Curriculum
Curriculum Design
We are ambitious for all our children, irrespective of their background or academic ability. Our school follows the National Curriculum 2014 and we ensure that the aims of the National Curriculum are upheld. We align our curriculum design to aim 3.1 by which “the national curriculum provides pupils with an introduction to the essential knowledge they need to be educated citizens. It introduces pupils to the best that has been thought and said, and helps engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement.” We aim to add more than just essential knowledge to our children’s learning and development.
We believe that our children deserve a highly bespoke and relevant curriculum which is matched closely to our children’s need. At the core of our curriculum is our commitment to developing curious, confident and compassionate citizens. Article 29 of the UN conventions of Children’s Rights cites “education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full. It must encourage the child’s respect for human rights, as well as respect for their parents, their own and other cultures, and the environment.” Our school curriculum is underpinned by this belief and our root values are at the heart of all we do. These allow children to become democratically and socially confident, to value diversity, to be appreciative, to be community minded, and to become environmentally conscious.
All learning is underpinned by Carol Dwek’s growth mind-set principles which are our learning keys. These principles allow our children to face challenges and become successful when applying new learning through productive failure. We want our children to be resilient and reflective learners.
Teachers know what children should achieve at the end of each year and learning is carefully planned to meet these points. Strands of knowledge are built upon and children can begin to see how the strands of each subject are built upon and added to. Children use
meta-cognition skills to enable them to effectively make links with previous knowledge. Teachers encourage children to be active partners in their learning.
All children are provided with a rich and relevant curriculum. We are very aware of our children’s starting points; we ensure that we provide them with additional enrichment opportunities throughout their time with us.
The importance of reading, writing and maths are a “given” and links to further develop these both creatively and within other subjects are encouraged. Our curriculum also provides opportunities to significantly increase children’s vocabulary and provides a rigorous and systematic approach to reading development but is underpinned by nurturing a love of literature.
Pedagogical Approach
Our staff in school have collaborated to develop a pedagogical approach which is based loosely on Rosenshine’s “Principles of Instructions” but has been adapted to Valley View’s 7P Principle. The 7P principle is a toolkit of effective teaching strategies to ensure that children at Valley View make excellent progress on their learning journey throughout school.
Curriculum Overview
You can view our school topic overview here: School Topic Overview
You can view our EYFS topic overview here: EYFS Overview
Religious Education Overview
We follow the Statutory Framework for the Early Years and the Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 National Curriculum 2014 for England. You can find out more information about these frameworks online.
We teach RE (Religious Education) throughout school. Please click below to see an overview of what we teach in the EYFS, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.
