Information for Parents
Statutory Requirements:
A new National Curriculum for Primary Schools came into law from September 2014. You can find the full document at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum
Children in the Early Years (Reception) follow the requirements of ‘Early Years Foundation Stage Framework’. You can find the full document at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework–2
In addition, from September 2020, it is also now statutory for primary schools to provide Relationships and Health Education. The requirements can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education
Finally, we also seek to actively promote British Values of tolerance, understanding of different faiths, democracy and the rule of law through our taught curriculum, assembly provision and general school ethos. This requirement can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/promoting-fundamental-british-values-through-smsc
How our Curriculum is Planned:
At Little Melton Primary school we first follow the requirements of the national documents above.
Curriculum and lesson planning itself is subsequently based on our whole school overview ‘Subject Narrative‘ (knowledge) and ‘Skills Progression‘ (skills) documents. The underpinning rationale for the choices made here can be found in each ‘Subject Rationale’ document. (See individual subject sections of website).
The subjects themselves are taught to the children through cross-curricular topics (eg a topic such as ‘Stone Age, Bone Age’ includes content drawn from History, Geography, Art and Music) , broken down into half-termly, or termly topics. The overview of these is shared with parents through our ‘Topic Webs’, supported by ‘Knowledge Organisers’.
We seek to make meaningful links for the children between subjects and also to reinforce key literacy and maths skills across the whole curriculum. This includes extended writing opportunities planned in across the curriculum, and also planned opportunities for real-life Maths experiences, to supplement the daily discrete Maths lessons.
This is all intended to enrich the learning experience for children whilst also allowing individual subject skills and knowledge to be addressed. As we have mixed-age classes, there is a 2 year cycle of planning for each class.
Each subject narrative and skills plan also includes a subject-specific statement of intent for how we want the teaching of each subject in school to benefit each child in their future lives and next stage of their education. This is entitled: ‘We believe these skills are important for life because:”
How our Curriculum was Developed:
All of the curriculum work above developed through discussion with staff and stakeholders and with reference to recognised national leading subject authorities, for example the Historical Association. We have also worked alongside a group of other similar Norfolk village schools to develop and refine ideas and compare approaches periodically through the development process.
How can parents or other members of the public find out more about our curriculum?
There are detailed plans for each subject on the website. Please also feel free to speak to the Headteacher for any further information.