Curriculum overview

At Churchwood our vision ‘Everyone Can’, in collaboration with our school values, translates into a knowledge-rich curriculum with the intent of closing the knowledge gap between the advantaged and disadvantaged. Our classrooms may be the primary source of knowledge for the most vulnerable pupils and so we guarantee knowledge through the design of our ambitious curriculum whilst also supporting children with SEND in order to close the attainment gap. 

Our Curriculum is relevant, exciting and meaningful and responds to the needs of the individuals within our learning community.  Each subject’s curriculum is planned and sequenced so new knowledge and skills build on what has previously been taught.  Using the National Curriculum as a basis, subjects are coherently planned and sequenced developing pupils’ knowledge with the aim being that ‘Everyone can know more and remember more at Churchwood’.  Over the year, there are three over-arching themes, supported by core texts that run throughout the programmes of study. The core texts have been selected as high-quality texts to support the delivering of our English curriculum, while supporting learning and acquisition of knowledge in wider curriculum subjects. We teach each subject discipline in its own right because we believe it is essential that we stimulate and broaden our children’s horizons, developing them as historians in history, scientists in science and so on. Subject specific knowledge progression documents detail how new knowledge is sequentially built and links to previously learnt knowledge. 

The core subjects for all children involves knowledge-rich daily lessons in the building blocks of all education: reading, phonics/spelling, story-telling, handwriting, writing and mathematics. We value the pursuit of knowledge enabling every child to flourish. Reading is at the heart of provision at Churchwood.  Due to our drive to provide the best possible learning opportunities for children, we use an approach called ‘Letters and Sounds’ to support our phonics teaching, taking into account the children’s individual needs to ensure the phase and teaching approach matches their requirements with the knowledge required at each stage. This works hand in hand with our Daily Supported Reader teaching which allows children to implement their phonetic knowledge when reading books on a daily basis and analysing the information and structure as a means to transfer this knowledge into their own reading and writing.   As pupils move on to Key Stage Two, they move to complete Destination Reader sessions.  This blends a range of learning behaviours and reading strategies, which when brought together, allow children to explore and understand texts independently, at a deeper level.  Across the academy, the love of reading is continually promoted through our ‘Reading for Pleasure’ incentives.  Classes are named after famous authors and book corners and our library area provide a reading rich environment and celebrate high quality texts.  Pupils enjoy wearing their reading medals with pride weekly and visiting our academy book vending machine. 

Cultural capital opportunities are the golden thread woven across our curriculum. Learning is enhanced and deepened for our pupils through experiential learning, workshops, educational visits, links with our communities and opportunities to develop life-long skills – developing strong and lasting memories.  These experiences help ensure that our pupils acquire the essential knowledge needed to be educated and well informed citizens. 

Through high quality teaching and learning and varied first hand experiences our children develop knowledge and skills giving them the ability to be:

  • Respectful
  • Empathetic
  • Ambitious
  • Resilient
  • Independent
  • Co-operative

The curriculum at Churchwood equips pupils with a positive attitude towards their learning through empowering them to have high aspirations and set challenging goals for themselves.  Our curriculum fosters independence, creativity, resilience, curiosity, determination, collaboration and the ability to make connections to prior learning to ensure firm foundations for the learning ahead.

If you require details of our curriculum, please look below at our subject specific progression documents and Year group Overviews.