School Curriculum

At Millfields C.E. Primary School, we help each child to aspire to their true potential in a happy and secure Christian environment.  In order to do this we are committed to providing pupils with exciting learning opportunities through a broad and balanced curriculum. We aim to give pupils opportunities to thrive in a range of subject areas and activities such as music and sport as well as the core curriculum subjects. Our curriculum has been revised in consultation with a range of stakeholders including pupils, parents, staff, governors and external consultants to reflect the content and challenge of the new curriculum for each year group. Teachers, Teaching Assistants and Governors have received training in the key areas of curriculum change with a particular focus on Maths, English, in particular Reading and Phonics as well as regularly meeting to review and observe the curriculum in action in school.

 EYFS

Our Foundation Stage department consists of our F1 and F2 classes (currently vertically grouped). We ensure that all staff follow the statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and plan a wide range of exciting learning opportunities for children to meet the required standards. Staff use accurate baseline assessments to plan creative, stimulating and developmentally appropriate experiences for our children both indoors and out. Staff work closely as a team to share ideas and good practice and are also very much led by the children’s interests. As a Foundation Stage, we ensure that all children have the opportunity to spend quality time together in order for them to learn new skills from one another. Working together in this way also enhances transition between phases and ensures that this process is seamless for both staff, children and their families. We provide regular stay and play sessions for family members, providing them with the opportunity to become familiar with their child’s learning environment and understand the way in which our curriculum is delivered.

We use both formative and summative assessment to track children’s progress and identify next steps. We use Tapestry Online Learning Journal to communicate observations and assessments with parents/carers. This tool ensures that parents are kept fully informed of their children’s learning developments and are aware of the way in which they can support their children’s learning at home. This journal also provides the opportunity for parents/carers to contribute their own news and media from home and this information is then used by staff to inform assessments and deepen their knowledge and understanding of individual children.

English - Reading, Writing, Grammar and Phonics

At Millfields CE Primary School, reading is at the heart of everything we do.  From the very moment children join us in school, we teach them to read widely and often for both enjoyment and information. We have recently been lucky enough to open a school library with an excellent book stock. Every class from Foundation Stage to Year 6 has a timetabled slot in the library where they are able to explore new books, learn about authors and develop other reading skills. In addition to this, every class in school has a dedicated reading area where the children are able to enjoy a range of age appropriate books. We use the school library service to keep books in our class based library fresh and inviting for the children. Teachers select books for their class library on a termly basis so that it can be tailored to the interest of each class, as well as providing teachers to the chance to expand on their children’s literature experience. This approach also means that other curriculum areas can also be enhanced through our class based libraries.

We follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds revised programme for phonics and all members of staff, teachers and teaching assistants have been trained on this programme to ensure fidelity to the scheme. On entry to our F1 class, children begin with the Foundations to Phonics programme supported by Letters and Sounds aspects 1-7 to ensure that they are equipped with the pre-phonic skills necessary in Foundation 2. Formal phonics teaching starts by week 2 in reception and continues for most children until the end of Year 1. Some pupils may need to access our phonics programme for longer and formal phonics teaching will continue in Year 2 and longer if necessary, so that we can ensure every child becomes a fluent reader and confident speller.

For children who are in the early stages of reading, we use fully decodable books linked to our Little Wandle scheme to allow children to practice and consolidate the sounds and tricky words they have been taught. Our reading sessions take place 3 times per week and follow the Little Wandle structure, focusing on decoding, prosody and comprehension. The same book is then sent home for children to have practice. In addition to this, children take home a library book for their bedtime story.

For those children who require extra support with phonics, additional sessions following the Little Wandle interventions are put into place including both extra blending practice sessions and Rapid catch up.

If pupils in Year 2 are ready to move on from phonics they begin to access the Little Wandle Phonics to spelling programme which enables them to consolidate any phonic skills and begin to develop their understanding of spelling rules. Pupils will continue to complete guided reading 3 times a week using the Little Wandle approach but at this stage may be working through our book bands.

