Curriculum

Early Years in Reception

Welcome to Reception at Ss Peter and Paul’s. In Reception the children in our care flourish in all areas of life. They are happy, friendly, well rounded, confident individuals. Our aim in Reception is to support and develop children’s learning by building on their ideas, experiences and interests. Children need to have the confidence to ‘have a go’ and as practitioners we ensure we give our children the time to play and explore. They need to be active in their learning and be able to persevere even if they find things a ‘bit tricky’ so that they can be proud of their achievements. They also need to be able to develop their own ideas and make links with previous learning.

We do this by embedding excellent learning behaviours through:

These characteristics underpin the learning and development across all areas and support children to become and remain an effective and motivated learner.

It is our intention that all children in our care at Ss Peter and Paul’s grow and make progress across the seven areas of learning through play-based activities by experiencing a well-rounded curriculum which has been carefully considered and planned.

We are lucky enough to not only have a fantastic indoor classroom which is interesting, attractive and clearly zoned but we also have a wonderful outdoor classroom too. We know outdoor learning boosts confidence, social skills, communication, motivation, physical skills, knowledge and understanding. Our children are able to access both these areas throughout each and every day.

We are ambitious for all our children including those with SEND. Our curriculum is tailored where necessary to meet individual needs and is designed to give all our children the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to succeed in life.

In Reception we follow the Early Years Statutory Framework which was published in March 2014. The frame work sets the standards that all Early Years providers must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well. 

These areas are:

• Communication and Language Development
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Physical Development 
• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Art and Design.                                                                                    

By the time our children reach the end of Reception our aim is to have provided them with the skills, knowledge and understanding they need to prepare themselves for the challenges in Key Stage One and beyond.

For further information regarding Reception at Ss Peter and Paul’s please click on the link below entitled Information Brochure for Reception Class. This will provide further details about our ethos, the day-to-day experiences and routines within Reception and how we strive to continually work in partnership with our parents/carers.

Ss Peter and Paul's Reception Information Booklet

SsPP EYFS Policy

Reception Curriculum:

Autumn Term

Spring Term

Summer Term

Phonics

At The Saint Peter and Paul's, we follow a validated phonics scheme; Essential Letters and Sounds (ELS). The programme provides a simple, consistent approach to phonics, provided through interactive whiteboard lessons. ELS keeps routines simple to reduce cognitive load and maximise the chances of success. All staff in school have completed training on ELS delivered from the Knowledge Schools Trust. More information about ELS can be found at ELS - Essential Letters & Sounds (essentiallettersandsounds.org)

Children in nursery work to develop their listening and attention and speaking and listening skills as well as fostering a love of stories and reading, which then supports them as they move into reception and on to formal phonics teaching.

Every child in reception and year 1 takes part in a daily phonics session following the ELS programme. Some may access additional phonic interventions throughout the day if this is needed. The Essential Letters and Sounds programme is separated into Phases – your child’s teacher will be able to tell you which Phase your child is currently working on.

At the end of Year 1 children will take the phonics screening check (PSC) ; this is a government requirement. This is not a formal test, but a way for teachers to ensure that children are making sufficient progress with their phonics skills to read words and that they are on track to become fluent readers who can enjoy reading for pleasure and for learning.​

It is really important that we are saying the sounds correctly when we are supporting children with their reading. If you are unsure of how to pronounce phonic sounds correctly, the video link below offer support with this. Phonics: How to pronounce pure sounds | Oxford Owl - YouTube

Essential Letters and Sounds Progression Document 

At Ss Peter and Paul’s, we value reading as life skill and as a school community we are fully committed to enabling our children to become competent and life-long readers. We place reading and books at the core of our whole curriculum, recognising the important role it plays in extending vocabulary and developing comprehension skills both in Literacy and across other subjects. For this reason, our intent to increase our children’s access to high quality texts, extend vocabulary, challenge children to become more confident, engaged and discerning readers but most of all- promote greater enjoyment of books! We understand that these elements are all intertwined, each relies on the other if our children are to become lifelong readers.     

We are aware that access to books and high-quality literature is limited in our community however we acknowledge that children need access to a range of books to become fluent engaged readers. Whilst local library services are in are operation, we know that many children and families do not access such services independently. Therefore, as a school, we are best placed to support children and families with exposure to high quality books and literature.     

