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Our Curriculum

Curriculum Information

The pupils, staff and governors of Whinstone have worked collaboratively to design a broad and rich curriculum. We pride ourselves on the quality and breadth of the curriculum offered. Our curriculum is designed to serve the needs of all pupils using a variety of approaches and stimuli including visits, visitors, theme days and engaging activities. We are committed to making learning enjoyable in a safe environment protected from harm. We aim to nurture respectful, tolerant, well-rounded and confident children equipped with the necessary life skills to continue to achieve beyond Whinstone.

At Whinstone we strive for a curriculum that is:

  • ambitious for all our pupils;

  • coherently planned and sequenced;

  • adapted, designed and developed for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities;

  • broad and balanced for all our pupils.

Curriculum Intent:

At Whinstone Primary School we respect and value all children as individuals. We are committed to making learning exciting and enjoyable, with the right support and challenge to achieve. We work in partnership with our school community and Trust schools, to fulfil our belief that every child should be able to participate in all school activities in an enjoyable, safe environment, protected from harm.

We encourage our children to be passionate for learning by creating an engaging, fun and relevant curriculum. We aim to nurture well rounded, respectful and confident children, who will develop skills for life-long learning. During the curriculum journey, we encourage children to be creative, unique and open-minded.

At Whinstone Primary School we take our role to prepare our children for life in modern Britain very seriously and ensure that the fundamental British Values are introduced, discussed and lived, through the ethos and work of our school. We want the children in our care to be independent, respectful of themselves and others in our school, our local community and the wider world. We aim to support and prepare every child to make a positive contribution to our rapidly changing society.

The subject links below give specific detail of intent, implementation and impact for each subject.

TESTING

Various national tests, and others, may be used to enable the teacher to determine/confirm the ability, attainment and progress of your child.  Teacher assessment is a continuous process across the whole curriculum.  End of Key Stage Assessments will be carried out as required.

Personal records of each child are maintained to help teachers to supplement test details and to enable the class teacher to report back to parents or other schools on transfer. We offer parents an opportunity to discuss their child’s work each term, but parents are welcome to call at any time to make an appointment to see their child’s teacher.  We use assessment data to set targets for achievement at the start of each year, and then we track progress during the year.  As necessary additional interventions are made to ensure all pupils make good progress.

END OF KEY STAGE ASSESSMENTS

We are required to notify all parents of the results of the end of Key Stage Assessments for the previous year, and these are as follows: CLICK HERE.

For more on Government National Testing CLICK HERE.

SPECIAL EDUCATION PROVISION

The Governing Body takes a very positive attitude to this area of the curriculum. Pupils who are capable of working at a faster rate are given extension work too.

Part of the role of Teaching Assistants is to help children with learning difficulties.

There is also provision for special help by the Local Authority Learning Support Services which includes specialist teachers who help in schools on a peripatetic basis.  Help of this kind is particularly designed for pupils who have learning difficulty with language skills.

Click the link to view the School SEND offer

We ask parents to help their children through regular involvement in developing reading and higher order comprehension skills at all ages.

Please spend at least 10 minutes every day with your child on a reading activity, and also help with other regular homework such as the learning of spellings, handwriting practice, mental maths, learning times tables book reviews or project work.  Each class teacher will provide a more detailed list for their own class, and emphasis will be on setting assignments which the children find reasonably straightforward and helpful to their everyday school life.