Curriculum Overview

‘Achieving Excellence Together….’

At Hammond School our vision is to develop well rounded, confident and responsible individuals who aspire to achieve their full potential. We will do this by providing a welcoming, happy, safe, and supportive learning environment in which everyone is equal and all achievements are celebrated.

 

Our Curriculum

Our curriculum supports our wider school vision to develop well-rounded, confident and responsible children who aspire to achieve their full potential. We will do this by providing a welcoming, stimulating, happy, safe, and supportive learning environment in which everyone is equal and enables children to achieve excellence together.

 

A Curriculum for OUR School

We have carefully designed a thematic curriculum which ensures coverage of the National Curriculum subjects, in a way that reflects our school community, the needs and the interests of our pupils. Our curriculum takes our pupils beyond their own life experiences. Our over-arching themes support children in making links between the knowledge they are acquiring, whilst allowing them to develop their skills in an immersive and relevant way.

We recognise the disciplines of study though teaching discrete subjects, linked by a theme. This fosters a love for learning that will flourish as children move through the curriculum.

Reading is at the heart of our curriculum. We want every child at our school to learn to read and develop a love of reading. We recognise that when children can read, the wider curriculum and a wealth of experiences open up for them.

We review and update our curriculum at the end of each school year, taking into account feedback from staff and pupils. This keeps our curriculum fresh and up to date, and allows us to link projects, outside initiatives and national developments etc into the learning.

 

Intent

At Hammond School we deliver a rich and engaging, thematic curriculum which provides the children with a variety of different learning opportunities. Every child experiences a broad and balanced curriculum that promotes their spiritual, moral, cultural and physical development. Pupils are stimulated and challenged so that they can make good progress across our curriculum and achieve age related expectations.  Pupils will leave Hammond School prepared for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of the next stage in their education and future life.

As pupils progress through the school they will develop high expectations of themselves in terms of their learning behaviours; they will be encouraged to develop growth mindset attitudes, including resilience and perseverance and increasingly become more independent learners.

At Hammond School, we are committed to providing relevant, first-hand learning and purposeful experiences for all of our pupils. We aim to allow the children to develop good interpersonal skills and become creative, critical thinkers. We want children to really enjoy their learning and help them become team players as well as valuable members of society as they grow older.

The curriculum at Hammond School offers opportunities for all children to learn creatively, explore and enquire, encouraging them to think deeply about their learning. Children will enjoy the richness of learning in many different ways: from each other, from adults, through visits, using our grounds and through art, music, drama and sport.

Staff work hard as a team, reviewing progress and exploring new strategies to capture the energy and enthusiasm of young learners in order to inspire them to develop a love of learning that will last a lifetime.

Hammond School provides a highly inclusive environment. Pupils at all levels are helped to achieve their learning goals. All of our children are challenged and encouraged to develop their skills and knowledge through rich and varied curriculum opportunities. Those who need more support with their learning are given targeted support to embed skills, to develop at their own pace and to learn in a style that best suits their individual needs.

Every child is recognised as a unique individual. We celebrate and welcome differences within our school community. The ability to learn is underpinned by the teaching of basic skills, knowledge, concepts and values. To help us achieve these aims we deliver the 2014 National Curriculum through themes which appeal to the children and capture their interests. We ensure that this learning is tailored to individual needs..

The school works closely with our federated Infant school (Lightwater Village) to provide the full core offer of extended school provision.

Leaders at all levels play an important part in the success of our curriculum by undertaking a regular programme of monitoring, evaluation and review. As a school we are continually evaluating the curriculum to ensure that it is tailored to meet the needs of individuals, groups, and cohorts.

Pupils will be taught by teachers and Learning Support Assistants with high expectations, who will plan and deliver a curriculum that is stimulating, pertinent, extends pupils’ understanding of all subject areas to ensure high quality learning and outcomes. 

 

Implementation

The curriculum design at Hammond School ensures that the needs of whole cohorts, individuals and small groups of children can be met within the environment of high-quality teaching, supported by targeted interventions where appropriate.

We have planned our curriculum, both core and foundation subjects, through a thematic approach.  Where possible, enrichment opportunities are planned in to allow learning from direct first-hand experiences. These opportunities include visitors and visits to the local area and beyond. In addition, we have whole school focused days and weeks to enrich our children’s curricular experiences further.

The school’s curriculum is shared with parents through learning journey documents, newsletters and termly curriculum overviews that are available on the school’s website. Parents are given further opportunities to share in their children’s learning through our online sharing platform, where teachers, pupils and parents can communicate about pupils’ learning.

At Hammond School we believe that high quality teaching and learning is achieved by:

• having consistently high expectations of all pupils’. Inspiring pupils to love the challenge of learning and are increasingly resilient to failure.
• planning lessons effectively, making maximum use of lesson time and coordinating lesson resources well.
• checking pupils’ understanding systematically and effectively in lessons, offering clearly directed and timely support.
• providing adequate time for practice to embed the pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills securely.
• providing high quality continuous professional development for all staff to ensure deep knowledge and understanding of the subjects they teach.
• using highly effective questioning which allows pupils to demonstrate understanding of subject content and to misconceptions upon which to act.
• providing pupils with incisive feedback, in line with the school’s assessment policy, about what they can do to improve their knowledge, understanding and skills.
• setting home learning, in line with the school’s policy and as appropriate for the age and stage of pupils, that consolidates learning and prepares pupils well for work to come.
• challenging stereotypes and encouraging pupils to value the diversity of pupils’ experiences and provide pupils with a comprehensive understanding of people and communities beyond their immediate experience.
• providing parents with clear and timely information on how well their child is progressing, how well their child is doing in relation to the standards expected and providing guidance about how to support their child to improve. 

 

Impact

At Hammond School we strive to ensure that our children’s attainment in core and foundation subjects is in line with or exceeding national expectations when we consider our children’s varying starting points. We measure this carefully using a range of strategies. We intend that the impact is that children will be academically, physically, as well as emotionally prepared for next part of their learning journey and for their future life.

Our children develop behaviours and habits to become effective learners. The impact is seen through their development of growth mindset so that our children do not give up until they are proud of what they have achieved. Pupils understand that making mistakes are part of the learning process and they are highly motivated to succeed and achieve.

Our learners will be confident and happy citizens. We measure this not just by the learning our children demonstrate, but in the learning behaviours we see each and every day in all pupils in classrooms, on the playground, in our corridors, when they are representing our school and in the many roles we give them. The impact of this intention is seen in the daily interaction of all members of our community, including staff, governors and visitors.