These challenges underpin our rigorous approach to reading. Without fluency, which is underpinned by oral language and decoding ability, our children will struggle to access a wider curriculum. As research shows that there is a strong relationship between children’s attainment and a school’s culture toward reading, it is essential that our structured approach, aims to overcome these barriers and enable of children to move on from our school, as engaged and competent readers.

Intent

At Ss Peter and Paul’s we believe that all pupils should have the opportunity to be fluent, confident readers who are able to successfully comprehend and understand a wide range of texts. We want pupils to develop a love of reading, a good knowledge of a range of authors, and be able to understand more about the world in which they live through the knowledge they gain from texts. By the end of their time at primary school, all children should be able to read fluently, and with confidence, in any subject in their forthcoming secondary education.

We do not put ceilings on what pupils can achieve in reading and we do not hold pre-conceptions about any pupils’ ability to make progress. We understand the importance of parents and carers in supporting their children to develop both word reading and comprehension skills, and so we want to encourage a home-school partnership which enables parents and carers to understand how to enhance the skills being taught in school through good quality texts and promote reading for pleasure.

Implementation

Classroom organisation

We teach phonics in ability groupings and reading skills as whole class lessons, so that all children have access to the basic concepts of word building and the age-related skills and knowledge contained in the National Curriculum.

Within lessons, teachers and teaching assistants target support for slower graspers to enable them to achieve at an age-related level wherever possible. Rapid graspers are also given opportunities to demonstrate a greater depth of understanding through extended answers, targeted questioning requiring more reasoned answers and making greater links across and between texts. 

Phonics and Reading

We use Essential Letters and Sounds to teach phonics and graphic knowledge (common exception words and tricky words) as it offers precise structure and a ‘whole class mastery’ opportunity.  We ensure enough time and priority are given to fully implement our Phonics programme. Children in Reception and Year 1 have 4x weekly phonics session lasting for an average of up to 20 mins. However, the teaching extends beyond ‘dedicated time’ and is applied and reinforced when appropriate throughout day.

The pace of the programme is maintained and children are grouped into year groups and within these into ability levels and assessments are carried out at different milestone points. Groups are differentiated to cater to the pupil needs through levels of teacher input and expected outcomes. Interventions are in place to support children who require further consolidation of sounds following regular assessments.

The structure of each session is as follows:

1. Revision and review of prior knowledge e.g. prior sound
2. Introduction and modelling of new sound through teaching
3. Practise of new sound
4. Application of new sound though either of selected activities:

• Identifying the new sound in a sentence
• Reading the new sound
• Recalling the new sound
• Writing the new sound

During the Summer Term in Year 1, pupils undertake a Phonics Screening Test which assesses their ability to apply what they have learnt. After this, lessons move towards whole class reading lessons that take the same model as Years 2 to 6. Pupils who do not pass their Phonics Screening Test continue to have intervention to support the acquisition of these key skills. 

Whole school Reading

The teaching of reading is based on the 'Talk for Writing' approach, exposing our pupils to high-quality texts and modelling good language structures. Children from Year 1-6 are heard read at least once a week with home readers encouraged. We ask that parents read with their children for 10 minutes, four times per week and record this in their reading record. Some children who may require additional support/intervention, read to a member of staff three times per week. Teachers will read to their class at least three times a week either from the class text or a book to stretch the class vocabulary and interest.

SsPP Genre Map (Reading)

Reading Assemblies

Each class partakes in a weekly 'Reading Assembly', hearing a member of staff bring a story or novel to life. Our children engage fully and their interest in reading is further developed.

Reading Vocabulary

All children will be exposed to relevant reading vocabulary ongoing assessment/questioning from skilled teachers after 1:1 reading sessions. Furthermore, our weekly 'Raid the Reader' activities from Y1-6 helps to develop our pupils' ability to analyse a text. This helps build consistency and knowledge as well as reading skills.

Marking and Feedback

Feedback and marking should be completed, where possible, within the lesson. All marking and feedback is given in line with our marking and feedback policy. 

