Curriculum Intent

At Woodhouse West Primary School we endeavour to provide an engaging, thought-provoking and broad curriculum which develops the children's skills to overcome a variety of challenges. Our curriculum is built around objectives set out in the National Curriculum which covers the following subjects; English, Mathematics, Science, Computing, History, Geography, Art and Design, Design Technology, Music, Physical Education and Languages. Religious Education and Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) are also part of our curriculum.

The Department for Education guidance about the school curriculum can be found at https://www.gov.uk/national-curriculum

Our curriculum;

• is ambitious and designed to give all children the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in life
• has high expectations for all children, including those with special needs and disabilities
• ensures that children study a broad and balanced curriculum by teaching a range of subjects
• is coherently planned and sequenced so children can embed and use their knowledge and skills fluency
• extends beyond academic to provide opportunities for every child to develop and discover their character, interests and talents
• is closely linked to the school's core values
• encourages children to value the Woodhouse community
• prepares children for life in modern Britain, developing their understanding of fundamental British values and equipping them to be responsible, respectful citizens

Our curriculum documents (found in the subject's individual page) outline the topics undertaken by different year groups during different times of the academic year.

Golden Threads

As a school, we aim to create units of work that promote children's interests and allows them to learn about the world around them. We strive to develop children's independence and resourcefulness so they can apply skills in one subject area to overcome challenges and achieve in another. 

We are committed to developing children who are ready for life after primary school. Our Golden Threads support children to become; Emotionally Aware and Articulate, Knowledgeable about the World, Curious and Questioning, Self-motivated and Determined and Healthy and Physically Active.

We firmly believe that these key skills and qualities will allow all our pupils to leave Woodhouse West as well rounded individuals, ready for the next stage of their life.

For more information about our Golden Threads, please use the link here

Curriculum Implementation

Through high quality teaching and learning experiences, we to provide every child with the key skills they require to achieve in all subjects and develop a love of learning which will be with them for their whole life.

The Chris Quigley Essentials Curriculum

Although the content has been stipulated by the government and statutory assessments will continue to be prescribed, schools are free to assess the skills acquired in each subject, at each stage of learning, in whatever manner they deem appropriate.

At Woodhouse West, we have chosen to follow the Chris Quigley Essentials Curriculum which sets out essential coverage, learning objectives and standards which are required for all subjects. Furthermore, it provides progress measures for all subjects including personal development.

One of the main reasons why we have chosen to adopt this curriculum is because it emphasises the importance of developing the depth of children’s learning. In essence, this means providing children with increased cognitive challenge, allowing them to apply the skills which they have learnt independently in a range of contexts rather than moving them onto the next skill needlessly, and before they have gained a greater depth of understanding. Such thinking is encapsulated in the scenario below:

At Woodhouse West, we want to challenge our children to become independent, well-rounded individuals who take ownership of their learning and become deep thinkers. We want children to be taught the skills and given the confidence to dive for pearls of wisdom and learning through discovery. We want our children to be able to apply their knowledge and skills in a range of contexts both in school and in real life situations.

Within this system, it operates as three, 2 year Milestones - Milestone 1 (Years 1 and 2), Milestone 2 (Years 3 and 4) and Milestone 3 (Years 5 and 6). Throughout each Milestone, children develop the knowledge and transferable skills which allow them to access all areas of the curriculum.

All children begin each Milestone at the ‘Basic’ level. At this level they are acquiring new skills and are dependent upon the support of adults in order to learn new concepts. A child at the ‘Basic’ level will be able to: name, describe, follow instructions, use, match, recognise, label and recall concepts and skills, essential in a specific milestone. This is compared with the analogy of “Paddling”, which we share with the children.

Once children are able to demonstrate this ability on multiple occasions, they move to the

‘Advancing’ stage. They are now more independent learners, capable of making some degree of decision whilst applying some of their skills with guidance. Typically, they are able to: explain, classify, infer meaning, make predictions, interpret, summarise and apply their skills to solve problems. We compare this with “Snorkelling”.

