Curriculum

Curriculum Statement

Here at The Hill we believe in delivering a broad and balanced, knowledge-rich curriculum that allows our pupils to gain the knowledge and skills that they need to make informed choices.

We do this through teaching subjects discreetly, with an emphasis on supporting pupils to make connections across themes within the same subject, and across subjects. This allows our children to deepen their knowledge and understanding of concepts and themes and make effective links. Research has shown that this is extremely important if children are to make progress and retain the information that they are taught.

We also put great emphasis on our pupils acquiring the thinking skills that they need to become life-long learners and overcome challenges throughout their lives. Through the P4C approach, we foster the 4Cs – creative, critical, caring and collaborative thinking – empowering our children to question and think critically in a supportive and collaborative environment.

Empowering children in a life full of choices

Curriculum vision

To give children the knowledge and power to make informed choices through the deliverance of a curriculum that gives children the knowledge and understanding of the world that they live in, including an understanding of themselves and to begin to shape their place in the world.

May your choices reflect your hope, not your fears.

(Nelson Mandela)

Curriculum aims –

Here at The Hill Primary Academy we aim to:

• • Build a community within school with family values.
  • Champion a culture of empathy and mutual respect.
  • Provide a safe, secure and caring environment in which to work and learn.
  • Deliver inspirational and accountable leadership at all levels.
  • Strive for consistently high academic standards for every individual.
  • Always deliver high quality, inspirational and innovative teaching and learning.
  • Deliver a curriculum that is relevant, knowledge rich and empowering to our children.
  • Promote a love of learning that lasts a lifetime by creating, innovative, exciting and memorable experiences inside and outside the classroom.
  • Foster mindfulness and well-being of all.

The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential…these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence

(Confucious)

Curriculum drivers

The school’s curriculum drivers underpin the learning experiences that pupils receive.  These drivers should be considered when planning a unit of work for pupils to develop their knowledge in a specific subject area.

• Heritage
• Aspirations
• Healthy body, healthy mind
• Celebrating diversity
• Knowledge of the world
• Basic skills

It is our choices that show us who we really are…not our abilities.(J.K.Rowling)

Aims of the English Curriculum

Here at The Hill, we strongly believe in giving children a wide range of language learning experiences, building on the foundations of oral language. We recognise pupil’s individuality, taking their personal experience into consideration by celebrating and acknowledging the differences in their linguistic and cultural backgrounds. We see the essential role parents in have in the development of their children’s language learning and encourage them to take an active role in this journey.

Our main aims of our English curriculum is to provide all pupils with a language rich environment that promotes a culture of reading and writing, developing their range and understanding of vocabulary. We aim to develop a love of books and high-quality literature that will not only support learning across the curriculum, but also extend beyond the classroom environment and enrich our children’s lives. We understand the importance of teaching children the craft of writing in order to develop the confidence and skills to write well for a range of purposes and audiences.

Phonics

At The Hill Primary Academy, we follow the Ruth Miskin ‘Read, Write, Inc.’ scheme.

‘Read Write Inc. Phonics teaches children to read accurately and fluently with good comprehension. They learn to form each letter, spell correctly, and compose their ideas step-by-step.’ – RWI website 2020.

Children learn the English alphabetic code: first they learn one way to read the 40+ sounds and blend these sounds into words, then learn to read the same sounds with alternative graphemes.

They experience success from the very beginning. Lively phonic books are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and ‘tricky’ words and, as children re-read the stories, their fluency increases. Along with a thought-provoking introduction, prompts for thinking out loud and discussion, children are helped to read with a storyteller’s voice.

Children begin their phonics journey at the start of KS1, and are supported to ensure they make sufficient progress to become fluent readers. RWI interventions do however take place for children who cannot read fluently in KS1 and LKS2 (Y3/4) or for any children who are assessed at a point below where they would be expected to be.

Reading

For guided reading sessions, we mainly use the Reciprocal Reading approach to gaining understanding from a text. These sessions run three days a week within a separate reading session focusing on a range of high-quality fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts. Reciprocal reading is a structured method of guided reading where children are gradually taught to take on group roles to explore and find meaning in texts. This approach emphasises teamwork and supports independent comprehension skills. Teachers then plan a further two lessons per week which aim to support children in other reading domain areas.

Writing and Grammar

For writing, teachers carefully plan writing linked to a high-quality text using model sequences from the Literacy Tree scheme of work, ensuring that there is a purposeful outcome to each piece of writing. The Literary Curriculum is a complete, thematic approach to the teaching of primary English that places children’s literature at its core. In order to ensure that all pupils learn to be confident writers we encourage children to write creatively whilst teaching key writing skills explicitly and systematically. Writing takes place daily within English lessons and in other lessons linked to the wider curriculum. Grammar objectives are taught explicitly within a separate slot to ensure children have the necessary tools to support them within their writing sessions.

Assessment

We make use of Same Day Intervention to ensure children do not progress through school with gaps in their learning. Teachers will identify children who would benefit from SDI from assessment for learning during the lesson and the marking of learning.

In Reception, children are assessed in their early literacy development against the ‘Development Matters’ goals.

Teachers are expected to assess children’s independent writing on a regular basis (at least 3 times per term). Teacher should use the Astrea writing assessment grids to assess writing apart from in years 2 and 6 where the Teacher Assessment Frameworks are used. Independent writing will take the form of an edited and published piece, where children have had time to respond to marking and re-draft their work.

Maths

In years 1 and 2 our curriculum is mapped using the Ark Maths Mastery materials.  We began use in September 2021 and will roll out across other year groups as the children move through school.

In Years 3-6, our LTP is based on the curriculum map from White Rose Maths Hub.

Throughout school, we focus on a progression from concrete resources, to pictorial representations and finally into the numerical abstract to aid our children’s deep conceptual understanding. Encouraging children to represent their learning using a range of resources can also be used as a way to deepen and challenge children’s thinking. Concrete resources and pictorial representations are removed once a child has a secure understanding to avoid over reliance.

We recognise that deep conceptual understanding involves:

• Being able to transfer learning from one subject or lesson to another
• Learning through trial and error
• Thinking through a process to problem solve, as opposed to simply applying procedures
• Being able to explain the thinking that goes into the solution

In maths lessons, quality whole class teaching provides opportunities for children at different attainment levels to discuss and reason.

A sequence of lessons incorporates the following:

• Adequate time to develop procedural understanding through the use of effective modelling, guided practice and independent practice before moving onto deep conceptual understanding. The length of time spent developing procedural fluency will vary between children, year groups and concepts
• Reasoning opportunities for all pupils, which are effectively scaffolded for the low attainers
• Challenge is provided for high attainers through use of ‘SFD questions
• Use of concrete materials in all year groups, supporting all pupils

Calculations Policy KS1 September 2020

Calculations Policy LKS2 September 2020

Calculations Policy UKS2 September 2020

Please click on the links below to access the school’s Policies.

Phonics Policy – September 2020

English Policy – September 2020

Relationships and Sex Education Policy 2021

Physical Education

P.E. KO Spring Term Year 1

P.E. KO Spring Term Year 2

PE KO Spring Term Year 3

P.E. KO Spring Term Year 4

P.E. KO Spring Term Year 5-6

Religious Education

Year 1 Spring Term – Christianity

Year 2 Spring Term – Judaism

Year 3 Spring Term – Hinduism

Year 4 Spring Term – Hinduism

Year 5 Spring Term – Hinduism

Year 6 Spring Term – Hinduism