Summative Assessment

Summative assessments will be entered into FFT Aspire each term. Teachers will use their professional judgement to determine whether a child is working within age-related expectations, above or below. They will base their judgements for the most part on the quality of the written outcome’s pupils given after structured teaching within the agreed reading skills. Teachers may also complete reading assessments to provide another piece of evidence to support their assessment judgement. If tests are used, care is taken to ensure that pupils are prepared appropriately for the test, and any barriers to accessing these is removed.

Key Texts

SsPP Literature Spine

Impact

Pupils will enjoy reading across a range of genres and make good progress from their own starting points. Pupils of all abilities will be able to succeed in all reading lessons. They will use a range of strategies for decoding words, not solely relying on phonics. 

Pupils will have a good knowledge of a range of authors. They will be ready to read in any subject in their forthcoming secondary education. Through engagement parents and carers will have a good understanding of how they can support reading and home, and contribute regularly to home-school records.

The % of pupils working at ARE and Greater depth within each year group will be at least in line with national averages. There will be no significant gaps in the progress of different groups of pupils (e.g. disadvantaged vs non-disadvantaged)

Most importantly, the pupils will develop a love of reading and be well equipped for the rest of their education and beyond.

At Ss Peter and Paul’s we recognise the importance of nurturing a culture where children enjoy writing and take pride in it. They can write clearly and accurately and adapt their language and style for a range of purposes. We believe in using the power of stories and rich model texts to inspire writing. At Ss Peter and Paul’s, we have carefully chosen a breath of high quality model texts that engage children. A range of both fiction and non-fiction texts are used throughout each year to ensure progression. We believe that children need to develop a secure knowledge-base within writing, which follows a clear pathway of progression as they advance through the primary curriculum, which enables children to make links with the wider curriculum. Our children enjoy being fully immersed in their learning and are keen to become expert writers. 

We believe that a secure basis in writing skills is crucial to a high-quality education and this will give our children the tools they need to be ready for the next stage of their education. 

Intent

At Ss Peter and Paul’s we believe that all pupils should be able to confidently communicate their knowledge, ideas and emotions through their writing. We want pupils to acquire a wide vocabulary, a solid understanding of grammar and be able to spell new words by effectively applying the spelling patterns and rules they learn throughout their time in primary school. We want them to write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences.

We believe that all pupils should be encouraged to take pride in the presentation of their writing, in part by developing a good, joined, handwriting style by the time they move to secondary school. We believe that all good writers refine and edit their writing over time, so we want children to develop independence in being able to identify their own areas for improvement in all pieces of writing, editing their work effectively during and after the writing process. We do not put ceilings on what pupils can achieve in writing and we do not hold pre-conceptions about any pupils’ ability to make progress.

We understand the importance of parents and carers in supporting their children to develop both grammar, spelling and composition skills, and so we want to encourage a home-school partnership which enables parents and carers to understand how to enhance the skills being taught in school.

No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world. 

John Keating

Implementation

Classroom organisation

We teach English as whole class lessons, so that all children have access to the age-related skills and knowledge contained in the National Curriculum. Within lessons, teachers and teaching assistants target support for slower graspers to enable them to achieve at an age-related level wherever possible. This may involve a greater level of scaffolding and access to additional support materials such as Writers Toolkits, Word Banks or a greater level of modelling.

Rapid graspers are given opportunities to extend their writing in a variety of ways, including through showing greater control in their writing, a deeper understanding of the impact that their writing has on the reader and by using a higher level of vocabulary and grammar features.

• Spelling: spellings are taught according to the rules and words contained in Appendix 1 of the English National Curriculum.  Spellings are taught daily as part of English lessons using the Twinkl Spelling Scheme to support teaching and to provide activities that link to the weekly spellings. Children are not given spellings to learn each week they learn in class and are tested regularly.

SsPP Spelling Overview

• Grammar and Punctuation: gammar and punctuation knowledge and skills are taught through English lessons as well as stand alone sessions. Teachers plan to teach the required skills through the genres of writing that they are teaching, linking it to the genre to make it more connected with the intended writing outcome. 

