Our Curriculum Explained

An Engaging Curriculum

At Newlands we have chosen to use robust and rigorous curriculums which ensure progress for all children and are inclusive of every individual. The school has taken its time to carefully consider and select curriculums that are engaging, hands-on have 'real-world' applications. Pupils are exposed to a wide variety of experiences and supported to continually develop both academically and personally. 

At Newlands Community Primary School we have adapted the Kapow curriculum for the majority of our wider curriculum areas to ensure it motivates, engages and inspires all of our pupils through a series of learning themes that we have titled ‘Learning Journeys’. The majority of the curriculum is delivered through this learning journey with each journey beginning with a hook for pupils to act as a launch into learning. Pupils are encouraged to ask questions, make links in their learning and connect with their previous learning. The ‘landing’ or end goal of the journey is also shared with pupils so they understand the context of their learning. All our learning journeys are linked to core texts that children explore in depth and a number of other texts that children use for comparisons and further reading. This creates a love for reading and a clear link between all subjects.

The learning journeys allow for clear coverage of the National Curriculum and ensure that learning is progressive whilst reflecting on previous learning. Scaffolding ensures that children are able to access the learning independently with a range of resources to support independence. We are passionate about not placing a glass ceiling on children and supporting them to be successful.

A focus for our journeys is to prepare our pupils to be ‘secondary ready’ by the time they leave Newlands. This is achieved by providing contextualised, purposeful learning that develops ‘life skills’ and focusses on pupils’ development in becoming writers, mathematicians, readers, historians, geographers, theologists and so much more.

Pupils at our school take on a role in their learning and become artists, geographers, scientists, historians, athletes and so many real-life roles. We believe it is important that children understand the real-life application of their learning and that a subject is not merely something we learn in school but it has implications all around us. For example; We Are Designers – with a focus on a design brief and an understanding that everything we use has been designed for a purpose. Children’s books also reflect these roles.

Our learning environments engage and inspire pupils and is language rich to support the pupils’ oracy and writing development throughout the learning journey. Children are encouraged to use the environment independently and work is celebrated in a variety of ways. The use of washing lines across each class ensures children know where they can find the information they need to be successful.

Key Principles of our Curriculum:

• Raises aspirations
• Is purposeful and relevant and ensures that learning is contextualised
• Develops confidence and independence
• Celebrates the process of learning (metacognition) and the end product (cognition) whilst encouraging resilience for all children
• Is memorable and experiential
• Ensures children develop vocabulary to support their growing understanding
• Enables children to become mentally and physically healthy, resilient citizens
• Develops strong relations with the community- the school, local and wider community
• Promotes SMSC and British Values throughout
• Ensures that children are ready for their next stage of education (EYFS-KS1, KS1-KS2, KS2-secondary education)