At Scarcroft we believe children should develop knowledge and skills through a broad and balanced topic based curriculum. We invest time in all subjects through lessons and extra curricular activities. We aim to develop the children’s understanding of their local community as well as the cultural capital of all pupils.
Overarching topics are selected by the Teachers to capture the children’s curiosity, taking into account the age of the children and their interests as well as ensuring a wide number of subjects are covered across the academic year. These knowledge based topics are used as a vehicle to teach specific skills in most subjects, including English and are designed to immerse the children in their learning.
As an Academy, we have designed our curriculum to incorporate the statutory guidance drawn up by the government. The National Curriculum structures the main objectives in the core subjects of English, Mathematics and Science. Each subject is led by an experienced middle leader, who oversees the teaching and learning within their area of focus. For the Foundation subjects (History, Geography, Art, Design Technology, Computing, Music and Physical Education) the Subject Leaders have designed a Progression grid to detail the skills that must be achieved during the academic year.
Progression grids allow subject leaders to track progression of each subject across year groups ensuring key skills are taught and built upon over time. Progression grids also give teachers a sequence of skills (drawing upon the National Curriculum) to develop pupils’ understanding of a subject and key objectives to assess against.
For each topic a Knowledge Organiser is developed and shared with children and parents. Knowledge Organisers give the information that the children will learn throughout their topic. They are reviewed with the children at the end of the topic to assess their growing knowledge and revisited to ensure knowledge is committed to long term memory.
Some Foundation Subjects are taught discreetly and outside of the class topic. These include PE, RE, PSHE, RE and Modern Foreign Languages.
All pupils are also required to study RE (Religious Education) but this follows a locally agreed syllabus, rather than a national programme of study. We follow the City of York Council Locally Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education, you can find out more about York SACRE (Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education) on their website.
All pupils in Years 1-6 also receive two PE (Physical Education) lessons per week as their Sports provision. In KS2, this includes swimming lessons in 4. Additional termly sessions are led by our Sports Specialist.
French is taught in Year 2 and then continues across Key Stage 2. Children enjoy weekly sessions and use the LCP Scheme of work.
PSHE is a non-statutory subject so we have the opportunity to shape the curriculum to suit the needs of our pupils. We teach key themes, as well as ensuring lessons are adapted to meet the needs of the individual children and classes, as well as covering local priorities. Our School Vision underpins all areas of PSHE. We are committed to developing our teaching of the Relationships Curriculum and plan to implement this in Summer 2021.
In Early Years we follow a child led approach. Through observing the children at play the adults are then able to plan lessons and enhance areas of provision to link to the children’s current interests and next steps. English and Maths lessons are themed where possible around stories or relevant events or celebrations. Development Matters is used to track pupils progress and at the end of the year the children are assessed against the early learning goals.
Interwoven into the curriculum are the principles behind British Values and SMSC. Through a range of assemblies we develop respect and tolerance and an understanding of a range of multicultural festivals. This is further developed through RE and PSHE lessons in every classroom. We have an active School Council and have taken part in a Pupil Parliament. We use a recognition board within the classroom to reward and encourage positive behaviour and follow three simple rules: BE READY, BE RESPONSIBLE, BE SAFE.
We believe that all children should have their needs recognised and identified at the earliest possible opportunity so that they can meet their true potential. Children with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND) are an integral part of our school community. As a result we have a dedicated Inclusion Leader, providing support for teachers and parents. We believe in equity and equality, ensuring that all children are treated fairly and their needs taken into account. The Curriculum is designed to include all children, with personalised curriculum programs in place where appropriate.
We believe that through our curriculum we deliver our key aim for pupils – ‘Developing all of me’. This approach gives children a well rounded education with wide subject knowledge and key skills for learning and for life. We provide an environment and curriculum which prepares our pupils as confident, healthy, and happy citizens.
For further information on the key strands to our curriculum take a look at the subject pages below: