Our curriculum is based on the National Curriculum which can be found by clicking here. We have developed our curriculum to ensure we not only meet but exceed the requirements of the national curriculum in providing our pupils with a knowledge-rich education to ensure their success as they move into KS3. The National Curriculum document shows the statutory objectives for the knowledge, skills and understanding that we teach at Springfield Primary Academy from Year 1 to Year 6.
We offer a broad, balanced and academically rigorous curriculum for all our learners. Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are taught using the EYFS framework with an emphasis on developing key skills, knowledge and understanding through direct teaching and structured continuous provision.
Our curriculum is designed with knowledge at its heart to ensure that children develop a strong vocabulary base and understanding of the world. It ensures that our children leave Springfield as confident, resilient and resourceful learners with a strong sense of respect for others. Our ambition is that our children develop a thirst for learning achieved through exciting and vibrant experiences, both in and outside of our classrooms.
Implementation
Curriculum organisation
Enquiry Driven Engagement
Key Concepts
Procedural Knowledge
Knowledge Based
Declarative Knowledge
Experiential Learning
Our enquiry based learning begins with key questions and is led and deepened by the children’s questioning.
Progressive key concepts we want our children to know and understand before they leave us.
Key facts and information we want our children, to know and remember before they leave us, building year on year on prior learning.
Where possible learning is enhanced by first hand experiences including visits and visitors.
Organisation
Curriculum Topic Drivers
Discrete Subjects
Personal & Physical Development
Years
1-6
Daily
Half termly
Daily
weekly
weekly
English
History
Geography
Art
DT
Maths
Science
Computing
Music
French
PE
RE
PSHE
FS
Communication and Language
Understanding the World
Literacy
Maths
Expressive Arts and Design
Physical Development
Personal Social and Emotional development
If you would like further information about our curriculum please contact your child's class teacher in the first instance.
At Springfield Primary Academy we have a two year curriculum cycle in Key Stage 1, Year 3 and 4 and Year 5 and 6. Over the two year cycle children have opportunities to deepen their knowledge and understanding across all subjects.
Long Term Plans
Autumn Term 1 2022
Summer Term 2022
Phonics
Our Academy has adopted the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme. This is a six phase programme designed to help teach children to read and spell with phonics.
Phase One
The aim of this phase is to foster children’s speaking and listening skills as preparation for learning to read with phonics. Parents can play a vital role in helping their children develop these skills, by encouraging their children to listen carefully and talk extensively about what they hear, see and do.
Phase Two-Four
Phase Two is when systematic, high quality phonic work begins. During Phase Two to Four, children learn:
*How to represent each of the 42 sounds by a letter or sequence of letters
*How to blend sounds together for reading and how to segment (split) words for spelling
*Letter names e.g. through an alphabet song.
*How to read and spell some high frequency ‘tricky’ words containing sounds not yet learnt (e.g. they, my, her, you).
Phase 5
Children learn new ways of representing the sounds and practise blending for reading and segmenting for spelling.
Phase 6
During this phase, children become fluent readers and increasingly accurate spellers.
We have a number of reading resources to support our teaching of reading. Our main scheme is ‘Oxford Reading Tree’. We also use a variety of other resources, depending on the needs of the child. Each class has a book area where children can access ‘real’ books and we also have our own library from which the children can borrow books.
Bug Club
Please have a look at the flip book below for more information about Bug Club. As a school, we have access to all of the eBooks. If you would like more information, please ask your child’s class teacher in the first instance.
Teaching Reading
The teaching of writing across the school is seen as a key priority. We aim to ensure that all of our children write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. Basic skills are taught across the school and different writing genres are integrated into our topics wherever possible.
Teaching Writing
Intent
Mathematics is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. Our high quality mathematics curriculum provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.
We aim to ensure that all children:
- Become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that children have conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately
- Reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language
- Can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions
Mathematics Overview
Intent
Our high quality Science curriculum provides the foundations for understanding the world through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. All of our children are taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science. Through building up a body of key foundational knowledge and concepts, children are encouraged to recognise the power of rational explanation and develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. Children are encouraged to understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave, and analyse causes.
