Curriculum Intent, Implementation and Impact Statement

Vernon Park Primary School Curriculum Statement:

At VPP we work collaboratively with our school community stakeholders to ensure we offer a happy, safe and stimulating school setting, wherechildren are motivated to learn. We are ambitious, holding high expectations and aspirations for all our pupils and through quality-first teaching, subject-specific pedagogy and a collaborative, cohesive and inclusive approach, we equip our children to encounter opportunities and challenges with resilience, determination and a desire to succeed. We encourage a curiosity about the world and a fervour for learning that will help our children to succeed and contribute positively as responsible, emotionally empathetic and open-minded learners.

One of our central aims is to provide a rich and supportive, child-centred learning environment which promotes academic, creative and pastoral achievement equally. Our ambitiously broad and balanced curriculum is research-driven, evidence-based, consistent and child-centred: it values opportunities for age-appropriate experiences where quality-first teaching - adapted through a range of creative and pedagogical strategies – ensures all pupils reach their potential in a culture of success.

Curriculum Intent:

At Vernon Park, we strive to provide all pupils with rich and vibrant learning experiences that are ambitious for all learners. Our wider curriculum is built on strong pedagogical principles, with every child encouraged and supported to meet and achieve their potential. The key principles that drive our curriculum design are for our children to:

·be confident, independent and resilient; displaying intrinsic motivation for learning,

·be kind; showing empathy and compassion, celebrating and valuing diversity,

·achieve academically, creatively, pastorally and in sport,

·be culturally knowledgeable, inquisitive and positively minded about our country, our European neighbours and our wider world,

·aspire for their future, with the knowledge and resilience to use hard work and determination to succeed,

·be well-prepared for the challenges of High School, further education and adult life.

We aim to create a language-rich environment that encourages all pupils to develop a rich and ambitious vocabulary and the confidence as public speakers and authors to express themselves articulately both verbally and in writing. We value reading as paramount to the success of every student and opportunities to promote fluency, comprehension and reading for pleasure are underpinned through the use of high-quality texts and evidence-based approaches to reading, which inform the quality teaching in every area of our curriculum.

We value children’s individual interests and strengths and this informs our curriculum structure, which in turn promotes a positive attitude to learning. We believe in representation and inclusivity and the growing diversity of our school population is reflected in the curriculum that we deliver. Diversity is interwoven in our topic choices, text selections and wider creative learning, resulting in a broad and balanced curriculum with opportunities to celebrate, share and learn about many different cultural and spiritual beliefs.

We are an active learning school that seeks to make learning experiences memorable and meaningful. We promote quality opportunities for physical development and education, supporting our pupils to develop fine and gross motor skills, healthy bodies and minds, and a desire to do their best. We promote opportunities for active learning across our wider curriculum and prioritise success with a robust PE curriculum, opportunities for outdoor learning in our environmental area and Forest School, and through collaboration with our local authority team - SHAPES.

Alongside academic learning, we value and prioritise creative development through high-quality, vibrant learning experiences in the arts: drama, art, music and design. This wider curriculum compliments our ambitious academic goals by providing immersive and enriching experiences, which provide our children with the personal characteristics required to succeed in life and the opportunities to express themselves as individuals.

Curriculum Implementation:

At Vernon Park, all children are supported and challenged to access an age-appropriate curriculum with an inquisitive curiosity and high aspirations for their own success where there are no limits to learning and a clear development of vocabulary, skills and knowledge. Our school’s curriculum is informed by Development Matters and the National Curriculum, but adapted to meet the individual and collective needs of our pupils, while reflecting and representing the diversity of our community.

We have high expectations: children are expected to work hard and demonstrate positive learning behaviours. Our school ethos, code of conduct and behaviour system along with our restorative approaches for relationships guide children towards the best outcomes for all. PSHE is interwoven across the wider curriculum experience to promote wellbeing, positive self-awareness, healthy relationships and a responsible attitude towards our community and global community. We have an active democracy system, where reflection and regular stakeholder voice is valued and our school council works to represent the wider pupil body voice.

Language - spoken, read and written - is central to our curriculum design. Children are taught to speak clearly and articulately through quality interactions and deliberate adult modelling. We pay close attention to the development of speech and language skills and prioritise this to remove as many barriers to learning as possible. We hold reading as fundamentally important: opportunities for modelled, shared, choral and independent reading across the wider curriculum is a priority to extend and deepen children’s understanding and mastery of concepts and ambitious vocabulary. To develop a love of reading, there is a culture of reading upheld by quality text choices – both classical and contemporary, a celebration of poetry, and a talk-based approach to comprehension which provides opportunities for both structured and incidental book talk. Our age-appropriate reading challenges, use of the school and class library, text-led learning journey and dedication to shared reading of the class text are pivotal to the success of this.

Teaching and learning opportunities are planned sequentially to revisit and rehearse prior learning, ensuring essential skills and knowledge are embedded in pupils’ long-term memories and can be retrieved and built upon. We carefully curate our curriculum to build and progress in vocabulary, skills and knowledge in curriculum opportunities which are varied, intentional and exciting: we believe that children learn best when they enjoy their topics and our curriculum, being child-centred, aims to keep emotional and physical wellbeing at the forefront of its design.

In order to make learning enjoyable, impactful and memorable, we use collaborative learning and a range of DEAL strategies (Drama, engagement and active learning) across the wider curriculum. To further enhance learning opportunities, visitors are regularly invited into school, educational visits (including the Y6 residential) are carefully planned, and we utilise our outdoor learning environments and the wider local area to offer outdoor learning and hands-on experiences.

We aim to ensure an equity of experience for all and have worked collaboratively with the national poverty proofing project to remove barriers wherever possible. Children from across the school are offered a range of extra-curricular activities in many areas at no additional cost to parents. We have also carefully curated a list of 100 activities that families can join in with at home to aid children’s development.

Continuing professional development (CPD) for staff is a schoolwide priority to ensure our school is able to deliver the highest standards across the entire curriculum, from music and art, to PE and sport, reading, writing and maths as well as all the other subjects of our broad and balanced curriculum. Subject leaders work alongside teaching staff and experts from the local authority and further afield to ensure the design and delivery of our curriculum promotes progression in vocabulary, skills and knowledge and offers a depth of learning across the school. Subject leaders have worked collaboratively with the Senior Leadership Team to ensure the intent of each subject matches the overall school curriculum intent and school development plan’s key priorities. Each subject has its own clear intent statement, which consolidates this approach in promoting excellence and aspiration for all.

Curriculum Impact:

We aspire that our curriculum inspires children who are confident, articulate and well-rounded pupils, thriving on challenge and intrinsically motivated to learn. Our pupils understand what they are good at and have developed resilience and determination to use a range of both cognitive and metacognitive skills and strategies, necessary to face their challenges. We promote independence and responsibility for self, alongside a sense of belonging and community: our children recognise the importance of and are able to form and maintain meaningful, healthy relationships, based upon mutual respect and trust, recognising and celebrating difference within our school and in the wider world.

The children achieve well by developing vocabulary, skills and knowledge as they progress through the school. The impact of our curriculum is monitored by the SLT, subject leaders and Governing body through a triangulation of data analysis, teaching and learning observations, book scrutiny, pupil progress reviews and stakeholder voice.

The children demonstrate confidence and positive attitudes towards learning with high levels of curiosity, concentration and enjoyment, developing their independence and resilience as learners.

Ultimately, our curriculum and learning experience prepares our children to be the best that they can be.