Curriculum
Our Christian Vision
We are a nurturing, inclusive, learning community, that celebrates all possibilities, through a journey of curiosity, compassion and resilience, nourishing each other spiritually, emotionally, intellectually and physically with God as our companion.
We use the story of The Feeding of the Five Thousand (John 6:1-14) as our shared story that exemplifies our vision and roots it in theology that is accessible and known by our school community.
We offer all at Capenhurst CE Primary School a curriculum that promotes our Christian vision and values creating the family ethos that we are very proud of – giving everyone the opportunity to live life in all its fullness, become their best selves and be in an environment that keeps all safe, happy and healthy. We believe that education is part of a lifelong process of learning and that our school is a learning environment for everyone who spends time here – children, parents and carers, staff, governors and visitors. Teaching and learning are a process of cooperative teamwork with everyone playing their part.
In developing our curriculum, we sought the views and thoughts of stakeholders – pupils, parents and staff. The information gathered through completing these surveys informed choices made by staff when determining elements of the curriculum. They also identified three personality traits that we wanted children to develop during their time at Capenhurst. These were curiosity, resilience and compassion. These are threaded through our vision and into the teaching and learning opportunities that take place at school.
Curriculum Intent
Our curriculum will offer:
- The opportunity to explore the teachings of Jesus and for spiritual development in an open and invitation manner.
- Exciting and enriching activities covering the breadth and depth of the National and Early Years curricula offering intellectual stimulation and development for all.
- Opportunities to take risks with learning and develop the resilience and wisdom to overcome any hiccups along the way building on each person’s emotional and spiritual development.
- Opportunities for children to become courageous advocates in a real and honest way that nurtures hope; speaking out for others and being a global neighbour.
- Enrichment opportunities such as residential trips, day trips, hearing an orchestra play, learning an instrument, performing to an audience, working with children and adults from other schools to help foster a sense of community.
- A range of opportunities to develop physically through a planned and sequential P.E. and P.S.H.E. curricula, wider opportunities such as competitive and/or inclusive sports events, as well as trips and activities.
Through the curriculum on offer at Capenhurst our children, their families, the staff, the governors and wider community will have the knowledge, skills and understanding that will enable them to take advantage of all that life has to offer both within the classroom and beyond it. It will prepare our pupils for later life and enable the adults around them to be best placed to make the most of the rich and varied opportunities that they will encounter.
As an Anglican school, the precepts of Anglican education remain at our core. This includes recognising and valuing the Church of England Vision for Education – Deeply Christian, Serving the Common Good. This is worked around the four core elements of wisdom, hope, community and dignity and recognises people of all and no faith. This openness to finding out about people of all faiths, cultures and beliefs is at the core of the curriculum at Capenhurst ensuring that no one person is singled out or left behind.
We want all our children to see the wisdom of finding out more through a broad and varied curriculum offering a range of subjects and activities (be curious); have hope when faced with adversity and challenges that they are strong enough to overcome them and know where to seek help and guidance (be resilient); feel part of a community that values them for who they are and enables them to know themselves and how to build healthy relationships with others (be compassionate). All of this we envisage taking place within an environment that holds the basic principle of respect for others at its core; through vigilant safeguarding and an understanding within everyone that every single person is valued for their uniqueness.
We have developed a curriculum that has high aspirations for all; enabling our Christian vision of nourishing each other spiritually, emotionally, intellectually and physically to be lived out each day for each person.
Curriculum Implementation
To develop the children’s curiosity, each theme will ask questions of the children that will be answered through the study of that theme. Answers will be sought and presented in a variety of ways. Through the setting of challenging activities in all areas of learning, children will be supported in developing their resilience when faced with challenge and tricky moments.
Effective and robust planning and assessment systems and the delivery of a creative, broad and balanced curriculum aim to ensure the inclusion and achievement of all children in our school. School has a long-term curriculum overview that outlines the areas and strands of the national curriculum or EYFS curriculum that will be covered through the year with half-termly curriculum overviews breaking this down into what will be taught each half-term. From these curriculum maps, teaching staff identify how they plan to deliver appropriate sessions in English, maths and topic to ensure coverage and progression that meet the needs of all pupils in their classes.