Our curriculum aims to ensure that all children:
- Develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics
- Develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science through different types of science enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them
- Are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today, and for the future
Science Plan
Intent
Our high quality Art and Design curriculum engages, inspires and challenges our children, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. As our children progress, they are able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design.
Our Art and Design curriculum aims to ensure that all of our children:
- Produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences
- Become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques
- Evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design
- Know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms
Art and Design Plan
Intent
At Springfield Primary Academy, we believe that it is vital for all our children to learn from and about Computing and Technology, so that they can understand the world around them. Through teaching our computing curriculum, we aim to equip our children to participate in a rapidly changing world where work and leisure activities are increasingly transformed by technology. It is our intention to enable children to find, explore, analyse, exchange and present information as well as having the skills to manipulate, develop and interpret different forms of technology in an ever-changing world.
In such a fast-moving curriculum, we are constantly looking at new ways of delivering relevant and exciting activities, while still delivering the fundamental skills needed for computing. Using technology safely and responsibly is a main priority and ensuring all children are able to use the internet and equipment appropriately is of paramount importance. We encourage our children to make links across the curriculum, the world and our local community, to reflect on their own experiences, which are designed in our curriculum, allowing horizontal and vertical links with previous year groups.
The core of computing is computer science, in which children are taught the principles of information and computation, how digital systems work, and how to put this knowledge to use through programming. Building on this knowledge and understanding, children are equipped to use information technology to create programs, systems and a range of content. Computing also ensures that children become digitally literate – able to use, and express themselves and develop their ideas through information and communication technology – at a level suitable for the future workplace and as active participants in a digital world.
The Enquire Learning Trust bespoke computing curriculum offers a cross curricular scheme of work for EYFS, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 which matches the expectations of the National Curriculum. The curriculum looks at the progression needed for all pupils to develop and embed skills and knowledge within the strands of: computer science, information technology and digital literacy. The curriculum is designed to support teaching and learning and the acquisition of subject knowledge in all areas. Children will have the opportunity to explore and respond to key issues such as digital communication, cyber-bullying, online safety, security and social media.
Our curriculum for computing aims to ensure that all pupils:
- can understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, logic, algorithms and data representation
- can analyse problems in computational terms, and have repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problems
- can evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problems
- are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology.
Computing Plan
Intent
At Springfield Primary Academy our Design and Technology curriculum gives children opportunities for them to use their creativity and imagination to design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts.
We aim to insure that all children:
- Develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world
- Build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users
- Critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others
- Understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook
Design and Technology Plan
Intent
At Springfield Primary Academy we aim to deliver a high quality French curriculum that will help our children to build both procedural and declarative knowledge. Our school uses the Early Start French curriculum which gradually builds children’s language knowledge and skills with carefully planned progression.
French Plan
Intent
Our high quality geography education is designed to inspire in our children a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Our curriculum equips children with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. As children progress, their growing knowledge about the world should help them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments. Geographical knowledge, understanding and skills provide the frameworks and approaches that explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.
We aim to ensure that all children:
- Develop contextual knowledge of the location of globally significant places – both terrestrial and marine – including their defining physical and human characteristics and how these provide geographical context for understanding the actions of processes
- Understand the processes that give rise to key physical and human geographical features of the world, how these are interdependent and how they bring about spatial variation and change over time
- Are competent in the geographical skills needed to collect, analyse and communicate with a range of data gathered through experiences of fieldwork that deepen their understanding of geographical processes and to interpret a range of sources of geographical information in a variety of ways, including through maps and writing at length.
Geography Plan
Intent
Our high quality History curriculum helps children gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. It inspires children’s curiosity to know more about the past. Our curriculum equips children to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments and develop perspective and judgement.
Our History curriculum aims to ensure that all children:
- Know and understand the history of our islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day; how people’s lives have shaped our nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world.
- Know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind
- Gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as empire, civilisation, parliament and peasantry
- Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses
- Understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed
- Gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short and long timescales.
History Plan
Intent
Our high quality Music curriculum engages and inspires our children to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, increasing their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. As our children progress they develop a critical engagement with music.
Our Music curriculum aims to ensure that all children:
- Perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians
- Learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence
- Understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the interrelated dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations
Music Plan
Intent
Our high quality physical education curriculum is designed to give the opportunity for all of our children to succeed and excel in competitive sport and other physically demanding activities. It provides opportunities for children to become physically confident in a way which supports their health and fitness. We feel that opportunities to compete in sport and other activities build character and help to embed values such as fairness and respect.
