learning activities support accurate and fluent reading to facilitate comprehension. In addition, children take fully decodable reading books home to further practise skills learnt at school. These books are matched to each child's phonics ability and are closly monitored by the reading teachers to ensure that children are reading books of an appropriate level. Each child visits the school library every week to select a book of their choice to share at home. 

We start by teaching phonics to the children in the Reception class. This means that they learn how to ‘read’ the (Phonemes) sounds in words and how those sounds can be written down (Graphemes). This is essential for reading, but it also helps children learn to spell well.  We teach the children simple ways of remembering these sounds and letters. Once the children have learnt to blend accurately, they start to read with fluency. This is achieved through speedy reading of individual words and repeated reads of their shared reading books. 'Tricky words' such as 'once' 'said' 'the' are not phonetically decodable and these are taught explicitly as part of the reading session.  To develop the child's love of stories, we have dedicated story time, across all Key Stages, daily. The teachers read to the children so that they get to know a variety of stories, poetry and information books. They acquire new vocabulary through our word aware teaching, which focuses on embedding new words into their authographic memory. 

Children who join the School throughout the year are quickly assessed in phonics and put in the correct group according to their phonics ability. Children progress from Read Write Inc. Phonics to the Read Write Inc. Spelling in year 2 upwards throughout the school. A dedicated spelling session is taought daily.  SEN pupils are fully involved in Read Write Inc lessons as children work in groups with others who at their level. Teaching is geared to the speed of progress of each group. Additional 1:1 tuition may take place, but this will be identified by teachers in conjunction with the Read Write Leader.  Children significantly below expected attainment are regularly assessed to support progression.  Children are assessed throughout every lesson through teacher observation. Teachers assess how children: Recognise and say the sounds, Read the green and red word lists , Decode the ditty/story and vomprehend the story .

IMPACT: The Read Write Inc Manager: Assesses all children on the programme and designates pupils to the correct groups. ‘Drops in’ on Read Write Inc groups to give advice and informally check that pupils are in the correct groups. Where necessary models lessons.  Speaks with the Senior Leadership Team and English Team regarding groupings, teaching spaces and other pertinent matters.  Liaises when necessary with Emma Griffiths (Read Write Inc representative) and the Lacey Green English Hub.

Please visit the parents section of our website for videos and support so that you can help your child at home.  Please also see our School Twitter and Half Termly Newsletter for updates on parent/carer workshops.

Maths

INTENT: At St Peter’s, following a mastery approach to teaching maths, we strongly believe that the study of mathematics should be ‘real’ and meaningful; provoking questioning, reasoning and enabling children to develop problem solving skills. This starts when they join our Early Years  and continues on their journey throughout our school. All staff encourage children to ask as well as answer mathematical questions.

IMPLEMENTATION: This academic year, we have introduced the DfE approved, Power Maths scheme across school from Reception to Year 6. At the heart of Power Maths is a lesson sequence designed to empower children to understand core concepts, develop their growth mindset and confidence in approaching Maths. Every lesson is split into 6 sections which provides structure and consistency across school.

1. Power Up: each lesson starts with a Power Up activity which supports fluency in key number facts and reinforces key skills such as times-tables, number bonds and working with place value. 

2. Discover: a real-life scenario is provided to arouse the children's curiosity. During this part of the session, children often work in pairs using concrete objects to explore, play and discuss possibe strategies they could use. 

3. Share: teacher-led, this interactive part of the lesson is used to highlight the variety of methods that can be used to solve a single problem. Structures and representations are used to link concrete and pictorial to abstract concepts.

4. Think together: There are 4 questions in this setion, The teacher models how to answer Question 1 for the class. Question 2 is less structured and children think together in pairs or small groups sharing methods and solutions. Questions 3 and 4, the children try working out the answers independently. The openess of the challenge question helps to check their depth of understanding. 

5. Practice: using their Practice Books, the children work independently, the questions follow small steps of progression to deepen learning. According to the needs of the class, the teacher and teaching assistant circulate to support and check on progress or can pull together children who are struggling and work as a group using mathematical structures and representations to suport understanding as necessary.

6. Reflect: In this section, various approches like 'Spot the mistake' questions are used to check misconceptions and are an opportunity to check how deeply children understand the target concept.

