Our Curriculum

Churchfield’s SPRING curriculum is designed to create life-long learners who care about their world. It is a springboard to give our children the skills, knowledge and personal qualities to enable them to become whatever they want to be.

Art

At Churchfield, we believe that Art and Design Technology provide great opportunities for children to explore their imagination and develop their creative skills.

In each year group we teach the skills of drawing, painting, using textiles, printing, collaging and working with 3D materials as part of our Art curriculum. The teaching is progressive so that each year, children build upon the skills that they were taught the previous year. Teachers work hard to make sure that their pupils’ next teacher is aware of the skills taught in the previous year group so they can develop these skills further. We ensure that the children are exposed to a range of different artists’ work each year, so they learn a variety of different styles and techniques. We have carefully selected these artists to be representative of our school community and so use the work of artists from many different ethnicities and religions.

Design Technology

In Design Technology each year we teach the skills of:

‘Designing’ – developing, planning and discussing ideas
‘Making’ – working with tools, equipment, materials and components to make quality products
‘Evaluating’ – evaluating the process and the products created.

Throughout their time at Churchfield, children will have the opportunity to take part in lots of DT different projects, for example making a fruit salad in year 1, creating their very own chocolate bar in year 3 and even building an Egyptian temple in year 4!

DT teaching is progressive so that each year, children build upon the skills that they were taught the previous year. Teachers work hard to make sure that their pupils’ next teacher is aware of the skills taught in the previous year group so they can develop these skills further.

English

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

Dr. Seuss, “I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!”

Our English curriculum is planned around exciting, high quality core texts which are linked where possible to our SPRING topics. Speaking and listening skills are developed through a wide range of activities and help children to acquire new vocabulary. Children are taught to develop their reading fluency and inference strategies. Big writing opportunities enable them to plan and write effectively for a range of purposes and audiences.

We further enhance this development through:

Small focused groups;
1:1 interventions;
Specialist programs;
Creating a love of reading and writing for purpose and pleasure.
Lilac and Elklan strategies

Language Development

The development of children’s language is crucial to their success across the curriculum. We want all children to be excellent communicators, to listen actively and to speak with confidence.

We firmly believe that language is the key to learning within our environment. Reading, speaking, listening and writing are closely linked and that is, on the whole, how they are treated within the school. We recognise the need for all pupils to speak, read and write Standard English fluently and accurately, while acknowledging that a pupil’s own dialect, or other language is of prime importance.

Read Write Inc

In EYFS and KS1 we teach phonics using the Read Write Inc (RWI) programme.

When using RWI to read, the children will:

learn that sounds are represented by written letters;
learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letter/ letter groups using simple picture prompts;
learn how to blend sounds;
learn to read using Fred Talk;
read lively stories featuring words they have learned to sound out; and
show that they comprehend the stories by answering questions.

RWI parent information

Reading

The curriculum in our school gives a high profile to reading for pleasure. Children access stories, poems and other texts best when their minds and imaginations are fully engaged. We have found that immersing children in a range of creative activities before reading means that they are fully prepared, and excited, about the reading journey ahead of them.

We aim to:

Promote a life-long love of books through a wide range of opportunities for reading.

Provide children with the skills and strategies to decode and comprehend texts, in order to become confident, competent and fluent readers.
Develop children’s interest in words and their meaning so they extend and enrich their own vocabulary.
Encourage children to evaluate and justify their preferences.
Develop their powers of imagination, inventiveness, analytical skills and appreciation of what they read.
Acquire knowledge and experience of a wide range of authors and genres as models for their own writing.
Encourage care of and respect for books.

We have a well- resourced library that children visit every week to choose rich texts to read at home.

National Curriculum English Programme of Study

Writing

In the Early years we encourage children to read their mark making to adults and this Emergent Writing is valued and displayed. Writing is also integrated into Phonics sessions to ensure children can link sounds to letters. Children continue to develop their skills through Shared Writing, Modelled Writing, Independent and Guided Writing. As they develop in knowledge and confidence, children are encouraged to write at greater length, in a wider range of forms and for a range of purposes. The systematic teaching of spelling and handwriting improves the accuracy of their work.

Children will be taught to:

segment words into their constituent phonemes and represent these using letters;
use a range of approaches to spell irregular words; write independently and creatively for purpose, pleasure and learning;
make stylistic choices about their writing, including vocabulary and use of structural, grammatical and presentational features;
use a range of punctuation correctly;
use different styles of handwriting for different purposes with a range of media, developing a consistent and personal legible style;
select from a wide range of ICT programs to present text effectively and communicate information and ideas.

Please click here to download and view Long term literacy and phonics in EYFS.

Attention is paid throughout the school to the formal structures of English, grammatical detail, punctuation and spelling

(See Appendix 2 of the National Curriculum for English which details the required knowledge and terminology for each year group – please click here)

To support our teaching of writing we use the National Curriculum and Ros Wilson’s Big Write strategies. Teachers model writing strategies and the use of phonics and spelling strategies in shared writing sessions. Guided writing sessions are used to target specific needs of both groups and individuals, whilst children have opportunities to write at length in extended independent writing sessions at the end of each unit.

The children are given frequent opportunities in school to write in different contexts using quality texts as a model and for a variety of purposes and audiences. There are many opportunities for children to improve their writing inspired by drama techniques and film clips. They may be asked to produce their writing on their own or as part of group. Children will also be given the opportunity to use ICT for their writing.