Aims
Our curriculum is designed to ensure that all children:
- Develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities
- Are physically active for sustained periods of time
- Engage in competitive sports and activities
- Lead healthy, active lives
PE Planning and Progression
Intent
Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) is a planned programme of learning through which children acquire the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to manage their lives, fostering lifelong aspirations, goals and values.
As part of a whole school approach, PSHE develops the qualities and attributes pupils need to thrive as individuals, family members and members of society.
PSHE gives our children the ability to deal with critical issues they face every day such as friendships, emotional wellbeing and change. It gives them a solid foundation for whatever challenging opportunities lie ahead, so that they can face a world full of uncertainty with hope.
From making informed decisions about alcohol to succeeding in their first job, PSHE education helps children prepare for all the opportunities, challenges, life decisions and responsibilities they’ll face.
At Springfield Primary Academy we use the Jigsaw curriculum to support our teaching of PSHE.
Jigsaw Curriculum Overview
As a school it is our duty to promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.
Our Jigsaw PSHE whole school curriculum contributes to the British Values agenda very significantly, both through the direct teaching of information and through the experiential learning our children enjoy.
The 5 strands of the British Values agenda have been mapped across every Puzzle.
British Values
Intent
Our Religious education curriculum aims to give our children the knowledge, critical thinking skills, open minded and respectful attitude with which to investigate the world of religion and beliefs, and make their own decisions about what this means to them, whilst empathising with what it means to those who hold those beliefs. It also aims to enable children to grow spiritually by developing their awareness and skills of reflection, their experience of awe and wonder and their appreciation of stillness and silence.
RE Plan
At Springfield Primary Academy, learning is our core purpose. Our teaching and learning is underpinned by our key drivers of ‘Care, Collaboration and Challenge’. We feel that these are the most important attributes for our children to develop. To care about themselves, for one another, for adults, for the wider community and for the work that they do is essential for getting on in life; developing the skills to be good team players and having the ability to tackle any challenge with confidence and perseverance is crucial in today's society. Our teaching and learning is based on Barak Rosenshine’s ten principles of instruction. These principles are based on how people learn and acquire new information and how adults in school implement effective classroom strategies in order to support pupils to learn complex material.
Springfield’s Ten Principles of Instruction
- Review learning at the start
- Present new materials in small steps
- Ask lots of good questions
- Provide models and worked examples
- Practise using the new materials
- Check for understanding
- Obtain a high success rate
- Provide scaffolding and support
- Encourage independent practice
- Weekly and monthly review
Our classrooms are set up to ensure our pupils have the best possible environment for learning. High expectations are modelled both within the classroom and throughout school, instilling positive learning behaviours. Routines are well established and equipment is easily accessible, enabling pupils to be independent in the classroom. Tables are arranged to encourage collaboration and displays are used both as working walls to scaffold learning and to celebrate pupil’s work. Flipcharts on each table, rubrics for writing and concrete apparatus also scaffold learning. Throughout school, there is an emphasis on celebrating achievement and perseverance through the use of class dojo points, stickers, star writer and I Am Proud certificates and role model bands.
We build knowledge and ensure that pupils remember what they have learned through reviewing learning at the start of each lesson. These reviews can take a number of forms including low stakes quizzing, flashback 4s in Maths and targeted questioning. Our curriculum is designed so that children have opportunities to revisit concepts in different subject areas and links are made in learning wherever possible. Staff know the whole curriculum well, enabling them to link their teaching to prior learning and also make connections to future learning. Skills are developed and built on throughout the curriculum and regular reviews of learning enable adults to assess progress and understanding.
Questioning is a strength at Springfield. We have created a learning atmosphere where children are not afraid to have a go. Questioning can be open ended, to encourage discussion and collaboration, can be targeted to specific children, or can be asked of the whole class with everyone expected to respond in some way. Adults are skilled in using questioning to support pupils in delving deeper into learning.
