New Curriculum!

We are very excited to announce plans to completely refresh and revitalise our curriculum in school. From this term onwards, we will be teaching through topics rather than stand alone subjects. There will obviously be exceptions to this - Language (Read Write Inc, Big Writing/Talking etc) and Maths will still make up most of our morning sessions (but may link to the topic) and RE and PE will mostly, but not always, be taught discreetly.

Such a change has been necessary due to the shift in the curriculum away from subject knowledge and understanding to greater focus on skills development. An example to illustrate this: pre-Curriculum 2008 children would be assessed on what scientific facts they could remember - can they order and name all the planets for example. In Curriculum 2008, children are assessed on their scientific skills - can they design a fair test? can they make a prediction based on previous knowledge? etc. This is a significant change and it is vital that we give children opportunity to learn these skills but also to apply them in different contexts. This is where the 'topic' approach works so well. Knowledge is still acquired through the topic ranges - but it is the skills that are tracked and assessed. Parents of Foundation Phase children will be used to this approach as topics or themes have been used in this way for many years.

It is also important that children participate in their own learning from the planning stages. It was with this in mind that we have decided to adopt the 'Cornerstones' philosophy. This approach develops both the subject skills and the key skills of communication, number, thinking and ICT. Its philosophy is based on the four cornerstones of learning:

Engage

Learners ENGAGE in purposeful and contextualised learning experiences; in and outside the classroom, making best use of partners, experts and the community to provide the stimulus to learn. As all teachers know, you need to engage the children in front of you first before you can develop their skills or knowledge. Teachers are currently planning 'Wow' weeks at the start of their topics to get the children interested. Already this term, we've had visits to Bristol Zoo and the pet shop, Victorian days in Rhondda, visits from animal handlers (and many many animals) and a talk from a volunteer who rescued birds from an oil spill in West Wales. We also have a trip to Yeovil Aviation Museum (where children will have opportunities to build and fly their own planes) and the arrival of a planeterium in the school hall to look forward to - and that's just one term!

Develop - Then we need to know how, why and what.

Learners DEVELOP their knowledge, understanding, key and subject skills required to progress their learning through quality differentiation, focused learning tasks and experiences. This is the traditional teaching element.

Innovate - We can then decide how we want to use what we know.

Learners are given the opportunity to INNOVATE by applying their knowledge, skills and understanding through a challenging provocation, using their own and negotiated ideas. For children to retain their new knowledge and skills they have to be able to use and apply them in an innovative way that is meaningful to them and subsequently led by them.

Express - Then we want to share our learning and opinions.

Learners EXPRESS and evaluate their knowledge, understanding and skills, as outcomes of the learning in different memorable forms including using a variety of media and technology so as to cement the knowledge/skills and contextualise them.

This simple sounding philosophy is very powerful and condenses the learning process down to its fundamental parts. Above all this philosophy is based around fun and challenge, as we believe these are the building blocks of good learning. We are still in the early stages of developing this curriculum but we have already noticed increased interest from the children. We have a training day this week (5th October) to look at ways of ensuring we are covering all skills required from when a child enters the school at nursery to leaving us in Year 6. Once this is complete and the curriculum is up and running, we are looking at inviting parents to an open evening where more detail will be given and classes will have opportunities of showing what they have learnt and how they have learnt through this new approach.

In the meantime, should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Mr Worth in school.