We aim to develop the children’s ability to produce well structured, detailed writing in which the meaning is made clear and which engages the interest of the reader.

Handwriting

We encourage children to develop fluent, clear and legible joined up writing. In EYFS children are taught to print letters and form them correctly. From Year 1 children are taught a cursive script, using Letter Join. Children work hard to achieve a pen licence in KS2; this encourages them to take care in their presentation and pride in their work.

Maths

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, children are taught numbers, shape, space and measure. They are encouraged to explore these areas through nursery rhymes, stories, role-play and a range of practical activities, in both the indoor and outdoor learning environments. Quality provision in maths is provided and child initiated play is observed and supported by staff in order to move pupils on immediately.

We use Numicon to support children’s concepts of numbers and information on this can be found by clicking here

We use Maths No Problem from Years 1 – 6. This approach incorporates the use of resources, problem solving and group work, the Primary Series is child-centred and fun to teach. With a focus on teaching maths for mastery, the series is designed to improve the maths confidence of both teachers and learners.

The whole class works through the programme of study at the same pace with ample time on each topic before moving on. Knowledge and skills are revisited and built on at higher levels as the curriculum spirals through the years.

Differentiated Activities

Tasks and activities are designed to be easy for pupils to access while still containing challenging components. For advanced learners, the textbooks also contain non-routine questions for pupils to develop their higher-order thinking skills.

Some children will work in smaller groups with a skilled adult to enable them to learn the parts of the programme they may have missed previously.

Problem Solving

Lessons and activities are designed to be taught using problem-solving approaches to encourage pupils’ higher-level thinking. The focus is on working with pupils’ core competencies, building on what they know to develop their relational understanding, based on Richard Skemp’s work.

Concrete Pictorial Abstract (CPA) Approach

Based on Jerome Bruner’s work, pupils learn new concepts initially using concrete examples, such as counters, then progress to drawing pictorial representations before finally using more abstract symbols, such as the equals sign.

Variation

The questions and examples are carefully varied by expert authors to encourage pupils to think about the maths. Rather than provide mechanical repetition, the examples are designed to deepen pupils’ understanding and reveal misconceptions.

Maths no Problem Parent videos

MFL

Key Stage 2 pupils have a 45 minute French lesson each week.

The curriculum that we follow is based on the guidance given in the Key Stage 2 Framework for Languages and through the i languages programme.

We teach the children to know and understand how to:

ask and answer questions;
use correct pronunciation and intonation;
memorise key vocabulary;
interpret meaning;
understand basic grammar;
use dictionaries;
work in pairs and groups, and communicate in the other language;
look at life in another culture

PE

At Churchfield, PE is taught for one hour every week by our teachers. The aim of our PE curriculum is that all pupils develop a good understanding of how to live fit and healthy lives, whilst encouraging an enjoyment of competitive sports. We achieve this by following the Enfield schemes of work and teaching children the skills needed to develop their talents in field, net and invasion games. We also provide many after-school sports clubs including: Football, Netball, Athletics, Fitness Club, Multi-Sports and Cricket. All children are also encouraged to participate in daily Fit in 15 activities or a Daily-Mile as part of our keep fit initiative. Our vision is to provide opportunities for pupils to become physically confident in a way which supports their health, fitness and mental well-being.

PSHE

As a part of the SPRING curriculum the children have PSHE (Personal, social, health and economic education) lessons. We provide a PSHE curriculum where the children develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to keep themselves healthy and safe, and prepare for life and work in modern Britain. We also aim to develop skills and attributes such as resilience, self-esteem, risk-management, teamworking and critical thinking in the context of learning grouped into three core themes: health and wellbeing, relationships and living in the wider world (including economic wellbeing and aspects of careers education).

PSHE education contributes to schools’ statutory duties outlined in the Education Act 2002 and the Academies Act 2010 to provide a balanced and broadly-based curriculum and is essential to Ofsted judgements in relation to personal development, behaviour, welfare and safeguarding. The relationships and health aspects of PSHE education will be compulsory in all schools from 2020.

RE

At Churchfield, we believe that understanding one another’s religion is imperative for our pupils. We follow the Enfield SACRE’s Agreed Syllabus, which covers the six major religions of: Buddhism, Islam, Sikhism, Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism. We also ensure that our children learn about other religions and beliefs practised in our local community.

Each half term, pupils learn about one of the six major religions listed above. Learning objectives within RE lessons focus on both “Learning from religion” and “Learning about religion”. R.E is taught through enquiry-based learning. Children are encouraged to lead their learning through exploration and questioning.

Each year, pupils visit a religious place of worship to understand the practices of either their own or others’ religions. This is with the aim that pupils will have visited all six major religion’s places of worship by the time they leave primary school.

Science

At Churchfield, we strive for a high-quality science education that provides the foundations for understanding the world through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. Science has changed our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity, and all of our pupils will learn the essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science through a carefully planned, progressive Science curriculum which aligns closely to our SPRING curriculum. Through building up a body of key foundational knowledge and concepts, our pupils will be encouraged to recognise the power of rational explanation and develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. We will encourage our children to understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave, analyse causes and, most importantly, have fun!