The Weald - An overview of our curriculum

A space to learn.  A space to grow.

At The Weald, we support all members of our school community – our children, our staff and our families to make and keep this pledge so that our children learn, grow and achieve their very best.

Our curriculum:

• Puts the mental and physical wellbeing of our children at the heart of all that we do;
• Connects our learners as local citizens of today with the ideas, knowledge and skills they will need as the global citizens of the future;
• Applies National Curriculum content through real world contexts;
• Encourages our learners to be curious, ask probing questions and be brave in finding solutions;
• Enacts the core Christian values of our school ‘Respect, Responsibility, Love, Trust and Forgiveness’, which promote respect for others, responsibility for ourselves and mutual trust. 
• Promotes diversity and inclusion;
• Is enriched by well-planned, outdoor learning opportunities, off-site experience days and immersive workshops.

Our intention is to create a culture of enquiry, curiosity and challenge that runs through our whole curriculum.  Our school is developing a local, bespoke version of the Curious-city™ framework which supports our teachers to create contextually relevant, enquiry-led experiences. This enquiry-led approach is enabling The Weald to create a bespoke, locally focused curriculum for our learners that goes beyond the current National Curriculum.  

How is the curriculum taught at The Weald?

Our enquiry-led curriculum supports our pupils to explore subjects through a sequence of ‘key questions’ which build up children’s knowledge and skills over time. Through our curriculum, our children see themselves as different states of being, for example, as Authors, Mathematicians and Artists – rather than simply learning about English, Mathematics or Art. Author (English) and Mathematicians (Maths) lessons are explicitly taught daily.  Enquiries are planned to ensure a broad and balanced range of learning across each phase. The curriculum is enhanced by locally rich and relevant experiences, which weaves in faith, community, and culture.

We support learners to master both the know of and know-how of a subject, not just remember it. For instance, we want our learners to be Scientists, not just learn about science.  It is also important to make logical links between subjects. We want our learners to discover for themselves that they can be an Author, Scientist, Geographer and Philosopher at the same time and that some adults combine these states to become Archaeologists, for instance. You will see these around our school buildings, on visual timetables, on school displays and our online learning platform.

It is important that the children see the connection between the subjects they are learning and how this knowledge can be applied.

What are the core principles underpinning the enquiry-led learning?

In a nutshell, enquiry-led learning provokes learners with key questions too big to answer in one go, but not so conceptually large that they cannot understand. The purpose is to guide learners through a scaffolded process, answering the big question with a piece of writing for example, performance or animation. Cognitive development, emotional literacy and language immersion underpin the Curious City approach (Lighting up Learning). We recognise that children's awareness of the world develops as they mature and that this has a significant impact on their ability to learn. Our job is to help learners make sense of the world, not just expose them to it.

The seven themes

Enable learners to become…

At The Weald our excellent outdoor environment and the local community are an opportunity for active learning for all our pupils. The school grounds are evolving to enrich different curriculum areas, and outdoor learning is actively promoted and planned for.  We ensure in-school learning is enhanced by relevant educational visits and visitors, overnight residential visits which take place in Year 4 and 6, assemblies, charity days and responding to events in the news. A range of clubs and enrichment activities such as concerts, sports matches, gardening competitions, arts assemblies, music, and dance festivals are a regular occurrence in our school. These are a vital part of the children’s development as lifelong learners and ensure individual talents are nurtured and celebrated.

How is the impact of our curriculum measured?

The impact of our enquiry curriculum can be seen and heard as well as represented in outcomes. Real learning can be seen through the children’s books, displays and the challenges that the children produce. In classrooms, working walls demonstrate the learning journey; States of Being characters feature in books, classroom displays and visual timetables as well as on our website and newsletters.

At The Weald, on-going assessment is a feature of every lesson, which enables our teachers to plan the next small steps for each child. We have high expectations of our children, and we help them to make good progress in all subjects. This individual progress is tracked and reported to parents and carers at parents evening and on the end of year report.

The Weald uses a range of monitoring throughout the year to gauge the effectiveness of what we teach.  Senior Leaders and Subject Champions monitor each subject: reviewing learning, asking pupils for their opinion, providing individual feedback to children, celebrating the children’s success.  The impact of our curriculum is reviewed termly, and progress is measured against end of year outcomes for individual pupils and for the year group.

To find out more about our local, knowledge-engaged, globally connected, enquiry-led curriculum ask us about the deliberate action we are taking to shape our curriculum to meet the needs of our learners and community that we are proudly a part of.

For more information about how we make our curriculum accessible for children with Special Educational Needs please visit our SEND page of the website or call our SENDCo Mrs Hopkins who would be happy to talk to you.

Do you require more information?

If you would like further information about the curriculum, please speak to your child's class teacher in the first instance.

Our Deputy Head Teacher Miss Lucas has responsibility for the curriculum overview and can be contacted via the school office.

Click Here for information about The National Curriculum.

Click Here for information about our approach to teaching, learning and assessment in The Good Shepherd Trust schools.