Learning & Curriculum
Curriculum Introduction
Vision
The curriculum, in its widest sense, firmly underpins the schools Mission Statement, Aims and school motto ‘Believe, achieve, succeed’. At Masefield, each and every pupil has access to a rich, broad, balanced and knowledge rich curriculum to ensure that all individuals succeed. The school curriculum has regard to supporting individuals in terms of ability, gifts, talents and any additional needs they may have. We provide an enriching and exciting curriculum that offers challenge to all pupils.
We recognise that all our pupils have a different knowledge base and skill set as well as varying abilities and aspirations. As a result of this, we are committed to knowing all pupils as individuals paying regard to their abilities, talents and needs as well as what motivates them in their learning. This commitment alongside the curriculum structure and development at Masefield aims to ensure all pupil needs are met.
The School Curriculum
The school curriculum design is focused on the knowledge and understanding of our pupils and their needs in order that all children achieve their full potential. Our school curriculum provides for academic achievement but places the role of developing spiritual, moral, cultural and social development at the heart of all we do with the ultimate aim of ensuring all pupils leave Masefield with the confidence and skills to become successful and independent lifelong learners who can make a positive contribution to our diverse and democratic society. The curriculum in its widest sense is used to enhance pupil experiences and give opportunities that pupils may not have access to outside of school. These are mapped out in each key stage.
The Masefield curriculum is designed with knowledge at its heart to ensure that children develop a strong vocabulary base and an extensive understanding of the world. The curriculum promotes long-term learning and we believe that progress means knowing more and remembering more. As pupils learn the content of the curriculum they are making progress. We have developed a curriculum built on current research regarding how memory works to ensure that children not only have access to 'the best that has been thought and said' but are taught this in a way that ensures children can remember the curriculum content in future years.
We make use of knowledge organisers to ensure children know exactly which information is expected to be learned over the course of their study in a particular subject. These knowledge organisers are sent home each half term with a clear guide to indicate to parents and pupils which parts must be committed to memory each week. One of the central aims of the curriculum is to ensure that our pupils are both "interesting and interested". We want them to be 'interesting' to talk to, because they know a great deal about the world and 'interested' in finding out more. We believe that knowledge breeds curiosity - as pupils learn more about the world they become more curious. It is very difficult to be curious about something that you don't know anything about. We understand that knowledge is 'sticky', in other words, the more pupils know, the easier it is for them to know more. As a result, we carefully check and activate prior knowledge to ensure our pupils are able to understand and remember new things they are learning.
This is why we place particular emphasis on children knowing by heart and building rich webs of knowledge as they progress through the curriculum. Parents can support this work through quizzing children on the knowledge organisers.
Our Yearly Learning Overviews for other subjects can be found here:
Curriculum Events and Showcase
Throughout the year a number of special events and showcase events take place to enhance and celebrate aspects of the curriculum. These include theme weeks such as Book week and Kindness week as well as school trips and visitors to school. Each class celebrate their curriculum learning through one of their class assemblies which are attended by parents. They also carry out a showcase event such as an exhibition of their work as well as presentations about their learning to other year groups. At the end of each academic year curriculum events are celebrated in our annual Presentation Afternoon and Evening.
Events Overview for parents/carers
Environment and Enrichment
Learning takes place in a nurturing and engaging environment which is supported by a variety of experiences, including the school environment, specialist teachers, as well as educational visits and visitors. The school uses a wide variety of outside agencies to further enrich the curriculum and meet pupils’ needs, e.g. Alpha Music, a PE specialist, drama and dance specialists and karate instructors.
We offer sessions and support to individuals with a focus on personal and social skills and emotional and behavioural difficulty. These sessions provide techniques and tools for pupils in social situations which in turn helps them access the curriculum more readily. The school ‘Hive’ provides an environment for all pupils to further develop their personal and social skills through focused project work and also offers nurture intervention for targeted pupils.
In Key Stage 1 and 2, pupils have one afternoon of enrichment activities to complement their class studies. This allows pupils at Masefield to try new activities and discover new talents or study projects beyond their class curriculum for example Eco projects, STEM projects and social projects. Enrichment includes a variety of activities such as art, baking, pet club, karate, dance, drama and sport.
A range of extra-curricular clubs and activities are offered each half term. All teaching staff offer clubs at different points in the year as do some teaching assistants. Some clubs are also delivered by specialist instructors or teachers such as a Music teacher and PE coach. Some clubs are specifically targeted for pupils in order to develop knowledge and skills further through assessment identification. Other clubs are open to all pupils.
The Head of School holds responsibility for the curriculum as a whole. Subject leaders monitor and evaluate their subjects in order to ensure consistent implementation and effectiveness with regard to the whole school curriculum aims and agreed policies.