We love learning and learning about learning!

Our curriculum is based on the Early Years Statutory Framework, enhanced by Development Matters in the Early Years; the National Curriculum; The Nottinghamshire Agreed Syllabus for RE; Relationships Education, Relationships Education, Relationships & Sex Education (RSE) & Health Education Statutory Guidance.

We have a knowledge based curriculum that is sequential and enables our children to build on prior knowledge and make connections. 

• Children are taught new knowledge through short whole class teaching sessions. The teacher models new learning and the thought process involved (metacognition), then children are guided to apply this.
• This is followed by small, teacher led guided groups where children apply their learning and the teacher addresses misconceptions and offers support or challenge.
• Alongside the guided groups we have an independent learning approach right through school. Children engage in independent tasks, linked to the current topic focus, that require them to apply, practise or embed learning.

Our approaches support the development of a mental structure (schema) to help children organise knowledge and understand how things work. They can then make connections to other things they know, believe, or have experienced. Our children then have the foundations for new learning and are able to apply learning in different contexts.

We also know that our working memory, the capacity to hold new information in our head, is limited (between three and seven bits of information.) Embedding key knowledge such as number facts so they are automatic, frees up the working memory for new learning. As our children are at an early stage of their learning journey, we use a range of strategies to reduce the burden on their working memory and the number of tasks the brain is working on at one time (cognitive load). We do this by providing a wide range of resources such as phoneme charts, concrete maths apparatus, examples of what good work should like etc.

In addition, our Shine Brightly themes underpin our vision and further meet the needs of our children by equipping them with key skills for learning and life.

Working together to ensure our children are safe, happy and healthy. Ready

to learn, ready for life, ready to shine.

Please look at our subject pages to find out more about what we teach and how children learn in each curriculum area.