Curriculum Policy  

Academy: Co-op Academy Woodlands

Approved by: Adele Clark (Headteacher)

Approved date: October 2022

Next Review Date: October 2023

Contents

Curriculum Policy

1. Curriculum aims – Intent and Implementation statement

“I am an aspirational, resilient and confident learner and a caring and responsible citizen.
I am respectful, thoughtful, ready and excited about my future”.

1.2 2022-23 Subject/Area Leaders

1.3 Our Values – The Ways of Being Co-op

1.4 Our Values – RESPECT

1.5 The 4As – Our Curriculum is ambitious, accessible, adaptable and aware

2. Legislation and guidance

3. Roles and responsibilities

4. Organisation and planning

5. Inclusion

6. Monitoring arrangements

7. Links with other policies

8. Appendices

1. Curriculum aims – Intent and Implementation statement

Our Overarching Curriculum
Intent Statement:

We want every child to be able to say:

“I am an aspirational, resilient and confident learner and a caring and responsible citizen.
I am respectful, thoughtful, ready and excited about my future”.

Co-op Academy Woodlands serves a unique community which brings together children from around the world. They bring with them wide-ranging cultural experiences and this is a great resource for our school. Our pupils speak many different languages. For most of our pupils, developing English language and vocabulary is a high priority. For this reason, we have put language, literature and vocabulary at the heart of our curriculum. We take every opportunity to broaden our pupils’ language skills, for example having a progressive Nursery rhyme curriculum to improve speaking and language acquisition, the implicit teaching of age- and subject specific vocabulary within the curriculum and developing an emotional register with a progressive emotional vocabulary curriculum so that pupils are using age appropriate challenging vocabulary to regulate their feelings.

Our ambitious curriculum is designed to help pupils discover their talents and interests, and hence, understand what success means and feels like for them. Through our curriculum, we prioritise pupils’ moral development. We are passionate about our children having the courage to make the right moral choices, regardless of who is watching.

A significant proportion of our children will only be with us for part of their primary education; some will arrive from or leave to a different area of the UK or a different country. Some might arrive and leave more than once and some will have experienced multiple school moves before they join us. Our curriculum is carefully sequenced to ensure that key knowledge is built as pupils move through the school. This means that teachers are fully aware of any potentially missed learning for pupils joining us at later points.

Many of our children are a part of a large family. This often brings with it responsibility for looking after others and, as a result, our pupils are caring and mature. We believe it is important to build on this, so we give pupils regular opportunities to make a difference to others, the school and the community. This supports their social and moral development and their motivation to contribute. For example, the academy has a school council and the academy uses pupil voice to support decision and policy making.

The local area is identified as one of high deprivation, with high levels of unemployment and, often, over-crowded housing. With the aim of improving pupils’ life chances/script we are passionate about giving our pupils opportunities outside of their usual experiences and environment. We expect children to engage actively in lessons and to develop a strong work ethic. Learning about careers and employability is a key focus and as a result the school implemented the Skills Builder curriculum. The Skills Builder curriculum aims to teach all our children the 8 essential skills of listening, speaking, problem-solving, creativity, staying positive, aiming high, leadership and teamwork. These skills will support children not just now in Primary school, but also in all areas of their life as well as when they move to high school, college, university or apprenticeships.

1.2 2022-23 Subject/Area Leaders

1.3 Our Values – The Ways of Being Co-op

1.4 Our Values – RESPECT

1.5 The 4As – Our Curriculum is ambitious, accessible, adaptable and aware

2. Legislation and guidance

This policy reflects the requirements for academies to provide a broad and balanced curriculum as per the Academies Act 2010, and the National Curriculum programmes of study which we have chosen to follow.

It also reflects requirements for inclusion and equality as set out in the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice 2014 and Equality Act 2010, and refers to curriculum-related expectations of governing boards set out in the Department for Education’s Governance Handbook.

This policy complies with our funding agreement and articles of association.

In addition, this policy acknowledges the requirements for promoting the learning and development of children set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework.

3. Roles and responsibilities

3.1 Governors

The governing board will monitor the effectiveness of this policy and hold the headteacher to account for its implementation.

