KS1 and KS2 Curriculum

The curriculum at St Leonard’s is designed to prepare our pupils to be effective stewards of the world God has given us to live in. We want children not only to gain knowledge and skills, but also have the wisdom to use them to contribute to building and maintaining sustainable communities. In order to do this, children need to have developed an understanding of different viewpoints and how to build positive relationships with others. To develop these characteristics, we have embedded approaches such as Philosophy for Children, Thinking Moves, Emotion Works and Forest Schools within our curriculum.

Our curriculum fulfils all the requirements of the National Curriculum within a creative context. We believe that children learn best from hands-on learning so we include practical activities, outside learning, visits to places connected with our learning and visitors to share their experiences and knowledge.

The children are taught English, Mathematics, Science, History, Geography, Computing, Design Technology, Art, Music, Physical Education, Relationship and Health Education, French and Religious Education.

Each week every child will have at least two PE sessions and a RE lesson. Computing will be taught every term within an appropriate context so this may be a specific computing lesson or it may be applied within another subject. Other subjects are taught throughout the year, sometimes taught as a stand-alone unit and sometimes integrated into a half termly theme.

Although our plans are regularly updated to meet the needs of particular cohorts and to incorporate worldwide news and developments, our overall two-year topic plans can be seen here:

The teaching of English and Mathematics in Key Stage One

In Key Stage 1 children are in three classes:

• Elm class with 30 Year One pupils.
• Oak class with 15 Year One and 15 Year Two pupils.
• Poplar class with 30 Year Two pupils.

English is taught through:

• Daily phonics lessons using Little Wandle.
• Daily Literacy lessons where children are taught specific skills and knowledge and given opportunities to apply these within different genres.
• Three guided reading sessions each week concentrating on phonics, prosody and comprehension.
• Other Literacy work across the curriculum.

Mathematics is taught through:

• Daily whole class mathematics lessons using the Red Rose curriculum.
• Other mathematical work across the curriculum.

The teaching of English and Mathematics in Key Stage Two

In Key Stage 2, children are based in six classes:

• Beech class consisting of 30 Year Three children
• Rowan class consisting of 15 Year Three and 15 Year Four children
• Willow class consisting of 30 Year Four children
• Chestnut class consisting of 30 Year Five children
• Maple class consisting of 15 Year Five and 15 Year Six children
• Sycamore class consisting of 30 Year Six children.

English is taught through:

• Daily Literacy lessons where children are taught specific skills and knowledge and given opportunities to apply these within different genres
• Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling is taught within the literacy lessons
• Daily reading activity
• Other Literacy work across the curriculum.

Mathematics is taught through:

• Daily Maths lessons. Lower Key Stage Two classes use the Red Rose resources and Upper Key Stage Two teach the year group expectations from the National Curriculum using a range of resources including White Rose Maths.
• Lower Key Stage Two also have a weekly arithmetic lesson to build fluency in calculation skills.
• Regular access to Times Table Rockstar’s to embed knowledge of number facts.
• Other mathematical work across the curriculum.

The teaching of reading

At St Leonard’s Church of England Primary School, it is our aim to develop enthusiastic and confident readers who read for interest, information and enjoyment. We use a range of different strategies to support reading within our school.

Reading opportunities are provided on a daily basis. A wide range of approaches are used to provide first hand experiences for the children. The children are taught in a stimulating environment that is rich in written print. The teachers share books with the class and regularly read stories and rhymes.

In Key Stage One, phonics is taught daily and follows the Little Wandle scheme. Teachers allocate a reading book based on the children’s phonetical knowledge and send a link home for the child to access this electronically to read to their parent/guardian. The children also select an individual library book to take home to support their learning. Selecting their own choice of texts is an important part of developing independence. This motivates readers and helps children to develop and discuss their reading preferences. Children participate in guided reading sessions three times each week to embed their application of phonics, develop prosody and build comprehension strategies. There is a balance of fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts chosen for guided reading sessions over a half-term period.

In Key Stage Two, each child will have daily reading activity and opportunities to practice each of the domains of reading: reading independently, retrieving information from the text, inference and deduction and summarising the text. They all have a reading book (these are chosen from books at the child’s reading level until there are fluent enough to choose from the independent section) which they are encouraged to read regularly and write a brief review once each book is completed. This is rewarded through an incentive scheme for completing: 5, 10, 25 and 50 books.

Reading is a complex skill with many components. Successful approaches to the teaching of reading should encourage children to use a variety of strategies in their pursuit of meaning. It is important to lay firm foundations in this crucial area of the curriculum and establish a consistent whole school approach to the teaching of reading.