Curriculum Rationale

Our curriculum is the body of knowledge that our pupils learn while at Churchfields Junior School. It is best explained through the answers to three questions:

 

  1. Intent: What should children know by the time they leave Churchfields?
  2. Implementation: How do we teach our curriculum?
  3. Impact: How do we know how well pupils have learnt the curriculum?

 

This page and the additional specific subject pages will help you understand more about the curriculum and its delivery at Churchfields Junior School.

Curriculum Intentions

Curriculum Drivers

Democracy

pupil painting

The Arts

boy and girl lying on the lawn looking at flower

Environment

Cognitive Skills

Evaluating
Analysing
Reasoning
Applying
Critical thinking
Processing
Problem-solving
Creative thinking
Making connections

The Vision of the Ambitious Curriculum at CJS

We want to see all our pupils thrive as successful learners socially and academically through high quality teaching and an enriched, knowledge led curriculum.

We aim to develop independent, thinking children who are ambitious, emotionally equipped and confident enough to make good life choices.

We encourage our pupils to relate well to one another with confidence, care, openness and respect.

We aim to meet the needs of all learners in our curriculum, challenging them and enabling them to critically think, problem solve and undertake learning at a deeper level.

We want all pupils to develop Cultural Capital. To have the knowledge, behaviours and skills to face the future with confidence.

Our MR and MS Learning Values

MR & MS Appreciative

  • Saying please, well done, congratulations and thank you to other children or adults
  • Doing something nice for someone for no reason at all
  • Opening doors for others
  • Sharing things with others
  • Paying compliments
  • Appreciating kindness and actions of those around you
  • Organising and running events for charity

MR & MS Collaborative

  • Helping others
  • Running lunch time clubs
  • Keeping your classroom tidy
  • Taking part in litter collections
  • Being on time for lessons and events
  • Looking after the schools’ and other people’s properties
  • Being an active participant in lessons during partner talk

MR & MS Communicator

  • Confidently sharing own ideas and thoughts
  • Greeting appropriately and talking to visitors in a wide range of social encounters
  • Telling the truth in difficult situations
  • Be able to explain what work and achievements you are proud of
  • Helping others by sharing knowledge, skills, hobbies and accomplishments
  • Fully participating in all activities
  • Telling a member of staff if you see something unkind happening

MR & MS Curious

  • Attentively listen and look at other people when they speak
  • Accepting of others’ opinions and differences
  • Building upon another person’s ideas
  • Asking different kinds of questions
  • Articulate own ideas with evidence and justify point of view
  • Thinking critically about other people’s views

MR & MS Determined

  • Not giving up when challenges occur.
  • Always pushing yourself – try challenges in class.
  • Share your out of school achievements and what you are determined in.
  • Find out how to improve your own work.
  • Trying different strategies when things go wrong or not to plan.

MR & MS Independent

  • Using self-help before asking a teacher for help.
  • Looking up words in a dictionary for spellings.
  • Completing a difficult task.
  • Doing your homework without any help or reminders.
  • Thinking and trying, before asking for help.
  • Always having a reading book, PE kit and musical instrument.
  • Learning how to tie shoe laces and your own tie.
  • Using initiative by moving onto Challenge or responding to marking without needing prompts.

MR & MS Resilient

  • Being determined not to give up when things are hard
  • Being honest, even when it is hard to do so
  • Trying different strategies when things go wrong or not to plan
  • Bouncing back when facing a problem or difficulty
  • Show empathy and understanding towards others
  • Being positive and finding solutions to problems

Teaching Implementation

Our Provision

Our provision is informed by educational research into effective teaching practices, cognition and how knowledge and understanding develops. These act as a guide for the consistency and distinctiveness of our curriculum.

Teaching is based on a clear understanding of cognition and learning.

Teachers have deep knowledge of the subjects they teach and develop in pupils well connected networks of ideas (schema).

Unconscious Competence. Connecting new knowledge with existing knowledge so they have fluency and can unconsciously apply their knowledge as skills.

Teachers assess learning and provide timely feedback, reshape learning and adapt teaching as needed.

Pupil groupings are flexible, changed regularly and not driven by perceived “ability” or prior attainment.

The classroom climate and culture is calm, expects all to excel and enables the learning values.

Questioning ALL pupils – cold calling, checking understanding or process, probing, say it again better, think/pair/share.

Developing strong partnership with parents and carers that influence good attitudes to learning at home and school.