The governing board will also ensure that:

• A robust framework is in place for setting curriculum priorities and aspirational targets;
• The school is complying with its funding agreement and teaching a "broad and balanced curriculum" which includes English, maths, and science, and enough teaching time is provided for pupils to cover the requirements of the funding agreement;
• Proper provision is made for pupils with different abilities and needs, including children with special educational needs (SEN);
• The school implements the relevant statutory assessment arrangements;
• It participates actively in decision-making about the breadth and balance of the curriculum.

3.2 Headteacher

The headteacher is responsible for ensuring that this policy is adhered to, and that:

• All required elements of the curriculum, and those subjects which the school chooses to offer, have aims and objectives which reflect the aims of the school and indicate how the needs of individual pupils will be met;
• The amount of time provided for teaching the required elements of the curriculum is adequate and is reviewed by the governing board;
• They manage requests to withdraw children from curriculum subjects, where appropriate;
• The school’s procedures for assessment meet all legal requirements;
• Governors are involved in decision-making processes that relate to the breadth and balance of the curriculum;
• The governing board is advised on whole-school targets in order to make informed decisions;
• Proper provision is in place for pupils with different abilities and needs, including children with SEN.

3.3 Other staff

Other staff will ensure that the school curriculum is implemented in accordance with this policy.

Curriculum Leader

The Assistant Headteacher for Curriculum is responsible for ensuring that this policy is adhered to, and that:

• All required elements of the curriculum, and those subjects which the school chooses to offer, have aims and objectives which reflect the aims of the school and indicate how the needs of individual pupils will be met;
• The amount of time provided for teaching the required elements of the curriculum is adequate and is reviewed by the governing board;
• The school’s procedures for assessment meet all legal requirements;
• Governors are involved in decision-making processes that relate to the breadth and balance of the curriculum;
• The governing board is advised on whole-school targets in order to make informed decisions;
• Proper provision is in place for pupils with different abilities and needs, including children with SEN.

Subject Middle Leaders

Subject Leaders are responsible for:

• Monitoring and improving the standard of provision and outcomes in their subject area(s);
• Ensuring that learning with their subject(s) is coherent, developmental and progressive.

Class Teachers

Teachers are responsible for:

• Following the curriculum procedures outlined in this policy;
• Articulating the curriculum vision to pupils, in the form of the character development strands and learning rationales;
• Feeding back on the effectiveness of the curriculum;
• Regular curriculum reviews.

Pupils are responsible for:

•  Engaging in contributing to the curriculum.

4. Organisation and planning

• The curriculum is based around topics which have a History or Geography focussed driver.  
• From this, the school has created a long-term plan (in the form of a road map) which outlines all of the topics the children at Woodlands will take part in – see appendix.
• Using each topic theme, The Curriculum Leader and Subject Middle Leaders have mapped out medium term planning for each of the Foundation Subjects. These are saved in the Subjects shared drive.
• From these medium-term plans, subject leaders have planned objectives, or small steps, from the Foundation Subjects into lessons, creating a unit of work that has been carefully sequenced to ensure gaps in knowledge and skills are addressed, and that our units are ambitious, accessible, aware and adaptable.
• Teachers are expected to annotate the medium-term plans to suit the needs of their learners. If changes in order or objectives need to be made, teachers must discuss this with the relevant foundation subject leader and Curriculum Leader.
• Marking and feedback is linked to carefully planned learning objectives that break the learning into smaller steps and all foundation subject marking follows the schools’ Marking and Feedback policy.
• Each year group will explore links our local area of Harehills and Gipton in Leeds, mainly in History. Teachers will allow children to explore the changes of their local area over time and to compare where they live to settlements around the world.
• Specific curriculum areas:

• Relationships and health education

• As part of our Personal, Social and Health Education (P.S.H.E.) scheme – You, Me and P.S.H.E., our teachers follow a carefully planned outline that teaches our children about being healthy in term of themselves and with others around them; this is built upon each year and encompasses a range of situations that our children may face as they grow older.
• Further to the scheme, our Curriculum and PSHE leaders have planned additional Woodlands-Specific units. The PSHE long term plan can be found in the appendices of this policy.
• Further information can be found in the school’s R.S.E. policy.

