Our Curriculum
The Curriculum at Huncoat Primary School
At Huncoat we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum in Nursery and Reception and the National Curriculum 2014 from Years 1-6.
Huncoat takes pride in providing our children with a tailored curriculum to develop the needs of all our children through varied and exciting learning. Our Curriculum is 'Driven' by our Huncoat Values, Our Growth Mindset, Our Nurturing Wellbeing, Endless Possibilities (aspirations/ can do anything/ achieving together/ real life experiences) and our strive to extend and build upon Vocabulary. It is these 'drivers' that underpin all we do to develop, enhance learning to ensure our curriculum is enriched and personal - so that our children become lifelong learners.
We teach an explicit Literacy & Numeracy curriculum to enhance the skills of Reading, Writing, Speaking & Listening, Reasoning and Arithmetic at a deeper level. The other subjects are taught through an thematic approach where appropriate to help inspire, motivate and deepen skills in a variety of ways. This thematic approach may be taught as blocked units or throughout a half term. Throughout our website you can see the evidence of this learning in the galleries and the 'love for learning' we instill here at Huncoat.
Below is a brief overview of each subject taught and any key documents you might find useful.
Our Curriculum Intent, Implementation, Impact Statement
How do we know our Curriculum is working at Huncoat? Our self Evaluation here
Curriculum Leaders:
At Huncoat our subject leaders work together in teams to enhance and enrich our Curriculum and support each other.
Problem Solving Team: Maths, Science, Computing and Design Technology
Expressive Learning Team: Literacy, Art, Music, Languages, PE
Wider World Team: Inclusion & SEN, History, Geography, RE, PSHE
Documents for downloading
Early Years Foundation Stage Framework
Growth Mindset
At Huncoat we are on a journey to develop Growth Mindset in all our learners including staff and children. We actively encourage children to 'grow' their brains by challenging themselves, never giving up, using our value of determination, and accepting that failure is needed to succeed. Here we provide a safe environment for children to explore, challenge themselves and try, try again until they can do it!
We actively use vocabulary to encourage this persistence and determination in our learners through "You might not be able to do it..yet.. but you will if you don't give up". Children enjoy our Growth Mindset assemblies and all staff and children aspire to be the best they can through their use of Growth Mindset.
"We have two mindsets, Growth and Fixed. Growth means to be positive and try hard. I have that" Year 3 child
"You have to grow your brain to get it bigger. You need to try, try and try to get it right" Reception child
"When you challenge yourself it makes your brain stretch" Year 3 child
Enriching our Curriculum at Huncoat
If you would like to know any more about our Curriculum please ask in school where the Head Teacher and/or Subject Leaders will be happy to go into more detail
Class Currciulum Areas for each half term are avaialble on the class pages
Click on the tabs below for more information about each subject
Teaching of Reading
As a school we believe that creating a Reading Culture is vital to allow our children the best opportunities in life and will help build on independent skills and a thirst for knowledge.
Whole School Reading Curriculum
Please read our Love for Reading web page under Aiming High
Children are taught to read and love reading right from the very start they attend our school; from Nursery and Reception through to Year 6. Here at Huncoat we work very hard to ensure 'Every child is a Reader' by age 7 - through phonics, fluency, comprehension, vocabulary and love for reading. This begins by encouraging all children to read through sharing high quality, exciting and motivating texts; promoting reading at home for pleasure, motivating children through competitions and love for reading. All children are encouraged to read at home 3-5 times per week (we recommend at least 5-10 minutes each school night).
Thematic Books are used to match topics and this can be through story or non fiction surrounding a theme. This enhances our curriculum/ develops strong vocabulary links/ encourages cross curricular reading and helps makes links through learning.
EYFS and KS1
We actively teach the subjects of Reading, Writing and Spelling systematically through phonics. A phonics and reading workshop is held annually for new parents; please see separate class pages (EYFS / Y1 / Y2) for specific phonics information and resources.
From Reception to Year 2 children access a daily synthetic phonics session using the Lancashire Red Rose phonics scheme where they are taught how to read and spell words using their phonic and sight word knowledge. We aim for children to be confident working within Phase 5 when entering Year 2; they can then progress quickly into Phase 6 in order to learn the spelling rules required before beginning Key Stage 2. Children are assessed at least once half termly and streamed into specific groups according to the needs. We also have phonics booster groups, Fast Track Phonics intervention and extra support where required.
Phonics resources are consistent throughout the school, allowing children to apply their phonic knowledge in all areas of the curriculum. Phonics and word mats support spelling and writing across the curriculum and having access to phonics displays enables children to apply taught knowledge and skills to decode unfamiliar words when working independently in the classroom.
Reading scheme books provide decodable reading material to ensure that, as children move through the early stages of acquiring phonic knowledge and skills, they can practice by reading texts closely matched to their level of phonic attainment. Texts from a range of genres and publishers (Oxford Reading Tree, Phonics Bug, Collins Big cat Phonics) are matched by phonics phases and colour reading band to ensure children are reading with 90% fluency and therefore embedding their acquired learning.
