Curriculum Rationale

Regardless of the starting point, all pupils have access to a broad and balanced curriculum which is ambitious and equitable for all. At Witham Oaks Academy, our curriculum will enrich the offer for all and ensure children are provided with the background knowledge they need. We will bring learning to life and foster curiosity through hands-on and memorable experiences which intend to build pupils' cultural capital and promote our children’s interests to foster their natural curiosity. 

Big Ideas

We believe that children deserve a balanced curriculum that enables them to develop a deep understanding of all subjects and the interconnections between them. Our curriculum takes the form of 10 big ideas that provide a purpose for the aspects, skills, knowledge and contexts chosen to form the substance of the curriculum. These big ideas form a series of multi-dimensional interconnected threads across the curriculum, allowing children to encounter and revisit their learning through a variety of subject lenses. Over time, these encounters help children to build conceptual frameworks that will enable a better understanding of increasingly sophisticated information and ideas.

Our ambitious knowledge-rich curriculum will develop our pupils' background knowledge -  essential for developing better reading comprehension skills - providing them with the skills, both disciplinary and substantive knowledge in order to help them access and shape the way they perceive the world. To meet the needs of our pupils and the community we serve, there is a focus on vocabulary and language acquisition, diversity and character education throughout all areas of our curriculum. Pupils will have an understanding of healthy living, the environment, cultural understanding, respect of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law and therefore, prepare our children for life in modern Britain and as global citizens. We aim for children to see themselves reflected in our curriculum provision and to feel appropriately supported yet challenged.

Implementation 

Here at Witham Oaks Academy, we provide a broad and balanced curriculum based around the Cornerstones Curriculum, a nationally recognised approach for delivering outstanding learning opportunities for children.

Our curriculum is a creative and thematic approach to learning that is mapped to the 2014 primary national curriculum to ensure comprehensive coverage of national expectations. It is based on a child-centred pedagogy called The Four Cornerstones and is delivered through Knowledge Rich Projects (KRPs), which provide a rich menu of exciting and motivating learning activities that make creative links between all aspects of children’s learning.

Each term, pupils are taught a main project with a history or geography focus, along with mini projects that cover the other foundation subjects (which have also been carefully mapped out in sequence). 

Organisation of curriculum content 

The structure of our curriculum provides a robust framework on which to build deliverable content. The content is delivered through a range of broad and balanced, knowledge-rich projects. The knowledge and skills statements provide the foundation for, and are directly linked to, the sequential lesson plans and resources within each project. Each project follows the pedagogy of Engage, Develop, Innovate and Express.

The long-term plans below set out the projects for each year group and term. Projects are organised to maximise meaningful links between subjects, aspects and concepts.

The Four Cornerstones approach 

Our theme-based curriculum is delivered through the Four Cornerstones approach - a distinct pedagogy that is based on four distinct stages and built on a variety of different aspects of educational and cognitive research. These stages are: Engage – Develop – Innovate – Express.

These four distinct stages give clear direction for both teaching and learning and centres on the belief that children learn better when their interests and fascinations are allowed to flourish. Children are encouraged to explore subjects in a variety of ways and using an integrated approach.

The Four Cornerstones of Learning link explicitly to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development.

The focus for teaching and planning in each Cornerstone is as follows

Impact

Overall, our children leave us well prepared for the next stage of their learning and life, having acquired both declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge (skills) in order to learn ever more complex skills. They have secured an understanding of the ‘10 Big Ideas’, applying subject specific vocabulary so that they are able to reason, think big, broaden their understanding of the world around them and their place in it as as ambitious, confident, empowered and resilient active global citizens.

Rigorous skills and knowledge frameworks outlines the end of year expectations in all subjects. These skills and knowledge are tied to activities and are age-related so that staff can track children’s progress and identify their individual learning needs.

National Curriculum Document for Key Stage 2

PRIMARY_national_curriculum.pdf

If anyone would like any further information about the curriculum we are following please contact the school.