At Springfield, all children are challenged to ensure that they fulfil their potential. This is done in a number of ways. Task design, differentiation, scaffolding and the use of adults in class all support an ethos of challenge. Adults know children well; assessment for learning is ongoing and feeds into the next lesson, ensuring all children are challenged appropriately. Open ended tasks, good questioning and extension activities create additional challenge.
Ongoing assessment for learning, through questioning, marking and observation, identifies gaps in learning. Adults are skilled in filling these gaps, using a number of strategies. Children can be targeted within the classroom, planning and tasks can be adapted, and there are opportunities within the lesson to deal with misconceptions. Children may be targeted for short term intervention to ensure that they remain on track.
Feedback is provided to pupils on a regular basis and they are able to use this to accelerate progress. Verbal feedback is often used in the moment, targeting misconceptions and moving learning forward. Written feedback is also given where appropriate. Yellow highlighters in writing are used to identify areas to improve and writing rubrics identify targets met and next steps. In Maths, errors are identified with a dot and pupils are given opportunity to correct these. Throughout school praise is used effectively to encourage perseverance and reward achievement.
Displays and working walls within the classroom contribute to progress in a number of ways. English, Maths and Science working walls build a picture of current learning. Key vocabulary, models of good work and current learning objectives are displayed, providing a reference point for learning. Children’s work is also displayed in the classroom, celebrating achievements and also providing prompts to prior learning.
Collaboration is one of our key drivers for learning. Pupils are given opportunities to collaborate through paired and group work in all areas of the curriculum and are taught the skills to collaborate effectively. Collaboration is planned to enhance learning and to develop the skills necessary to enable our pupils to become positive, respectful and productive members of any team.
At Springfield Primary Academy, our children care about ‘beautiful’ work. Throughout school, pupils are taught to value what they produce. High expectations are established early and positive relationships are engendered throughout school, creating a very positive learning environment. Pupils are given the right tools for success. Adults model beautiful work and scaffolds are provided, where appropriate, to support all children to achieve their full potential. Our school embraces and celebrates every kind of achievement. This is reflected in our commitment to inclusion and unity. We are committed to high standards and expectations, striving for excellence in all that we do.
Our curriculum is based on the National Curriculum which can be found by clicking here. We have developed our curriculum to ensure we not only meet but exceed the requirements of the national curriculum in providing our pupils with a knowledge-rich education to ensure their success as they move into KS3. The National Curriculum document shows the statutory objectives for the knowledge, skills and understanding that we teach at Springfield Primary Academy from Year 1 to Year 6.
We offer a broad, balanced and academically rigorous curriculum for all our learners. Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are taught using the EYFS framework with an emphasis on developing key skills, knowledge and understanding through direct teaching and structured continuous provision.
Our curriculum is designed with knowledge at its heart to ensure that children develop a strong vocabulary base and understanding of the world. It ensures that our children leave Springfield as confident, resilient and resourceful learners with a strong sense of respect for others. Our ambition is that our children develop a thirst for learning achieved through exciting and vibrant experiences, both in and outside of our classrooms.
Implementation
|
Curriculum organisation |
Enquiry Driven Engagement |
Key Concepts Procedural Knowledge |
Knowledge Based Declarative Knowledge |
Experiential Learning |
|||||||||||||||||||
|
Our enquiry based learning begins with key questions and is led and deepened by the children’s questioning. |
Progressive key concepts we want our children to know and understand before they leave us. |
Key facts and information we want our children, to know and remember before they leave us, building year on year on prior learning.
|
Where possible learning is enhanced by first hand experiences including visits and visitors. |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
Organisation |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Curriculum Topic Drivers |
Discrete Subjects |
Personal & Physical Development |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
Years 1-6 |
Daily |
Half termly |
Daily |
weekly |
weekly |
||||||||||||||||||
|
English |
History |
Geography |
Art |
DT |
Maths |
Science |
Computing |
Music |
French |
PE |
RE |
PSHE |
|||||||||||
|
FS |
Communication and Language |
Understanding the World |
Literacy |
Maths |
Expressive Arts and Design |
Physical Development |
Personal Social and Emotional development |
||||||||||||||||
If you would like further information about our curriculum please contact your child's class teacher in the first instance.
At Springfield Primary Academy we have a two year curriculum cycle in Key Stage 1, Year 3 and 4 and Year 5 and 6. Over the two year cycle children have opportunities to deepen their knowledge and understanding across all subjects.