Once children begin in KS2, a further focus is placed on reading for understanding. Teachers deliver carefully planned and structured reading lessons following the Ashley Booth approach and ensure that children read widely across both fiction and non-fiction.  They also deliver a skills based reading lesson, targeting specific reading skills to ensure that children are able to develop their fluency and comprehension skills.  If children are struggling with either of these elements and beyond the phonics stage, they will have additional guided reading lessons with a focused group to target specific skills. All reading sessions have a vocabulary focus to ensure that children are encountering new words developing their understanding in context of existing words.

From Year 3 onwards, pupils begin our spelling programme. We follow the Spelling Shed scheme which is underpinned by the National Curriculum. This programme enables children to link their early phonic skills to spelling rules as well as focusing on etymology and morphology. It also follows a very similar structure to Little Wandle and enables children to revisit prior learning, practice and apply their skills to ensure that children are learning their year group appropriate spelling rules. 

Our writing lessons are planned around high quality texts that are progressive and ensure our children access a range of different genres. We follow the Read to Write scheme which enables teachers to embed grammar discreetly into lessons and model it to the children explicitly, drawing on the use in the model and vehicle texts. The texts have been carefully selected to meet our children’s interest and curriculum. Children have the opportunity to write at length and follow the process of planning, drafting, editing and revising and publishing their final piece of work. We encourage our children to see themselves as real authors and writers and encourage them to share their final pieces with others. 

We know that being able to write legibly, fluently and with increasing speed is an essential component of the writers tool kit. To help ensure our children are equipped with the handwriting skills needed to be successful with handwriting we introduce the skills needed for this very early on. We follow the letter join scheme starting with gross and fine motor skills in foundation stage and focusing on pen grip. The children then move onto letter formation. We begin with print and start to introduce cursive joins during KS1 so that by the end of Year 4, cursive handwriting is the natural choice of style, fluent and legible. This is then further built on in upper key stage 2.

Oracy and spoken language is built into all parts of our curriculum. On entry to school we complete Wellcomm assessments and use these to help us understand the starting point for every child and build on this. In Foundation Stage, we use Development Matters communication and language statements to help us plan activities in a language rich quality learning environment. As Children progress into Year 1, we follow the 12 National Curriculum spoken language statements which are carefully broken down into year groups and allow children to develop their oracy skills progressively and across the curriculum. All elements of our curriculum also include a vocabulary strand so that we can build on children’s language.

 Maths

In maths, we endeavour for all our children to leave us equipped with the mathematical knowledge and skills needed to be prepared for the next stage of their lives. In order to achieve this, we feel it is vital for children to have developed the strength of character and confidence needed to make decisions and to have a rich vocabulary which will help them to communicate and articulate their thinking. If our children are to succeed as lifelong learners, they will have no limits to their curiosity, a thirst for knowledge and a desire for new experiences.

To support them with this, we aim to offer high-quality teaching and learning to develop the reasoning skills of all pupils and foster positive attitudes to maths. An inclusive and collaborative approach to maths teaching allows adequate time to understand and discuss key concepts, helping us to build children’s self-esteem and confidence within the subject. Children within the class all access the same learning content and adaptation is by means of support and depth of learning as opposed to by task. We value the importance of enabling our children to reach their potential and will never put a ceiling on their learning.

Please check out our maths information section to learn more…

Computing

We work in conjunction with Hi-impact to complete long term computing planning with the Purple Mash curriculum and eAware for online safety. Children have the opportunity to develop simple algorithms, controlling and data logging through using sensors, spreadsheets and simulations through programming. The children will also use the Internet for researching, online communications and managing data. Throughout the curriculum the children will be using a number of word processing and multimedia packages: sound, music, art imagining and photo and video editing.

Online Safety

We work closely with Hi-impact consultancy to ensure that we provide our parents, carers and children with regular and up to date opportunities to learn about the importance of online safety and how to identify, manage and respond to potential risks. Staff ensure that they plan age appropriate activities for children to explore this topic and to enable them to feel confident online. Staff respond effectively to pupil voice and ensure that they provide activities and experiences that are relevant to individual classes, taking account of children’s online activity both inside and outside of school. We use a variety of teaching and learning resources including; eAware, thinkuknow and Safe Skills/Ariel trust resources to support curriculum delivery. As part of our on-going monitoring we use eAware to support the children to raise eSafety awareness with age-appropriate lesson plans and unique video content that engages, entertains and educates as well as using the assessment and reporting feature understand the individual needs of the children.

