Curriculum

Hoole Church of England Primary School is committed to providing pupils with a broad and balanced curriculum. Our curriculum is currently being revised in consultation with a range of stakeholders including pupils, parents, staff, governors and external consultants.

This Term's Curriculum Newsletters are available on the Class Pages.

Following a national review of the curriculum, schemes of work were updated to reflect the content and challenge of the new curriculum for each year group.

The Letters & Sounds phonics approach is used to support children in learning to become confident readers.

We support children in developing their handwriting skills via a range of activities to extend motor skills in Early Years using a variety of resources and materials to begin to mark make and write with. In Key Stages one and two, handwriting is developed using the Nelson handwriting scheme. Spelling is taught systematically via the No Nonsense Spelling programme.

Children are encouraged to read widely and for enjoyment. All children are supported with regular guided reading sessions. Hoole Church of England Primary School follows the Collins colour banding system. However, to encourage wide and varied reading, children access reading materials from a variety of publishers including Collins, Heinemann and the Oxford Reading Tree.

Children who require additional support with reading are involved in a variety of intervention activities including daily reading in school and additional sessions to extend understanding of phonics.

We use ICT based materials to support children’s learning in school and at home. The resources currently used include Times Tables Rock Stars and blogging to provide an audience for writing.

In Mathematics, children are provided with opportunities to apply their mathematical skills in order to solve problems and puzzles in a variety of contexts. Children are encouraged to explain and justify their reasoning in order to extend their knowledge and understanding.

Pupils experience a variety of modern foreign languages, including French and Spanish. We also seek to extend knowledge and understanding of life, culture and customs in countries in Europe and beyond via work in a range of curriculum areas including Religious Education, Geography and Personal, Social, Health Education (P.S.H.E.) .

In line with our Christian ethos and church school status, we use the Locally Agreed Cheshire Scheme of Work to teach Religious Education. Pupils re encouraged to reflect on their own beliefs and those of others during RE lessons and during regular acts of Collective Worship.

We benefit from strong relationships with local churches and faith groups including All Saints’ Church and Hoole Baptist Church. We enjoy regular visits from representatives of the churches and this supports the work we do in enhancing children’s spiritual development and understanding of the Christian faith.

Our P.S.H.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.

We implemented the Heartsmart programme in September 2019. HeartSmart is aimed at building character, emotional health and resilience in children. The programme offers a creative way of enabling children to adopt a growth mindset whilst maintaining a healthy emotional balance. It works on the evidence based theory that increasing relational connection empowers children to flourish and achieve more. HeartSmart is focused on encouraging children to love and accept themselves as well as loving and responding well to others. Boris, HeartSmart’s very own purpose-built Robot, provides a fun, interactive and dynamic way for children to explore their hearts, the very thing that makes them unique. Information regarding Heartsmart is available via www.heartsmartprimary.com.

Acts of collective worship are held often throughout the week and are aligned to supporting Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development or supporting specific issues such as e-safety.

We work with external partners including sports consultants, Passion for Learning and external music teachers to enrich learning in several other areas of the curriculum, including Physical Education and Music.

Visits & Residential Trips

We include regular 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. During the last academic year, pupils in Year two and Year 6 have the opportunity to participate in residential visits to the Conway Centre in Anglesey and the Kingswood Centre, Colomdeny.

 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 their education.

 Further information

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

Additional information regarding the school curriculum at Hoole Church of England Primary School is available from the school on request.

For more in-depth information of the annual and termly curriculm for your child's year group, please visit the relevant Classes page.

SMSC Integration into the Curriculum & Collective Worship

Defining spiritual, moral, social and cultural development

A The spiritual development of pupils is shown by their:

1. ability to be reflective about their own beliefs, religious or otherwise, that inform their perspective on life and their interest in and respect for different people’s faiths, feelings and values
2. sense of enjoyment and fascination in learning about themselves, others and the world around them
3. use of imagination and creativity in their learning
4. willingness to reflect on their experiences.

B The moral development of pupils is shown by their:

1. ability to recognise the difference between right and wrong, readily apply this understanding in their own lives and, in so doing, respect the civil and criminal law of England
2. understanding of the consequences of their behaviour and actions
3. interest in investigating and offering reasoned views about moral and ethical issues, and being able to understand and appreciate the viewpoints of others on these issues.

C The social development of pupils is shown by their:

1. use of a range of social skills in different contexts, including working and socialising with pupils from different religious, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds
2. willingness to participate in a variety of communities and social settings, including by volunteering, cooperating well with others and being able to resolve conflicts effectively
3. acceptance and engagement with the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs; the pupils develop and demonstrate skills and attitudes that will allow them to participate fully in and contribute positively to life in modern Britain.

D The cultural development of pupils is shown by their:

1. understanding and appreciation of the wide range of cultural influences that have shaped their own heritage and that of others
2. understanding and appreciation of the range of different cultures within school and further afield as an essential element of their preparation for life in modern Britain
3. knowledge of Britain's democratic parliamentary system and its central role in shaping our history and values, and in continuing to develop Britain
4. willingness to participate in and respond positively to artistic, sporting and cultural opportunities
5. interest in exploring, improving understanding of and showing respect for different faiths and cultural diversity, and the extent to which they understand, accept, respect and celebrate diversity, as shown by their tolerance and attitudes towards different religious, ethnic and socio-economic groups in the local, national and global communities.

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