Guided reading is taught by highly trained staff to help children to very quickly pick up the skills of reading to help them flourish. As soon as children begin our Nursery class they access daily phonics sessions which focus on the phase 1 Letters & Sounds programme and are taught to distinguish between sounds, rhyme and rhythm.
Key Stage 2
Spelling
At Huncoat Primary School we want all children to be able to spell with ease to make reading and writing effortless as they move through their school and life journey. We have developed a system of teaching and learning which is sequenced according to how we think our children will learn best.
Day 1 – Read and expose (The teacher introduces the new words to learn)
Day 2 – Breakdown of words (Syllables and patterns are spotted and studied in detail)
Day 3 – Copy and model (Children use the spellings in context of sentences both orally and written)
Day 4 – Practice games
Day 5 – Spelling test
Children have access to Spelling Shed to practise their spellings in a fun way online both at home and in school; each child has their own log in. Teachers can adapt the spellings for individual or SEND children and also track progress of individual children or the class as a whole. Each week one child from each class is chosen for a ‘Spelling Certificate’ to celebrate skill, progress, practise or high scores.
Reading
KS2 children continue to be taught to read through daily guided reading sessions - both whole class and groups. These sessions focus on the VIPERS (Vocabulary/ Inference. Predictions/ Explain/ Retrieve/ Summarise).
We use tailored intervention to support pupils who need additional help with their Literacy work and this is planned according to their need. for example booster lessons/ EAL support/ extra reading/ comprehension/ IDL/ specific targets for 1:1 needs.
We asked Yr 4-6 what they wanted to read at home - and as a result, brand new Book Banded Books, by a wide range of authors were bought in 2020 to encourage more independent home reading. We have also introduced a range of fun and educational magazines for each year group ranging from National Geographic to Storytime magazine at the children's request.
Library:
We actively encourage children from Nursery to Year 3 to use our high quality, beautifully painted and inspiring library. Children are encouraged to take a book home to share for enjoyment. Children visit our beautiful school library once a week where they can choose from a wide range of fiction, non-fiction books and story sacks full of exciting puppets and props to use alongside the stories inside. In the Early Years, parents are encouraged to be involved in the choosing of the books with their child.
In Yr4-6 we asked the children what types of books they wanted - the Pupil Parliament raised money to buy Library Boxes for each year group based on some of the books they asked for! We have also recently revamped our KS2 reading area to create a Starbucks themed reading zone - many thanks to Miss Wilmer for all her hard work on this!
Story Time:
In Early Years/ KS1 and 2 we value the Love for Reading through story time, this is daily in the Early Years and KS1 and at least three times a week in KS2. The children have said they enjoy this time. Books & novels are chosen as a class to link with our British Value of Democracy.
Handwriting:
Huncoat has a positive approach to handwriting and explicit skills of letter formation are taught right from Nursery/ Reception - right through to Year 6. Children are constantly taught the skills to present their work across their learning in a neat, fluent style. Children in Key Stage 2 enjoy working towards their 'pen licence' which they must earn through consistently neat handwriting across all subjects and they must prove this by applying for their pen from our Deputy Head Teacher.
Tailored 1:1 intervention is used to help develop fine motor skills right across the school which has a positive impact on learning and children's self esteem.
The national curriculum for mathematics aims to ensure that all pupils:
• become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.
• reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language
• can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.
At Huncoat Primary School we aim to:
• develop a positive attitude to mathematics as an interesting and attractive subject in which all children gain some success and pleasure;
• develop mathematical understanding through systematic direct teaching of appropriate learning objectives;
• develop the ability to solve problems and apply these problem solving skills to other areas of the curriculum and subsequently adult life;
• develop an ability in the children to express themselves fluently, to talk about the subject with assurance, using correct mathematical language and vocabulary;
• develop an appreciation of relationships within mathematics;
• develop ability to think clearly and logically with independence of thought and flexibility of mind;
• develop an appreciation of creative aspects of mathematics and awareness of its aesthetic appeal;
• develop mathematical skills and knowledge and quick recall of basic facts
PSHE whole school curriculum map
Sex and Relations - Letter to Parents
Where's the Harm Leaflet - (drugs/ alcohol/sexting etc)
Where to Find Help Leaflet - (drugs/ domestic violence/ child mental help)
Mental Health & Wellbeing APPs
Each term our children are challenged to draw, paint and collage a picture in the style of a famous artist. The winners receive great art prizes. Watch out for the competition.
Definitions, Vocabulary and Religious Terms
Easter and Lent:
During Lent Mrs Dickinson sets an RE art and craft competition, with Easter prizes to be won.
We enjoy celebrating Easter at Huncoat with an Easter celebration for all the children to join in, an Easter fun night and RE and assemblies based around the Easter Story.
Festivals:
We enjoy celebrating a wide range of festivals at Huncoat; we have a Harvest Assembly for the children to join in and collect for local foodbanks. Throughout the year we celebrate Chinese New Year, Christmas, Diwali, Lent and Easter.
