Our Curriculum

At Lacewood Primary School we aim to provide a knowledge-rich, purposeful and balanced curriculum based on the following principles:

• To help our pupils to develop naturally enquiring minds and continue to build their self-esteem and self-confidence through using our, ‘Lacewood Learning Buddies.’
• To develop a deep knowledge in the subjects which we teach.
• To have respect and tolerance of other races and religions and the different ways in which people live their lives.
• To ensure reading is at the heart of our learning.
• To foster the growth of a resilient attitude to learning, reflected in our school motto: ‘Always try your best to be your best.’

We fully recognise learning knowledge is not an endpoint in itself, it is a springboard to learning more knowledge and therefore vocabulary, knowledge and skills are cumulative and revisited and developed over time. The knowledge, vocabulary and skills taught, not only reflect the National curriculum, but the wide range of knowledge our children need to be successful in the evolving society in which we live.

In foundation subjects (including Science and Religious Education), our knowledge rich curriculum is driven by the use of key questions, forming an enquiry based approach to learning. The use of key questions has enabled teachers and leaders to focus the learning within a unit of work, instead of having a broad theme. These carefully planned and sequenced questions enable the children to develop a breadth of knowledge and a deep understanding of the topics they are learning about.

‘Golden Threads’ run through our curriculum. For example, the concept: ‘Invaders and settlers’ is a golden thread through our history curriculum and ‘location and place’ in geography. Through designing our curriculum in this way, each time children encounter a concept, their understanding becomes greater.

Knowledge is planned and sequenced to enable learners to build upon their learning, lesson-by-lesson and year-by-year. Each year group follows an approach to learning which allows curriculum links to be made and as a consequence, a deeper acquisition of knowledge through complimenting children’s conceptual knowledge. For example, in Year 4, while studying the theme: ‘Escape from Pompeii’, children learn about natural disasters (volcanoes) in geography; the historical eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the impact on the citizens of Pompeii; solids, liquids and gases in science and study the artworks of Margaret Godfrey, specifically based on Volcanoes. Further understanding of natural disasters is covered in geography in Y6, when children begin to look at the enquiry question: How do natural disasters impact different economies?

Our curriculum plans are granular and state specifically what children will learn in their lessons, ensuring all the children within school have access to the knowledge they need to succeed. Due to this structure, children progress through the curriculum in a way that ensures that knowledge is transferred to the long-term memory. This is achieved by teachers regularly checking pupils’ understanding and the recognition that the more children know, the more they can learn. Teachers look at where links between knowledge can be exploited so that new knowledge becomes ‘sticky’ in the mind of the pupil.

We recognise that at times our curriculum may need to change, and therefore it is constantly evolving and improving to ensure content, lesson sequencing and progress overtime is always high priority.

We are extremely proud of our broad and balanced curriculum and the wealth of experiences that we provide, both in and out of school, promoting spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of the pupils within our wonderful school.