• Relationships and sex education

• As part of our Personal, Social and Health Education (P.S.H.E.) scheme – You, Me and P.S.H.E., our teachers follow a carefully planned outline that teaches our children about the different relationships we have in our day to day lives and how these change over time.
• The scheme is planned in such a way that the R.S.E. topics covered are age-appropriate for the children as they progress through school.
• Further information can be found in the school’s R.S.E. policy.

• Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development

• P.S.H.E. learning gives staff the opportunity to deliver lessons that allow our learners to develop their spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding; giving children the chance to discuss and learn about people from around the world, people around us, different cultures and to think about the kind of person they want to be.

• British values

• At Co-op Academy Woodlands, our curriculum fully encompasses the fundamental British Values: democracy; the rule of law; individual liberty; mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs. Our Co-op ‘Ways of Being’ and RESPECT Values are part of everything we do and work in conjunction with British Values. Our broad and balanced curriculum allows the exploration of all these values across our topics and subjects.

• Careers Related Learning (CRL)

• The Co-op Trust is committed to ensuring all of our students have access to high quality Career related learning (CRL) opportunities throughout each stage of their development. Our CRL programmes will inspire, raise aspirations and give our students an optimistic outlook on life.
• At Co-op Academy Woodlands the vision for the development of CRL is to provide the very best opportunities to enable our pupils to broaden their horizons and raise aspirations.  We want our children to see a clear link and purpose between their learning experiences and their future. Our program promotes equality of opportunity, gives exposure to the world of work, celebrates diversity and challenges stereotypes
• Planning for CRL is included in the long term PSHE planning. Teachers are encouraged to explore links to careers through the core and non-core curriculum when possible both implicitly and explicitly. It is recognised that opportunities are often spontaneous, following the children’s learning, experiences and ideas.
• See our CRL Programme document for information on how Careers Related Learning is delivered throughout our curriculum.

5. Inclusion

Teachers set high expectations for all pupils. They will use appropriate assessment to set ambitious targets and plan challenging work for all groups, including:

• More able pupils;
• Pupils with low prior attainment;
• Pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds;
• Pupils with SEN;
• Pupils with English as an additional language (EAL).

Teachers will plan lessons so that pupils with SEN and/or disabilities can study every National Curriculum subject, wherever possible, and ensure that there are no barriers to every pupil achieving. Teachers can use symbols from Widgit to support EAL and SEN learners with their understanding of key vocabulary. Colourful Semantics can also be used to break up the foundation subjects lessons into smaller chunks. Children have SEN will have access to the same teaching but will follow differentiated tasks set by the teacher using BSquared assessments.

Teachers will also take account of the needs of pupils whose first language is not English. Lessons will be planned so that teaching opportunities help pupils to develop their English, and to support pupils to take part in all subjects.

Further information can be found in our statement of equality information and objectives, and in our SEN policy and information report.

6. Monitoring arrangements

Governors monitor whether the school is complying with its funding agreement and teaching a “broad and balanced curriculum” which includes the required subjects, through:

• Action planning shared by Senior Leaders;
• Monitoring evidence shared by Senior Leaders and Curriculum Leaders;
• Shared school targets from SLT thought the Academy Annual Development Plan.

Subject Leaders/curriculum leaders monitor the way their subject is taught throughout the school by:

• Planning scrutinies;
• Learning walks and observations;
• Pupil interviews;
• Staff forums;
• Book scrutinies;
• Subject specific ‘deep dives’;
• Reviews of displays and learning environments.

The Curriculum Lead, in conjunction with subject leaders, also has responsibility for monitoring the way in which resources are stored and managed. Subject leaders will attend subject specific professional development sessions to up-skill their knowledge and understanding. It is the responsibility of subject leaders to work in conjunction with the curriculum leader to drive their subject in school and to monitor and review the impact of our curriculum.

This policy will be reviewed every year by the Curriculum Leader. At every review, the policy will be shared with the full governing board.

7. Links with other policies

This policy links to the following policies and procedures:

• EYFS policy
• Assessment policy
• SEN policy and information report
• Equality information and objectives
• Academy Improvement Plan
• PSHE Policy
• RSE policy
• CRL Programme

8. Appendices

This policy refers to the following documentation:

8.1 Our School Topics Road Map

Our Foundation Subjects Curriculum long term plan:

This road map can also be found on the Overview page in the Curriculum section of the school website.

8.2 Our PSHE Long Term Plan