Our Curriculum 

At Kilkhampton Junior and Infant School, we aim for the children to be ready to be citizens of modern Britain and the wider world, appreciative and respectful of difference and equipped with the skills and values to be able to achieve this objective.

Kilkhampton is located in a relatively isolated location within the United Kingdom.  We are isolated, rural and coastal, which makes travel, cultural and historic experiences difficult for many parents to organise.

Furthermore, our school has higher than average levels of pupils in receipt of the Pupil Premium and is located in an area of relative deprivation when compared to other parts of the country.

We have therefore designed a curriculum which we aim will raise aspirations, provide children with a secure grounding in the knowledge required to take their learning forward and to give them the rich cultural capital which will give that knowledge its depth and breadth which is underpinned by fundamental British values.

Intent

Our curriculum is deliberately ambitious for all learners and enables all children to visit learning set out in the National Curriculum and the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework.  In some cases we aim for the curriculum to go beyond the scope of the National Curriculum in meeting the contextual needs of the children at the school.  We aim for our curriculum to be underpinned by British Values and valuing where we live; values such as diversity, democracy, respect and sustainability.

As children move through the school, the intent is that the knowledge and skills they learn will deepen and be put into new contexts.

All children are entitled to the full curriculum regardless of their age, ability or their underlying needs.  This will enable all children to acquire more knowledge in all curriculum areas through their time at the school.

It is also important that the school is not just able to meet but to go beyond the scope of the National Curriculum in being ambitious for all learners.  Important events that are happening locally, nationally and internationally are also incorporated into our curriculum.

When organising the curriculum, we grouped these areas of learning into six areas which weave through the curriculum and are interlinked.  In EYFS we begin with three areas which widen as children move into Year One.

• Being and Belonging - this begins in Reception with the children learning about themselves and their immediate surroundings.  This develops in Key Stage One with children learning more about their local area and is widened and deepened in Key Stage Two.  The intent behind this strand of the curriculum is to give the children a secure understanding of themselves, their local community and the county in which they live, which will enable them to have secure foundations on which to build their learning of others within the wider world. 
• Opportunity - This strand has areas of learning grouped together which focus on opportunities for the children but also reflecting on how others have used opportunities.  Again, this strand begins with the children themselves before moving further from the children's known experiences.  An example of this is visiting the shops in the Reception year to looking at local opportunities within Key Stage One and moving on to a wider sense of opportunity such as Key Stage Two looking at the opportunities taken by the Saxons when they invaded England in the fifth century.
• Horizons - Broadening the horizons of our pupils through, for example, exposing them to new and contrasting geographical areas, or expanding their concept of historical chronology.  Pupils will look at the challenges faced by others and in doing so, will widen their own horizons, adapting their concept of the world to refine their future thoughts and ideas.
• Success - Success meets the children's personal experiences, through how we can be successful in caring for our surroundings on to the understanding why certain cultures and civilisations have been successful.  Success provides children with a notion of what it means to be successful in a variety of contexts.  They will learn how success can come at a cost and how success can often come after failure and how hard-work and singlemindedness are essential.
• Principle - Children will learn the concept of what are principles, where they come from and how our principles can affect the world around us.  By the end of Key Stage Two, children's schema around this concept will be formed enough to create their own guiding principles based on historical and contemporary people and events.
• Courage - An opportunity to learn about inspiring people from a range of backgrounds.  Pupils will learn how these people's courage changed the world and they will learn how courage can bring positive change.  Children will be able to utilise this information to become courageous advocates for specific concepts of local and national importance.

Implementation

Our curriculum comprises a creative and cross-curricular approach when it is practical.  However, where links are tenuous and the clear identity of the individual subject discipline would be in danger of being lost, that content is taught discretely.  All content is mapped to the National Curriculum to ensure comprehensive coverage of national expectations.  The learning journey is mapped out year by year in subjects such as Maths, English and Science and in a two-year rolling programme in some other subjects.  Subject specific content which has been mapped in partnership between subject leaders and class teachers ensures there is clear progression, consolidation and extension of skills and knowledge.  In addition, this ensures that the curriculum is coherent and appropriately sequenced in programmes of study.  Opportunities are deliberately built in for children to return to areas of learning, which allows them to gain a deeper understanding of the skills and processes within subjects.

Where the curriculum is cross-curricular, it is broadly organised into a range of thematic 'topics' but at all times, the children are to be made  aware of the discipline or the subject being studied.  These topics broadly take the form of 'big ideas or subjects' often linked to History, Geography or Science programmes of study but with carefully matched planned units of other subjects linked to them where appropriately.

When learning, children will have different experiences and learning opportunities.  When starting the learning process these could involve:

• getting an exciting introduction to a new project or scheme of learning
• having opportunities to make observations
• developing spoken language skills
• having fun to engage with a new project
• being introduced to a new book, story or concept
• being set enquiry questions that they need to find out and research

Later on in a sequence of learning, children will have further learning experiences, which could involve:

• improving their knowledge or understanding
• developing and practising new skills
• composing, making, doing, exploring, investigating and writing for different purposes
• research their own questions and those set by others

They will also have a chance to apply these skills, knowledge and understanding in real-life contexts.

Children will also be encouraged to share their learning in a variety of ways:

• becoming performers, experts and informers through presenting their learning in different ways
• sharing their learning with peers, parents or the wider community
• evaluating their own learning
• linking what they have learnt to their starting points
• celebrating their achievements