School Curriculum

The Government released a new National Curriculum in September 2014. The National Curriculum provides pupils with an introduction to the essential knowledge that they need to be educated citizens. The National curriculum is just one element in the education of every child. There is time and space in the school day and in each week, term and year to range beyond the national curriculum specifications. The National curriculum provides an outline of core knowledge around which teachers can develop exciting and stimulating lessons to promote the development of pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills as part of the wider school curriculum.

Vale View Curriculum Overview 

We place a strong emphasis on learning the basics of reading, writing and mathematics so that our children achieve their full potential across all areas of the curriculum. Learning is planned, based on our pupil’s needs and achievements and next steps in learning takes into account different learning styles.

In Mathematics, in addition to the daily maths lesson, time is spent allowing the pupils to learn and consolidate their number facts such as multiplication and division facts, number bonds etc, through fun games and activities and many children enjoy the use of the online ICT program ‘TTRS’ where they can compete against other young mathematicians. Children learn best when they are interested and so we aim to make our broad and balanced curriculum as interesting and relevant to our pupils as possible.

In line with the National Curriculum, we at Vale View believe that Literacy unites the important skills of reading and writing. Our approach to teaching and learning reflects this philosophy. In reading our school aims to provide the children with the skills and strategies necessary to develop into competent and fluent.  We promote a love of reading and reading for pleasure through the use of rich texts, class reads, author visits, Library sessions etc

At Vale View we use Read Write Inc as a starting point for the children’s reading journey. Ensuring that high-quality phonic work is taught systematically and discretely as our prime approach used in the teaching of early reading. Read Write Inc is a systematic phonics programme which helps children learn to read fluently and at speed so they can focus on developing their skills in comprehension, vocabulary and spelling.  These texts can be decoded by the children.

As children learn to decode and become more competent readers we then use a variety of books matched to their Reading level to ensure the children gain a wide breadth of both fiction & non-fiction books. We read individually with our children as well as in groups ensuring we develop their reading skills at their level, striving to enable progress to take place. We do guided reading sessions in ability groups and children are given opportunities to practise and extend their reading skills independently. Shared reading takes place on a daily basis throughout the curriculum looking at a variety of text types and genres.

Find out more about Read Write inc on our Phonic pages or at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjlPILhk7bQ

We are  constantly developing our curriculum and the cross-curricular  themed approach to the children’s learning through topics and high quality texts. All subjects such as geography, history, art, science, music & DT etc and associated essential skills, will be linked to the topic for each year group to ensure a more connected, relevant and enjoyable curriculum for all. Literacy topics will also be linked to each topic where appropriate to make the children’s learning in reading & writing more significant and to keep it embedded in real life.

 

PSHE statement

PSHE at Vale View    

At Vale View Primary School we aim to enhance and enrich the lives of children by enabling them to make the most of outstanding learning opportunities within and beyond the curriculum. We believe PSHE Education, British Values and the SMSC (spiritual, moral, social and cultural) development has a crucial role in preparing pupils for the world of work, helping them to develop the skills and attributes they need to thrive and achieve their full potential.

At Vale View Primary School, PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic) education encompasses all areas of our curriculum and is the golden thread that runs through every aspect of school life. The promotion of pupils’ personal development underpins all other learning and provides children with essential life skills and knowledge to enable them to make informed decisions and choices and become healthy, confident, respectful and responsible members of society. To ensure children achieve this, we use the Jigsaw Scheme of Learning alongside a wealth of other resources. Jigsaw provides a structured programme of personal development to nurture the ‘whole child’ and increase learning capacity, underpinned by mindfulness philosophy and practice.