Science

Throughout school the focus of science teaching is to enable pupils to broaden their scientific view of the world around them. They will be able to do this through exploring, talking about, testing and developing ideas about everyday phenomena and the relationships between living things and familiar environments, and by beginning to develop their ideas about functions, relationships and interactions. The children are encouraged to ask their own questions about what they observe and make some decisions about which types of scientific enquiry are likely to be the best ways of answering them, including observing changes over time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out simple comparative and fair tests and finding things out using secondary sources of information. The children are encouraged to draw simple conclusions and use some scientific language, first, to talk about and, later, to write about what they have found out. As a school we use the Collins SNAP Science Scheme of work which is supported by the Association for Science as well as PLAN assessments. Each unit is linked with a ‘real life’ scientist to emphasise how and why it is taught.

Foundation Subjects

All Foundation Subjects are taught as individual subjects with a topic link with the exception of Foreign Languages, PE and PSHE. Subject leaders provide medium term planning for teachers and this is planned carefully into the annual timetable.

All pupils from Year 3 to Year 6 learn Spanish. We also seek to extend knowledge and understanding of Spanish life, culture and customs.

RSE

Our R.S.E. curriculum is designed to ensure that children are able to keep themselves safe and develop the skills required to be active, tolerant and responsible citizens who are able to make a positive contribution to the world around them. We aim to ensure that children develop a sense of pride in British culture and heritage, as well as an understanding, respect for and appreciation of the diverse and rich nature of Britain today.  To support this, we use Picture News to “provide opportunities for children to learn from our world and develop respect for others’ beliefs, feelings and faith. They encourage exploration, discussion, challenge and inspire children to learn.” The resources give relevant and meaningful links to British values and support children’s personal development.

As a school, we are so pleased to be using Jigsaw. Jigsaw adopts a creative approach to strengthen emotional health, build character and develop resilience in our pupils. The programme allows children to develop a positive mind-set and healthy emotional self. Through the topics covered, the children learn to love and accept themselves, as well as to love and respond well to others. The themes are based around the ideas of: feeling valued, forgiveness, considering others and showing empathy, being thoughtful and not giving up when faced with a challenge. We also use the My Happy Mind resources to develop emotional well-being and mental health.

Sex & Relationship Education is taught in line with the locally agreed Wirral syllabus and staff are supported by our School Nurse. Parents are consulted about the curriculum and are provided with the opportunity to review materials and discuss concerns prior to lessons taking place in school.

RE

We use the Chester Diocesan RE Syllabus and elements of Wirral Locally agreed syllabus. The Diocesan syllabus is based on 11 Christian concepts and a few concepts from 3 other world religions. Each concept builds progressively from Foundation Stage 2 to Year 6 using key questions. We have a strong relationship with St Mary's Church which supports us in enhancing children’s spiritual and moral development. We regularly visit St Mary's Church and St David's Church throughout the year and also have Bromborough Bible Society visiting School for worship and helping us with our topic work.

We use online resources to support children’s learning in school and at home. These currently include TT Rockstars, Spelling Shed, Maths Shed, Code Studio, Purple Mash including setting the children 2Do tasks for the children to access at home. Within Early Years, Tapestry is used to communicate with parents.

We work with external partners including Edsential to enrich learning in several areas of the curriculum, including Physical Education and Music.

Visits & Residential Trips

We include termly trips and high quality learning experiences to enrich the curriculum and provide opportunities for children to explore learning beyond the classroom. Residential trips provide children with opportunities to develop confidence and life skills including personal organisation, independence, resourcefulness and resilience. Trips are subsidised by school to ensure that all pupils are able to access these opportunities.

Assessment

Assessment is an integral and vital part of the teaching and learning process. Assessments are linked to the curriculum to evaluate the progress children make with regards to extending their knowledge, skills and understanding. Teachers use formative and summative assessment to plan next steps of learning for pupils to ensure that they are prepared for the next phase of education in line with the School Aims.

Further information

Further information regarding national curriculum requirements is available online at www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum.