Opportunity and Achievement for All

The Department for Education’s (DfE) working definition of the curriculum. “The curriculum is a framework for setting out the aims of a programme of education, including the knowledge and understanding to be gained at each stage (intent); for translating that framework over time into a structure and narrative, within an institutional context (implementation) and for evaluating what knowledge and skills pupils have gained against expectations (impact/achievement).”

At Worthington Primary School our curriculum is underpinned by our vision and the values which we hold dear to our schools. The curriculum is the means by which our schools achieve their objective of educating children in order to lead fulfilling lives. We value the importance of each person in our community and the way in which all children are unique. Our curriculum promotes respect for the views of and plans for the needs of each individual child, of ALL needs, (SEND, PD, SEMH, BSED etc.) vulnerabilities, disadvantage, recognising any socio-economic and cultural similarities and differences. We value and develop the academic, spiritual, moral, social, emotional and cultural development of each person, as well as their intellectual and physical growth.

Our curriculum is all the planned and organised activities in order to ensure our children:

• Develop a good academic knowledge and understanding of the objectives of our curriculum and learn and progress well
• Have positive learning attitudes so that they enjoy coming to school, develop inquiring minds and acquire a solid basis for lifelong learning, helping them become more independent and take ownership of their learning
• Have good personal, mental, social, emotional, spiritual and emotional growth and development and good behaviour.

It includes not only the formal requirements of the National Curriculum but also the range of enrichment and extra-curricular activities that our schools organise (visits, visitors, clubs, events, engagement in opportunities such as competition, community work etc.) for children to develop experiences and their cultural capital. It also includes the ‘hidden curriculum,’ - what the children learn from our expectations, the way everyone is treated and expected to behave. We aim to teach children how to grow into positive, responsible people who have developed good social skills and can work and co-operate with others while developing knowledge and skills so that they know who they are, achieve their potential and become active citizens within the school community and beyond.

Our curriculum design is bespoke and individualised for our small school due to unique heritage, the range of mixed age classes and the diversity in and beyond the community we serve.

In order to ensure a rigorous and clear curriculum plan we have crafted our curriculum intent articulating what we want the children to know and do by the time they leave our schools. With this information we create rolling programs of highly engaging topics and themes making ‘solid’ cross-curricular links, this enables children to develop their depth of knowledge in foundation subjects whilst applying the key skills and concepts of English and Maths. This is regularly reviewed based on our annually changeable mixed age class structures. Where relevant subjects are taught as standalone subjects and no links are tenuous. Each subject is planned meticulously but are cross referenced and matched at a ‘long term’ level in order to ensure the best approach as well as maintaining motivation, enthusiasm, and interest for both teachers and children alike making teaching and learning meaningful and engaging. Staff are versed in the understanding of developing effective, well considered and crafted schema and understand the need to ensure opportunities for assimilation and accommodation for long term, sustained successful learning.

The Early Years Foundation Stage Framework and the National Curriculum has been adhered to and this has been woven into our curriculum by all staff, overseen by subject leaders’ knowledge and expertise so that all teachers have ownership and investment in the curriculum we have. We have ensured coverage of all the knowledge and skills necessary for each area, fundamentally underpinned by the English curriculum.

As importantly as our curriculum ‘objective’ development has been the review and refreshing of CPD around teaching and learning, sound pedagogy and the development of good learning characteristics. Self-efficacy/knowledge of self and self-regulation and how to teach these effectively. Interlinked within this work has been the explicit understanding of and planning for children’s knowledge of metacognition (plan, apply and evaluate learning).

This has all enhanced the effectiveness of the teaching and learning of our curriculum in order to ensure effective implementation.  

This is a copy of the whole school Curriculum Map.

2022/2023 Cycle A
2023/2024 Cycle B

If you require any further information relating to our Curriculum, or an in-depth look at the learning in each subject, for each term, then please go to the Class area or speak to the class teacher.

