Our Curriculum

Intent 

At Watling Park School, we believe in the value of a lifelong learning journey which continuously stimulates, excites and compels everyone within the school community to learn and improve on a daily basis. As learning should be a worthwhile and enjoyable experience for all involved, we promote a clear view that learning requires effort and perseverance but will ultimately pay rich rewards. Our teaching aims to equip children with the knowledge, skills and understanding necessary to develop as independent, confident and successful individuals who can make informed and ambitious choices not only about their own learning but also about the things that are important to them within their own lives along with making positive contributions to the community around them. We believe that appropriate learning will lead to successful, happy and rewarding futures.  

Every aspect of our curriculum is underpinned by the Watling Park Core Values 

  • Kindness 
  • Respect 
  • Ambition 
  • Honesty 
  • Responsibility 
  • Inclusion  

As well as the five British Values: 

  • Democracy 
  • The Rule of Law 
  • Individual Liberty 
  • Mutual Respect 
  • Tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs 

Our broad, balanced and enriching curriculum, whilst follows the National Curriculum, is designed to provide and extend the learning opportunities and experiences that are particularly pertinent and important to our children. Core curriculum areas are supported by our approach to the Foundation Subjects. Each sequence of learning builds on previous knowledge and is engaging, has a real purpose and inspires observation and questioning. They end with an outcome to evaluate learning and share progress. 

Personal, social and emotional well-being are central to our curriculum, as they support the development and health of the whole child, whilst oracy is promoted across all areas so that all children cultivate a strong foundation of speaking, listening and vocabulary skills on which to successfully communicate today and beyond.  

Implementation 

Our curriculum has been carefully built to ensure a clear progression of knowledge and skills. The learning journey has been mapped out year by year. Subject specific content along with the allocation of sufficient time ensures that each subject is given the attention it deserves so that pupils can transfer key concepts into long-term memory and then recall and apply them fluently. Key vocabulary is identified and taught specifically across each subject area. Across all curriculum areas, our values are taught and reinforced.   

Our teachers have high expectations and believe all children can succeed. We promote a Growth Mindset and celebrate best effort as well as academic excellence across the school. We take account of the cognitive load for children and have purposeful teaching resources and classroom environments that focus on the core learning and do not hinder with extraneous information. All learning is broken into small steps to help the working memory and teachers use modelled and worked examples to scaffold key concepts and ideas. Opportunities for learning and the use of specific subject vocabulary are planned into each learning sequence. Sessions include opportunities to recap previous learning and unpick misconceptions before moving on.  Quality questions are planned and asked of all children. Partner talk is used so children discuss and rehearse their response, encouraging the children’s retrieval, curiosity, and a deepening of understanding. Our success criteria helps the children identify how to be successful in each session and supports them through their application of knowledge and skills into independence and fluency. During learning activities, teachers guide students’ practice by asking questions, addressing common misconceptions, and making links between topics to enhance their understanding.  

Extra-curricular activities, including themed weeks and immersion days, raise the profile of subjects in addition to providing children with new experiences, which enrich and deepen learning.  

Through high quality texts, tailored reading opportunities across the curriculum along with the exploration of enriching vocabulary, we promote a love of reading for study and pleasure. With the introduction of key people within each subject area, our children are developing an appreciation of human creativity and achievement in all walks of life.  

Impact 

Our curriculum provision engages children, develops an inquiring mind, and supports collaboration, creativity, and personal success.   

Our well-constructed, well-taught curriculum not only engages all children within the learning journey but also develops them as a member of society and leads to good academic progress. All learning builds towards creating well-rounded individuals who have a positive impact on the world now and leave with the skills to impact our world for years to come.  

Teachers have high expectations of all children and are able to provide challenge, stretch and enrichment in learning because they know the starting points of individuals and understand the progression required to reach the end goal. In order for gaps within learning to be identified and closed, a range of assessment and analysis strategies are utilised: timely feedback, internal testing, moderation of work, pupil interviews, use of assessment grids and data tracking systems.  

Monitoring shows that children are motived, engaged and active in their learning, can construct their own knowledge and are able to think flexibly and creatively. They take pride in themselves and their school.  

Assessment information is analysed by class teachers together with the Middle and Senior Leadership Teams as part of our monitoring cycle. Pupil progress reviews are conducted regularly. This process provides the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and Local Advisory Board (LAB) with an accurate and comprehensive understanding of the quality of education in our school. As a school, we determine our monitoring cycle at the beginning of each academic year. This identifies when monitoring for all year groups is undertaken in all subject areas. Monitoring includes book scrutinies, lesson observations and/or learning walks, pupil/parent and/or staff voice. All this information is gathered and reviewed. It is used to inform further curriculum developments and provision is adapted accordingly. Overall, results show that we are making improvements and children are achieving well. 

Parents have frequent planned opportunities to come into school and are invited to provide regular feedback which is generally very positive. Positive comments are also often received from visitors to the school and by the general public when offsite. Whilst visitors from neighbouring schools and the Trust come to see how they can learn from Watling Park.