Shaldon Primary Curriculum Vision
As part of the Academy for Character and Excellence, our Mission statement is:
Excellence through Cultivating Character, Pursuing Innovation and Sharing Talents
Academic excellence is fundamental within our curriculum model. The children’s acquisition of a deep body of knowledge within subject disciplines, will enable them to express their learning to the highest standard. When children achieve excellence, this gives them the confidence to challenge themselves further. Through this process of experiencing success, they will develop character, for example grit, determination, self-efficacy and courage.
Character Education
Whilst academic success remains a core priority, developing character is also an essential element of our curriculum model. Our curriculum gives children opportunities to make a positive impact on society. We want them to grasp the possibilities and opportunities of life beyond the classroom, to enable them to thrive at each and every challenge they face in life and make a difference to themselves and those around them.
Metacognition
Our curriculum not only focuses on achieving character whilst pursuing academic excellence, but also emphasises deep learning through developing the skills of metacognition. We use an enquiry approach to drive our learning experiences, making the reflective learning process explicit. In addition to this, tools for thinking will be taught to support children’s higher order thinking, synthesis of knowledge and creating of new thinking. However, metacognition can only be developed within a knowledge-rich curriculum.
As a school, we take pride in providing our children with a broad and balanced curriculum, allowing them the opportunity to develop and excel in all areas. At the heart of our experiences, we are always developing our core values and our virtues to support our work on character. We have also worked hard this year to incorporate the development of metacognition which has included- self-management, self- confidence and self- evaluation. This has been highly supportive to the children as learners: providing them with valuable tools for the future.
At the heart of our curriculum lie three core values: pursuit of academic excellence; the explicit development of metacognition; and crucially, character education.
Reflective learners
Children are encouraged to: think about what they are being asked to do; what they already know; what they need to know; how they will achieve this; and to evaluate their ongoing progress.
Independent learners
Children are encouraged to: be confident, think for themselves, take risks, persevere, ask questions, make decisions, solve problems, make connections and communicate their ideas.
Collaborative learners
Children are encouraged to: communicate, listen, co-operate and work together as a team with equal responsibility and with clear roles. They are responsible for both their own learning and that of their team members.
Creative learners
The children are encouraged to question and challenge. They will make connections and see relationships, envisaging what might be, exploring ideas and keeping options open, reflecting critically on ideas, actions and outcomes.
The School’s curriculum content includes all those areas specified in the National Curriculum, providing a base for an education that ensures quality and progression. Using the National Curriculum as our starting point, our curriculum is carefully planned to develop ideas that will inspire, enthuse and engage the pupils to enhance their learning to the full. We develop their knowledge throughout these experiences but most importantly give them the skills they need as learners to succeed and embrace challenges. We begin our journeys with a ‘hook’ which inspire the children from the onset; this could be a trip or visits from experts. We always work to create outcomes that are meaningful and most of all purposeful.
Core Subjects
English, Mathematics & Science.
Foundation Subjects
Design Technology, History, Geography, Music, Physical Education, Art, PSHCE and Modern Foreign Language (KS2).
Religious Education (R.E.)
Religious Education is based on the guidelines in the Devon Agreed Syllabus and teaches about Christianity and other major faiths as well. We provide a daily assembly for every pupil. The nature of this assembly may on occasions be of a broadly Christian character, although not distinctive of any particular denomination.
As a requirement of the Education Reform Act 1988, religious education is taught to all pupils. As a parent, under the Education Act, you have a right to withdraw your child from religious education and assemblies if you so choose. Please arrange with the Headteacher should you wish to do so and alternative provision will be made.
Music and PE are great strengths of the school and we show our commitment to these areas by having specialist teachers of PE and Music and you can find out more using the links on the left.
For more details of our curriculum please see the individual class pages
