Our Curriculum

Whole School Curriculum Statement of Intent

Our Curriculum

Our aim is to provide an exciting, engaging curriculum which will open academic doors in the future and enrich the children’s lives in a variety of ways. We believe that education is important to develop the child fully, to pass on to the next generation key ideas from the past, to prepare them for the future, and therefore to build the future of our whole community.

As a school, our curriculum is designed with the following principles as its focus:

  • Balanced (where all aspects of a child’s development are equally important)
  • Rigorous (focusing on the key skills needed in each individual subject)
  • Coherent (making links between subjects)
  • Progressive, sequenced knowledge and skills from EYFS to Year 6)
  • Appropriate and accessible to all
  • Focused (on key knowledge and skills)
  • Relevant (connecting the children to its key outcomes)
In the 2020/21 academic year, staff  worked collaboratively to focus on our curriculum, making sure that knowledge and skills are sequenced throughout the school to allow children to build on previous knowledge and progressively know more. Our revised curriculum has a pronounced focus on sticky knowledge, which children need to be confident with in order to succeed and these are explicitly taught. Regular retrieval practice (through hooks, questions and assessment) allows teachers to build on previous knowledge and probe for deeper understanding as children work through the curriculum. We have also focussed on rigour, ensuring that a themed approach does not detract from the core knowledge (including vocabulary) and skills in each subject.
 

In addition to the children’s academic development, at Victoria Road Primary School we are committed to their personal development, which is evident in how Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development can be seen throughout the curriculum. Furthermore, we foster a positive mindset in children to develop resilience, confidence and independence as they explore their talents. 

We are proud of our curriculum, which our teachers bring alive through interesting, engaging learning opportunities and allow children to ‘open doors’ and enrich their lives in meaningful ways.

 

 

Phonics

In School, phonics is delivered through the Letters and Sounds scheme. Generally children will work on: Phase 1-4 in Reception, Phase 4-5 in Year 1 and Phase 6 in year 2.

Children complete the ‘Phonics Screening Test’ at the end of Year 1. Children who do not pass the test at the end of Year 1 are required to retake this test at the end of Year 2. Children continue to be monitored and supported throughout school until they meet the standard. In Key Stage 1, phonic sessions take place daily and children are grouped to take part in activities appropriate to their current stage and needs.

In Key Stage 2, there is a provision of intervention groups for children who are still not secure with Phases 1-6 which focus on recognition of all grapheme / phoneme representations through investigation and developing spelling patterns. Intervention groups will also be supported through Letters and Sounds.

In addition to this, some children complete activities on ‘Lexia’ which is a computer-based reading software designed to support improving their skills as a reader.

Reading
At Victoria Road we are working hard developing a love of reading with all our children. It is our expectation that all children read their school reading book at home at least 3 times per week.
 
Reading is a life skill and opens up the curriculum to all children. All children are entitled to reach their full potential, therefore we hope this initiative will be well supported.
 
If children have recorded 3 weekly reads they will receive a smiley face stamp. If children are not reading 3 times a week, they will receive a sad face.
 
Reading Books

At Victoria Road we use a book banding system to group books in bands of different colours to show the different levels.

Using colour allows children the freedom to choose their own book at the appropriate level for them

Pink, Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Orange, Turquoise, Purple, Gold, White, Lime

For more information click on the link below