Curriculum
Curriculum Intent & Implementation 2024-2025
Our curriculum has been constructed to meet the needs of our community and make best use of our resources and surrounding area. Our school values are embedded across the whole curriculum.
We recognise that there were gaps in children’s knowledge and skills as a result of school closures during 2020 and 2021; this continues to impact on progression in learning for pupils who were at school at that time. To address this, medium term plans and learning snapshots highlight core knowledge to ensure that these areas are taught in depth with plenty of opportunities for retrieval of prior knowledge. All pupils study the whole curriculum.
Subject leaders work together to ensure progression in learning within subjects; they also make relevant learning links between subjects and with the quality texts we use to deliver our reading and writing lessons in each year and key stage.
The Two Gates curriculum will always be broad and ambitious, with a specific focus on reading and the development of vocabulary embedded across the curriculum, to support the building of powerful knowledge.
Our curriculum delivery throughout school is focused on ensuring that teaching is strong and purposeful and maximises learning time. Pupils who missed a significant amount of learning since the start of the pandemic; build on what they already know and what they can already do. We therefore ensure any gaps are assessed and identified accurately and quickly so that teachers can progress learning through well planned and targeted lessons.
We retain a specific focus on relationships and well-being education and pupils will be given daily opportunities to explore their feelings and voice their opinions. We also maintain high standards of behaviour and attitudes through our values and our relationships and behaviour expectations and through our ‘ready, respectful and safe’ school rules.
Two Gates Primary School is a member of the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership.
School leaders across the MAT are working together to create a framework of cognitive education constructed through three core principles:
- Teaching the ‘right’ subject knowledge
- Development of schemata through retrieval and spaced practice
- The application of knowledge
The core purpose and ambition of The Arthur Terry Learning Partnership is to provide a high quality education that transforms the life chances of our students through a ‘knowledge engaged’ curriculum.
A framework of cognitive education enables children to think independently and contribute positively to society and the wider World.
Research highlights that understanding of how the brain works helps children and adults achieve more. Our approach to education defines us but does not create a ‘one size fits all’.
At Two Gates Primary School we believe that the primary curriculum we offer is ambitious and designed to give all pupils including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life. All pupils study the full curriculum which includes a broad range of subjects as exemplified in the National Curriculum.
Our school values have been carefully selected from the Schwartz Universal Human Values, to meet the needs of our community and prepare our pupils for the next stage in their education. These are:
- Curiosity
- Protecting the environment
- Ambition
- Being healthy
- Self-respect
- Sense of belonging
And introduced in KS2:
- Broad mindedness
- Responsibility
The school values underpin the school curriculum and are also promoted through:
- our extended curriculum provision e.g. forest school, nurture, enhanced music and sporting opportunities, educational visits and visitors
- the importance placed on the spiritual, moral, social and personal development of pupils
- through our assemblies and our RSE curriculum including our ‘My Happy Mind’ programme.
Our Curriculum in our context
Our children at Two Gates learn about their local context of Tamworth through a knowledge-engaged curriculum. This curriculum has been carefully thought out in a progressive way to develop secure knowledge and skills that our pupils need to succeed in life. In history, this has a focus on famous local people from Tamworth and their legacy and the history of our school and how it has changed over time. In geography children study our local area, especially our school locality, through map-work and our local rivers. Throughout the curriculum the children are taught the rich vocabulary they need to articulate their learning. Our pupils’ curriculum is enriched with the wider experiences they need to deepen their knowledge and make learning memorable through workshops, visits and visitors such as utilising our forest school, outdoor learning opportunities and our strong music provision, all developing their cultural capital.
Alongside this intent statement is the curriculum overview that outlines what is taught when in each subject.
Please click below to see the Curriculum Overviews:
Curriculum Design
Our curriculum is designed to maximise learning opportunities by ensuring it takes place in clear, logical steps. Opportunities for recalling information (through retrieval quizzes and activities) are built in to aid memory retention and we ensure purposeful links are made between new learning and previous learning (called building schemata).
Subject links are made where compatible, with link texts planned in to allow children to read widely across the curriculum. In English, texts studied either link to a subject area or have a key author focus. The love of reading and using reading learning to aid writing and other subjects is promoted wherever possible. A variety of reading for pleasure opportunities are planned for pupils as they move through school.
Assessment in non-core subjects
Assessment for learning is built into our foundation curriculum:
- Retrieval opportunities are routinely planned into lessons.
- Low stakes quizzes help children to regularly recall knowledge.
- Knowledge organisers capture and embed learning.
- Assessment in science is supported by ‘Head Start’ tests used as diagnostic tests at the start of a unit and an assessment at the end of a unit.
There will be one teacher assessment judgement made at the end of each academic year. Foundation subjects are teacher assessed against the national curriculum. Book looks and pupil discussions are conducted to assess the progress of knowledge and skills in subject areas and to moderate teacher judgements.
Please click the link below to view our Assessment Statement:
