KS1

Intent

Our curriculum in Key Stage One at Hoo St Werburgh Primary School is child centred, ambitious, broad and balanced, which builds upon the children's prior knowledge, skills and understanding both from the Early Years Curriculum and their own life experiences. We strive to provide a rich, diverse curriculum, providing children with first hand, relatable experiences, which are underpinned by our core values of confidence, respect, courage and belonging, enabling every child to develop a love for lifelong learning. The curriculum incorporates the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum in addition to other experiences and opportunities, which alongside our Continuous Provision approach, enhances the learning and development of all pupils. 

Implementation

Everyday our children get the chance to be a designer, an artist, a writer, a scientist, a musician, a mathematician, a storyteller, an athlete, geographer or historian through our approach of Continuous Provision. We carefully plan our provision, enhancements and play experiences to inspire children to consolidate their skills, knowledge and understanding, which enables them to become independent, resilient learners who motivate and challenge themselves to achieve. 

Our curriculum at Hoo is organised so that in Year One we ensure we have a smooth transition that builds upon the children’s knowledge and skills from Reception, to include Super Six and Drawing Club in Term 1 and 2. We then have 2 other learning journeys in Year One across the 4 terms and in Year Two we have 3 Learning Journeys across the 6 terms. The National Curriculum objectives are then plotted across the Learning Journeys to ensure a broad and balanced coverage. 

Whilst children engage in high-quality, purposeful play, teachers teach at ‘tutor table’, which allows teachers to work with small groups of children ensuring high-quality and bespoke teaching. The core subjects; English, maths and science are taught explicitly, and the wider curriculum subjects are taught through ‘Play Projects’, where children get the chance to choose how they want to learn by creating, collaborating, problem solving and imagining. 

In Key Stage One, we use the Read. Write. Inc. scheme for the teaching of Phonics, learning to read and write and fostering a lifelong love of reading. Every day, children take part in groups set according to their own unique ability, which ensures children build the confidence they need to reach their maximum learning potential. 

Pupils have the opportunities to share their learning with each other, their parents and carers and the wider community through school events, assemblies, performances and competitions. 

Impact

Our curriculum and its delivery ensure that children, from their own starting points, make good progress during their time in Key Stage One. Being exposed to a developmentally appropriate curriculum ensures our children are ready academically, physically, socially and emotionally for Key Stage Two. During their time with us, children make progress towards the national expectations of the curriculum and the end of key stage assessments. 

We believe our high standards, carefully planned environment, enriched play-based curriculum, quality first teaching and the rigour of assessment improve outcomes for children in Key Stage One and allow them to reach their full potential.