Our aim at Godstone Primary and Nursery School is to develop and embed an ambitious curriculum through high quality teaching and learning, where the children know more, remember more and experience more.

The curriculum has recently been re-written and is being adapted and updated following its first year of implementation.  It has been written to enable the children to experience Inspirational Learning for Life and is underpinned by our core values of ambition, respect, responsibility, compassion and pride.  The children are taught how to learn and develop a growth mindset through our learning capacities of Resilience, Reciprocity, Reflectiveness and Resourcefulness.

Intent

The Intent at Godstone Primary and Nursery School is to provide:

• A curriculum that is directly linked to the EYFS and National Curriculum with the end points clearly identified and the learning organised into sequential steps that enable children to succeed.
• A curriculum that is ambitious and rigorous to ensure the children learn the knowledge and skills in each subject.  Learning is defined as an alteration to the child’s long-term memory.
• A curriculum that contains the knowledge and skills appropriate to each child’s age and abilities.  A mastery approach is used to ensure a thorough understanding whilst giving the children time to consolidate learning and enabling children to use and apply their knowledge and skills in a range of contexts.

Implementation

The curriculum is implemented through high quality, inclusive teaching with knowledgeable and reflective teachers and support staff who are ambitious for all children. 

High quality texts are used to inspire the children, develop their learning and teach them new vocabulary. 

Where schemes have been chosen to support teachers to deliver the curriculum, they have been chosen to ensure high quality teaching enables the children to learn key information and concepts.  Learning is built upon incrementally and revisited to ensure children transfer key knowledge and acquisition of new skills to their long-term memory.

Each subject and year group is carefully mapped out to ensure coverage and progression.  Where links have been made between subjects these have been done to enable the children to transfer knowledge and skills.  For example, a key text for English may be linked to the learning in science or history.

Teachers use assessment to find out what the children have understood, to inform future planning and to address any misconceptions that may have arisen.

The children’s social and emotional development is woven through all elements of the curriculum and opportunities are taken throughout the school day to support their wellbeing.

Impact

The impact of the curriculum at Godstone Primary and Nursery School enables the children to know more and remember more through high quality teaching and learning across a range of curriculum subjects from Nursery to Year Six.

The children develop resilience, resourcefulness, reciprocity and reflectiveness to enable them to access the curriculum and become successful lifelong learners.  They develop a ‘learning to learn’ approach to create independent learners.

The PSHE and RSE curriculum, alongside the school’s core values and learning capacities, enables the children to develop positive mental health and wellbeing.

The school’s core values are embedded throughout the school to ensure the children’s behaviour enables them to learn the curriculum effectively.