The Richmond Curriculum
Our Curriculum Intent
It is our intent that, through a broad, balanced, inspiring and well-taught curriculum, pupils of Richmond Primary School will:
- Become confident, independent and life-long learners who are well equipped for the future as a British citizen
- Apply their skills, knowledge and understanding to everyday life
- Become successful citizens with a sense of pride in and awareness of the local community
- Have opportunities to explore their personal interests and character so that they grow as well-rounded people with respect, open-mindedness and inclusivity
- Develop a sense of self and others, understanding their own feelings and their impact on others
- Become curious, enquiring minds, who ask questions of themselves and the world
- Be confident to express their thinking orally within a range of situations
At Richmond, our curriculum has been developed considering the needs of our children alongside a desire to develop critical, creative, caring and collaborative thinking. We want our children to work closely with our wider community, learning from them and involving them in our learning. We want the learning to be purposeful and for our children to be discoverers, explorers, creators and leaders, enabling them to develop as life-long learners, successful in their chosen paths.
We believe curriculum enrichment is essential for children to learn, enjoy and achieve and ensure the curriculum has plenty of opportunities for memorable experiences, visitors to school and visits outside of school to support and inspire learning. Throughout each connected learning theme, children work towards a community focused outcome to showcase their learning within the community.
At Richmond, we follow the Statutory Framework for the EYFS and the National Curriculum. We use Cornerstones as a basis for connecting our curriculum within learning themes for each year group. Within each subject, we ensure that there is progression of knowledge, and skills, across the year and also from Early Years to Year 6.
For each of our learning themes, there is a ‘Big Question’ which children work towards answering over the course of the theme. These questions are open ended and allow children to gather knowledge and develop skills along the way. The question and the learning journey so far is referred to regularly in lessons and is reinforced by our ‘Know More, Remember More’ at the beginning of each session to support the retention of knowledge.
We place a high importance on developing vocabulary and this is carefully planned for within each learning theme to ensure understanding and retention. Vocabulary is identified at the beginning of each learning theme and dual coded vocabulary mats are utilised to support learning. Knowledge is built upon through the progression of key vocabulary.
We are very proud to be a ‘No Outsiders’ school and we aim to provide a broad, balanced, creative and challenging curriculum for all pupils.
Here at Richmond Primary School, we provide a creative, connected curriculum based around the Cornerstones Curriculum.
At Richmond Primary School, we use the Cornerstones Curriculum, a nationally recognised approach for delivering outstanding learning opportunities for children, to deliver National Curriculum objectives.
What is the Cornerstones Curriculum?
The Cornerstones Curriculum is a creative and thematic approach to learning that is mapped to the Primary National Curriculum to ensure comprehensive coverage of national expectations. Our curriculum will be delivered through Imaginative Learning Projects (ILPs), which will provide a rich menu of exciting and motivating learning activities that make creative links between all aspects of our children’s learning.
We believe children learn better when they are encouraged to use their imagination and apply their learning to engaging contexts. Our curriculum will provide lots of learning challenges throughout the academic year that will require children to solve problems, apply themselves creatively and express their knowledge and understanding effectively across the curriculum.
Cornerstones also provide a rigorous essential skills framework that outlines the end of year expectations in all subjects. These essential skills are tied to activities and are age related so that staff can track children’s progress and identify their individual learning needs.
How it Works?
Children will progress through four stages of learning in each ILP – Engage, Develop, Innovate and Express. To find out more about these stages please click on the link through to Cornerstones website:
http://www.cornerstoneseducation.co.uk/Learning-Philosophy.aspx
Here is a copy of our whole school overview for our connected curriculum this year.
Below, are the long term curriculum maps for each year group, for this academic year. These plans outline the knowledge and skills covered during each learning theme for the foundation subjects:
Please also see below for the curriculum maps for French, PSHCE and RE.
