Curriculum Intent

Windmill’s Curriculum

Reading forms the foundation of our curriculum at Windmill. At our school, children are immersed in quality texts, where they can experience the wonder of the world around them and beyond through the work of amazing authors. Our children, not only learn about the world through the lens of outstanding children’s literature and non-fiction, but we aim to foster a love of reading for pleasure which has been shown to be the key influencing factor in life-long success.

The curriculum at Windmill is designed to help all children to achieve their very best, aspire to great things and enjoy their learning. We want our children to be curious, confident, active learners who work well with others, upholding our values at every opportunity: our curriculum is at the heart of these goals. In an ever-changing world, we are mindful of the need to regularly review and update our curriculum to ensure that it meets the needs of our children and supports their learning as they journey through our school.

OUR CURRICULUM OVERVIEW

Our curriculum is designed to suit every child and ensures that our children are equipped with the skills to embrace all possibilities available to them in our diverse world. We will endeavour to develop children who have enquiring minds and increased aspirations for their futures. No dream is too big!

We recognise that curriculum design needs to be fluid, taking into consideration children’s prior learning, needs, interests and experiences, the community we serve as well as the drivers underpinning the statutory national curriculum. It should relate directly to the real world and, as far as possible their future world.

Curriculum Intent

At Windmill our curriculum is underpinned by three fundamental principles:

Intention 1: Intent - To design and develop a curriculum that is broad in scope, ambitious in content and is coherently planned and sequenced within and across all year groups, that will effectively secure the confident acquisition of skills, knowledge and understanding in all our pupils to ensure they become successful, independent and life-long learners.

The curriculum is designed to be adapted and implemented in a way that meets the needs of all children. It is creative, imaginative, promotes acceptance and understanding of the diverse world we live in and engages children’s interest. Our curriculum celebrates cultural richness across the world and aims to instil a love of learning.

There is continuity and linkage between and across subjects in each year and across the years so that pupils can see the connection and relevance of their learning.

“To design a curriculum with appropriate subject knowledge, skills and understanding as set out in the National Curriculum so that children can reach and exceed their potential”.

Intention 2: Implementation - To deliver a rich core and co-curriculum that engages and excites young minds, embeds deep learning and supports the transfer of knowledge and skills across areas of the curriculum and that nurtures children’s character, developing learning behaviours, curiosity and instilling a lifelong love of learning.

Lessons build upon prior knowledge, are engaging, practical and support children to be independent and follow their own lines of enquiry. Breadth and depth is secured through a cross curricular plan that embeds learning and supports the application of skills in a range of contexts / subjects.

“To design a curriculum which grows the key skills of leadership, organisation, resilience, independence and communication so that children become successful learners”

Intention 3: Impact: To secure, through an outward facing curriculum that recognises diversity and the nature of the wider world, the development of children’s character and behaviours so that they are resilient, courageous, responsible, compassionate, respectful and ambitious for themselves and others. (Windmill Primary School Values).

In this way children are inspired to aspire; they are curious, resilient and make great progress over time. The impact of learning in school extends to their engagement in home learning and encourages children to want to discover more for themselves.

“To design a curriculum which results in children developing crucial life-skills and positive moral traits so that they understand their role within the community and the wider world. To be aware of the rule of law, tolerance and being mutually respectful whilst understanding what it means to live in a democracy and have individual liberty.”

Our curriculum for 2020-2021 is based upon the following drivers in order to deliver the aims above:

Work: Many of the careers our children may aspire to do are not even in existence. We need to ensure our children have access to a fully enriched curriculum with appropriate subject knowledge, skills and understanding, as set out in the National Curriculum.
World: Through our curriculum, and the experiences and opportunities we provide for our pupils, we will ensure that individual differences are recognised and celebrated by all.
Wellness: For the purposes of our curriculum, we will define wellness as: an active process of becoming aware of and making positive choices towards a healthy, happy and fulfilling life. Wellness is more than being free from illness (physical and mental). It is a dynamic process of change and growth.

Through planning and delivering exciting, real-life themes to our children, we will ensure that all pupils of Windmill Primary School leave us having achieved the overall vision of our school.

‘Our vision and purpose is to raise a generation of children who grow, learn, dream and become fulfilled beyond all expectations safely and enable children to leave our school wiser, better, more fulfilled and with greater opportunities and choices in every area of their lives than previous generations.’

We will offer our children a range of opportunities and experiences, so that they are aware of the possibilities available to them. We want our pupils to aspire to greatness!

Curriculum Subjects Overview

At Windmill, we follow the National Curriculum which is divided into subject areas; however, we see knowledge and skills as crossing subject boundaries and make links across all subjects, encouraging transferal of skills at each phase.

The National Curriculum sets out the learning in the following subjects for each year group and can be found by clicking this link.

English - at Windmill we use Read Write Inc. as our phonics programme and have become a Power of Reading school in 2021. Led by the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, the Power of Reading provides access to a range of high quality texts that help teachers explore a wide range of themes and issues, promote inclusion and diversity and span the bridge between reading and writing. We aim to ensure that children become skilled and confident communicators with a love of great writing and a joy in the power of words.

