Curriculum, Teaching and Learning
Intent
At Shipbourne School we nurture life-long learners who move on to secondary education with secure knowledge, skills and understanding having engaged in a curriculum that is broad, balanced and relevant to their needs, interests and future ambitions.
We believe in providing a rich and engaging curriculum that will nurture a love of learning for every individual in preparation for their future. We understand that people learn effectively in different ways, thus we aim to provide a rich and varied learning environment with a curriculum that enables children and adults to progress and develop key skills whilst building and enhancing core knowledge, thus reaching their full potential
Our children belong to families who are supportive and have high aspirations. Parents are fully involved and are eager to contribute and learn alongside us. Our mixed-age classes further enhance this sense of community and enable children of different ages to learn together in a safe, supportive and collaborative learning environment.
We want our children to be leaders of their own learning: pupils who can communicate confidently and effectively, who ask important questions, know how to find answers, reason competently and have the stamina to reach the end goal without giving up. We ensure that our staff enable this by constructing focused and carefully resourced learning sequences leading to lessons that stimulate and support, as well as providing a safe space to learn and develop; a place where it is necessary to persevere and have the courage to make mistakes so that real learning is guaranteed.
Together we will:
- Develop confidence and promote a love for learning.
- Support learning to help children achieve their best.
- Support each other to achieve our best for the whole school community
- Enable children to be resourceful, enquiring and independent thinkers;
- Foster children’s self-esteem and help them to build positive relationships with other people, so that they can work alone or as part of a team;
- Prepare children for life in modern Britain and beyond;
- Promote British and school values;
- Promote positive relationships and develop children’s self-respect and encourage empathy and respect for the ideas, attitudes, values and feelings of others;
- Show respect for other cultures and, in so doing, promote positive attitudes towards other people;
- Provide opportunities for our children to develop a sense of community, both within school and through contributing to the local area and the people in it;
- Help children grow into reliable, independent and positive citizens;
- Help children to acknowledge their successes and share these skills with others;
- Help children to acknowledge their own feelings and those of others, developing the necessary skills to self-regulate effectively.
Implementation
Starting with the National Curriculum, we have carefully designed a whole school learning journey (across a two/three year rolling programme) which ensures that every child moving through our school is able to develop a sense of curiosity about the world around them whilst acquiring broad and balanced knowledge, skills and understanding across all subjects. Each step of the journey is designed to build on previous learning, with links clearly communicated to the children so that they are supported to remember and use what they already know to take their next steps.
Using the whole school curriculum journey, coverage documents are in place for all subjects. These detail key learning and when it will occur across the two/three year rolling programme. These documents also include key progression and vocabulary where appropriate (NB. For Curriculum Maestro subjects this is available online).
SPORTS PROVISION
Our PE curriculum is taught predominantly by a local Sports’ Academy that visit once a week, working alongside school staff to extend skills across a range of sports and disciplines. We invite a yoga teacher to work with all pupils for two terms of the year and children are also able to take part in additional workshops in areas such as skipping and circus skills. Children in year 2 to 6 visit Tonbridge Swimming pool fortnightly for swimming lessons, and our older children take part in the annual local schools’ swimming gala. Fairlawne Class also take part in an annual event held at Tonbridge School, and a week-long outdoor residential trip for year 5 and 6 takes place every two years. Each year, we use government Sports Funding to extend provision in a variety of ways, an up-to-date analysis of which can be found on this website.
Enrichment Activities
We strive to provide varied after school clubs such as Multisports, Art, Choir, Cookery, Computers and Gardening. These are reviewed on a termly basis and are available on a first-come first-served basis.
As part of the curriculum, we plan regular off-site visits and invite a variety of people in to run workshops. We spend assemblies listening to music from a range of composers and genres, enjoy singing together, listening to stories and focusing on core values. Twice a year, we enjoy a whole school trip to the pantomime and a range of different visitor attractions such as the zoo or adventure park.