Curriculum
Curriculum Intent
Our curriculum is driven by the need to prepare our children for lifelong learning. At Roydon Academy, we offer a rich and vibrant curriculum which is ambitious for all learners. Through our curriculum, we develop the essential knowledge, skills and understanding which are the building blocks for later life. Our curriculum encompasses not only the formal requirements of the National Curriculum, but goes beyond the experiences of the classroom to ensure that our children are exposed to the richest and most varied opportunities that we can provide.
Our curriculum builds progressive core knowledge and key curriculum concepts using a range of learning skills and subject skills. Our curriculum should lead to pupils being able to recall and describe the knowledge and concepts in familiar, unfamiliar, local and global contexts. Our curriculum is designed to enable pupils to make connections between their developing knowledge and concepts, their prior learning, and their lived experiences. The curriculum is enhanced by our commitment to Values-based Education (including British Values) and, through this, we provide learning experiences which promote confident, self-motivated children, eager for lifelong learning.
It is our underlying belief that every child should feel valued and experience the feeling of success in a wide range of curriculum areas. We have designed, organised and planned our curriculum to ensure every child receives an appropriate mix of academic and personal development, which means in practice our curriculum places equal importance on core and foundation subjects.
We place priority on ensuring children’s physical and mental well-being are met. We understand that children will not be successful learners unless they are emotionally secure, therefore we designed our curriculum and adopted a flexible approach to timetabling to ensure we can meet and respond to any issues that arise.
Curriculum Implementation
At Roydon Academy, we have used the National Curriculum alongside specific year group topics to allow our children to gain the necessary knowledge and skills to succeed. We recognise that the curriculum encompasses all areas of learning and we provide learning which makes links across all subjects to give children a clear rationale for completing their work.
Class teachers are responsible for planning the curriculum for their class. They make decisions about what resources and materials they use, and how they differentiate them appropriately. They do this using their professional knowledge and expertise, sharing best practice and providing support for each other, focussed on outcomes for individual pupils.
Subject leaders and senior leaders are responsible for designing the progression in core knowledge, skills and concepts into year group plans. They ensure that all teachers are familiar with curriculum expectations through training, monitoring and coaching, with a focus on ensuring that outcomes can be achieved by all pupils.
Planning focuses on different themes in each year to enable children to achieve depth of thinking and learning. Each year group is exposed to a number of high-quality core texts. These are used to bring the themes to life for our children and to promote a connectedness with the learning.
Lessons may take various formats. These may include:
– Independent research, information gathering and summarising
– Direct teacher led lessons, teaching new skills and knowledge
– Presentation lessons, where children apply their basic skills
– Challenge and deepening activities which add depth to learning.
We require the children to work in these ways so that they build their resilience and can then independently apply their skills and knowledge once a topic is complete.
At the end of a block of work, opportunities for assessment which demonstrate what has been learnt and can be applied. Teachers use the responses to address misconceptions or to extend learning further. Children do not move on until misconceptions have been addressed, so that learning is embedded.
Trips booked for the children will be of high quality. The intention of such trips is to provide the children with cultural capital and to give them experiences that enhance their learning.
Through deeper thinking and reflection our children are able to make links between topics so they are learning to think systematically. Teaching our children how to reflect, explain, justify, question is key to lesson design. Feedback is integrated into the curriculum design and sequencing. A wide range of feedback is used throughout the curriculum.
The learning environment is planned for in fine detail because this is space where learning is completed. The learning environment is intertwined with the curriculum, planning, teaching and learning. The learning environment gives us the opportunity to blend content and pedagogy so that an understanding of how learning is organised, represented and adapted is made visible.
Curriculum Impact
We pride ourselves in constantly improving our school and value feedback from all stakeholders. We give our parents and the Local Governing Board many opportunities to share and celebrate the outcomes of our curriculum.
