Curriculum Policy

Our Curriculum 


"We offer children an excellent education in a safe, calm, creative, inclusive and stimulating environment."


For further information about our Curriculum please see the subject pages under our Curriculum Menu or contact headteacher@kingcharlesprimaryschool.co.uk

At King Charles Primary School, our curriculum is based on the September 2014 National Curriculum for Key Stages 1 & 2 and the DfE (2021) 'Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage’. Our well- planned curriculum combined with high quality teaching ensures that children develop a genuine thirst for learning. 

Our curriculum links with our ‘KC Way’ values, helping our pupils to become well rounded individuals, with a strong sense of moral purpose who demonstrate a developing respect for and an understanding of people.

Introduction

The curriculum is all the planned activities that we as a school organise in order to promote learning, personal growth and development. It includes, not only the formal requirements of the National Curriculum, but also the range of extra-curricular activities that the school organises in order to enrich the experiences of our children. It includes the ‘hidden curriculum’, or what the children learn from the way they are treated and expected to behave. We aim to teach children how to grow into positive, responsible people, who can work and co-operate with others, whilst developing knowledge, skills and good attitudes to learning, in order that they achieve their true potential.


Aims and Values

At King Charles Primary School we strive for our pupils to develop a passion for learning through our broad and balanced curriculum and we aim to make learning meaningful and relevant. We give pupils the opportunities to apply skills, knowledge and concepts in different ways  and we equip pupils with the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life.

Our curriculum is designed to ensure pupils develop substantive and disciplinary knowledge and is structured in such a way that children’s learning links and builds on previous knowledge. This supports our pupils at each stage of their education to develop the skills that they will need for future learning and employment. 


The KC Way

Kindness, Innovation, Nurture, Gratitude, Collaboration, Health, Aspiration, Resilience, LifeLong Learning, Excellence and Sustainability.

Every child is valued as an individual but through promoting our values in all areas of our school life,  we aim to nurture well rounded, respectful and confident children who will develop skills for life-long learning. We nurture our children on their journey and encourage them to be creative, unique, open-minded and independent individuals, respectful of themselves and of others in our school, our local community and the wider world. We take our responsibility to prepare children for life in modern Britain very seriously and ensure that the fundamental British Values are introduced, discussed and lived out through the ethos and work of our school.

Our curriculum promotes respect for the views of each individual child, as well as for people of all cultures. We value the spiritual and moral development of each person, as well as their intellectual and physical growth. We organise our curriculum so that we promote co-operation and understanding between all members of our community.

We have high academic ambitions for every pupils and we ensure equal access to learning for all with appropriate levels of challenge and support for every child. 

At every transition point (EYFS, KS1 and KS2) we ensure that our pupils are prepared for the next step in their learning journey, through carefully planned transition processes.

Through our Science, PE, PSHE and EYFS curriculum and school value of ‘health’ we support our pupils physical development, teaching them how to stay active and how to take responsibility for their own health and wellbeing

At King Charles we have a fantastic learning environment which includes themed corridors, an Immersive Technology room, wonderful EYFS area, a large playground, a forest school area and spacious fields. This environment is respected and used by all in school and we aim, through our values of sustainability and nurture and through our curriculum, to teach respect for our world and how we should care for it so that it can be enjoyed by future generations, as well as our own.

We offer children an excellent education in a safe, calm, creative, inclusive and stimulating environment.


Legislation and guidance

This policy reflects the requirements of the National Curriculum programmes of study, which all maintained schools in England must teach.

It also reflects requirements for inclusion and equality as set out in the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice 2014 and Equality Act 2010, and refers to curriculum-related expectations of governing boards set out in the Department for Education’s Governance Handbook.

In addition, this policy acknowledges the requirements for promoting the learning and development of children set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework.


Roles and responsibilities

The governing board

The governing board will monitor the effectiveness of this policy and hold the headteacher to account for its implementation.

The governing board will also ensure that:


Headteacher

The headteacher is responsible for ensuring that this policy is adhered to, and that:


Other staff

Other staff will ensure that the school curriculum is implemented in accordance with this policy.

It is the role of each subject leader and the curriculum leader to keep up to date with developments in their subject, at both national and local level. They review the way the subject is taught in the school and plan for improvement. This development planning links to whole-school objectives. Each subject leader reviews the curriculum plans for their subject, ensures that there is full coverage of the National Curriculum and that progression is planned into bespoke, well sequenced schemes of work. The subject leader also keeps a portfolio of children’s work/a set of children’s work books, which s/he uses to show examples of the achievements of children at each key stage and to demonstrate the expectations of attainment. Where appropriate, a team or pair of teachers will share responsibility for a subject area.


