Our Approach
We take the business of learning seriously and at the heart of our curriculum is ‘learning to read and reading to learn’. We discuss learning with children, identify when and how they learn best, what helps them and what they can do if learning is difficult. We also model for the children different ways of learning and acquiring new knowledge and skills. We don't believe we are 'clever' or otherwise; we know we can succeed with good attitudes to learning such as determination and not giving up. We expect to get it wrong sometimes, but we learn from our mistakes, give it another go and keep practising. Children are taught to make links, to reflect and to analyse. We have high expectations and believe that all children regardless of starting points be give every opportunity to achieve their own personal potential – we aim to promote a life-long work ethic.
At Horton Grange we consider the development of strong literacy and maths skills an absolute priority to be embedded across all aspects of our work. In maths we include number facts and times tables. Our approach in maths is always to move from the concrete to the abstract, making effective use of practical resources to ensure conceptual development. In literacy we include the development of good communication skills as well as the teaching of reading, writing, handwriting and spelling, punctuation and grammar. Basic skills are taught for a time each day, which of course enables our children to successfully access the wider curriculum.
We believe that the curriculum should be as exciting and stimulating as possible but should also develop key knowledge which children need to know so that they can flourish in the future. We aim to promote a love of learning by making school fun and relevant whilst at the same time ensuring standards are high in order to prepare your children for the future.
We positively encourage our children to engage in the wider curriculum through, focused themed weeks, visits, school productions and residentials. This is a key part of our approach.
There is a commitment to ensure that the scope and ambition of our curriculum is at least as good as the requirements of the Primary National Curriculum. In addition our curriculum is carefully designed to reflect our vision and values, the local context of the school, the needs of our pupils and also takes account of evidence based research on how children learn best. Further details in the attachments below ( Curriculum intent and implementation guidelines and Embedding the Horton Grange Values in the curriculum and the wider curriculum offer)
Fundamental elements which underpin and run through our curriculum:
- Learning to read and reading to learn
- Rich knowledge, broken down into component parts which are sequenced progressively to clear end points
- Ambitious vocabulary development and a focus on speaking and listening
- The mechanics of writing (spelling and handwriting, punctuation and grammar) and writing for a purpose through the implementation of the Horton Grange writing process.
- Mathematical fluency
- Opportunities for retrieval to ensure learning is embedded in the long term memory.
- Planned checks on learning to see what has been remembered through ‘Assessment of, for and as learning’.
- Social and emotional development
- Metacognitive approaches
- Real life experiences to support children making connection in learning
Overarching Curriculum Intent and Implementation Guidelines
Embedding the Horton Grange Values into the curriculum and the wider curriculum offer
