Curriculum

The Lyneham Primary School Curriculum is an ongoing body of work, being developed collaboratively by all stakeholders involved in the school.  Our principle belief is that people need knowledge, to support them in making decisions and in understanding the world around them; and that people need skills to be able to contribute and solve problems, in a positive and efficient way, as and when they arrive.  To this end, our curriculum focusses on imparting what we consider to be essential knowledge and to learn skills within the context of that knowledge. Skills are rarely transferable on their own; they generally require knowledge of a particular context to be of any use so our teachers make sure that is exactly what children receive here.  To understand our aims in more detail, you can read about our curriculum intention, implementation and impact below.

Intent

• People that came before us have built the foundations of our current way of life and the freedoms that we enjoy, through countless generations of hard work and innovation. Each generation passes on the knowledge needed to continue to make progress and strive for a better world.  At Lyneham Primary School, our curriculum imparts essential knowledge about how the world works and how we have arrived at our current place as a society, so that children can carry that knowledge with them through life and show respect to forbearers by continuing to contribute to the pot of human achievement.
• At Lyneham Primary School, we believe in equality. Our curriculum is ambitious, it is broad and it has depth.  When children leave us, they are ready to tackle new and even more complex challenges.  They are not intimidated when they encounter new learning, but throw themselves into it with full force, secure in the knowledge that the more difficult something seems, the more rewarding it will be to master.
• Knowing what came before helps to make sense of what will happen next. Our children use their knowledge of the world to make informed decisions that reflect our shared values.  Our curriculum ensures links across the full range of subjects on offer, and that key pieces of learning or events of significance be remembered, and support children’s understanding of events in the world around them.
• Over 70% of the children at Lyneham are from families that work in the armed forces and as a result, the majority of these children will experience several primary schools during their education. We strive to ensure that our curriculum approach is truly unique to provide children with opportunities here that they will not have had in previous schools. This is to support our mission to ensure that children enjoy their education so that they will continue to learn new knowledge and skills long after they have finished school.

Implementation

• The cornerstone to our curriculum is high quality teaching. All of our staff undergo continued professional development to ensure that they have the same high expectations and teaching skills needed to support children in acquiring the knowledge and skills necessary for life in modern Britain.  We use a mixture of teaching techniques and styles depending on the occasion and regularly monitor the standards of education within the school.  Our teachers receive regular feedback on their performance and are provided with the tools they need to do their job to their highest possible standard.
• Teachers are dedicated and hardworking people who have chosen a vocation that puts the needs of other before their own. We recognise, value and appreciate this so are committed to making the work of teaching as enjoyable as possible.  To this end, we encourage teachers to be innovative and engage in the ongoing debate about the best teaching practice, freeing them to let the children navigate a course through our chosen curriculum.  We do not have excessive expectations on workload for teachers.  We do not expect teachers to plan in a particular way and we have replaced traditional labour intensive systems of marking with ongoing assessment for learning strategies.  It all adds up to teachers being trusted to teach to the best of their ability as highly educated and skilled professionals, which they do on a daily basis.
• Challenge and stretch is vital for children to achieve their potential. We carefully designed our curriculum to introduce children to the best ideas and achievements that humanity has enjoyed so far.  Through making connections and high levels of challenge in all aspects of their learning, we encourage children to push themselves.  We will provide children with the education that they will need to continue to contribute to the best humanity has to offer and make their mark in the world long after they have left Lyneham Primary School.
• Our curriculum provides opportunity for children to make connections between the different pieces of knowledge that they learn across the range of subjects. This helps them to understand the principle of cause and effect and supports children in moving information into their long-term memory, so they may remember at a later point. For example, they may learn about the rainforests in Year 1 and may later learn about the explorer Percy Fawcett in Year 4.  That combined information will help them to access the book ‘The Explorers’ when they are in Year 5 as they will have a good background knowledge of rainforests, explorers and Brazil.  Because children are able to draw on prior learning, we plan challenging activities and learning inquiries to stretch their understanding and allow them to make further connections with knowledge they will acquire in the future.
• Children are unique and therefore sometimes need different levels of support and challenge in order for them to achieve their potential. Through ongoing daily assessment, we are able to monitor the progress children are making in fine detail and ensure our teachers plan the appropriate next steps.  If children need additional help, our systems of assessment ensure that teachers identified and provided the most appropriate support is to them.

Impact

• Our curriculum is challenging and engaging and children enjoy that challenge. This helps children to see themselves as learners and understand that through perseverance and aspiration they can achieve great things. We measure this through the work that children do in their books and through termly pupil progress meetings between teachers and senior leaders at the school.  We share attainment and progress information with parents every term.
• Our curriculum ensures that children have an understanding of how the world works and are able to make connections between the different bodies of knowledge that they hold in their heads. This helps them to make sense of current events in the world and see how they can contribute to the world, as they grow older and develop financial independence.  We measure this through pupil conferencing and report on our findings once a term on our website.
• Our curriculum provides children with the necessary skills and knowledge to meet the expected educational standards at the appropriate statutory assessment stage and we are committed to meeting our statutory obligations to report on attainment and administer any tests and checks directed by the Department for Education. We aim to support all children to meet or exceed the expected standard in these assessments.  However, we do not believe that a child’s primary education can necessarily be summed up with one test at the end of Year 6, so we hold much more information on individual’s progress and attainment through ongoing Assessment for Learning information.  You may speak with your child’s class teacher if you would like more information about the incremental steps of progress your child is making and how you can further support them at home.