The role of the subject leader is to:


The curriculum leader has responsibility for the day-to-day organisation of the curriculum. They monitor provision, ensuring that all classes are taught the full requirements of the National Curriculum, and that all lessons have appropriate learning objectives and outcomes. The curriculum leader oversees the work of the subject leaders and works collaboratively to ensure the support is there for subject development and that there is a consistency across all areas of the curriculum. 


Organisation and planning

At King Charles Primary School, our curriculum is based on the September 2014 National Curriculum for Key Stages 1 & 2 and the DfE (2021) ‘Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage

2014 National Curriculum for Key Stages 1 & 2

Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage’

Our curriculum is delivered using a variety of approaches and resources depending on the nature of the subject being taught and the needs of the children (for more details please refer to the separate subject policies and curriculum pages on the school’s website).


Curriculum Planning

The Reception curriculum is planned using the CUSP curriculum for EYFS which links to the Prime and Specific Areas of Learning in the EYFS. 

The CUSP Early Foundations offer is presented in three parts:

1. Foundational knowledge: what pupils should know and be able to do throughout the EYFS and how this will support their development and prepare them for Key Stage 1

2. Opportunities and experiences: how this foundational knowledge can be learnt through play and through guided activities that will allow pupils to explore, experiment with and think hard about new and important concepts

3. Structured Story Time: core texts that will introduce key language, ideas and themes that pupils will need to access the foundational knowledge, built into a framework that uses all that we know about effective literacy instruction

See our EYFS policy for information on how our early years curriculum is delivered.


In KS1 and KS2 our curriculum is all planned on a yearly cycle with an emphasis placed on experiences, cross curricular links and learning supported by quality texts and other enhancements, including carefully placed trips and visitors to school. We have a strong and clear learning sequence across school which ensures the progression in each subject, enabling powerful learning as children build on and link to previous learning. Their learning will interweave, build seamlessly each year and develop depth as they ‘know more and remember more’. Our curriculum design supports children committing their learning to long term memory.

Our lessons are taught by subject and topic and where possible links are made to make the children’s learning more powerful and meaningful. We use opportunities to embed concepts and develop mastery. Opportunities are built in to recap learning and revisit topics and different points in the year thus enabling us to ‘keep learning warm’ 


The following curriculums are followed at King Charles:

White Rose - Maths

The Write Stuff

CUSP - Reading, EYFS, Science, Geography, History and MFL (Art & Design and Design Technology from September 2024)

RWI - Early Reading and Phonics 

Jigsaw - PSHE & RSHE. 

PE Passport - PE

Walsall SACRE - RE


When choosing a curriculum for King Charles, it was important to ensure that we could adapt the learning for our local context and needs. This is reflected through our curriculum planning for example: Local area studies and a focus on locality issues in humanities subjects and links to our current safeguarding needs in our PHSE curriculum.

Information Technology truly underpins children’s learning at King Charles. Please see the online safety policy.


Short, medium and long-term planning expectations

All teachers are responsible for planning, evaluating and teaching in their classes and the National Curriculum stipulates the expectations and the content coverage required. 

Slide planning is used consistently to focus learning expectations and for teachers to map the sequence of learning, vocabulary development, risk assessment, British Values/SMSC links, and resources required. 

Class teachers meet regularly to ensure continuity of provision and moderation in terms of expectations and outcomes across the year groups/phases. Particular attention is given to clear and appropriate differentiation, progression and attainment at this point in the planning process.

At King Charles we use subscriptions to subject associations to keep up-to-date with subjects and to support teaching with quality resources. Curriculum coverage is mapped against long term plans to ensure there are no gaps in our curriculum. 


Time Allocation per Subject

Schools are free to decide how much time should be spent teaching each subject. English and maths are taught each day and the wider curriculum subjects are given equal importance and taught weekly. For Art, DT, geography and history this is in unit blocks but with links across subjects where relevant. Computing, Science, PE, PSHE, French RE and music are taught each week. Science is taught for 2 hours a week and we aim for 2 hours of PE. Our linked-up learning approach provides children with plenty of opportunity to extend their learning and develop skills outside the strict timetabling of each subject. 


Teaching Approach

We believe that children learn best when there is a clear structure to lessons, enabling them to focus on content not process. This is embedded throughout the school. 

In English Lessons we chunk lessons into;

Learning Chunk 1

Learning Chunk 2

Learning Chunk 3

For each of the learning chunks, there are the ‘I do, We do, You do’ approaches used.


