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Our Curriculum 2023 -2024

Our Intent: What do we want for our pupils?

At Melbourne Junior School, we aim to provide our children with a broad and balanced curriculum based on the knowledge, skills and attitudes that will help them to thrive in the wider world and in the next stages of their education. We want our children to grow up able to make valuable contributions as learners in their secondary schools; we also know that our ex-pupils go on to succeed and contribute in a many areas both within our local community and in a range of jobs and careers that take them further afield - as engineers, entrepreneurs, academics, teachers, designers and much more. We hope that the education they receive with us will lay the foundation for full, happy and successful lives. 

Our curriculum follows the National Curriculum but we strive to seek out opportunities, experiences and knowledge that will help our pupils to become global citizens who are tolerant and open to the different cultures and communities that make up the UK. We wish to present our children with a wealth of diverse experiences and knowledge beyond their own lived experience to help them become ambitious for their own futures and be the very best that they can be in what ever they choose. 

We aim to empower every child to be an active participant in their learning, encouraging them to ask questions, be curious, discuss their views and opinions and reflect on the progress that they make. We emphasise the discreet teaching of a full range of curriculum subjects, allowing our children, year on year, to build the knowledge and skills to succeed in many different areas. Our wider curriculum offers our children the opportunity to take part in a range of sport and music as well as the chance to take part in visits and events that enrich their learning. Woven throughout our curriculum are our core values that prepare our children to be PROUD of their education, becoming learners who are: Purposeful, Resilient, Organised, Understanding and Dedicated. 

We aim to include all our pupils, ensuring that our curriculum is accessible to those with a special educational need or disability, those who are disadvantaged, and those with English as an additional language. 

Implementation

The implementation of our curriculum focuses on the discreet teaching of all National Curriculum subjects.  We deliver carefully planned, sequential units of work that allow children to build on prior learning. We aim to deliver a curriculum that goes beyond the development of numeracy and literacy skills so that our pupils understand what it is like to become a young geographer, a scientist, an artist, designer, historian and more. We use a combination of ready to use schemes of work alongside our own schemes. We place a high value on the teaching of rich vocabulary; the careful selection of reading material to encourage our children to become life long readers; and, on the need to revisit, retrieve and consolidate prior learning of both knowledge and skills through frequent retrieval practice. 

Impact

We know that our pupils are able to develop an interest in, and knowledge of, a broad range of subjects and that they are well prepared for the next stage in their education.  Our children's progress is assessed regularly through a combination of teacher assessment and formal summative assessment.  In core areas of reading, EGAPS and Mathematics children sit annual written assessments to support teacher assessment.  Progress in writing is subject to frequent teacher assessment and moderation both in school and with schools across our cluster. At the end of Key Stage 2, children will sit national assessments in Reading, EGAPS and Maths.  In foundation subjects, children's progress is measured through teacher assessment and subject leaders have worked to identify the key knowledge that teachers will be able to identify in order to assess children as working at the 'expected level' for their years group.