Curriculum

The Curriculum at Chorleywood Primary

At Chorleywood Primary School leaders have designed the curriculum to develop the academic physical and emotional well-being of pupils. The curriculum has been planned to be sequential and coherent. It is progressive so it builds on pupils’ previous knowledge and skills. Skills are embedded and therefore can be transferred in a variety of contexts. The curriculum has been designed in this way so knowledge is secure in pupils’ long term memory. The curriculum relates to the specific social context of the school and the cultural capital we develop ensures that pupils can succeed.

Behaviour for learning characteristics underpins every aspect of the curriculum. Through consistently high expectations we will give your child the skills to be an outstanding and motivated LEARNER:

Listener

Enthusiastic

Ambitious

Resilient

Nurturing

Engaged

Respectful

A mindfulness approach to learning is supported by the ‘Jigsaw’ PSHE scheme of work.

In the Early Years and KS1 we use Read Write Inc to teach phonics and reading. Daily writing is closely linked to phonics teaching and their current texts. There is a progression towards the whole school literacy curriculum.

In KS2 reading is taught through whole class differentiated lessons with a focus on specific reading skills; allowing pupils to access high quality texts and teaching all pupils to analyse in greater depth. In Years 1-6 we teach writing through The Literacy Curriculum which has an emphasis on a thematic, book based approach to enable children to be more engaged and make deeper connections with texts. The high quality texts promote inclusion and encourage pupils to learn about the concepts of hope, freedom, justice as well as provide vital links to historical, geographical and scientific learning. Within The Literacy Curriculum are spelling lessons or Spelling Seeds which link to the text but are delivered discreetly. Spelling is also delivered using Spelling Shed. The teaching of grammar is also interwoven in the Literacy Curriculum with some aspects taught as a discreet lesson.

Maths skills are taught through discreet daily lessons, which reinforce mathematical fluency and reasoning.  Pupils are taught problem solving skills in weekly lessons and are provided with the opportunity to apply their understanding through a range of levelled problems, which they can self-select.  Pupils demonstrating talent within the subject are provided with the opportunity to solve problems at greater depth, in order to enrich their understanding of the curriculum. 

Links are made across the curriculum wherever possible so that pupils are able to relate the different aspects of their learning to each other and apply in different contexts and new situations. Pupils are provided with opportunities to write at length in foundations subjects linked to individual targets. Some subjects , such as DT, are delivered in blocks of time in order to provide extended learning; this enables pupils to achieve high quality outcomes.

Annually, the school arranges a significant number of visitors, projects, whole school trips and class trips. Some of these include whole school trips to the West End to see a performance, Shakespeare workshops for the whole school, residential trips and numerous author visits. Enrichment activities are an important aspect of the school’s curriculum provision. This is further enriched by a wide variety of extra-curricular activities before and after school.

Pupil voice is fundamentally important in all the decisions made regarding the curriculum. The school council, sports committee and eco team all make decisions regarding the school. Pupils also take part in partnership work with all the other schools in the Riversmeet Consortium; this includes an annual project and STEM learning opportunities. Whole school questionnaires and subject specific pupil voice also inform decisions regarding the curriculum.

Pupils in KS2 all have access to wider opportunities provision through the Hertfordshire Music Service. There are a wide range of musical instruments that the children have the opportunity to learn. The choir perform at the Rickmansworth Music Festival, Chorleywood late night Christmas shopping, The Royal Albert Hall and St Albans Abbey. Annually the school hosts a musical arts afternoon to showcase the musical accomplishments of the pupils.

Leaders invested in a full time sports leader to co-ordinate the physical well-being of the pupils at Chorleywood Primary School. She is responsible for the planning, delivery and assessment of sports at the school. This allows for highly differentiated lessons, particularly supporting the most able. She co-ordinates all the inter and intra sporting activity, leads the sports committee, runs additional curriculum enrichment activities and monitors the hours of sports pupils participate in within school and outside school. Pupils are rewarded for this through their sporting logs. Pupils have their fitness assessed in September and July to measure progress. An outside gym and running track have been installed so pupils can take part in the daily mile all year round and develop their fitness during playtimes.

Governors and leaders have planned and implemented a Key Stage Two four year rolling programme called Dream Big. The Dream Big project aims to engage and empower children to think about the world, work, and how it connects to areas of the curriculum that excite them. It involves visitors from different industries sharing their career paths and experiences. This has included a string quartet, opera singer, violinist, actress, RAF engineer, cancer researcher, STEM ambassadors and radiographer.

To evaluate the impact of our provision subject leaders undertake book scrutinies, observe the quality of teaching and learning and undertake pupil voice in all subjects. As part of all monitoring, whole school areas of strength and areas for development are identified. Whole school action plans are created and implemented as a result, and then the impact of any intervention is evaluated. Governors also undertake regular visits to monitor the school priorities and curriculum areas; subject leader reports are reviewed with governors at an annual curriculum review afternoon.

Our British Values Statement can be found by clicking here.