Long Term Plans
Autumn Term 1 2022
Summer Term 2022
Phonics
Our Academy has adopted the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme. This is a six phase programme designed to help teach children to read and spell with phonics.
Phase One
The aim of this phase is to foster children’s speaking and listening skills as preparation for learning to read with phonics. Parents can play a vital role in helping their children develop these skills, by encouraging their children to listen carefully and talk extensively about what they hear, see and do.
Phase Two-Four
Phase Two is when systematic, high quality phonic work begins. During Phase Two to Four, children learn:
*How to represent each of the 42 sounds by a letter or sequence of letters
*How to blend sounds together for reading and how to segment (split) words for spelling
*Letter names e.g. through an alphabet song.
*How to read and spell some high frequency ‘tricky’ words containing sounds not yet learnt (e.g. they, my, her, you).
Phase 5
Children learn new ways of representing the sounds and practise blending for reading and segmenting for spelling.
Phase 6
During this phase, children become fluent readers and increasingly accurate spellers.
We have a number of reading resources to support our teaching of reading. Our main scheme is ‘Oxford Reading Tree’. We also use a variety of other resources, depending on the needs of the child. Each class has a book area where children can access ‘real’ books and we also have our own library from which the children can borrow books.
Bug Club
Please have a look at the flip book below for more information about Bug Club. As a school, we have access to all of the eBooks. If you would like more information, please ask your child’s class teacher in the first instance.
Teaching Reading
The teaching of writing across the school is seen as a key priority. We aim to ensure that all of our children write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. Basic skills are taught across the school and different writing genres are integrated into our topics wherever possible.
Teaching Writing
Intent
Mathematics is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. Our high quality mathematics curriculum provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.
We aim to ensure that all children:
- Become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that children have conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately
- Reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language
- Can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions
Mathematics Overview
Intent
Our high quality Science curriculum provides the foundations for understanding the world through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. All of our children are taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science. Through building up a body of key foundational knowledge and concepts, children are encouraged to recognise the power of rational explanation and develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. Children are encouraged to understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave, and analyse causes.
Our curriculum aims to ensure that all children:
- Develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics
- Develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science through different types of science enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them
- Are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today, and for the future
Science Plan
Intent
Our high quality Art and Design curriculum engages, inspires and challenges our children, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. As our children progress, they are able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design.
Our Art and Design curriculum aims to ensure that all of our children:
- Produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences
- Become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques
- Evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design
- Know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms
Art and Design Plan
Intent
At Springfield Primary Academy, we believe that it is vital for all our children to learn from and about Computing and Technology, so that they can understand the world around them. Through teaching our computing curriculum, we aim to equip our children to participate in a rapidly changing world where work and leisure activities are increasingly transformed by technology. It is our intention to enable children to find, explore, analyse, exchange and present information as well as having the skills to manipulate, develop and interpret different forms of technology in an ever-changing world.
In such a fast-moving curriculum, we are constantly looking at new ways of delivering relevant and exciting activities, while still delivering the fundamental skills needed for computing. Using technology safely and responsibly is a main priority and ensuring all children are able to use the internet and equipment appropriately is of paramount importance. We encourage our children to make links across the curriculum, the world and our local community, to reflect on their own experiences, which are designed in our curriculum, allowing horizontal and vertical links with previous year groups.
The core of computing is computer science, in which children are taught the principles of information and computation, how digital systems work, and how to put this knowledge to use through programming. Building on this knowledge and understanding, children are equipped to use information technology to create programs, systems and a range of content. Computing also ensures that children become digitally literate – able to use, and express themselves and develop their ideas through information and communication technology – at a level suitable for the future workplace and as active participants in a digital world.
The Enquire Learning Trust bespoke computing curriculum offers a cross curricular scheme of work for EYFS, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 which matches the expectations of the National Curriculum. The curriculum looks at the progression needed for all pupils to develop and embed skills and knowledge within the strands of: computer science, information technology and digital literacy. The curriculum is designed to support teaching and learning and the acquisition of subject knowledge in all areas. Children will have the opportunity to explore and respond to key issues such as digital communication, cyber-bullying, online safety, security and social media.
