Curriculum

At Roydon Primary Academy our vision is to empower all children to fulfil their true potential through excellent education provision that inspires academic success and nurtures whole-child personal development. Within a safe, happy and stimulating environment, children are inspired and their individual achievements and effort celebrated.

At Roydon Primary Academy we follow all the requirements of the National Curriculum. Our curriculum extends beyond the academic, it provides for learners’ broader development, enabling them to develop and discover their interests and talents.

The outline of knowledge, skills and understanding that schools are required to cover is provided by The National Curriculum (revised in Sept 2014). Much of this is taught through cross-curricular themes where children will learn different elements from a range of subjects, all within one common theme. Please see the Subject deck document for more information on our curriculum Intent, Impact and Implementation.

The National Curriculum comprises core and foundation subjects. The three major core subjects are English, mathematics and science and these take up a larger share of curriculum teaching time. The foundation subjects are: art and design, computing, design and technology, French (KS2), geography, history, music, physical education and religious education.

Sport and music further enrich the life of our children and a wide range of sporting opportunities are offered, particularly for our older children and some of our teams have proved to be very successful. There are opportunities for our children to lead activities for example Cheerleading and the end of year Whole School Dance

Our curriculum is extended with other aspects of learning, including personal, social and health education. We also place emphasis on the social, moral, spiritual and cultural development of our children. The curriculum and the school’s wider work supports learners to develop their character and help them know how to keep physically and mentally healthy. In school, we use E.A.R.T.H to express our core values and outline the culture we expect all our school community to demonstrate. ‘We do everything in the Spirit of Roydon Earth’.

 

Empathy: We are compassionate, inclusive and fair.

Achievement: We have high ambitions and expectations for what is possible.

Resilience: We value positive thinking and attitude, effort and perseverance.

Teamwork: Listening, sharing and respectfully working together makes us stronger. We make positive contributions.

Healthy Living: We are happy, healthy and safe. We care for our bodies, hearts and minds.

The national curriculum recognises how important it is for children to understand the world in which they live in. They want children to live alongside and show respect for a diverse range of people. A way in which schools can ensure they are providing children with the knowledge and skills to do this is through the teaching of protected characteristics.

It is extremely important for us here at Roydon Primary Academy, that our children grow to be respectful, ambitious and empathetic pupils who respect the world in which they live in.

The 9 protected characteristics are:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Marriage and civil partnership
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race
• Religion or belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation

The government does stress that not all of these characteristics have to be taught in every year group and schools should use their professional judgement to plan their curriculum appropriately. Here at Roydon Primary Academy, our PSHE/RSE lessons are taught using the programme 1Dimesion supplemented with lessons for topics specifically for our local area.

British Values are very important to us here at Roydon Primary Academy. We are dedicated to the teaching of British Values through our curriculum and wider school life. We believe we have created an environment that shows respect and tolerance for all. Our PSHE curriculum is used in addition to various other ways we teach respect and diversity across school for example through literacy, assemblies, groups and sporting activities

From July 2015, the government made it mandatory for schools to protect children against radicalisation and extremism. The government initiative, known as the 'Prevent Duty' means school have a duty of care to not only protect children against radicalisation and extremism, but also, identify children in their care who may be vulnerable to this and know how to act when they are identified.

All staff at Roydon Primary Academy receive training regularly on Prevent. This is a government provided programme that each member of staff completes. In addition to this, we promote positive attitudes and resilience to radicalisation through the teaching of our British Values.

Further information on Prevent can be found on the website below:

Parents' Resources - Educate Against Hate

During their time at Roydon we believe each child should be afforded a rich curriculum with lots of meaningful, engaging experiences.

 

You will have the opportunity to:

Play a musical instrument

Perform to an audience

Be taught by specialist teachers

To make a short film/video

Watch a Pantomime

Study a range of cultures and faiths

Undertake cycling proficiency

Under take first aid training

Taste and make a variety of foods

Participate in a community celebration