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The Welldon Park
Academy

Curriculum Intent

 

Throughout 2019, our school spent a lot of time thinking about our curriculum. After talking with all of our community, we agreed on the principles of 'intent' for our curriculum. This is summarised below.

 

Throughout 2019, our school spent a lot of time thinking about our curriculum. After talking with all of our community, we agreed on the principles of 'intent' for our curriculum. This is summarised below.

 

Curriculum Intent

 

Context-specific design considerations

 

In designing our curriculum, we spent time recognising the specific and unique contextual needs of our school and our children. Therefore, our curriculum design initially aims to address ten key principles that will specifically support the development of pupils at our school. Our principles of intent for the curriculum are to:

 

  1. Develop aspiration and ambition so that pupils reach their true potential
  2. Develop the resilience and character of our children to enable them to achieve their very best
  3. Promote a lifelong love of reading
  4. Develop language, vocabulary and communication skills
  5. Develop our children’s ‘cultural capital’ by providing a wide range of experiences and opportunities
  6. Ensure children have a strong understanding of, and exposure to, Cultural Capital, Diversity and British Values
  7. Support the social and emotional development of our children
  8. Empower our learners to be active and healthy
  9. Ensure learning is fun, exciting and meaningful to all our pupils
  10.  Give children opportunities to be creative

 

General design considerations

 

With the above in mind, our curriculum design also aims to:

 

  • Encourage high standards and pride in learning
  • Encourage all learning is as inclusive as possible regardless of ability, need
  • Develop an awareness of metacognition and knowledge of how we learn best
  • Include opportunities for children to develop their life skills and be exposed to first-hand, experiential learning
  • Ensure a broad and balanced curriculum is delivered as a minimum pupil entitlement and is tailored inclusively to the needs and interests of our children
  • Ensure that our curriculum is coherent and progressive
  • Ensure that clear and purposeful links are made within and across subjects to help develop children’s ‘schemata’
  • Provide children with regular opportunities to recall, and reflect on, their learning so that it sticks in their long-term memory
  • Highlight explicitly the ‘subjectness of subjects’ so that children are clear on what they are learning and how they can progress
  • Provide children with opportunities to learn from, and about, their locality and its heritage
  • Promote a clear set of personal, social and character values that are progressive across each learning phase

 

Context-specific design considerations

 

In designing our curriculum, we spent time recognising the specific and unique contextual needs of our school and our children. Therefore, our curriculum design initially aims to address ten key principles that will specifically support the development of pupils at our school. Our principles of intent for the curriculum are to:

 

  1. Develop aspiration and ambition so that pupils reach their true potential
  2. Develop the resilience and character of our children to enable them to achieve their very best
  3. Promote a lifelong love of reading
  4. Develop language, vocabulary and communication skills
  5. Develop our children’s ‘cultural capital’ by providing a wide range of experiences and opportunities
  6. Ensure children have a strong understanding of, and exposure to, Cultural Capital, Diversity and British Values
  7. Support the social and emotional development of our children
  8. Empower our learners to be active and healthy
  9. Ensure learning is fun, exciting and meaningful to all our pupils
  10.  Give children opportunities to be creative

 

General design considerations

 

With the above in mind, our curriculum design also aims to:

 

  • Encourage high standards and pride in learning
  • Encourage all learning is as inclusive as possible regardless of ability, need
  • Develop an awareness of metacognition and knowledge of how we learn best
  • Include opportunities for children to develop their life skills and be exposed to first-hand, experiential learning
  • Ensure a broad and balanced curriculum is delivered as a minimum pupil entitlement and is tailored inclusively to the needs and interests of our children
  • Ensure that our curriculum is coherent and progressive
  • Ensure that clear and purposeful links are made within and across subjects to help develop children’s ‘schemata’
  • Provide children with regular opportunities to recall, and reflect on, their learning so that it sticks in their long-term memory
  • Highlight explicitly the ‘subjectness of subjects’ so that children are clear on what they are learning and how they can progress
  • Provide children with opportunities to learn from, and about, their locality and its heritage
  • Promote a clear set of personal, social and character values that are progressive across each learning phase

Becoming Lifelong Learners

 

In order to become successful and fulfilled citizens in the future, our children will need to develop the attitudes and dispositions that enable them both to contribute to and benefit from the society they will enter as young adults in ten to fifteen years’ time.

 

Our curriculum therefore teaches them not just information and subject skills but also, and perhaps more importantly the dispositions and attitudes they need to become lifelong learners.

 

This is why we systematically teach the children to

 

  • Become resilient.
  • Become independent.
  • Collaborate effectively with others.
  • Evaluate information.
  • Be creative.