Our Curriculum
We provide a curriculum for all children from the Early Years up to Year 6 – our curriculum follows the EYFS Framework and the National Curriculum. It is based around a creative curriculum which follows the interests of the children and uses the expertise of our teachers.
The curriculum is all the planned activities and the incidental learning which takes place in order to promote independent learning, personal growth and development. We aim to give our children as many varied experiences as possible in order to enrich their lives. We are very proud of our creative curriculum and we place a huge emphasis on outdoor learning and the arts.
Our curriculum also includes the social aspects of learning which children require to become well-rounded human beings. We have high expectations of behaviour and tolerance towards each other. Frosterley Primary School was awarded ‘Good’ from Ofsted in June 2017. We continue to maintain high standards – we all believe that we need to constantly change what we offer children and improve the experiences they are given. Our aim is that children will enjoy school developing a love of learning and that all children will reach their full potential – taking into account their different starting points.
Curriculum Intent
At Frosterley Primary School, our intent is to provide opportunities for children to engage in an exciting and empowering curriculum that equips them for today and tomorrow. Our curriculum is designed to: recognise children’s prior learning, provide first hand experiences, develop interpersonal skills, build resilience and enable them to become creative, critical thinkers.
Every child is recognised as a unique individual. We celebrate and welcome differences within our school community. The ability to learn is underpinned by the teaching of basic skills, knowledge, concepts and values with a vision to prepare them for life beyond primary school. We constantly provide enrichment opportunities to engage children in their learning. We believe that childhood should be a happy, investigative and enquiring time in our lives, where there are no limits to curiosity and there is a thirst for new experiences and knowledge.
We promote positive attitudes to learning which reflect the values and skills needed to promote responsibility for learning and future success. We work with the children to build positive learning behaviours such as independence, resilience, cooperation, concentration, improvement, imagination, curiosity and enjoyment.
Community involvement is an integral part of our curriculum, inviting families and visitors to facilitate learning new skills and sharing experiences.
At Frosterley School, there is a high focus on developing children’s moral, spiritual, social and cultural understanding creating a respectful, thoughtful and reflective culture. We aim to develop our children’s understanding of diversity and cultural awareness.
Our positive intent is to widen our children’s horizons; extending experiences beyond home and increase their curiosity about the world around them. Our intent is to motivate and challenge all our children to achieve academic success. With support, guidance and feeling inspired through excellent teaching practices, we also intend to raise our children’s aspirations.
Children leave Frosterley Primary School with a sense of belonging to their local and wider community where they have the skills to make decisions, self-evaluate, make connections and become lifelong learners. We aim to show our children what they can achieve if they explore, discover and dream.
Implementation
Our carefully crafted curriculum balances the national expectations and an all-encompassing range of experiences allowing our children to flourish. Clear strategic planning allows the curriculum to be dynamic and adapt to our school context and children’s needs. Age related expectations combine the acquisition of knowledge and development of skills to create a purposeful and exciting learning journey for every child. Our classroom environments stimulate and engage quality thinking and reasoning. Explicit weekly and medium-term planning is responsive to children’s needs, interests and talents; incorporating holistic approaches to teaching and learning.
Our curriculum is monitored closely to ensure it meets each national curriculum objective and that work evidences the vocabulary, knowledge and skills needed. Subject leaders are proactive in delivering guidance and developments in their subjects. Leaders ensure that each curriculum area is given a high priority and that progress and standards in each are high.
At Frosterley Primary School, we embrace a pedagogy of ‘Personalised Learning’. Children’s interests are pursued and pupil voice helps shape the curriculum. Teachers and subject leaders look at ways to inspire pupils in each subject, by using quality teaching, texts, other resources, visits and visitors to stimulate learning. Giving learning a clear purpose allows children to make connections, motivating and inspiring children to equip them for learning today and life tomorrow.
Impact
We use rigorous monitoring throughout the year to gauge the impact of the curriculum design. Senior leaders and subject leaders carefully monitor individual subjects: reviewing learning, evaluating pupil voice, providing individual feedback to move practice forward, celebrating positives and highlighting areas of development. Coverage and progress are accurately assessed through careful analysis of the application of skills across the curriculum. Children develop their understanding and use of the correct topic vocabulary, knowledge and skills to demonstrate their understanding in each subject taught.
Our children are respectful, confident and happy. All areas of the curriculum allow children to shine and achieve well. Our children make good progress in their time at Frosterley School and we are proud of their academic achievements; however, our results at EYFS, KS1 and KS2 do not reflect all aspects of our children’s endeavour. We have talented artists, musicians, sportspeople, scientists, historians and computing experts. There are many occasions when these skills have been demonstrated with purpose to a wider audience and in the community.
At Frosterley School, everyone feels welcomed, respected and valued as an equal member of the school community. The children enjoy learning more about the heritage and culture of our area and learning how we are part of the wider region, country and world. Children develop respect for other cultures, moral values, spiritual reflectiveness and good social skills. Our school is a happy place where children leave for their next stages in learning being well prepared for life in modern Britain.
