Our Curriculum Vision

Rationale

We have worked with parents, governors, staff and children to develop and influence our curriculum decisions, and make it meaningful for our children. We intend for all pupils to leave our school as confident, happy and resilient individuals and our school ethos supports children’s wellbeing throughout.

We intend to have a motivating and stimulating curriculum which encourages children to ask questions, be independent learners, collaborate and be aspirational. The National Curriculum guides what it is we teach, while up to date research, including action research and an excellent understanding of how children learn, guides how we teach. We intend for each child at Hollywood to experience a carefully planned journey during their 7 years with us and will be entitled to a range of experiences to support and complement the National Curriculum. Through a planned system of revisiting learning and interleaving content and skills, children will retain their learning and will progress in terms of their understanding of both subject knowledge and related skills.

We know our children’s cultural capital is varied, as they come from a wide range of backgrounds. Our parents have told us they want their children to develop into tolerant, respectful and confident young people and we aim to support this through our curriculum. We intend for our pupils to have a secure understanding of who they are, where they fit into the world and where their lives fit into history. The beginning blocks of this occur in Key Stage 1 where children are able to centre themselves in the context of the world. As their journey through the school develops, we intend to introduce them to a deeper knowledge of the world, who they are and how their lives have been shaped by history, culture, the arts and much more. We select topics and opportunities to help close the cultural capital gap to enable our children to actively contribute to the community and their wider society in a positive way.

Our 3D curriculum intends for pupils to retain more knowledge and understanding. Knowledge is built upon term by term, year by year and between topics across a variety of year groups. There are 3 strands to the 3D curriculum:

• Vertical Links – Knowledge secured within a subject through repetition term by term, year by year

• Horizontal Links – Knowledge linked and built upon across subjects within a year group

• Diagonal Links – Knowledge deepened between year groups within subjects

We use a holistic, hands on approach to education where we consider the pastoral needs of children in addition to their academic needs. Our parents and staff told us that they want children to be confident. We keep up to date with research in both education and the cognitive science of how children learn and use this to influence our day to day teaching, learning and support for children. This will support children’s academic and pastoral confidence and help them to progress. Read more about the research underpinning our curriculum and information on specific subject areas.

We promote open and trusting relationships. Our parents told us they want their children to be good communicators. We believe Teaching and learning is a three-way process and can’t occur without communication and trust.  Teachers trust that children will be ready to learn and actively engage in every learning opportunity.  Children trust that their teachers will be well prepared and able to meet their individual needs with understanding whether these be educational or emotional.  Parents trust teaching staff to be honest in regards of their child’s needs and know that these needs will be met.  As a school we trust parents to actively participate in their child’s education, supporting their child to succeed and achieve. Read more about our home school links.

We make links between and within subjects and year groups. Teachers are passionate about teaching and learning and the subjects they teach.  They are relentless in finding ways that engage, enthuse and inspire the learners in their care, so they can develop both procedural and conceptual fluency and understanding.  Our parents, staff and governors agreed that academic skills in English and Maths were essential, but also recognised the need for balance in our curriculum to include creativity, general knowledge and an understanding of the world. We aim to connect children’s learning and help them centre any new learning within content they have previously been taught. Our curriculum is sequenced to provide opportunities for retrieval and revisiting of learning, and we make connections between subjects explicit. For example, before children learn about Stone Age in year 3 history, we ensure they have learned about rocks in Science. In year 6, before they begin learning about the Windrush generation, they are reminded of work on Anglo Saxons and Vikings, to make connections to the concept of migration.  Read more about our vertical, horizontal and diagonal curriculum connections.

We also make links with our local community, for example visiting the local church for Remembrance, going to Bournville when year 2 learn about George Cadbury and visiting a local river. Our stakeholders told us they want children to be tolerant individuals and we believe exposing children to a wide range of cultural influences will support this. We want children to be given experiences beyond those they would receive if they didn’t come to Hollywood Primary School and map out the ‘Hollywood Journey’ with an offer of what they will be entitled to each year. Read more about the Hollywood Journey.

We ensure every child knows “You are valued” and feels and gives respect. We deliver an exciting curriculum for everyone, that engages and develops the whole person.  We ensure that the curriculum and resources are flexible, adaptable and relevant for the needs of all learners in an evolving world. Our year begins with this focus in Jigsaw, with the ‘Being me in my world’ module.  Spiritual, moral, social and cultural experiences are woven throughout the curriculum to broaden the experiences of our children and support them in understanding their place in our global community, for example we have a rolling programme of faith studies in RE. Importantly, our Rights Respecting Schools Silver award underpins all we do. Read more about Rights Respecting Schools!

We put Well-being at the core of all we do:  Everyone needs to feel safe and cared for if they are to learn and succeed.  We create a warm, safe and nurturing environment that meets and matches the needs of everyone in our school community. Kindness is valued, encouraged and expected. We look after our children’s physical and mental wellbeing and provide them with strategies to help themselves, for example children learn about self esteem in their Jigsaw ‘Healthy Me’ module. We understand that people encounter many ups and downs within their lives and at times may need more support than others; this includes supporting our children, parents and teachers during times of transition.  We teach our children empathy and understanding, and adults’ model this at all times. Read more about our Nurture Team and Jigsaw RHSE curriculum!

We let children know that their opinions are respected, and they must respect the opinions of others. As a community we celebrate diversity, ensure equal opportunities are created and given to all and welcome everyone regardless of their background, race, culture or religion. We run a school council and regularly meet with children to gather information from the ‘pupil voice’. British Values are promoted throughout the school, and we link these to our curriculum teaching. Read more about our school council and British Values.

We support children to overcome challenges, and develop growth mindset. Our parents, governors and staff agreed resilience is a key attitude our children need throughout their time with us. We aim to equip all children with a mindset that, with hard work, concentration and positive learning attitudes, they can achieve whatever they set their mind to. In English children are supported to compare their work from a cold and hot write task and see how their hard work has paid off and impacted on their writing. We seek out opportunities for children to develop resilience when faced with challenges and to try new things, for example Sailing in year 5 and Residential in year 6. Read more about our approach to growth mindset.

We aim for children to gain a depth of understanding: We plan for all our children to become confident, independent learners with an enthusiasm for acquiring knowledge.  We prioritise depth of learning over speed of learning. For example in Maths we ensure children can reason and problem solve as well as developing fluency in their understanding. Children are taught to understand how they learn and the skills they need to work through and conquer each new challenge.  They are taught the process of learning and understand that making mistakes are part of this process and are to be seen as positives. Read more about how we deepen learning.

Impact

We use ‘Pupil Book Study’  and use this to find out more about the lived experience of our children.

The curriculum is the driver in which we are able to implement the school’s values and mission. The impact of our curriculum will be seen in not only in measurable attainment and progress but that Hollywood Primary School creates polite, well-mannered caring members of our school community who understand and respect everybody’s differences and needs.