Whole School Topic Cycles

Cycle A
Year Group	Autumn Term 1	Autumn Term 2	Spring 1	Spring 2	Summer 1	Summer 2
Whole School Topic Name	Know Your Place	Up the Chimney	All Fired up and Ready to go!	To Infinity and Beyond	How does your Garden Grow?	Passport to the world
EYFS Year 1 / Year 2	Geography: Our Local Area   What is it like where we live?	Bonfire Night and the Great Fire of London Should we still celebrate Bonfire Night/Did the Great Fire make London a better or worse place?	History: The Greatest Explorers   Who were the greatest explorers?	Geography: Animals and their Habitats   Where do our favourite animals live?	Geography: Journeys – Food   Where does our food come from?	History: Holidays   How have holidays changed over time?
Science	Living things and their habitats (2)	Seasonal Changes (1)	Animals including humans (2) Life Cycles	Animals including humans - Growth (2)	Plants (2)	Uses of everyday materials (2)
3 and 4	Geography: Climate and Weather   Why is climate important?	History: The Bronze Age and the Iron Age   Which was more impressive – the Bronze Age or the Iron Age?	History: Local History   Why should we preserve our locality?	Geography: Earthquakes and Volcanoes   How does the Earth shake, rattle and roll?	History: Crime and Punishment   How has Crime and Punishment changed over time?	Geography: Coasts   Do we like to be beside the seaside?
Science	Rocks (3)	Electricity (4)	Animals including humans (3)	Forces and magnets (3)	Plants (3)	Scientific Enquiry
Year 5 and 6	Geography: Changes in our Local Environment   How is our country changing?	History: The Vikings   Would the Vikings do anything for money?	History: The Anglo-Saxons   Was the Anglo-Saxon period really a Dark Age?	Geography: South America – The Amazon   What is life like in the Amazon?	History: The Maya Civilisation   Why should we remember the Maya?	Geography: Our World in the Future   How will our world look in the future?
Science	Earth and space (5)	Light (6)	Animals including humans (6)	Living things and their habitats (6)	Properties of materials ( 5)	Changes of materials (5)

Whole School Topic Cycles

Cycle B
Year Group	Autumn Term 1	Autumn Term 2	Spring 1	Spring 2	Summer 1	Summer 2
Whole School Topic Name	Marvellous Me	By Royal Appointment	Commotion in the Ocean	Swords and Sandals	Footsteps through Time	Our Amazing World
EYFS Year 1 / Year 2	History: My Family History   What was life like when our grandparents were children?	Geography: People and their Communities   Where in the world do these people live?	History: Great Inventions – Transport How did the first flight change the world/Why were the Rainhill trials important?	Geography: Seasons   What are seasons?	History: Our Local Heroes   Who are our local heroes?	Geography: Our Wonderful World   What are the seven wonders of our world?
Science	Animals including Humans (1) All about me	Exploring everyday Materials (1)	Living things and their habitats (2)	Everyday Materials 2 (1)	Plants (1)	Animals including humans (1) All about animals
3 and 4	Geography: The Americas   Can you come on a Great American Road Trip?	History: The Ancient Egyptians   How much did the Ancient Egyptians achieve?	Geography: Rivers and the Water Cycle   How does the water go round and round?	History: Roman Britain   What happened when the Romans came to Britain?	History: The Stone Age   What was new about the New Stone Age?	Geography: Our World   Where on Earth are we?
Science	Animals including humans (4)	Sound (4)	Living things and their habitats (4)	States of matter (4)	Light (3)	Living things and their habitats (4)
Year 5 and 6	Geography: Journeys – Clothes   Where does all our stuff come from?	History: Journeys   What makes people go on a journey?	Geography: Global Warming and Climate Change   Are we damaging our world?	History: The Ancient Greeks   What did the Greeks do for us?	History: The Impact of War   Did WWI or WWII have the biggest impact on our locality?	Geography: Europe – A Study of the Alpine Region   Where should we go on holiday?
Science	Animals including humans (5)	Electricity (6)	Living things and their habitats (5)	Forces (5)	Evolution and Inheritance (6)	Looking after our environment (6)

For a detailed curriculum plan for each year group please click on the whole school topic name below.