At St Peter's. we place a great emphasis on children understanding and explaining the mathematics they are working on and using and applying this knowledge in other areas of Maths learning to enable our children to become competent and confident Mathematicians. 

Children from Year One upwards, take part in weekly Mental Maths Tests which develop their mental arithmetic skills and four 1 hour Maths lessons a week. During these lessons the children have the opportunity to use a wide range of practical resources such as number lines, number squares, digit cards and place value counters to support and extend their learning. 

Times Tables: 

We use Times Tables Rockstars as a system for developing children's times tables skills, knowledge, speed and accuracy. All children from Year 2 upwards are issued with log-ins to a personal account that can be used at home and school. During the Summer Term, Times Tables Rockstars is gradually introduced to Year One children. 

Children are expected to use Times Tables Rockstars at home for 5-10 minute sessions at least 3 times a week. In all classes from Year 3 upwards, each class has a Times Tables Rockstars Lunchtime Club one day a week.

Once a year, we hold a 'Dress-up as a Rock Star' day to promote the use of TTR and host fun competitions such as Staff V children and girls V boys to raise the profile and keep children motivated to play regularly. We hold whole school and Key Stage Battles and we enter a yearly National Battle where children compete against other children around the country. Certificates are awarded in assembly each half term for different areas such as; most improved speed, improved accuracy rates and the classes with the highest percentage of children logging on and using Times Tables Rockstars regularly. Success is celebrated on a whole school display in the corridor.

During lockdown, we introduced the Numbots programme to boost number, addition and subtraction skills for children in EYFS and KS1. Children use the programme weekly in school and have log-ins to use at home to continue to develop their learning. Certificates and prizes are awarded termly in assembly for children as they make progress through the programme.

IMPACT: Maths skills are assessed continuously throughout every unit we teach and lessons are adapted accordingly to meet the children's needs. Every term in Maths, children are tested using the NTS assessment materials, this is used alongside teacher assessment to track progress and attainment across school.

SHINE MATHS

Forming part of the recovery curriculum post-COVID-19 in 2020, and with the anticipation of gaps in the knowledge of our pupils we implemented a Rising Stars intervention scheme for reading and maths. This programme identifies the knowledge gaps of pupils, who performed lower than the expected score in their termly NTS tests and then creates a tailored scheme of work to plug the gaps of knowledge between assessments. The maths material covers one area of learning over two weeks of 6 sessions. These sessions focus on plugging the gaps of one learning area but in multiple contexts and the followed by a final quiz to consolidate learning.

Science

INTENT: From our EYFS through with their indoor and outdoor investigation areas to Y6 Science lessons, we aim to build our pupils “enquiry fluency.” We want our children to ask scientific questions and begin to appreciate the way science will affect their future on a personal, national and global level. We worked very hard to achieve the Primary Science Quality Mark in 2020 and are taking part n the PSQM again this academic year, partially funded by The Ogden Trust.

Our Science vision is:

All pupils will become active scientists through practical experiences, modelled enquiry language and skills and clear links with other subjects. Use of our environment will stimulate our natural wonder at the world around us and our Science capital will grow through the high profile of Science at St Peter's. We are all scientists!

Our key priorities are:

*We focus on vocabulary

*We link with Maths

*Making links with our lives

*We use our space

*We build our enquiry skills

IMPLEMENTATION: All pupils are encouraged to carry out their own investigations and discover things for themselves. Science topics are introduced through our progressive curriculum and children are encouraged to find the answers to thought provoking learning challenges. We use PLAN (Pan London Assessment Network) materials to support planning and Whiz quizzes and TAPs "focussed assessments for working scientifically" for assessment. Teacher subject knowledge is secured through the use of ReachOut CPD and support from the Ogden Trust in Tameside. Each learning challenge is broken down to a topic related question and a working scientifically question. When carrying our comparative or fair testing experiments pupils use ‘Post it’ planning boards (KS2) and ‘Discovery Dog’ (KS1) to record their findings. Enquiry skills and English and Maths links are mapped out explicitly in long term planning, and cross-curricular work is common. Ongoing enrichment activities like science ambassadors, family workshops and visitors all help develop our science capital.