SsPP Grammar Overview

• Phonics: in Reception and until Key Stage 1 children have passed their phonics screening, daily phonics sessions take place mainly in streamed groupings. This helps to support writing in the classroom.
• Intervention and Support: additional support is available for children who require it through Read, Write, Inc. All children have Lexia logins and will use this to support writing.
• English Lesson Sequence: writing is linked to the 'Talk for Writing' programme where writing is based on model texts. Children study the text and then write in a range of styles following examples and teacher modelling.

SsPP Writing Overview

Impact

Pupils will make good progress from their own personal starting points. By the end of Year Six they will be able to write clearly and accurately and adapt their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. Our pupils will acquire a wide vocabulary and have a strong command of the written word. Pupils will leave primary school being able to effectively apply spelling rules and patterns they have been taught.

The % of pupils working at ARE and Greater depth within each year group will be at least in line with national averages. There will be no significant gaps in the progress of different groups of pupils (e.g. disadvantaged vs non-disadvantaged).

Most importantly, the pupils will develop a love of writing and be well equipped for the rest of their education.

Intent

At Ss Peter and Paul’s, we believe that through consistency in approach, our pupils should be stretched and challenged in order to love Maths. In order to successfully deliver a structured, rich curriculum with a clear progression of skills and knowledge, we follow the National Curriculum for Mathematics.

Our approach to teaching mathematics is intended to support all of our children in becoming young, confident mathematicians; prepare them for their next stage of mathematical learning at secondary school, and to be able to apply their mathematical knowledge in everyday situations in order to be successful in life beyond school. We intend to do this, on a daily basis, through developing all children’s fluency in all areas of the mathematics national curriculum; providing opportunities to reason mathematically; and also develop children’s using and applying skills when solving increasingly more complex problems involving a range of mathematical knowledge.

Implementation

Classroom Organisation

We teach Maths as whole class lessons, so that all children have access to the age-related skills and knowledge contained in the National Curriculum.

Mathematics is taught on a daily basis throughout the school – EYFS to Year 6. Each class in KS1 and KS2 provide a minimum of 1 hour of mathematics per day and this must be taught period 1. Within lessons, teachers and teaching assistants target support to enable all learners to achieve at an age-related level wherever possible. This may involve a greater level of modelling or use of manipulatives (cubes, counters etc). Pupils are given opportunities to extend their knowledge through extension tasks.

Regular opportunities are given for pupils to work collaboratively through ‘talking time’ tasks. Pupils are regularly given instant feedback through teacher 'live ' marking or self marking – allowing misconceptions to be dealt with promptly.

Intervention and Support

In class-support is through our implementation of Quality First Teaching. Quality First Teaching is a style of teaching that emphasises high quality, inclusive teaching for all pupils in a class. Quality first teaching includes adapted learning, strategies to support SEN pupils’ learning in class, on-going formative assessment and many others.

Each classroom has a ‘Maths working wall’ display in order to provide key vocabulary and information with modelled examples to support learning.

CPA approach

At Ss Peter and Paul’s we use the CPA approach to support the teaching and learning of the four methods of four written calculation methods.

The Concrete Pictorial Abstract (CPA) approach is a system of learning that uses physical and visual aids to build a child’s understanding of abstract topics.

Pupils are introduced to a new mathematical concept through the use of concrete resources (e.g. fruit, Dienes blocks etc). When they are comfortable solving problems with physical aids, they are given problems with pictures – usually pictorial representations of the concrete objects they were using.

Then they are asked to solve problems where they only have the abstract i.e. numbers or other symbols. Building these steps across a lesson can help pupils better understand the relationship between numbers and the real world, and therefore helps secure their understanding of the mathematical concept they are learning.

Read more about the CPA

Impact

Our teaching of, and curriculum for, mathematics will lead to greater progress over time across all key stages relative to each individual child’s starting point. It is designed to prepare children for their future in and outside of education so they can become successful in whatever they pursue by leaving our school at least at the expected standard for their age. Our rich and broad mathematics curriculum aims to make the children enthusiastic about learning mathematics and gain an understanding of its importance in everyday life.

The % of pupils working at ARE and Greater depth within each year group will be at least in line with national averages. There will be no significant gaps in the progress of different groups of pupils (e.g. disadvantaged vs non-disadvantaged).

