The Stanmore Curriculum

Our purpose:

We are committed to purposeful and irresistible learning where our children are inspired to thrive and everyone is the BEST that they can be.

Our values:

Belonging

Everyone is welcomed every day as a valued member of an inclusive community, where everyone feels safe, secure and happy.

Excellence

We set no limits on what can be learned or who is able to learn.

Support

We celebrate achievements and help people when they need support.

Trust

Our children develop a sense of trust in themselves to make positive choices and positive contributions.

Our Curriculum values: 

Creativity | Independence | Interdependence | Spirituality | Emotional intelligence | Thinking

Our keys for success:

Confidence | Resilience | Organisation | Persistence | Co-operation | Respect

National Curriculum aims 

The national curriculum provides pupils with an introduction to the essential knowledge that they need to be educated citizens. It introduces pupils to the best that has been thought and said and helps engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement.

The national curriculum is just one element in the education of every child. There is time and space in the school day and in each week, term and year to range beyond the national curriculum specifications. The national curriculum provides an outline of core knowledge around which pupils can develop exciting and stimulating lessons to promote the development of pupils’ knowledge understanding and skills as part of the wider curriculum.

Appreciate, participate and innovate

In our school we use our Keys to Success to:

Appreciate – to be equipped with a breadth of language, the inclination to learn something new and a sense of wonder 

Participate – to be actively engaged in the entire curriculum experience, as appropriate, using our Keys for Success.

Innovate – to have the aspiration and expectation that a new idea, method or product will be created as part of the curriculum experience

Intention 

All children will have access to a planned, taught and experienced curriculum. This is the National and entire school curriculum. The aspiration for the children at Stanmore begins with the acquisition of oral language, tackling word poverty head on. Closing the gap in vocabulary skills on entry and promoting rich language throughout the curriculum gives children the tools that they need to appreciate and participate in the world around them.

All children, including the most vulnerable learners study the full National Curriculum. Where appropriate, the curriculum is carefully adapted to meet the needs of some children.

Our curriculum prioritises the basic skills of oral language, literacy, numeracy, IT and social awareness, so that children can participate in the entire curriculum.  Our curriculum design enables children to discover and make links with previous learning. There are planned opportunities for children to rehearse and hone oral language, literacy, numeracy and IT skills.

Children are taught the Substantive and disciplinary knowledge that are needed to meet the demands of the curriculum and prepare them for the wider world. The emphasis on language, including technical vocabulary continues so that they can appreciate, and communicate their views on the best that has already been achieved in science and technology, the arts, architecture, historical events and the natural world.

Our curriculum enables children to participate through discovery and first hand experiences. Trips and Visits are carefully planned to enhance learning, promote aspiration and provide the building blocks towards the cultural capital that Stanmore children need to succeed in life.

An entitlement of opportunity is at the core of our curriculum design so that children leave Stanmore with a sense of self-worth and purpose as well as memorable experiences as sportsmen and women, scientists, artists, engineers, designers and musicians.

Our curriculum design promotes innovation. We are ambitious in expecting children to think deeply and create new ideas, preparing them for future thinking as yet unknown. Application of knowledge is part of the learning journey across the curriculum.

The entire curriculum promotes our school values: belonging, excellence, support and trust, preparing children for life in modern Britain.

Implementation 

The National Curriculum is taught in our school. The National Curriculum is an agreed body of knowledge, sequenced over time.  Our curriculum is organised for single year groups. Implementation of the curriculum develops children’s sense of identity and personal values.

The curriculum is based on a progression of knowledge. Children recognise and build on links in their learning. Content is arranged in themes and subjects may be taught discreetly or interlinked. Closing the gap in oral language is at the heart of curriculum planning. Children must be given a voice so that they can appreciate and debate the content of the curriculum. Themes are planned around key questions to promote innovation and wonder.  

Learning journeys and tasks are designed to interest and motivate children to participate in learning. They include open-ended tasks that promote application of skills and innovation.

Throughout the curriculum teachers provide feedback and identify next steps of learning through structured assessment opportunities. Securing sequenced, composite and component parts of knowledge is a priority. Concepts, substantive and disciplinary knowledge are carefully planned by subject leaders for key stages, year groups and units of work. The school uses published schemes – Cornerstones Maestro Curriculum, Read Write Inc. and White Rose Mathematics to ensure that knowledge is sequenced over time. The sequence of learning is underpinned by the national curriculum objectives and is personalised to the school through the Stanmore Enrichment Curriculum.

All themes are enriched and supported by educational visits and visitors to school. Whenever possible, first hand experiences are an essential part of what we offer and we include the opportunity to use our extensive school grounds to support this. Our school curriculum provides for broader personal development, through the extracurricular opportunities offered. Our locality: Stanmore, Winchester is used to build a sense of belonging and place. We aspire for all of our children to recognise that they have a place and a responsibility within the world beyond Stanmore. We introduce them to ways in which they can connect with the wider world.

Our keys for success form the basis of our character education: resilience, persistence, organisation, confidence, cooperation and respect are promoted throughout the entire curriculum to develop learning behaviours and habits, preparing children for successful young adulthood.

Impact 

The impact of our curriculum will be assessed regularly. This review will be undertaken by Governors, senior leaders and subject leaders, to ensure that we are meeting our aims. Synergy between our intention and implementation will be evaluated.  All children in our school, including the most vulnerable, should leave equipped with the basic skills, knowledge and cultural capital they need to lead successful lives. Children will be assessed against an intended progression of knowledge and year group expectations of knowledge defined by the subject leader. Teachers will regularly check understanding and use this to inform next steps in planning. Where appropriate tests will be used to benchmark attainment.