In Maths lessons we also chunk lessons into:

Flashback 4

Key Learning

Going Deeper

Developing Expertise

For each of the learning chunks, there are the ‘I do, We do, You do’ approaches used.


Foundation subjects begin with a ‘Connect’ element. This is an opportunity to recap on prior learning (this may be from the previous lesson, week, topic or year), to connect concepts or big ideas or to allow children to position learning within their knowledge organiser. 

The ‘Explain/ Example’ element of the lesson is the  instruction phase, allowing the teacher to introduce and explain new vocabulary. This is the ‘I do’ part of the lesson and teachers will use worked examples to model new concepts to children. 

The ‘Attempt’ element of the lesson is the ‘we do’ element. It allows children opportunities for deliberate practice. This is where misconceptions are addressed and feedback is given. 

Pupils are able to work independently or with some guidance during the ‘Apply’ phase of the lesson. This is the ‘I do’ element.

Children then integrate their learning through challenge activities.

Learning Environment

Our learning environments are used as teaching tools. As a school, we keep them organised and make key knowledge and vocabulary accessible so that children can locate and use this key information easily and efficiently. This can be done by signposting or using neutral backgrounds and selecting and organising our displays carefully. Overcrowded and ‘busy’ displays are discouraged. In the EYFS, displays and resources are organised and labelled to enable learning and to teach children organisational and ordering skills.

Displays around school are also used to showcase, value and celebrate children’s achievements and great work. Our children have input into these displays and the aim of them is to promote children’s self-esteem, alongside recognising and valuing excellent learning and achievement across the curriculum.


Assessment

Short and medium term assessment is the responsibility of the class teacher and is in line with the assessment policy. However, teachers will use informal assessment and observation on a daily basis to determine what children can do independently and to plan the next steps for learning.

Formative assessments take many different forms and are reflected in a pupil’s books/work in the detailed marking and provision of constructive feedback (not every piece of work is marked in depth). Feedback follows the school’s policy and identifies areas for children to improve, giving focused challenges and expecting children to take ownership of their learning and respond and reflect in order to further improve. ‘Live’ marking and feedback are encouraged and recognised as good practice.

Retrieval practice and high challenge/low threat quizzes demonstrate children’s learning and identify any gaps which require addressing by teachers.

Summative assessments support teacher assessments in the core subjects and children are presented with these in a relaxed format so as to cause minimal anxiety for pupils. These are used to help prepare children through the year groups for the end of key stage testing as required by law.

Reception pupils are assessed using the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile. Pupil profiles are established for each child in Reception and assessments are made against the Foundation Stage Profile Statements.

For further information about assessment, as well as marking and feedback click the policy links below:

Marking and Feedback Policy Assessment Policy

Children’s progress and attainment in each subject will be assessed by their teacher against the end of year expectations. Pupil progress will be reported to parents at three points in the year either in writing or at an appointment where parents are invited to discuss their child’s progress. 


Inclusion

Teachers set high expectations for all pupils. They will use appropriate assessment to set ambitious targets and plan challenging work for all groups, including:

  More able pupils

  Pupils with low prior attainment

  Pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds

  Pupils with SEN

  Pupils with English as an additional language (EAL)


Teachers will plan lessons so that pupils with SEN and/or disabilities can study every National Curriculum subject, wherever possible, and ensure that there are no barriers to every pupil achieving.

Teachers will also take account of the needs of pupils whose first language is not English. Lessons will be planned so that teaching opportunities help pupils to develop their English, and to support pupils to take part in all subjects.

Further information can be found in our statement of equality information and objectives, and in our SEN policy and information report.


Monitoring arrangements

Governors monitor coverage of National Curriculum subjects and compliance with other statutory requirements through:

Link Governor visits 

Subject specific curriculum spotlights in governor meetings

SDP progress reviews 

Feedback from school council

Headteacher reports

Subject Leaders monitor the way their subject is taught throughout the school by undertaking::

Planning scrutinies 

Learning walks

Book scrutinies

Pupil conferences

Data analysis

Subject Leaders also have responsibility for monitoring the way in which resources are stored and managed.


This policy will be reviewed every year by the headteacher. At every review, the policy will be shared with the full governing board


Links with other policies

This policy links to the following policies and procedures:

 EYFS policy

 Assessment policy

 SEN policy and information report

 Equality information and objectives

Pupil Premium Policy

PHSE & RHSE Policy


These policies can be found on the policy page of the website.