Curriculum
‘Navigating Life and Learning together.’
What do we want from our Curriculum (Intent)?
Both Raleigh and Admirals Academies form a community where we Navigate Life and Learning together. We work as one, providing a seamless education across Key Stages where we attempt to take our pupils beyond the confines of their everyday lives. Our curriculum is well thought through and well planned, underpinned by our carefully selected values of Aspire, Respect and Kindness. A strong sense of pastoral care, nurture and inclusion ensures that our curriculum is accessible to all.
The Curriculum is our headline resource. It provides our pupils with a daily diet of learning knowledge that is revisited and applied; the knowledge is relevant, engaging and sequential. Our staff bring the curriculum to life enabling children to know more and remember more; our ambition being to broaden horizons, steering our pupils to make good choices that will benefit them in the next phase of their educational voyage.
How is our curriculum planned (Implementation)?
Our curriculum is organised into individual subjects, ensuring that it is both broad and fully balanced. Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are taught using the EYFS framework with an emphasis on developing key skills, knowledge and understanding through direct teaching and purposeful play. The statutory National Curriculum is taught across Key Stages 1 and 2 through a range of evidence-based curriculum resources and approaches.
Phonics
Phonics is taught daily following Little Wandle Phonics scheme. Our progression materials demonstrate the sequence and expectation for teaching and the phonic phases. It is our intention that every child who is able to, at the end of Year 1, will pass the national phonics check and those who are unable to will continue to receive support across the key stages until they are able to read confidently.
English & Maths
Our English curriculum is taught using CUSP (curriculum Unity Schools Partnership) which includes dedicated daily reading lessons alongside a writing session. There are also additional reading lessons in Key Stage 1, alongside phonics and writing, as a feature. The English offer is planned with a rich literature spine with ambitious books to inspire and challenge pupils. It is carefully mapped to enable children to experience a diverse range of social, moral and ethical issues as well as a wide range of authors. Our writing curriculum draws on taught content from History, Geography and Science and from the study of core texts from the literature spine. Across our entire curriculum, our ethos is to focus on using an enriched, knowledge-based approach across all subjects. We implement this in our teaching of mathematics through the use the Excellence in Mathematics (NCETM) teacher guidance, aided by White Rose Maths to develop and deliver high-quality lessons. We are also developing the Teaching for Mastery program, which is an inclusive way of teaching that focuses on all children being able to achieve in maths. Teaching for Mastery allows us to work in collaboration with local schools to develop better practice and teaching in mathematics.
Primary Knowledge Curriculum (PKC)
As a member of the Eastern Multi Academy Trust family, who have successfully partnered with the West London Free School, we have fully adopted the Primary Knowledge Curriculum which advocates the sequential building blocks of Knowledge in Art, Geography, History and Science. Lessons across KS1 and KS2 for Art, Geography and History are taught in a 3 weekly modular rotation to ensure that teaching is sequential, and knowledge is securely acquired all underpinned by frequent retrieval practice. Science is taught weekly.
The Wider Curriculum
Wider curriculum subjects also have an important place within our curriculum plan. Computing, Music and Design Technology have all been allocated increased and dedicated time within our timetables, and PSHE is now taught via the use of ‘Jigsaw’ which we use as a resource to support and underpin our values system, along with Discovery RE that is a bespoke programme that ensures we fully deliver the Norfolk SACRE syllabus.