Finally, some children may reach the ‘Deep’ level of thinking. This involves a high level of cognitive challenge, where children are expected to apply their skills in a range of complex contexts without the guidance of adults. At this stage, children are able to: solve non-routine problems, appraise, explain concepts, hypothesise, investigate, design and prove. This is compared with “Diving”.

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Knowledge Organisers

We deliver a coherently planned curriculum with a progressive development and understanding of key knowledge, skills and concepts, which will be re-visited regularly.  Some of our content is subject specific whilst other content is combined in a cross-curricular approach enabling us to put knowledge into context.  The use of Knowledge Organisers provide transparency within the curriculum - an overview of pre-teach content and also a means of tracking knowledge, skills and understanding of concepts which are regularly re-visited in the form of a variety of retrieval exercises. This regular revisiting enables knowledge to be committed to long-term memory.  

What is a ‘Knowledge Organiser’?

A Knowledge Organiser is a go-to document for a unit of work: each one identifies the key information that children will have learnt about by the end of a topic. It also acts as a tool to support children in retaining and retrieving knowledge for life-long learning.

How do they help teachers?
They are used as a planning tool - to plan the essential knowledge that children need to cover in the Unit

• Key dates

• key people

• key events

• Key vocabulary and definitions, and key concepts - in ‘child-friendly’ language

How do they help children?

They provide the essential knowledge that children need to cover in the unit shared at the beginning so children know what they are going to be learning. Knowledge organisers help them to remember key dates, key people, key events, vocabulary and definitions and key concepts.
They can be used as a fun assessment tool to help remember the units.
They improve their ability to remember.
Knowledge organisers help them to develop other skills - e.g. when writing a nonfiction report, if they already have the knowledge they can focus on the writing skills.

How do they help parents?

Parents will have a better understanding of what the children need to know. They will allow parents to build on their knowledge at home and provide an easy tool for parents to quiz children at home (and children to quiz parents!)

Please use the link here to be taken to the 'class pages' section of the website for our most recent knowledge organisers.

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Subject progression documents

At Woodhouse West we value our board and balanced curriculum that provides our children with a wealth of knowledge and experiences.  As a school, we have ensured all subject areas provide a clear sequence to learning that embeds knowledge and understanding, ensuring key knowledge sticks and can be transferred to other learning.

Progression documents show the knowledge and skills that we expect children to know and to able to use during their journey and at the next stage of their learning. The teachers use interesting and relevant themes combined with a wide range of reading materials to engage children and maximise learning for all. This well-planned curriculum is complimented by an exciting variety of visitors and trips, including residential visits for years 2, 4 and 6. 

Through our commitment to strive for the very best for our children, we are continuously reviewing our curriculum, working with staff, governors, children and parents to create a curriculum that matches our ambitions for every child whilst complimenting the vision and aims of our community.

Please follow the link here to be taken to our subject pages where you can access the progression documents for each foundation subject. 

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Curriculum Characters

Our curriculum characters help pupils to identify the subject and skills that they are learning in order to develop their understanding of the world around them. 

Curriculum Impact

The impact of our curriculum is measured in terms of the extent to which pupils have developed new knowledge, understanding and skills and that they can use and recall this with fluency. 

This will be measured by:

• Lesson observations and work scrutiny
• Termly testing and teacher assessments, pupil progress meetings, reporting to governors etc.
• Internal and external moderation
• Subject review, feedback and action plans
• Reporting to parents
• Pupil voice – questionnaires, pupil book reviews
• Subject Leader monitoring – Lesson visits, scrutiny of books, assessment, pupil interviews and questionnaires 
• Outcomes at the end of EYFS, KS1 and KS2 
• ASPIRE Awards
• Governor monitoring

If you would like to obtain any further information about the curriculum we are following, please contact the school office to arrange a meeting with our headteacher Mrs Bailey.