Curriculum Statements
We aim to provide an ambitious, inspiring and progressive R-2 curriculum that nurtures the growth of the whole child, providing them with the essential knowledge and skills they need to succeed in life.
Years 1-6 Curriculum Statement Court Lane Infant & Junior Schools
Context of our school:
We are two large, thriving four-form entry Portsmouth schools with almost all children transferring from Infants to the adjacent Junior school.
We believe in “One community, two schools and achievement for all”.
There is collaboration across all phases and between the two schools: we work together sharing best practice and in the development of progressive skills across the holistic curriculum. We have an R-6 learning journey in mind, yet each school retains their uniqueness.
We believe the purpose of education in our school is:
Court Lane Schools are united in inspiring a love of learning to last a lifetime. We aim to do this for every child, at every chance and every day.
We put children at the heart of everything we do. We aim for our curriculum opportunities to foster self-confidence and promote self-belief. We capture children’s energy and enthusiasm, encouraging creativity of thought, nurturing curiosity, interest and independence. Adults aim to inspire children so that we can all thrive and can aspire to be lifelong learners and the very best we can be. We all strive to be an inclusive, safe and caring Court Lane community, where each member is respected, nurtured and valued.
Our curriculum achieves this through:
Our learners being active and empowered partners in their learning journey, equipped with knowledge, skills and attitudes, with habits and self-regulation to make decisions about learning.
We are evolving a creative, meaningful, memorable and motivating curriculum which is broad and relevant, that is enriched by first-hand experiences, has progressive skills and builds on from what children can already do.
We encourage deeper thinking from our pupils through meta-cognitive principles of modelling, questioning and reflection.
We make asking questions as important as finding answers, using subject-specific vocabulary and promoting the importance of talk for learning. The process begins with finding out what the children know and what they would like to find out within a new context. An overarching question to begin the enquiry/learning challenge is shared with the pupils and a hook that is motivating and memorable captures their attention. Backwards planning ensures that we begin with the end in mind to be aspirational, inclusive and achieve success for all, with a plan to meet the expectations for each key and foundation subject area. Subject leaders have connected progression of skills documents, National Curriculum objectives and learning verbs to create one set of planning and assessment criteria for each subject area for each half term. This promotes high expectations and clarity in taught knowledge that becomes transferred to long-term memory and embeds skills.
Statutory curriculum content is taught through meaningful and rich activities, which develop the pupils’ skills, knowledge, passion and deeper understanding. Blooms taxonomy is used by staff to layer learning to provide challenge for all to allow for deeper thinking.
Pupils’ understanding is checked, developed and refined and we evaluate what we have found out in response to our initial question. There are opportunities to showcase some of the pupils’ skills, thinking, work and learning, share answers and solutions to the original question and provide opportunities to interact with others.
Pause weeks, assemblies, competitions, selected visitors, trips out and residential experiences as well as Court Lane Crystals enrich the curriculum and provide opportunities from Year R to Year 6 for pupils to participate in a range of experiences; including volunteering for the good of the school or community, joining a club and experience a professional live music performance. This variety of opportunities allow children to develop positive relationships with other people.
The totality of experiences children have in seven years at Court Lane schools is our curriculum.
A well-educated child in our community will:
Demonstrate and develop creative, caring, collaborative and critical thinking. They will be challenged and engaged within their learning; will be prepared for what is likely to be hard, will try again, will draw on prior learning and will act on feedback, will self–assess, can make mistakes, take risks and be challenged without fear of failure in a safe and inclusive environment, i.e. a growth mindset culture. We nurture children with social skills to make their own choices in order to live a healthy and emotionally well-balanced life, instilling respect within the school community, and utilising new technology in an ever-changing world.
