The Curriculum at Waterfoot Primary School

Intent

Our school motto ‘We think for ourselves but feel for others’ and our six values: responsibility, kindness, perseverance, confidence, resilience and respect underpin and are at the heart of our curriculum.

We aim to deliver the National Curriculum aims, in the most memorable, exciting, and effective way possible, where high standards are always sought and attention is always given to motivating children to be lifelong learners. One of the key aspects of our curriculum is how we make creative meaningful connections between our core and foundation subjects. Our main aim is connecting the curriculum through termly themes, with a clear focus on integrating and developing key reading, writing and maths skills. We teach and encourage a growth mindset approach, where children learn from their mistakes enabling them to become confident, creative, independent and inquisitive learners. 

At Waterfoot, we strive to provide all children, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability or race, with the best possible education, based on a broad and balanced curriculum with a clear entitlement to quality education which more than fulfils national requirements. Children are encouraged to learn in a way that is stimulating, fun and meets a variety of learning styles to accommodate the needs of all children. Our  curriculum actively aims to ensure equality and accessibility for all including our SEND children. 

Implementation

There is a wealth of information regarding our whole school curriculum and below our key stage curriculum overviews and topic maps give you a deeper insight into how we work creatively to link the core and foundation subjects to enhance, deepen and excite learning. We also work hard to ensure clear progression and coverage of the teaching and learning of objectives across all core and foundation subjects and these can be seen through our subject curriculum overviews. We follow the Lancashire maths scheme and conduct Assertive Mentoring in maths to ensure we regularly revisit and recap on key skills. We utilise the Lancashire English units to aid our planning and teaching, promote the love of reading and writing and creatively connect our themes of learning which deepens our children's knowledge and understanding. In Early Years we follow a one year cycle and the curriculum themes are displayed below. As we have mixed age classes in Key Stage 1, Lower Key Stage 2 and Upper Key Stage 2 our curriculum themes follow a two yearly cycle as shown below. Our motto and school values are an essential part of our curriculum and we ensure children take on key roles within the school, become involved in the community, celebrate local and national traditions, develop their creativity and learn new skills taking an active part in events throughout the year. If you wish to find out more about our curriculum and the amazing learning and teaching at Waterfoot Primary please read below and take a look at our policies on our school website or contact the school for further details.

Impact

Children at Waterfoot develop the knowledge, skills and mindset which allow them to become confident, lifelong learners. They are proud to be part of Waterfoot Primary and develop into individuals which reflect our school motto and values. The rich and comprehensive curriculum allows the children to develop a deep understanding of the world around them. To see examples of the children's amazing work and efforts take a look at the impact of the 'curriculum in action' by looking on our class pages, outdoor learning area or the latest news page on our school website.

Mathematics at Waterfoot

At Waterfoot we aim to develop children's confidence and mastery in maths using the 'CPA' approach. This teaching style of concrete, pictorial and abstract learning allows the children to have a secure, deep and progressive knowledge and understanding of the mathematical concepts. We encourage and include problem solving and reasoning into our maths lessons and the wider curriculum. We follow the Lancashire scheme of progression from EYFS - Yr6 which regularly revisits and builds on mathematical concepts throughout the year and follow the Red Rose Mastery scheme in years 1-5. We develop fluency in maths through daily 'Fluent in Five' in UKS2 and daily number fluency practice in key stage 1 and EYFS through the Mastering Number programme. Numbots and TT Rock Stars are used regularly in different year groups and form part of our regular practice of number, number bonds and multiplication and division facts. We also use Assertive Mentoring in KS2 to allow the children to plug gaps, address misconceptions and regularly revisit and embed key skills; this in turn develops pupil confidence and encourages our pupils to take ownership of their own learning.

English at Waterfoot

Through our teaching of English, we aim to help our children develop into articulate and imaginative communicators, who are well equipped with the skills they need to become lifelong learners.  We want our children to acquire a wide vocabulary, a solid understanding of grammar and be able to spell new words by effectively applying the spelling patterns and rules they learn.  We want them to write clearly, accurately, coherently and creatively, adapting their language and style for a range of meaningful contexts, purposes and audiences.  We aim to foster a love of reading and provide children with a literacy-rich environment, high quality texts and inspiring learning opportunities.  We use the Lancashire Learning and Progression steps for reading and writing in Yr1 – 6 to support planning and enable us to scaffold the learning required to meet the expectations of the National Curriculum. 

Phonics

To develop early readers our phonics teaching follows Red Rose Letters and Sounds which provides a rigorous  systematic phonics programme.   We use books from a small range of reading schemes (Oxford Reading Tree's Songbirds Phonics, Floppy's Phonics and Pearson's Phonics Bug) to develop and enhance the children's decoding skills, reading fluency and reading comprehension.  These books cover a range of fiction genres, non-fiction and poetry.

Science at Waterfoot

A high-quality science education provides the foundations for understanding the world through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. Across all the year groups pupils gain the knowledge and skills through a predominantly ‘working scientifically’ approach. Science teaching fits in, as far as possible, with our individual key stage topics and cross curricular approach. Making conscious connections between science and other subject areas means that pupils can benefit from a more connected learning experience. 

Computing at Waterfoot

We use the Purple Mash Scheme and our own personalised units throughout the school to teach computing. The units of work have been split over a two year cycle to maximise cross-curricular links and ensure progression and challenge. ICT is used within the classroom and across subjects to support the children's learning and to allow them to apply their computing skills.

Foundation Subjects at Waterfoot