Curriculum Overview

Through innovative, challenging and inclusive teaching and learning experiences, we will work in partnership with the community to create a school where everyone feels safe, valued and successful.

Intent

The curriculum at The Laurels Primary School is designed to provide a broad and balanced education that meets the needs of all children. It provides opportunities for children to develop as independent, confident and successful learners, with high aspirations, who know how to make a positive contribution to their community and the wider society. 

The curriculum ensures that academic success, creativity and problem solving, reflection, responsibility and resilience, as well as physical development, well-being and mental health are key elements that support the development of the whole child and promote a positive attitude to learning. 

The curriculum celebrates the diversity and utilises the skills, knowledge and cultural wealth of the community while supporting the children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, ensuring that children are well prepared for life in modern Britain.

Knowledge

We recognise the importance of knowledge acquisition as a key driver in raising attainment for all pupils, especially pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.  Therefore, we have designed a curriculum that identifies the knowledge pupils should acquire in each year, whilst also recognising the importance of developing pupils’ skills, understanding and attitudes.  

Knowledge helps develop well-rounded, empowered citizens and widens opportunities and life chances.

Knowledge-led curriculum 

With discrete teaching of subjects, especially in KS2. The importance lies in the subject as a discipline. Children are provided with subject specific vocabulary and knowledge that allows them to build links and enhance other subjects.

Our knowledge-led curriculum: 

• focuses on in-depth understanding of fewer topic areas rather that surface level understanding of more content.
• Uses development in cognitive psychology and theories of working memory as guides for curriculum design. 

Holistic curriculum

Through our school values, children at the Laurels will be Responsible, Resilient and Reflective individuals using skill for life.

As a school, we place importance on children developing the skills they need to succeed in life along with all children achieving their potential academically. 

Along with the subject based curriculum, we have also developed a life skill curriculum and a behaviour curriculum which allows children the opportunity to develop and support the learning of these valuable skills. 

Life skills curriculum – Whether it be learning to use a knife and fork or tying shoe laces, or learning to sew on a button or making a cup of tea the children will be given the opportunity to learn and  develop these lifelong skills.

Behaviour curriculum – Our behaviour curriculum recognises the importance of supporting children’s personal and emotional development and we understand that building relationships, routines and rules ensure children are safe – physically and emotionally. Being well-behaved is a combination of skills, aptitudes, habits, inclinations, values and knowledge. These can (and should) be taught; children are products of their circumstances (good and bad) and as a result it is up to us to teach them.

National curriculum

The National Curriculum is used as the foundation for the teaching of subjects, but we recognise that other opportunities children experience have a significant impact on their development.  At The Laurels, we take great pride in developing citizens of the future. Ways in which we support our pupils to achieve are wide ranging. Here are a few examples: 

• Before and after school clubs
• Visits and visitors for all year groups
• Locality visits 
• Residential trips (year 4 and 6)
• Special focus days and weeks
• Swimming lessons
• Learning a music instrument
• Fundraising for special days 
• Sporting experiences at DMAT