They will progress their skills, build their knowledge and show their understanding to develop mastery and fluency to apply key knowledge, understanding and core skills in any context. This is underpinned with opportunities to deepen and enrich thinking. Through a “know it, use it and prove it” approach, pupils are given regular opportunities to demonstrate their mastery and fluency throughout the curriculum. We aim to develop the children’s learning behaviours at CLIS through the 5Rs (Resilience - enjoying the feeling of learning; Resourceful - using many ways of thinking; Reflective - taking charge of own learning; Relating - learning from and with others; and Risk-taking - learning from trying new things).
At CLJS, this is developed further through our ethos of being ‘Ready, Respectful and Reflective’ to assist children to learn more effectively and have a set of habits and attitudes for life, enabling children to continue to flourish and face different situations calmly, confidently and creatively.
These learning behaviours will support children to build character skills - to grow to be effective collaborators, successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens.
EYFS Curriculum Statement
Context of our school
We have a large intake of 120 pupils from a large number of varied pre school settings. We are continuing to strengthen transition into school from our pre-school providers to address emerging needs of baseline on entry and to secure strengthened partnerships.
We believe the purpose of education in our school is:
At Court Lane Infant School to inspire a love of learning to last a lifetime. We aim to do this for every child, at every chance and every day.
We put children at the heart of everything we do. We aim for our curriculum opportunities to foster self-confidence and promote self-belief. We capture children’s energy and enthusiasm, encouraging creativity of thought, nurturing curiosity, interest and independence. Adults aim to inspire children so that we can all thrive and can aspire to be lifelong learners and the very best we can be. We all strive to be an inclusive, safe and caring Court Lane community, where each member is respected, nurtured and valued.
We recognise that play is essential to learning and development within the foundation stage and ensure children have a range of play based opportunities to enhance child initiated learning throughout Year R.
Our primary focus as the children start their school journey, is on personal, social, emotional development, communication and language and physical development.
Our curriculum achieves this through:
Through our child- initiated curriculum it is essential for there to be an awareness of ‘how’ children learn as well as ‘what’ they learn, ensuring all children ask questions and make suggestions throughout topics and that these topics follow their interests. We use the Development Matters framework across all areas of the curriculum to ensure that children learn and develop well.
All children have access to a holistic curriculum with a range of opportunities and valued learning experiences.
Each topic starts with an exciting and memorable hook which will develop their interests and creativity before they decide where the learning will continue to next. We consistently utilise the Characteristics of Effective Learning to embed the core principles of engagement in their learning and motivate children to become life-long learners.
The creativity of all children is highly valued and promoted throughout all areas of their learning. This encases a range of skills and strategies, which allows all children to share their experiences, use prior learning and knowledge, to express themselves, and work alongside others to perform, create narrative and explore their creative skills. We record this through our use of Tapestry to create learning journeys for children and track progress through age related expectations, to be able to identify appropriate next steps in learning.
It is through a range of strategies and approaches that all children are able to consistently develop and practise skills and have an awareness of active learning within indoor and outdoor environments. The development of fine and gross motor skills allows all children to be able to access a wider range of activities and games.
Within the setting children have access to a range of resources and areas of learning where they can freely move from one to the next utilising the equipment they need to carry out tasks and activities.
Adults within the environment support the children through helping them make meaningful connections, showing enthusiasm and encouragement for all learning, asking open ended questions to create enquiry and clarifying ideas.
A well-educated child in our community will:
Children will be able to actively listen to others, understand and answer questions effectively and speak in a range of situations allowing children to share their experiences and consistently develop throughout their learning journey in school.
We instil respect within the classroom and around the school for the environment and for all children and adults within it.
We are working to understand, apply and embed the 5 R’s (resilience, relating to others, being reflective, risk taking and resourceful) to develop the characteristics of effective learning. These enable children to become independent, curious learners who strive to lead their own learning throughout their everyday activities and play based curriculum. It is expected for Year R children to independently choose key equipment they need and return it when they have completed their work
For all children, the importance of forming quality relationships, being independent in all tasks, having an awareness of themselves and others, understanding their own and others emotions and understanding behavioural boundaries supports all areas of their learning.