Our curriculum for computing aims to ensure that all pupils:
- can understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, logic, algorithms and data representation
- can analyse problems in computational terms, and have repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problems
- can evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problems
- are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology.
Computing Plan
Intent
At Springfield Primary Academy our Design and Technology curriculum gives children opportunities for them to use their creativity and imagination to design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts.
We aim to insure that all children:
- Develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world
- Build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users
- Critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others
- Understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook
Design and Technology Plan
Intent
At Springfield Primary Academy we aim to deliver a high quality French curriculum that will help our children to build both procedural and declarative knowledge. Our school uses the Early Start French curriculum which gradually builds children’s language knowledge and skills with carefully planned progression.
French Plan
Intent
Our high quality geography education is designed to inspire in our children a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Our curriculum equips children with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. As children progress, their growing knowledge about the world should help them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments. Geographical knowledge, understanding and skills provide the frameworks and approaches that explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.
We aim to ensure that all children:
- Develop contextual knowledge of the location of globally significant places – both terrestrial and marine – including their defining physical and human characteristics and how these provide geographical context for understanding the actions of processes
- Understand the processes that give rise to key physical and human geographical features of the world, how these are interdependent and how they bring about spatial variation and change over time
- Are competent in the geographical skills needed to collect, analyse and communicate with a range of data gathered through experiences of fieldwork that deepen their understanding of geographical processes and to interpret a range of sources of geographical information in a variety of ways, including through maps and writing at length.
Geography Plan
Intent
Our high quality History curriculum helps children gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. It inspires children’s curiosity to know more about the past. Our curriculum equips children to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments and develop perspective and judgement.
Our History curriculum aims to ensure that all children:
- Know and understand the history of our islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day; how people’s lives have shaped our nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world.
- Know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind
- Gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as empire, civilisation, parliament and peasantry
- Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses
- Understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed
- Gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short and long timescales.
History Plan
Intent
Our high quality Music curriculum engages and inspires our children to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, increasing their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. As our children progress they develop a critical engagement with music.
Our Music curriculum aims to ensure that all children:
- Perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians
- Learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence
- Understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the interrelated dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations
Music Plan
Intent
Our high quality physical education curriculum is designed to give the opportunity for all of our children to succeed and excel in competitive sport and other physically demanding activities. It provides opportunities for children to become physically confident in a way which supports their health and fitness. We feel that opportunities to compete in sport and other activities build character and help to embed values such as fairness and respect.
Aims
Our curriculum is designed to ensure that all children:
- Develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities
- Are physically active for sustained periods of time
- Engage in competitive sports and activities
- Lead healthy, active lives
PE Planning and Progression
Intent
Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) is a planned programme of learning through which children acquire the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to manage their lives, fostering lifelong aspirations, goals and values.
As part of a whole school approach, PSHE develops the qualities and attributes pupils need to thrive as individuals, family members and members of society.
PSHE gives our children the ability to deal with critical issues they face every day such as friendships, emotional wellbeing and change. It gives them a solid foundation for whatever challenging opportunities lie ahead, so that they can face a world full of uncertainty with hope.
From making informed decisions about alcohol to succeeding in their first job, PSHE education helps children prepare for all the opportunities, challenges, life decisions and responsibilities they’ll face.
At Springfield Primary Academy we use the Jigsaw curriculum to support our teaching of PSHE.
Jigsaw Curriculum Overview
As a school it is our duty to promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.
Our Jigsaw PSHE whole school curriculum contributes to the British Values agenda very significantly, both through the direct teaching of information and through the experiential learning our children enjoy.
The 5 strands of the British Values agenda have been mapped across every Puzzle.
British Values
Intent
Our Religious education curriculum aims to give our children the knowledge, critical thinking skills, open minded and respectful attitude with which to investigate the world of religion and beliefs, and make their own decisions about what this means to them, whilst empathising with what it means to those who hold those beliefs. It also aims to enable children to grow spiritually by developing their awareness and skills of reflection, their experience of awe and wonder and their appreciation of stillness and silence.
