In Year One, a topic-based approach is used to cover the objectives of the history, geography and science curricula as this best matches the needs of our children. In the Autumn Term they learn about how toys and transport have changed during living memory, developing their historical language and identifying and carrying out investigations with materials and objects as part of their science learning. In the Spring Term the children learn about maps, exploring the local area, looking at and creating simple maps and looking at atlases and globes to identify the continents and oceans. On their local walks, they are encouraged to notice the changing of seasons. In the Summer Term, they learn about the natural world, finding out about a variety of plants and animals, learning about weather patterns locally and globally and again enjoying local walks which enable them to observe the changes brought about by the seasons. Much of this curriculum is practical and hands-on as we believe this to be the best way for children of this age to learn and be inspired.

From Year 2, all subjects are taught discretely, although teachers work hard to make links between different subject areas where appropriate. For example, in Year 6 children learn about light in science whilst making shadow puppets in art. However, we actively avoid tenuous links which do not enhance the children’s learning.

Reading high quality texts is at the heart of our curriculum and a number of carefully-planned links have been made between our Literacy units and our wider curriculum. For example, Year 2 children learning about explorers in history complete a Literacy unit based on “The Great Explorer” by Chris Judge and children in Year 4 complete written work based on “Escape from Pompeii” by Christina Balit when learning about the Romans. Reading is essential to developing the knowledge and vocabulary that makes learners successful. To enable all children to become successful and motivated readers, Key Stage 1 and EYFS use the Little Wandle phonics programme.