Oak Hill First School Curriculum Principles       

Curriculum principles are the values a school believes will give both their pupils and community the best chance of succeeding, and what they know to be right, given its context.  

                                                             “Little seeds grow magnificent trees”

 

Curriculum Drivers: We have developed curriculum drivers that shapes our curriculum, brings about the aims and values of our school, and responds to the particular needs of our community.

• Develop Communication
• High Aspirations
• Develop Resilience 

 At Oak Hill, we have designed our curriculum with the following principles in mind. 

 

Engaging: We provide learning experiences that are exciting, interesting and engaging so that children are curious, inspired and enjoy learning.  

Breadth:  We offer pupils a broad and balanced curriculum which provides pupils with a range of opportunities to develop skills, knowledge and understanding to develop well-rounded individuals.  Pupils have the opportunities for a broad range of experiences. Pupils' learning has been planned and organised so that they will learn and develop through a variety of contexts within both the classroom and other aspects of school life. We believe all pupils should have the opportunity to have a wide range of experiences that go beyond the National Curriculum. 

Relevance:  We provide pupils with real, purposeful and relevant learning opportunities.  Pupils understand the purpose of their learning and related activities. They see the value of what they are learning and its relevance to their lives, present and future. 

Coherence:  We have planned pupils’ learning activities to combine to form a coherent experience. There are clear links between different aspects of learning. These links are discussed with pupils in order to bring different strands of learning together.  We provide a coherent, structured, academic curriculum that leads to sustained mastery for all and a greater depth of understanding for those who are capable. 

Progression: Our curriculum ensures pupils experience continuous progression in their learning from EYFS to KS2 - Year 4. Each stage builds upon earlier knowledge and achievements. Pupils are able to progress at a rate which meets their individual needs and aptitudes.   They are developmentally appropriate and drive learners' progression.  We provide, over time, an increasing depth and sophistication of learning. There are opportunities for pupils to develop their full capacity for different types of thinking and learning, exploring and achieving more advanced levels of understanding.

Develop expertise of core skills and knowledge: We believe all children should have the opportunity to become good at writing, reading and maths which is why this is one of our core school aims. We also believe all pupils should develop key End of Year Expectations for each subject.

 

Learning is a change to long term memory:  Our curriculum design is based on evidence from cognitive science; three main principles underpin it:

1. Learning is most effective with spaced repetition.
2. Interleaving (deliberate leaving and coming back to through beginning with exposure then keep returning to explore further) helps pupils to discriminate between topics and aids long-term retention.
3. Retrieval of previously learned content is frequent and regular, which increases both storage and retrieval strength.

In addition to the three principles we also understand that learning is invisible in the short term and sustained mastery takes time.

Inclusive and Challenging:  We ensure pupils find their learning challenging, engaging and motivating. Our curriculum encourages high aspirations and ambitions for all. At every stage, pupils experience an appropriate level of challenge, to enable each individual to achieve their potential. Pupils are active in their learning and have opportunities to develop and demonstrate their creativity. Support is provided to enable pupils to sustain their efforts. 

Rich Cultural Capital:  Our curriculum is designed to increase the cultural capital of our pupils by giving them the vital information to be informed and thoughtful members of our community. 

Equality and Diversity: Our curriculum celebrates diversity which helps pupils to develop an understanding of the world and its people, to recognise and celebrate similarities and differences.   Equality of opportunity for all. 

Committed to Pupil Well-Being: We believe pupils with better health and wellbeing are likely to achieve better academically. Effective social and emotional competencies are associated with greater health and wellbeing, and better achievement. The culture, ethos and environment of our school influences the health and wellbeing of pupils and their readiness to learn.

Prepare for future:  Our curriculum prepares pupils for the next stage in their life through developing knowledge, skills and experiences beyond the National Curriculum