Manorfield Curriculum

At Manorfield, we believe in nurturing children so they can thrive in school and, as a result, they are ready to learn and can achieve their goals. Our curriculum has been developed to ensure all children develop skills to enable them to be the very best they can be. Underpinning the curriculum is the rule of law, mutual respect and understanding of those of different faiths and beliefs.

We believe that all children are entitled to an engaging and enriched curriculum which should be accessible to them, enjoyed by them and which results in them knowing and remembering more.

Curriculum Intent

We provide a broad and balanced curriculum which is designed to support our children and help them to become successful members of society.

The school teaches all individual subjects in the National Curriculum and covers all areas of learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).

The curriculum is designed in a sequential and coherent way so that children build skills, knowledge and understanding towards defined outcomes in each area from the start of Nursery to the end of Year 2. Individual subject information can be found on the school website.

Each individual subject is organised through a progression model that maps out knowledge, skills and vocabulary to be taught to specific end goals. Teachers use the subject-specific progression for each area to formulate their long-term plans. Teachers ensure the subject-specific skills and knowledge are taught so that children have a clear understanding of each subject area. These themes allow teachers to link subject areas so that they make sense for the children. Learning is regularly revisited over the course of a school year or key stage so that children’s understanding is built on and deepened over time. The curriculum is planned so that children access the above aims throughout their time in school with each one being woven into the core learning over the half-term.

Implementation

All learning will start with a review of previous knowledge. This will be scaffolded to support children to recall previous learning and make connections. Staff will explicitly model the subject specific vocabulary, knowledge and skills relevant to the learning to allow pupils to integrate new knowledge into larger concepts.

Teachers support children to practice new learning, questioning for understanding, checking for misconceptions and giving clear appropriate feedback. This moves children from supported practice to independence at the correct pace for them, ensuring all children are challenged.

Learning will be supported in a variety of ways in the classroom environment, which provides children with scaffolding that supports them to retain new facts and vocabulary in their long-term memory. Consistent learning in every classroom provides constant scaffolding for children. Subject-specific vocabulary is displayed on the learning wall along with key facts and questions. Assessment is ongoing throughout relevant cross-curricular themes to inform teachers about their planning, lesson activities and differentiation.

Our children will be given a variety of experiences both in and out of the classroom where appropriate to create memorable learning opportunities and to further support and develop their understanding and language acquisition.

Impact

The learning environment, 'Evidence Me', learning journals and children's work will demonstrate what they have learnt. In addition, children will show that they know more and remember more about what they have learnt. We will ensure that children have opportunities to meet concepts and learn in a variety of ways and over an extended period, so knowledge and understanding is embedded. We will use work scrutiny to demonstrate that the curriculum has been taught in a well sequenced and coherent way that allows children to show what they have learnt and allows children to experience and embed relevant learning.

We use 'Pupil Voice' to check that they are retaining knowledge from across the curriculum and making appropriate connections across units of learning.

Inclusion

We set high expectations for every child. We will plan stretching work for those whose attainment is significantly above the expected standard. We also have to plan lessons for children who have low levels of prior attainment or come from disadvantaged backgrounds. We will use appropriate assessment to set targets which are deliberately ambitious.

Here at Manorfield, we have a significant proportion of children who speak English as an additional language. We recognise that the ability of children for whom English is an additional language to take part in the national curriculum may be in advance of their communication skills in English. We will plan teaching opportunities to help them develop their English and aim to provide the support our children need to take part in all subjects. Monitoring of their progress will take account of the child's age, length of time in this country, previous educational experience and ability in other languages.

We will take account of our duties under equality legislation. We will plan lessons so that SEND children can study every national curriculum subject. Some children who have identified as SEND may need additional resources or adaptations for them to access the curriculum. Potential areas of difficulty will be identified and addressed at the outset of work.

Phonics

We are a Read, Write Inc. School and began our journey with them in September 2021. We are committed to ensuring that every child can read by the time they are ready to leave our school.

To find out more about individual subjects, please click on the links on the menu.

If you would like to know more about our curriculum, please get in touch via the details on the Contact Us page.

At Manorfield, we believe in firm foundations and the power of an excellent Early Years experience. We have developed our Early Years to Key Stage 1 document which shows what we expect for a child to be ready to enter Key Stage 1 from the Foundation Stage.