Teacher and pupil laughing

Our Teaching Intentions

  • Purpose of the learning is made explicit. We are learning X. It is important to know this because Y and it will help us to Z.
  • Direct instruction. I do / We do / You do.
  • Guided practice – modelling and exposition.
  • “Room at the top” lessons pitched high.
  • Desirable Difficulty – 80 % success rate.
  • Spaced learning to combat the forgetting curve.
  • Masterclass to scaffold.
  • Continuous formative assessment to improve not prove.
  • At the start of each lesson quizzing also known as retrieval practise.
  • Pupils knowing more and remembering more.

Organisation

Organisational Principles and Approaches

Our full school curriculum comprises an entire planned educational experience informed by organisational principles and approaches, making full use of opportunities for real world learning.

Curriculum Principles

  • Balanced, each subject has sufficient time to contribute effectively to learning
  • High quality texts beyond English
  • Reading first and foremost
  • Reading Express and reading tracker
  • Knowledge Organisers
  • Sequencing of concepts and progression of knowledge
  • Closing the vocabulary gap

Wider Curriculum

  • Every child learns a musical instrument
  • Every child takes part in a pupil leadership group
  • Educational visits including residential opportunities
  • Pupil led lunch time clubs
  • Assemblies and performances
  • Visitors
  • Learning outside the classroom
  • Responding to events in the news
  • Charity events led by pupils
  • Promotes SMSC
  • Every child enjoys the thrill of competitive sport
  • Every child particiaptes in co-curricular activities
  • Every child visits sites of historic, spiritual and cultural importance

Core Curriculum

Discrete Subjects Taught Weekly

Discrete Subjects Taught by Specialist Staff

Illustration of gymnastic equipment

Gym

Impact

High Achievement

Our curriculum has an ambition for high achievement for all pupils irrespective of background or starting point. This achievement is represented in three key areas:

Impact 1:

Exceptionally High Standards and Progress

Pupils consistently attain and make progress far higher than national expectations. They are given opportunities to achieve at higher standards. Assessment shows that knowledge acquired through education and experience and the skills (the know-how to apply the known) are well sequenced, progressive, coherent and embedded throughout the curriculum.

Impact 2:

Inspiring Excellence

Pupils are confident and successful learners, demonstrating our learning values, cognitive, physical, social and emotional skills. The curriculum framework is designed to give disadvantaged pupils access to the knowledge they need in order to succeed as well as their peers. Exceptional provision and outcomes for SEND pupils.

Impact 3:

Personal Development

Pupils demonstrate The Churchfields’ Way and our values in their behaviour in lessons and around the school. Pupils make the right choices for their safety and these choices benefit the school and the wider community. A strong tradition of sport, fitness and physical development.

Evaluation

Curriculum Review

We regularly review how well our curriculum intent enables consistent high achievement and high impact.

High Quality Outcomes

  • How well are children learning the content outlined in the curriculum?
  • Is there evidence that pupils are making connections between old knowledge and new
    knowledge and between knowledge acquired across the curriculum?
  • Are teaching expectations high enough?
  • Are pupils challenged to think and evaluate their learning?
  • Is assessment purposeful, efficient and used to shape learning?

Curriculum Content is Coherent

  • Are pupils able to make horizontal, vertical and diagonal connections?
  • Do teachers respond to educational research?
  • Is learning adapted to reflect current affairs and pupils’ needs?
  • Does assessment enable teachers to check that children have built the knowledge they need for subsequent learning?

Mastery for All Challenges All

  • Is the curriculum sufficiently challenging and appropriate for all
  • Are there high expectations for all?
  • Does pupils’ work show that tasks are rich and allow pupils to show higher standards?
  • Is teaching sequenced so that pupils master the fundamentals and then acquire more detailed knowledge?

Embedding knowledge and skills

  • Planning allows pupils opportunities to build long-term knowledge and understanding so that they can they apply cognitive skills such as analysis, evaluation, and problem solving?
  • Evaluate what knowledge and skills pupils have gained against expectations?
  • Is each subject given integrity and taught systematically and progressively?
  • Are there coherent links, that increasingly challenge and embed knowledge and skills?

Being part of a community                     

  • Are the rich resources within the local community and environment maximised?
  • Do pupils learn from others?
  • Do pupils engage with the local community, national and global issues?
  • Are pupils able to relate their values and experiences to British Values?
  • Are the learning values in evidence?