Curriculum

Here at Sir Francis Hill we provide a creative curriculum based around the Cornerstones Curriculum, a nationally recognised approach for delivering outstanding learning opportunities for children.

What is the Cornerstones Curriculum?

The Cornerstones Curriculum is a creative and thematic approach to learning that is mapped to the 2014 Primary National Curriculum to ensure comprehensive coverage of national expectations. Our new 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 new 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 below:

https://cornerstoneseducation.co.uk/why-cornerstones/

SFH Curriculum 2019-20

Curriculum Statement

We ensure children receive a broad and balanced curriculum which uses elements from the local, national and global community to support their understanding of 'Life' and to support them in reaching their individual potential.

Phonics is taught using the Read Write Inc programme, it provides a structured and systematic approach to teaching literacy. It is used by more than a quarter of the UK's primary schools and is designed to create fluent readers, confident speakers and willing writers.

Following this, when the children are ready, and for most this is in Year 2, they move onto a programme called Active English. Active English is an approach for teaching grammatical understanding to primary-aged pupils. It uses the principles of mnemonics to teach and embed the learning in an active and engaging way, providing the pupils with a deeper grasp of language that will benefit them for life. The approach has been developed by staff at Witham St Hughs Academy in Lincoln, who we work closely with as part of the Equate Teaching School Alliance. At Sir Francis Hill Primary School we deliver Active English in Years 2, 3 and 4.

In Years 5 and 6 the children then follow a writing project called IPEELL. This is a six stage, structured approach to teaching writing based on real experiences. It uses frameworks and mnemonics, which remain constant to all genres, to aid organisation. It involves self-assessment, peer assessment and goal setting, where children take ownership of their own work.

We want to help our children to become real learners, who not only have the key skills of literacy, numeracy, ICT and science, but have a thirst for learning. We recognise that in a fast changing world, our learners will need a wide range of skills and through our curriculum, these are taught. They will need to be able to carry out research, work independently and with others, and to have developed a resourcefulness that will see them through periods of challenge or change.

Each year group has a long term topic plan which allows coverage of all curriculum subjects and engages and motivates all pupils to make links between areas of learning. There is a planned balance between intellectual, physical and personal development. A good range of teaching and learning strategies provide learning opportunities for all.

Our curriculum enables learners to achieve well in all subjects, taking into account their starting points, learning styles and capabilities; subjects also aim to enhance learning, including the application of core skills such as literacy, numeracy and computing across the curriculum. Each topic begins with a hook for learning, this provides a starting point which will hopefully hook in the learning and give them the interest and desire to learn more. These hooks may take the form of a visit off-site or a workshop on-site. All topics also end with a celebratory end point where children can show their work, usually welcoming their parents into school to share this with them.

Teachers tailor the curriculum to meet the specific needs of pupils and work successfully to make sure that everyone is included in all that the school has to offer. This is particularly evident in the range of out-of-hours activities. Clubs are available for all ages and cater for a variety of interests.

Children are taken on Educational Visits throughout the year, where these are related to curriculum work in the classroom. Also, for Years 4 and 6, residential visits are arranged, often with outdoor education content. These visits will extend and develop the whole child, not only their academic, but social and physical skills.