IMPACT: Classes have their own floor books and are encouraged to add pictures and reflections on practical experiments. Class teachers identify topic and working scientifically knowledge and skills aquired for target children as an ongoing and formative process. They also use their observations for termly data reporting. We moderate judgements using PLAN exemplars, both in school and with a local school network.

RE

INTENT: At St. Peter's, Religious Education is an important part of our curriculum. The curriculum underpins our Christian Values and the ethos of the school whilst also providing opportunities to learn about other faiths and their similarities and differences.

IMPLEMENTATION: Here at St Peter's, we follow the 'Questful RE' syllabus and use 'Understanding Christianity' as a supplement to aid the teaching and learning in order for the children to really have a solid grasp on the Christian Faith. Within that, there are plenty of opportunities in learning about other faiths and their similarities; these link with visits to other places of worship and experiences linked to different faiths. Through 'Understanding Christianity', the teachers and children refer to 'The Big Frieze' - a wall frieze to illustrate seven of the eight core concepts that are explored throughout the Understanding Christianity materials. Effectively, this presents a view of the ‘big story’ of the Bible – an artist’s response to the approach used in the Understanding Christianity materials. Reminding pupils regularly of where a particular text occurs within the ‘big story’, by pointing it out on the Frieze, helps to build up a coherent understanding of the core concepts and the relationship between them. Our children worked with our Artist Gillian Parish to produce their own versions of the Big Frieze.

IMPACT:  Teacher assessment is carried out at the end of each unit. Pupils thoughts, opinions and viewpoints are collected regularly through Worship Evaluations, reflection books, Picture News and our Weekly Mission.

PE

INTENT: At St. Peter's, we are passionate about sport and aim to instil a lifelong love of sport, physical activity and healthy living to ensure that children can lead healthy and happy lives. The benefits of sport are well known and supported by scientific research and show that sport and physical education can have a myriad of benefits for children in education. It is our intention to provide children with access to a range of sporting opportunities so that they can have the most successful primary school experience possible.

IMPLEMENTATION: We provide at least 2 hours of curriculum PE each week throughout the school year to ensure that children reap the benefits of physical education while also being enthused, motivated and engaged in lessons. In addition to this, we provide a range of after school clubs and activities for both KS1 & KS2 children to ensure that all children can try as many sports as possible. St Peter’s also provide opportunities for all member of our community to access sports they like and provides the necessary tools to ensure there are no barriers for children with disabilities or otherwise. We also participate in both local and wider community competitions to challenge children further whilst giving them a sense of achievement and belonging and also promoting cohesion within their local and wider communities. All of this is underpinned by high quality sports coaching from trained professionals to ensure that children achieve their full potential.

IMPACT: We assess and record children’s progress in PE on their journey through primary school by tracking each child in a cohort from their entry into St Peter’s to when they leave. This allow us to see the benefit of sport on these children and potentially its wider impact on their education as a whole.

PSHE, SRE and British Values

INTENT:At St Peter’s Primary School, PSHE, British Values and SRE interlink with the school’s Christian values : 1.To show love and care to others  2. To respect other people's beliefs or cultures    3. To try your best, be kind and helpful  4. To be honest in our relationships   5.To behave with patience and respect  6. To celebrate our achievements and hard work.

IMPLEMENTATION: British Values and SRE will not be delivered in isolation but firmly embedded in all curriculum areas, including Personal, Social Health Education (PSHE), science and our weekly missions.  Occasionally, appropriate and suitably experienced and/or knowledgeable visitors from outside school may be invited to contribute to the delivery of SRE in school.

Our Themes:

Autumn One – Your vote, make  it count! (Class Rules/Ethos Council Elections)

Autumn two – Choose Respect (Anti- Bullying/Remember Day)

Spring one –A better internet starts with you (E-Safety)

Spring two - Giving Back (Lent fundraising)

Summer one – Humans (SRE)

Summer Two – Ready, Set, Go (Transition)

IMPACT: Monitoring is carried out throughout the year. Here the children, members of staff and parents are asked to share their views and feelings, offering suggestions for any changes or improvements they feel are needed. Findings are passed onto the Head teacher, coordinator and governors on a regular basis. Suggested developments are discussed with the SLT and the Governing Body.