Curriculum

Ashton Vale Primary School Curriculum Statement

At Ashton Vale Primary School we follow the objectives from the National Curriculum 2014. Using the knowledge we have of our families and the local community we serve, we have designed our curriculum to inspire, engage, enthuse and raise standards for all children. We aim to provide opportunities for personal and academic development where children make links between prior learning and new learning.

Our Curriculum Intent

To engage, inspire and enthuse all children.
To ensure children have access to a broad and balance curriculum and a range of new experiences which enrich their knowledge and understanding of the world around them.
To develop core knowledge and skills through an engaging curriculum making children ready for their next stage.
To ensure our children are able to develop healthy lifestyles that support their physical and mental wellbeing.
To enable children to develop their cultural understanding and respect.
To ensure our children develop an understanding of their identity and purpose and have an understanding of their place in the world.
To encourage our children to develop a love of reading for pleasure as well as reading to inform.
To ensure our children can develop and apply their English and mathematics skills.
To develop links with the local community, Bristol as a city and the wider world.

Curriculum Implementation

At the core of Ashton Vale’s curriculum is the National Curriculum. We have used this to plan topics, which inspire our children, whilst enabling them to develop key knowledge and skills in a systematic and progressive way. We have considered how our curriculum will be implemented to ensure that this happens.

Whole Curriculum Implementation

Topics contain a clear learning journey, which enables the children to build on their prior knowledge.
Connections are made between new learning and prior knowledge. Children are encouraged to look for links which connect their learning experiences.
Children are provided with the opportunity to apply their maths and English skills across the curriculum.
The use of pre-teaching enables children access new vocabulary within lessons.
The children have access to a broad range of experiences, trips and visitors.
Learning behaviours, linked to our school values, are threaded through the whole curriculum.
Whole school and class assemblies enable our children to understand and apply the values of the school.

Subject Specific Implementation

Writing - Children are exposed to high quality texts which stimulate writing opportunities for a range of audiences and purposes. Grammar is taught and embedded within writing provisions.
Reading - Whole class reading is used to teach reading. 1:1 and small group reading activities are also used. The children develop the knowledge of key reading skills (inference, retrieval, summarising, sequencing, understanding vocabulary, predicting). The children practise the skills across the curriculum. Reading for pleasure is encouraged through the use of our school library and class book areas.
Phonics – Letters and sounds is used to support the teaching of phonics. The children progress through the year group appropriate phases, finishing with phase 5 in Year 1. The children apply their phonics skills to reading and spelling. Where children have not secured their understanding of phonics by the end of Year 1, intervention support is put in place to ensure that by the end of Key Stage One the children have secured the phonics skills needed.
Spelling – Spelling patterns and key word lists outlined in the National Curriculum are taught to the children through discrete teaching of spelling and application in English and wider curriculum lessons. From Year 2 onwards the school uses the No nonsense spelling resource.
Maths - White Rose Maths is used to support the teaching of maths, enabling the children to develop fluency in concepts before applying this knowledge to reasoning and problem solving activities.
Physical Education - The children are able to develop fundamental movement skills through the use of REAL PE in PE. The children are also able to apply their skills to invasion games, gymnastics and net and wall games through our PPA offer.
Religious Education - Discovery RE are used to support the teaching and learning of RE.
Art and Music – lessons are taught either by class teachers or by specialists (outside providers and in house specialists), the school uses the Bristol Plays Music curriculum to support the teaching and learning of the subject.
Computing lessons are used to focus on the teaching of computing skills, which are then applied in other subjects.
Science is taught following the national curriculum, with progression in working scientifically skills across the curriculum.
History - The use of a timeline focusing on the history studied at Ashton Vale, supports the children in developing their chronological understanding through making links with prior knowledge. Progressions of history skills support progression in 7 key strands: Chronology, historical enquiry, historical terms, interpretation, continuity and change similarity and difference, cause and consequence and significance.
Geography - The use of maps support the children in understanding their knowledge of place. Progression documents support the learning of knowledge of place, knowledge of patterns and communicating geographical knowledge.
PSHE – Jigsaw is used to support the teaching of PSHE. The children study 6 units across the year (Being me in my World, Healthy Mind, Celebrating Difference, Dreams and Goals, Relationships, Changing Me). As a school, we have developed a Healthy Mind unit of work to support our children in their development of positive mental health.
Modern Foreign Languages – As a school, we teach French.
EYFS - The develop matters framework is followed by our EYFS team. More information can be found about this on our Reception class page.

Curriculum Impact

We develop life-long learners, prepared for the 21st century world.
We develop children’s knowledge and skills across all curriculum subjects.
The work of our wider curriculum will impact on attainment at the end of each key stage.
Our children successfully transition into the next stage of their life as learners