Moulsecoomb Primary School Curriculum

Moulsecoomb Primary school is a community school which is dedicated to providing all children with extraordinary school days. Children access the curriculum through inspiring, relevant and inclusive experiences. We nurture and challenge our children to believe and succeed. To foster independence and become global citizens.

Our curriculum is at the heart of our school and is carefully designed to support the learning journey of our children to enable them to achieve and succeed.  We ensure that our curriculum;

• ignites a love of learning through inspiring, relevant and inclusive experiences. 
• ensure that pupils develop the core skills of Reading, Writing & Mathematics;
• provide opportunities to develop skills in Science and the foundation subjects, alongside a deep knowledge and understanding of the essential facts about our world, informed by the National Curriculum programmes of study and the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework.
• extend pupils’ involvement in the local community and beyond, developing their understanding of local, environmental and global issues

Threaded through our curriculum is the teaching of the International Primary Curriculum (IPC) personal goals, (thinker, adaptable, resilient, ethical, communicator, empathetic, collaborator, respectful), the five British values, (democracy, rule of law, individual liberty, respect, tolerance), and compassion.

Sequencing

We carefully consider the sequencing of skills and knowledge within each subject area, at each stage of education, and how these build toward agreed end points. Guided by our quality schemes of work, each subject’s curriculum is planned and sequenced so that new knowledge and skills build on those that have been taught before, ensuring progression towards the end of key stage expectations. We look at each concept and each skill, and ask ‘why this; why now?’. Opportunities for repetition and reinforcement are capitalised upon to ensure that pupils ‘know more and remember more’.  As a primary school with a Nursery, we are particularly well placed with our skilled Early Years practitioners to create very strong foundations in the EYFS. This ensures that we deliver a well sequenced learning journey across the primary phase, supported by consistency in the language of learning and the language for learning.

Adaptation

Inclusion is at the heart of our school. It is expected that all children will participate in learning and adaptations will be made to ensure that all children have access to a broad and balanced curriculum.

Our curriculum reflects the school’s local context by addressing typical gaps in pupils’ knowledge and skills. We are committed to recognising and meeting the needs of the following pupil groups:

• The number of pupils in school with English as an Additional Language (EAL).
• The number of pupils in school with Speech, Language and Communication needs (SLC).
• The number of pupils in school with Social Emotional and Mental Health needs (SEMH).
• Pupils in receipt of the Pupil Premium (PP)

Adapting our curriculum to respond to our school’s context involves considered selection of materials to interpret the National Curriculum – for example our adoption of the CUSP Curriculum in Key Stages 1 and 2. This provides a rich diet of language and vocabulary, emphasising oracy and vocabulary acquisition, use and retention to break down learning barriers and accelerate progress. We also considered our selection of experiences to supplement the National Curriculum (for example, our implementation of the ‘Pioneer Passport’) and the weaving of these experiences through our curriculum to create cultural capital, which we recognise as being significantly beneficial for our economically deprived pupils.

Curriculum adaptation at pupil level is indistinguishable from pedagogic adaptation and is a matter of implementation rather than intent. It is an ongoing dynamic process that modifies and adapts the prescribed programmes of study to meet the learning requirements of each pupil. It enables the teachers to teach learners of all abilities and ensures that every pupil is challenged.

Children learn and develop in different ways and may need extra help and support at various points throughout their time at school. Lessons which include practical experiences set the foundations for lifelong learning and enable children to apply skills to real life context.

Work is modified to support learning in the classroom. Adapting resources and activities which focus on personalised curriculum ensures accessibility for all and reduces to barriers to learning.

Linking Learning

The curriculum is implemented through  thematic topics chosen from the International Primary Curriculum (IPC). These are designed with progression of knowledge and mastery of skills at its core. We prioritise development of “entry points” at the start of a topic and then build upon these as the learning unfolds.  These “entry points” are reviewed annually with the cohort so that we can ensure that the experiences we offer continue to resonate with children. All subjects are linked, where possible, to these themes – including music, art, science, core texts, reading and writing to provide the opportunity to make links and ensure depth of understanding.