The school follows a thematic approach to teaching with the adoption of three whole school topics (one per term). These are chosen to reflect the expectations of the National and Early Years curricula. Coverage and tracking documents from previous years are gathered together and discussed as a staff so that the chosen topics being studied ensure that curriculum expectations are met by children at the end of each key stage. Working in this way enables the school to deliver its curriculum as a family which is the cornerstone of our school ethos. English, maths, science and RE have their own statements of intent detailing the specifics of that subject with the foundation subjects forming part of a wider curriculum statement of intent.
At Capenhurst we follow the Cheshire agreed syllabus for the teaching of RE which is delivered by a subject specialist and supplemented by the class teachers. The syllabus covers a range of world religions as well as the opportunity for self-directed study of the bigger questions about faith and religion. This provides the children with the awareness, knowledge, skills and understanding to describe, explain and appreciate the diversity of beliefs and practices amongst the people of the world. Through this knowledge of the diverse beliefs and practices, the children will develop the compassion needed to live in partnership with the many people that they will meet throughout their life.
Throughout all the knowledge teaching and learning across the full range of National and Early Years curricula subjects and areas of learning, the children are supported to recognise and take care of their own personal health, safety and well-being. Sessions based on PSHE (using HeartSmart resources), emotional well-being, e-safety and personal safety form a consistent thread of teaching across school. We also access support from experts such as the local PCSO, NSPCC and Coram Life Education to enhance the provision on offer in school. The delivery of a strong SMSC curriculum develops further the compassion within all our children and wider community.
Coverage of and progression through the curriculum (National or Early Years) are recorded using tracking sheets which are completed by the class teachers.
We believe our school has an obligation to provide its pupils with a stimulating environment in which to learn. The learning environment must be safe, clean, well-organised and resourced. Displays are an integral part of the learning environment and they are expected to reflect the cultural diversity of the school community and support learning.
Learning outside the classroom is a vital part of the curriculum at Capenhurst. It is an expectation that teachers, as part of their classroom practice, explore and apply learning opportunities contextually outside of the classroom environment. These outdoor learning experiences provide very real opportunities to develop resilience within all our children; from making good use of the everyday resources outside the classroom to through to day trips and residential trips that broaden the children’s life experiences. Each child in school will listen to an orchestra play live more than once during their seven years with us; they will learn to play a musical instrument; they will perform to an audience and they will be encouraged to take part in an inter-school sporting activity (competitive and non-competitive).
We believe it is important to ensure pupils know how to manage themselves safely in their local community and know how to use public transport safely. As pupils attending a small school, we involve the pupils in a range of community activities as well as some with pupils from other schools as part of the wider curriculum and preparation for life beyond school.
Through careful planning, working together as a family, we believe our curriculum offers everyone at Capenhurst opportunities to be curious, resilient and compassionate, and nourishes everyone spiritually, emotionally, intellectually and physically.
Impact of the curriculum
Impact of the curriculum is measured through the thorough analysis and tracking of outcomes for all pupils across school – this ensures that no child is left behind.
There are a range of assessment procedures in place in school that staff employ to ascertain the attainment and progress of all pupils. During lessons, teachers will annotate and evaluate the progress of the pupils against the learning objectives. Pupils are also assessed formally 3 times per year using independent pieces of work and a cross-section of test materials to ascertain their level of attainment and progress made. Writing is assessed each half term and marked by all teaching staff before in-house cross moderation. Results are reviewed and children who are at risk of not making expected progress or achieving age-related expected attainment are identified and appropriate support and interventions put in place. Pupils who take part in intervention activities have their progress monitored and this is shared with the SENDCo.
Teachers continually assess understanding within lessons through a range of strategies including: questioning, self and peer assessment, learning conversations and target setting. Feedback is given to learners in line with the Presentation and Feedback policy. Self and peer assessment are valued strategies which enable pupil’s involvement and ownership of their own learning and progress.
Challenging targets are set at the beginning of the academic year and agreed in partnership between the class teachers and Headteacher. These targets are set against both attainment data from the previous academic year and against expected milestones of progress.
The implementation and impact of our curriculum will be monitored through:
? Lesson visits
? Planning scrutiny
? Book Scrutiny
? Learning walks
? Pupil Interviews
? Parent surveys and feedback
As an inclusive school, our curriculum has been designed to comply with the Equality Act and SEND regulations.
Please see below for a Parent's Guide to the National Curriculum as well as our Long Term Plans.
Please see individual Class pages for our Termly Curriculum Maps.
