Roecliffe Curriculum Statement

At Roecliffe CE Primary School our curriculum is designed to motivate and inspire our children in fun and challenging ways. Our curriculum is carefully adapted in order to meet all our children’s needs and statutory rights. We take a holistic approach in developing the ‘whole child’ underpinned by our school’s values of Faith, Courage and Love. As a staff we ensure that our children receive a full and ambitious curriculum which is enriched with both deliberately planned and ad hoc opportunities to extend our children’s learning.

Our curriculum intent

Our curriculum intent is to enable all of our children to reach their full potential and to be well prepared for the next step in their education and their life beyond school. As a staff team we continuously evaluate and develop our ambitious curriculum so that it provides our children with the skills, knowledge, and understanding they need to develop into well-rounded, informed individuals who are prepared for the next steps of their lives.

We also aim to have a positive impact on our local community and the wider environment through collaborative projects and local initiatives. Examples of this being the participation of KS2 pupils in joint events with a local care home and also pupils regenerating and maintaining a local wildlife area.

The cultural capital of our local environment and regional area are used whenever possible. Our pupils fully participate in community activities such as Remembrance Day services at our local church, Christmas carol singing and maypole dancing at seasonal community events . Examples of the additional experiences offered to our children include visits to the theatre, paddleboarding at Boroughbridge Marina and residential trips to the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

Curriculum Implementation

We implement our curriculum through an engaging cross-curricular approach using Cornerstones as a springboard for the following subjects – geography, history, science, design technology and art and design.

English, maths, French, PE, music, computing and PSHE are taught as discrete subjects.

The ten overarching Big Ideas curriculum draw out common themes of the National Curriculum subjects of geography, history, science, design technology and art and design from Nursery to

Year 6. These ten Big Ideas and their intentions are set out below

Humankind – what it means to be human and the cause and effect of human behaviour.
Processes – Understanding the many dynamic and physical processes that shape the world around us.
Creativity – Understanding how everyday and exceptional creativity can inspire and change perceptions.
Investigation – Understanding the importance of asking questions, formulating hypotheses, gathering information and analysing evidence.
Materials – Understanding the unique and physical properties of all matter and how we interact with them.
Nature – Understanding the complexities and features of the natural world, including the plant and animal species that inhabit it.
Place and Space – Understanding the visual, cultural, social and environmental aspects of different places around the world.
Comparison – Understanding how and why things are the same or different.
Significance – Understanding why significant people, places, events and inventions matter.
Change – Understanding why and how things have changed over time.

The half-termly or termly topics (aspects) which sit within the Big Ideas (above) are customised and adapted by our staff to meet the needs and experiences of our pupils. The subject content which sits within the aspects is fully sequenced and interconnected. We are personalising the Cornerstones curriculum (Maestro 22) by using our locality and the cultural heritage of the local area as a driving force in the subject content within the aspects whenever this is possible. For example, we use our locality (St Mary’s church, local woodland, River Ure, Boroughbridge as a local historical town) as a basis for relevant aspects of our geography, history and science work. We develop pupils’ understanding of technology and its use in the wider world through collaboration with various STEM partners. For example, our children regularly utilise technology through our school weather station which provides meteorological data for our local area.

We have further customised and personalised our curriculum by ensuring weekly sessions of PSHE equip the children with the information to make safe and healthy choices about their own mental and physical health. We give PSHE a high status as we feel that it is of vital importance, particularly post-pandemic, to ensure that our curriculum contributes to pupils’ positive behaviour and welfare including their physical, mental and personal well-being and safety.

Our curriculum places great importance on reading skills and a love of reading. Our reading curriculum is shaped to provide children with the skills to read easily, fluently and with good understanding as well as growing a love for reading. It develops children’s understanding of vocabulary and the techniques authors use to show meaning, build atmosphere and add clarity. Our home/school reading scheme is progressive and in line with the steps of our Little Wandle phonics programme. By offering whole-school book events throughout the year through local bookshops and our local community library, and providing reading challenges and competitions to promote reading at home, we continue to surround children in a love of reading, supporting reading for pleasure and a life-long love of reading.

Effective characteristics of learning are promoted and threaded through our curriculum with the aim of promoting and instilling lifelong positive behaviours for learning that pupils will need for the next stage of their education and beyond, whilst developing pupils who are ready to play an active role as a citizen in modern Britain.

Through our curriculum pupils develop the Roecliffe Five Positive Learning Behaviours

I am an active participant
I am responsible and independent
I challenge myself
I am resilient
I work positively with others

Each Positive Learning Behaviour provides a focus for a half-term or term and is promoted, celebrated and exemplified through the actions of our staff and children.

Through our curriculum, we also embed the Christian values of Faith, Courage and Love. These values are recognised and promoted within the relevant subject matter and aspects to support a deeper understanding of how they relate to the real world – in the past or in modern-day.

We highly value and promote SMSC development and all subjects are planned with SMSC links and British Values links in mind. We ensure that children receive a rich and diverse curriculum that upholds and celebrates British Values and diversity.

As a Rights Respecting School, much discussion and debate is used for moral and spiritual development. Our curriculum is designed for the thoughtful promotion of our pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural well-being to enable our pupils to thrive. Our development of SMSC and the promotion of fundamental British Values are at the heart of our curriculum. The overarching aim of our curriculum, and ethos, is to equip our pupils to be thoughtful, caring and active citizens in school and in wider society.

Our whole school aims, PSHE lessons and Rights Respecting ethos all promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils. Specific British Values (and SMSC links) are made explicit and taught to children within the aspects and subjects which are being taught. British Values and SMSC are also promoted and highlighted through leadership experiences such as House Captain roles, Archbishop of York Young Leaders’ Award, and School Council.

Meeting the needs of children with SEND

At Roecliffe CE Primary School, we believe that high quality teaching is the right of every child. We also believe that inclusive education means providing all pupils with appropriate education and support alongside their peers. We support our pupils’ long term memory and long-term retention of knowledge through the use of recaps and pre-teaching sessions. We also plan opportunities in all subjects for children to think in different ways; find different solutions; make links and connections between subjects and information. We are determined to provide an environment in which ALL

children can flourish and pupils are supported to achieve their full potential despite any difficulties or barriers they may have.

To ensure that all children are able to access the curriculum at an appropriate level to fulfil their potential, we take some of the following actions;

Make adaptations to the resources or the method of recording so that all pupils have access to the school curriculum. Differentiated resources might include laptops, digitalised learning material, apps to record sound files (voices), use of speech to text technology, coloured overlays, visual timetables, larger font etc.
Differentiated teaching could include pre-teaching key vocabulary or concepts, giving longer processing times, reading instructions aloud, visual cues to accompany verbal instruction, writing frames, writing slopes and mind maps.
Make adaptations to the seating arrangements linked to the need of the child (nearer the front for hearing impairments, away from busy areas of the classroom for children who are easily distracted)
Sensory breaks and sensory circuit provision for children that might need to take some time out to improve their concentration and/or regulation
Ensure that all staff are aware of pupil’s individual needs so that they can plan and deliver lessons in a way that is appropriate for them.
Provide a curriculum that is rich in opportunities for pupils to develop confidence, self-esteem and resilience.
Make provision for children with SEND to fully develop their abilities, interests and talents.
Identify special educational needs at the earliest opportunity to ensure early intervention and support.
Ensure all children with SEND are fully included in all aspects of school, including extra-curricular activities and trips off site.
Make adaptations to include aspects of an individual’s interests.
Work stations/stand up desks for children that benefit from working in a quieter area with less distractions.