Curriculum Statement

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world

-Nelson Mandela

Our Curriculum Vision

At Woodlands we have designed an inspiring curriculum which allows all pupils to thrive in a supportive environment, where our school community demonstrations care and respect, and celebrates uniqueness. Through a rich, engaging and varied curriculum, children develop curiosity, confidence, resilience, empathy, and feel empowered to make their mark as members of the community and wider society. We believe that by working together, we can achieve more in the pursuit of excellence, and by providing children with a wide and varied knowledge and skill set, they are fully equipped to take their next steps in education.

We deliver many of our curriculum subjects using ‘The Primary Knowledge Curriculum’ (PKC) resource, which successfully meets the requirements of the National Curriculum. It is a broad and rich, well-sequenced and ambitious, knowledge-rich curriculum for all children to access. Our curriculum has been organised coherently to ensure it builds interesting and meaningful connections within and across different subjects, allowing children to think deeply about fascinating content. What the children are taught takes them beyond their everyday experiences, enriches minds and opens endless opportunities. We also value diversity and balance within our curriculum and carefully consider representation.

What is a knowledge-rich curriculum?

A knowledge-rich curriculum ensures that each moment will support children in acquiring the knowledge and skills that they will need to become well-educated citizens of the future. At its core, it enables all children, regardless of socio-economic background, to be provided with the opportunities to succeed in later life. Knowledge is valued and specified, well sequenced and taught to be remembered. Every historical figure encountered, philosophical idea grappled with, and scientific concept applied, fits neatly into a scheme of learning that holds a sense of purpose and develops logically from lesson to lesson, unit to unit and year to year. The PKC has taken evidence and research into account to ensure that it incorporates the principles of spaced retrieval, formative low-stakes quizzing and plenty of practice to develop knowledge fluency in pursuit of mastery.

We value each subject and teach them discretely, ensuring that our children develop a deep understanding and love of each distinct discipline. Where appropriate, links are made across disciplines to enable children to make meaningful connections (e.g. our children learn about Northern Europe in geography before learning about the Vikings in history). We make adaptations to include local history, geography and other locally relevant subject content. The curriculum sets out a journey that the children are going to go on to get better in each subject, and if they learn the core knowledge in each subject, they are going to learn more and remember more over time.

Lessons start with a prior learning review, where children are supported to retrieve prior knowledge and make connections. We have an emphasis on explicitly teaching vocabulary, and each lesson introduces, orally rehearses, and engages with key vocabulary. Key vocabulary is contextualised throughout the lesson and children are given multiple opportunities to apply new words. Information is presented in small steps, clearly explained and modelled, and children have many opportunities to talk, answer questions, explain their learning and work independently. Throughout lessons, teachers assess/monitor pupil responses (through questioning, written and oral responses, multiple-choice quizzes etc.) provide scaffolds where necessary, and provide effective feedback.

As we have clearly specified what we want our children to know, do and remember, when reviewing impact, we assess against the Knowledge Goals laid out in the intended curriculum, enabling us to check whether children can remember what we set out for them to learn. We carry out subject-specific monitoring and curriculum reviews to assess impact and use these to plan for future development. We want our pupils to be able to talk enthusiastically about their learning, making connections and forming opinions. We believe memorising disconnected facts does not lead to meaningful learning and so we focus on developing understanding gradually as pupils make their way through our curriculum. (Adapted from PKC)