Curriculum

The EWPA Curriculum

What are we aiming for?

Our aim is to provide a rich, creative curriculum that raises children’s personal aspirations by providing them with the vocabulary, knowledge, skills and understanding to realise their ambitions. The National Curriculum is delivered in a thematic way that enables our children to see learning as connected, relevant and purposeful.
In addition to this we also provide our children with a range of holistic experiences outside of the classroom which are distinctive to us and our school community in order to help our children broaden their horizons and develop their character and resilience.
Through our curriculum provision we strive to:

• Ensure a high focus on reading, writing and mathematics skills and application in EYFS and KS1to equip children in readiness for the broader curriculum in KS2 and beyond to KS3;
• Develop a sense of belonging, through our EWPA family, our collaborative learning philosophy and links with the local community;
• Provide all our children with a wide range of experiences to the local and wider area, to bridge the gap, in particular, for those children who do not typically have these experiences;
• Equip all our children with a wide range of vocabulary to be able to express themselves confidently, coherently and positively – orally and in the written form, knowing that what they say is valued and contributes to the learning process;
• Develop our children’s aspirations by providing them with the knowledge, skills, vocabulary and mindset to achieve anything that they put their mind to.

We endeavor to work in partnership with our parents/carers, to ensure that all of our children reach their full potential and achieve the best possible outcomes.

Our school values are the bedrock on which our curriculum is delivered – Responsibility, Honesty, Peace, Caring, Determination, Respect, Resilience, Self-Control, Trust, Co-operation and Friendship. Our value based learning promotes personal development and enables our children to become responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society.
Our learning environments are supportive and purposeful where children are encouraged to take risks and be independent in their learning, co-operating with others and demonstrate positive behaviours and attitudes to learning.

Learning behaviours and learning to learn are taught to our children. Behaviours such as resilience, concentration, perseverance, imaginations, co-operation, self-improvement, enjoyment and curiosity ensure that children develop the foundations of lifelong learning.

We teach our children to understand our diverse society; children develop social and emotional skills and learn to build a firm set of personal morals. Our children learn to engage in the culture in which they live and understand the cultures of others.

How?

Our curriculum will be implemented with our intentions as the driver behind what we do.  We ensure that we think about: what the children learn; who they are when they learn; how they act when learning and who they are in the world.  By doing this we grow happy, resilient, successful learners who go on to become successful adults; lifelong learners equipped for being effective citizens.

We go beyond the NC/EYFS aims and objectives for our learners.  During their time at EWPA we offer a range of holistic childhood experiences outside of the classroom e.g. Forest School, Sports Academies, school to school tournaments, local area walks, trips and visits to widen and enhance the curriculum.
In Maths we work in partnership with Maths Mastery to embed a mastery approach to teaching, ensuring that children develop their understanding, enjoyment and attainment in maths.  We use termly PUMA tests alongside day to day formative assessment throughout the year to make our teaching responsive to our learners.
In English we use the Success for All philosophy to deliver the curriculum.  Children are regularly assessed on their reading comprehension and are grouped according to their reading ability.  Children in KS1 begin in Roots, this focuses on letter sounds, spelling and reading and writing, children then progress through to Wings (Year 2) which focuses on reading comprehension and application of skills and extended writing.
In the Foundation subjects teachers plan themes of learning using progressive knowledge, understanding and skills detailing what children should be learning in each year group.  Children’s understanding and development is assessed against these and recorded.  The learning challenge curriculum is at the heart of our themes, it encourages children to develop independent thinking skills and develop questioning.  A wide range of educational visits and visitors are planned to enhance learning and create purpose.  At the end of every theme there is an authentic outcome – a purpose for learning and an intended audience.

At EWPA we are a value based learning community.  We believe that these values are essential for understanding life in modern Britain and in the wider world.  There is a value for each month, teachers introduce and explore the value and how to demonstrate it to come a good citizen of the world. High emphasis is put upon all members of staff emulating our values and role modelling them to the children.  We also ask children to undertake positions of responsibility around the school and to become ambassadors of our values: Children’s Leadership Team, House Captains, School Council, E Safety Reps, Handy Helpers.

Our values are 
RESPONSIBILITY, HONESTY, PEACE, CARING, DETERMINATION, RESPECT, RESILIENCE, SELF CONTROL, TRUST, CO-OPERATION, FRIENDSHIP
Carefully planned activities are structured around each value, they may take the form of artwork, drama, stories, posters or research.  This value work
along with value of the month is displayed in every classroom
 

When planning the curriculum and designing learning opportunities consideration is given to how to develop in children good learning behaviours.  Learning about learning helps children to become more effective learners.  Ways to develop concentration, perseverance, imagination, co-operation, enjoyment, self-improvement and curiosity.  Our themed learning is always framed around an essential question.  For example ‘Would the Great Fire of London ever happen again?’, ‘Why does it get dark in winter?.
Our teachers notice and celebrate good learning behaviours –rewards can be given out in the weekly celebration assembly, children can collect smileys and team points on a daily basis leading to individual and whole class rewards.

Through our curriculum we ensure there are planned opportunities for children to develop an understanding of personal morals and the wider world.  We use our PSHE curriculum – SCARF ….

We work with local community groups such as St. Mary’s Church….  Working with local charities, collecting and raising money for charities……
 

Why?

We aim for every child’s attainment in the core and foundation subjects to be in line with or exceeding their potential from their individual starting point. We measure this in a variety of ways but always using age related expectations. We want all of our children to leave EWPA academically, physically and emotionally ready and prepared for the next stage of their education.

 

We aim for all of our children to have developed a core set of values that they both understand and model in their daily lives. By fully understanding these complex values and using them in their own lives we are developing their character and preparing them to live within their local community as good citizens. We measure this by the behaviours that we see in our children in their everyday lives – in the playground; in the classrooms; along the corridors and in the wider roles of responsibility that they are given. It can be seen in the daily interaction of all our school family – adults and children.

We aim for all of our children to develop a growth mindset attitude to all areas of their life. From the moment that our children begin their journey at EWPA, we focus on social and emotional development, we do this through play, conversation, therapies, group discussion and debate. The impact will be seen in how our children approach challenges on a day to day basis; this may be in the playground, in their learning task or within a game. Children should not give up or fall at the first hurdle but should be resilient and motivated enough to persevere and succeed in overcoming a challenge.

 

We want all of our children to develop a strong set of personal morals. We want them to make decisions based on the right reasons and considering what is best for them and their community. We want them to have a strong sense of right and wrong and be resilient to the influence of others. We want our children to make a difference to their own lives and the lives of others.
We want all of our children to understand they are the future decision makers for our world.
 

National Curriculum

The East Wickham Curriculum

 

Subject List

Questions? Comments?

If you'd like to contact us for further information, please send us an email: admin@ewp-tkat.org or speak with a member of staff in the school office.