Curriculum

Mountnessing C of E Primary School

Curriculum Statement

To unlock every child’s potential as a unique child of God.

“May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, that being rooted and grounded in love, you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

We have designed our curriculum to be engaging, inclusive, challenging and progressive.

Much of our learning is cross-curricular and supports our thematic approach. The core and foundation subjects do not form the complete curriculum. We aim to give all children a broad and balanced education that seeks, above all, to treat each child as an individual, allows them to unlock their true potential and to prepare them for life.

We believe that children should be taught the skills and knowledge that give them an understanding of their world and equip them for later life. We focus on key subject and learning skills and are careful to ensure that knowledge taught is relevant and useful.

Our intent is that the children learn to ask and answer higher lever questions and learn in a fun and active setting collaboratively with their peers and other year groups. We believe in the power of learning outdoors and offer a Forest School Curriculum for all pupils across the school year. 

Our curriculum (in school and out of school hours) ensures enrichment days and activities such as trips, visitors and workshops, to stimulate, excite and engage all our pupils.

We teach our pupils through all subject areas to be respectful of cultural, spiritual, social, religious and individual differences of all children. We teach them to understand and recognise feelings and involve other people in their learning experiences.

Our curriculum has been developed to suit our growing school. It is designed in KS2 through a 2 year rolling programme comprising of termly unit plans that are written by the teachers who understand the children best. In KS1, it follows a standard yearly curriculum plan.  Teachers tweak their planning as they progress through the topic to meet the needs of individuals and to respond to class interests.

The Primary Curriculum at Mountnessing C of E Primary School

The Curriculum in primary school divides pupils into three groups known as Key Stages. Foundation Stage relates to the entry year ages. Key Stage 1 covers infant Years 1 and 2, pupils aged 5-7. Key Stage 2 covers the junior age band 7 -11, Years 3, 4, 5, 6. The National Curriculum provides programmes of study and arrangements for assessments in all subjects.

This does not mean that the timetable has been wholly divided into separate subjects. In this school, much of our learning is cross-curricular and supports our thematic approach. The core and foundation subjects do not form the complete curriculum. We aim to give all children a broad and balanced education that seeks, above all, to treat each child as an individual, allows them to unlock their true potential and to prepare them for life.

We believe that children should be taught the skills and knowledge that give them an understanding of their world and equip them for later life. We focus on key subject and learning skills and are careful to ensure that knowledge taught is relevant and useful.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

The EYFS is made up of seven areas of Learning and Development. There are three prime areas and four specific areas. All areas of Learning and Development are underpinned by the principles of the EYFS.

The areas of Learning and Development are:

Prime areas:

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Communication and Language
• Physical Development

Specific areas:

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

These seven areas of Learning and Development together make up the skills, knowledge and experiences appropriate for babies and children as they grow, learn and develop. Although these are presented as separate areas, it is important to remember that for children everything links and nothing is compartmentalised.

 Our Primary curriculum is topic based and allows our mixed age classes to experience a wide range of topics and ensures balanced coverage.

We implement the curriculum through a series of coherently planned and sequenced lessons.  The curriculum balance is monitored and revisited regularly to ensure that pupils in this school develop a range of learning skills, knowledge and understanding over time. Different approaches to learning, media, publication and assessment techniques are also varied to ensure there is breadth and depth for all learners.

The impact of our curriculum can be seen in the progress that our pupils make. By looking in their books and by seeing their work on display, we can tell what they have been learning and how much progress they have made. Our children like talking about their work and sharing their learning with us and we celebrate all achievements.

We assess pupils' learning each and every day by setting clear learning outcomes, including success criteria where appropriate.  Marking and feedback directly links to these areas of learning as well as setting longer term areas for improvement.  We use 'assessment criteria' regularly for English, mathematics and science to focus on gaps in learning.  A summative assessment takes place each term and is fed back to parents/carers at consultation meetings. We track pupil attainment and progress regularly and put in additional support in a timely manner where it may be needed.

Please visit the 'School Results' page on our website to see how well our pupils have done compared to Essex and National Averages.

https://www.mountnessing.essex.sch.uk/ofsted-and-performance-data/

https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/145773/mountnessing-church-of-england-primary-school/primary

Parent/Carer Partnership 

We work in partnership with our parents/carers to enhance learning.  Each term we create termly overviews. These can be viewed above or on the class pages on our website. These include a summary of each topic, identifying links between each curriculum area. 

In order to further support parents/carers, we hold workshops to outline the curriculum and teaching strategies as well as suggestion for how parents/carers can help at home.