RE Plan
At Springfield Primary Academy, learning is our core purpose. Our teaching and learning is underpinned by our key drivers of ‘Care, Collaboration and Challenge’. We feel that these are the most important attributes for our children to develop. To care about themselves, for one another, for adults, for the wider community and for the work that they do is essential for getting on in life; developing the skills to be good team players and having the ability to tackle any challenge with confidence and perseverance is crucial in today's society. Our teaching and learning is based on Barak Rosenshine’s ten principles of instruction. These principles are based on how people learn and acquire new information and how adults in school implement effective classroom strategies in order to support pupils to learn complex material.
Springfield’s Ten Principles of Instruction
- Review learning at the start
- Present new materials in small steps
- Ask lots of good questions
- Provide models and worked examples
- Practise using the new materials
- Check for understanding
- Obtain a high success rate
- Provide scaffolding and support
- Encourage independent practice
- Weekly and monthly review
Our classrooms are set up to ensure our pupils have the best possible environment for learning. High expectations are modelled both within the classroom and throughout school, instilling positive learning behaviours. Routines are well established and equipment is easily accessible, enabling pupils to be independent in the classroom. Tables are arranged to encourage collaboration and displays are used both as working walls to scaffold learning and to celebrate pupil’s work. Flipcharts on each table, rubrics for writing and concrete apparatus also scaffold learning. Throughout school, there is an emphasis on celebrating achievement and perseverance through the use of class dojo points, stickers, star writer and I Am Proud certificates and role model bands.
We build knowledge and ensure that pupils remember what they have learned through reviewing learning at the start of each lesson. These reviews can take a number of forms including low stakes quizzing, flashback 4s in Maths and targeted questioning. Our curriculum is designed so that children have opportunities to revisit concepts in different subject areas and links are made in learning wherever possible. Staff know the whole curriculum well, enabling them to link their teaching to prior learning and also make connections to future learning. Skills are developed and built on throughout the curriculum and regular reviews of learning enable adults to assess progress and understanding.
Questioning is a strength at Springfield. We have created a learning atmosphere where children are not afraid to have a go. Questioning can be open ended, to encourage discussion and collaboration, can be targeted to specific children, or can be asked of the whole class with everyone expected to respond in some way. Adults are skilled in using questioning to support pupils in delving deeper into learning.
At Springfield, all children are challenged to ensure that they fulfil their potential. This is done in a number of ways. Task design, differentiation, scaffolding and the use of adults in class all support an ethos of challenge. Adults know children well; assessment for learning is ongoing and feeds into the next lesson, ensuring all children are challenged appropriately. Open ended tasks, good questioning and extension activities create additional challenge.
Ongoing assessment for learning, through questioning, marking and observation, identifies gaps in learning. Adults are skilled in filling these gaps, using a number of strategies. Children can be targeted within the classroom, planning and tasks can be adapted, and there are opportunities within the lesson to deal with misconceptions. Children may be targeted for short term intervention to ensure that they remain on track.
Feedback is provided to pupils on a regular basis and they are able to use this to accelerate progress. Verbal feedback is often used in the moment, targeting misconceptions and moving learning forward. Written feedback is also given where appropriate. Yellow highlighters in writing are used to identify areas to improve and writing rubrics identify targets met and next steps. In Maths, errors are identified with a dot and pupils are given opportunity to correct these. Throughout school praise is used effectively to encourage perseverance and reward achievement.
Displays and working walls within the classroom contribute to progress in a number of ways. English, Maths and Science working walls build a picture of current learning. Key vocabulary, models of good work and current learning objectives are displayed, providing a reference point for learning. Children’s work is also displayed in the classroom, celebrating achievements and also providing prompts to prior learning.
Collaboration is one of our key drivers for learning. Pupils are given opportunities to collaborate through paired and group work in all areas of the curriculum and are taught the skills to collaborate effectively. Collaboration is planned to enhance learning and to develop the skills necessary to enable our pupils to become positive, respectful and productive members of any team.
At Springfield Primary Academy, our children care about ‘beautiful’ work. Throughout school, pupils are taught to value what they produce. High expectations are established early and positive relationships are engendered throughout school, creating a very positive learning environment. Pupils are given the right tools for success. Adults model beautiful work and scaffolds are provided, where appropriate, to support all children to achieve their full potential. Our school embraces and celebrates every kind of achievement. This is reflected in our commitment to inclusion and unity. We are committed to high standards and expectations, striving for excellence in all that we do.