Class teachers routinely evaluate the progress of pupils within and across lessons using the curriculum frameworks to make judgements. They use this information to analyse how effectively pupils are achieving or exceeding expectations and to adapt their planning accordingly. Teachers provide Subject Leaders with timely summative information about the outcomes of pupils in their class.
Subject Leaders and Senior Leaders routinely evaluate the summative outcomes for their area of responsibility. They use this analysis to identify any necessary actions that develop the quality of provision in their subject, to moderate assessments, and to benchmark outcomes against expectations beyond their school.
All classes invite parents to a termly celebration of topics where children will showcase their outcomes. Each class will also celebrate their work through a class performance. Year group pages on the school website will also inform parents of the termly topic for their class.
Regular and robust triangulated monitoring is used across the BMAT. It is used to gauge the impact of our curriculum design. Leaders at all levels review learning, talk with our children and provide feedback to move practice forward.
We ensure that our pupils’ attainment and progress are in line or exceeding their potential. This is measured using national data (where appropriate), our curriculum maps and monitoring evidence.
Our curriculum develops well-rounded citizens with a clear understanding of values such as love, responsibility and friendship. The curriculum addresses negative stereotyping through investigating similarities and differences, and promoting acceptance, diversity, citizenship and human rights.
Our children will be motivated by a strong personal sense of morality. They will be able to make sense of an increasingly globalised, complex and rapidly changing world. They will make decisions for the right reasons and in the best interests of our community.
Our pupils will be able to decide what is right and what is wrong and will be resilient to the influence of others. Our pupils develop an awareness of how their own actions can impact others and the wider community. Our pupils will step out into the world with the skills to make a difference in their own life and to others.
BEYOND CURRICULUM
From reception through to Year 6, opportunities will be taken to extend the curriculum beyond the statutory requirements and to develop our school values of friendship, unity, aspiration and respect.
Some examples of extending our curriculum beyond the statutory requirements include:
Free after-school clubs - Every part of our school day is a learning opportunity, so we are lucky that we have extra learning through fun clubs after school everyday! Our clubs change every term and are completely free for all children. Sports such as football, rugby, basketball and tennis to name a few.
The Daily Mile - The Daily Mile is a fully inclusive, free and simple initiative which improves the physical and mental health and wellbeing of children. There is no extra workload for teachers and it helps to raise attainment. At Roydon Primary Academy we begin our day with a brisk walk/run together in key stages. This ensures that children have their full break / play time. The Daily Mile is not Sport or PE, but rather health and wellbeing through physical activity.
Breakfast Club - Our Breakfast Club is open every school morning from 7.30-8:45am. As we all know breakfast is the most important meal of the day and Breakfast Clubs have been proven to have a positive impact on punctuality, academic results, concentration, behaviour and attainment. We believe that a good productive start to a child’s day begins with a nutritious breakfast. Our breakfast club links healthy eating with fun and interactive games. We have a great choice of quiet activities such as puzzles, reading, drawing, lego, or colouring.
Kingswood - Our Year 6 children have the opportunity to participate in a residential trip to Kingswood. With a wide range of challenging, high-adrenaline and skill-based indoor and outdoor activity sessions, our pupils are kept active throughout their stay. Their experiences are tailored to be as impactful as possible.
Bolougne-sur-Mer - Year 5 pupils have the opportunity to visit this delightful French coastal city during the summer term. Pupils can practise their language skills and soak in the sights and sounds of French culture. The pupils can even try some fresh escargot if they're feeling adventurous!
Assemblies – The Junior Leadership regularly organise assemblies to share with the whole school. The children also invite their families into school on a termly basis for a ‘sharing’ assembly.
Friday Values Assembly - Our Friday values assemblies are a celebration of students’ personal achievements.
Extra-curricular Trips - We provide the opportunity to go on trips to our local area and beyond to enhance life skills, learning opportunities and become active citizens. These have included: Harlow Playhouse, Colchester Zoo, Kew Gardens and the Houses of Parliament.
Safe, responsible pupils - We welcome guest speakers and host specialist workshops for all of our pupils to promote safety in and out of school.