At Ss Peter and Paul's, we strive to promote the love of learning science and for children to understand and be curious about the science within their everyday lives. In our rapidly evolving world science is a vital part of our curriculum intention. Science stimulates and excites pupils’ curiosity about phenomena and events in the world around them. It also satisfies their curiosity with knowledge.

Because science links direct practical experience with ideas, it can engage learners at many levels. Scientific method is about developing and evaluating explanations through experimental evidence and modelling. Pupils learn to question and discuss science-based issues that may affect their own lives, the direction of society and the future of the world.

Science Overview

Geography

At Saint Peter and Paul's, it is our intention that Geography is taught through topic work, as part of a whole school topic-based approach to teaching and learning. This enables teachers to forge cross curricular links giving a meaningful context for the learning. However, teachers make it explicit to children that they are learning geography skills and that they are being ‘geographers’. Geography is important in our school as it provides a means of exploring, appreciating and understanding the world in which we live and how it has evolved. We explore the relationship between Earth and its people. It stimulates curiosity and imagination. Wherever possible, we aim to build upon the child’s ‘Individual Geography’ by developing geographical skills, understanding and knowledge through studying places and themes.

History 

At Saint Peter and Paul's, our History curriculum is designed to ignite children’s curiosity about the past through a topic-based approach and hands on experience wherever possible. We are determined that alongside historical knowledge there will be a high focus on the development of specific historical skills. The teaching of history in our school is intended to equip pupils to ask pertinent questions about the past, analyse evidence, think critically, appreciate different perspectives and develop informed judgements. We believe our pupils should be taught to understand how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world. In addition, our bespoke curriculum provides opportunities for pupils to explore their own identity, for example, through local history topics. Our History curriculum is intended to help pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups.

SsPP Humanities Overview

Art and Design

At Ss Peter and Paul's we believe that high-quality Art lessons will inspire children to think innovatively and develop creative procedural understanding. Our Art curriculum provides children with opportunities to develop their skills using a range of media and materials. Children learn the skills of drawing, painting, printing, collage, textiles, 3D work and digital art and are given the opportunity to explore and evaluate different creative ideas. 

Children will be introduced to a range of works and develop knowledge of the styles and vocabulary used by famous artists. The skills they acquire are applied to their cross-curricular topics, allowing children to use their art skills to reflect on and explore topics in greater depth; for example, by sketching historical artefacts in detail, researching geographical locations to support their work on landscape painting or using art as a medium to express emotion and thought to enhance their personal, social and emotional development. Many areas of art link with mathematical ideas of shape and space; for example, when printing repeating patterns and designs and thinking about 3D shapes to support structures.

SsPP Art Overview

SsPP Art and Design Progression of Skills

SsPP Design Technology Overview

SsPP Design Technology Progression of Skills

Music

Music is an integral and well-resourced part of life at Ss Peter and Paul's. We want the music lessons to be fun and inspiring, engaging the children with songs, lyrics and movement. We want the children to be able to develop their own appreciation of music with the opportunities we provide as a school.

It is our intention at Ss Peter and Paul's that children are actively encouraged and given the opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument, from standard classroom instruments such as the recorder to individual instrumental lessons such as the violin. 

We also provide our Key Stage 2 pupils with the opportunity of attending our 'School of Rock' after school club and are looking forward to sharing some of the music pupils have been enjoying with parents soon.

Supporting documents:

Ss Peter and Paul's Music Assessment

Ss Peter and Paul's Music Curriculum

Computing

Technology is an integral part of everyday life. At Ss Peter and Paul's, we hope to prepare our children for a future in an environment which is shaped by technology. Our main priority of computing is to engage children with cross-curricular learning through interacting with technology.

We aim to develop confident, independent learners who are able to plan, design, create, program and evaluate information through the use of ICT. As well as the benefits of ICT we are also aware of the risks, this is why we prepare our children to stay safe online through the use of e-safety awareness sessions and safer internet days.

SsPP Computer Curriculum

SsPP Progression in Online Safety

Useful websites:

https://code.org/ ( A site the children regularly use in school to practice their coding skills)

https://blockly.games/ (Great games to practice using coding in a programme) 

https://ed.ted.com/ (Lessons updated weekly about current affairs in the world) 

https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/4_7/child/ (Information for children about how to stay safe online)