SJF CURRICULUM DESIGN

Research is clear that strong curriculum design must include the identification of crucial knowledge and skills throughout each key stage. To facilitate this process, we have subdivided each curriculum area into 'threads' of learning. Each thread constitutes a foundational concept relating to a given curriculum area, and is marked by a progression of specific elements of crucial knowledge, such as that in the example below. It is important to note that the crucial knowledge identified does not represent the extent of the knowledge that children are taught within a unit of work, but instead serves as the fundamental stepping stones by which all child can progress through a thread of learning.

CURRICULUM IMPLEMENTATION

Teachers carefully implement the curriculum, ensuring that children grasp crucial ideas and concepts along each thread of learning. Teachers make effective use of assessment to identify any children who have not acquired the necessary knowledge, and they work efficiently to address any gaps in learning.

At the heart of our implementation are our Curriculum Guides: carefully considered documents that serve as the basis for teacher’s medium term planning. Each Curriculum Guide contains vital information that underpins the implementation of our curriculum:

• contextual information about why a particular unit of work is being taught at a certain point.
• specific crucial knowledge and skills that must be prioritised within the unit of learning.
• children’s prior learning within the thread.
• children’s future learning within the thread.
• key vocabulary
• relevant National Curriculum objectives
• endpoints

Teachers recognise that, fundamentally, learning must involve a change in children’s long term memory. We therefore use approaches in the classroom that best serve this objective, always mindful that children learn in different ways and at different paces.

It is essential that the most important skills and knowledge are revisited frequently if children are to build a robust understanding. It is for this reason that teachers ensure that children are regularly exposed to and recall the knowledge and skills that our curriculum prioritises. 

FOUNDATIONAL KNOWLEDGE

“High-quality early education establishes the foundations for later success, including academic achievement, good health and wellbeing. While high-quality education benefits all children, it is especially important for those whose early learning has been limited.”  

‘Strong foundations in the first years of school’ Report

Foundational knowledge refers to the essential learning that all children must acquire between FS2 and the end of Year 2 in order to best succeed in their future learning.

Children will find it harder to learn in KS2 if they have not been taught foundational knowledge: how to communicate, read, write and perform calculations with fluency.

Establishing foundational knowledge is a priority of our curriculum. For example, to ensure that children leave KS1 with the necessary writing skills, they follow a progressive sequence of learning, one of the threads being transcription.

Example:

• Children are first taught the foundations of transcription (handwriting and spelling). In FS2 children are taught how to properly hold a pencil and form some letters.
• In Y1, children learn how to leave spaces between words, as well as how to segment words into phonemes and represent them with graphemes (encode).
• In Y2, children are taught how to form upper and lower case letters, as well as digits. They continue to develop their encoding (spelling skills), including by learning how to spell many common exception words.

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS & DISABILITIES

We believe that all children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities, must also be taught an ambitious curriculum that allows them to acquire the most important knowledge and skills. It is therefore a priority that children with SEND are taught the same content as other children.

By organising our curriculum into threads of crucial knowledge, we aim to provide teachers with a clear model of progression for children with SEND. Moreover, by prioritising very specific skills and knowledge which sequentially builds and accumulates, children are able to adopt learning into long-term memory and limit overwhelming working memory.

Teachers have high expectation of all children, and though we aim to teach the same curriculum content to all children, it is essential that we adapt pedagogies and tasks to allow children with SEND to learn to the very best of their ability.

Teachers adapt their approach to teaching children with SEND using a range of methods:

• quality first teaching
• following detailed support plans that take account of individual children and their needs
• using technologies as aids for learning, for example, Clicker.
• ensuring SEND children are the subject of small-group and one-on-one ‘spotlighting’ sessions to supplement their learning
• providing resources to children with SEND that are designed to simplify concepts and increase independence
• tailoring pedagogical approaches towards the needs of SEND children
• making effective use of assessment to quickly identify where children with SEND may need help

DEVELOPING THE WHOLE CHILD

At St. John Fisher, we believe that a strong curriculum cannot be limited solely to academic progress and achievement, important though this is. Instead, our curriculum aims to prepare children for life beyond primary school, and outside of education by inculcating a confident, resilient and increasingly independent mindset.

As children reach the end of their primary education at St. John Fisher, they are not only cultured, knowledgeable and skillful thinkers, but they are also equipped with the tools and attitude that will ensure that they remain lifelong learners.

Our SJF Enjoy & Achieve Curriculum supports children to:

• appreciate the high achievements of different cultures
• act with respect and tolerance towards others
• demonstrate resilience both in life and in their learning
• think critically and deeply
• ask questions and develop an inquisitive nature
• develop spoken language skills so that they can effectively communicate with others

SJF CURRICULUM IMPACT

Children...

• can access, enjoy and make progress within the curriculum
  • regardless of circumstances, starting points or additional needs
• acquire specific foundational knowledge in the early years
• understand and remember crucial knowledge, knowing more and remembering more
• are enthused and interested in a wide range of curriculum areas
• can articulate their knowledge using correct, subject-specific terminology
• demonstrate excellent learning behaviours
• achieve well at statutory assessments

Children's Work...

• demonstrates that they take pride in what they produce, and that this is consistent in all areas of the curriculum
• evidences children’s developing understanding of crucial knowledge and skills
• evidences robust marking by teacher’s and editing by children – including grammar, punctuation and spelling
• demonstrates our curriculum’s emphasis on the progression of knowledge and skills along given threads of learning
• shows a coherent teaching sequence within each unit of work

Teachers...

• develop strong subject knowledge
• effectively prioritise the most crucial knowledge to teach to children, and assess according to that knowledge
• have high levels of confidence in delivering the curriculum
• can give senior leaders and subject leaders detailed feedback about what is working well
• can identify gaps in children's knowledge quickly and effectively 
• plan coherent series of lessons based on the threads of crucial knowledge outlined in long term plans

Parents/Carers say...

• our children have positive attitudes towards school and make good academic progress
• our children are enthused about different areas of the curriculum

Governors say...

• we work closely with senior leaders and subject leads to support curriculum strategy, and as part of this, to  understand the strengths of the curriculum, as well as areas for development