Maths - at Windmill we use Power Maths as our Maths programme and have adopted a mastery approach to maths teaching. This approach recognises

The value of developing the power to think rather than just do!
The value of making a coherent journey where the class tackles concepts in small steps; by creating a solid foundation of deep understanding our children’s skills and confidence will be strong and secure. The mind-set of the learner and teacher is key: everyone can do maths!

Science: Lessons relate science to the real world and world of work. Knowledge is built upon each year so pupils have an embedded knowledge of the concepts and a curiosity to understand why and how in preparation for secondary.

ICT / Computing: The curriculum supports hands on learning and an understanding of applications in relation to real life contexts. Children also learn about wider digital world and how to keep themselves safe.

Physical Education: the PE curriculum is predicated on children being on a continual journey to develop their fitness and physical skills. It also develops positive learning behaviours including resilience, as well as leadership skills. Through Real PE, gym and dance children learn through a range of disciplines and also access community support through our broad co-curricular offer.

PSHE / RSE: The PSHE curriculum is designed to support the holistic development of every child. We want every pupil to develop confidence and understanding of self and others both socially and emotionally, to be resilient, able to manage their feelings, know how to lead healthy lives and to stay safe and be ready for the next stage in life.

History and Geography: the foundation curriculum is developing its links to the reading curriculum; its overarching intent is for our children to know that there is a wider world beyond their immediate community. Through practical work and study of a range of historic periods, countries, climates and environments the children learn about diversity, influences on our society today, the pressures on the geography, flora and fauna in areas across the world and to appreciate the importance of valuing our planet. We want our children to be inspired to experience the world and understand the amazing places out there!

Art & Design: In this area of the curriculum pupils learn to reflect upon, evaluate and appreciate art in a range of mediums and from across the world. They also incrementally develop their skills from mark making to illustration, design and use of different media to develop creativity and reflect their view of the world. As an outcome the children can see and discuss the value and purpose of art and DT in everyday life.

Music: Our music curriculum enhances areas of study linked to the pupils’ topic work. Delivered by a music specialist, children study a range of musical genres, composers and music from different cultures, whilst also developing their expertise in singing as well as a range of musical instruments including the ukelele!

Languages: Through the study of French, we aim to immerse KS2 children in the culture, customs and uniqueness of France. The curriculum promotes awareness and appreciation of another country and considers the impact of French on our language today.

Religious Education: the curriculum aim is to ensure children have a good understanding and respect for the wide range of beliefs, practices and ideas both within this community and the wider world. It supports children to understand how these beliefs, ideas and practices affect the culture around us, to appreciate diversity and to enjoy celebrate the richness of human life. It enables children to develop personal values, a moral compass and to be able to express their own beliefs and viewpoints with reason, confidence and acceptance of others.

A rich co-curriculum - 101 Experiences: through a range of enrichment opportunities both within and beyond the classroom we seek to give all our children a wealth of opportunities to try something new, challenge themselves and to access places, people or experiences that can enhance their knowledge, understanding and appreciation of learning in class. These experiences offer children opportunities to meet and work with new people, to get a deeper understanding of the world of work and our communities to move forward as rounded global citizens.

Learning Maths at Windmill Primary School

Each lesson begins with a Power Up activity which supports fluency in key number facts. They reinforce key skills such as times-tables, number bonds and working with place value.

Next the children are encouraged to Discover maths through exploring a practical, real-life problem which arouses their curiosity where the children find the maths through story-telling. The children then Share the different ways that they have solved the problems which highlights the various methods that can be used to solve a single problem,

The Think together section enables children and adults to share ideas for solving the problems moving towards more independent thinking through the challenges that are set.

The children then move on to Practice their new skills or understanding though independent work in their Practice Books,

Finally, the children have a chance to Reflect on their learning for the day.

Throughout the lessons, children are encouraged to use concrete resources, pictorial representations and the abstract to explore different concepts and to challenge their thinking and understanding in a variety of ways.

Mathematical language

We encourage the use of precise and consistent mathematical language and both teachers and children use full sentences to explain ideas or respond to questions. The use of stem sentences throughout the learning journey, help children express mathematical concepts accurately.

Number Bonds

Number bonds play a key part to the understanding of number. They help children to see that numbers can be "broken" into pieces to make computation easier. There are many songs and games available here to help support this learning and we encourage you to support the development of this.

Times Tables Rock stars

Learning times tables is really important. After all, they’re the building blocks of maths, and with their multiplications mastered, young mathematicians can do anything! That’s why we at Windmill subscribe to this excellent website. You can access Times Tables Rockstars here.

Our curriculum will continue to evolve with lots of exciting, purposeful learning opportunities to ensure the progress of our children.

101 things to do before you leave Windmill School

An Aspirational Wider Curriculum

At Windmill Primary School, we want to secure the best academic outcomes for all our children. But we also want to give all learners access to a fantastic range of wider experiences through our ‘100 Things to Do before you’re 11 ¾ plan!

This is a list of experiences that we would like all children to have during their seven years at Windmill. It is through giving children these experiences that they come to know the wealth of opportunity available to them and discover their talents. This list has been agreed in consultation with all pupils through our School Council.

Drawing from the National Trust’s 50 things to do before you are 11 ¾, we want to challenge our young people to aim for 100 amazing experiences before they leave us – well prepared for the challenges and opportunities of secondary school and life!

Handle real money
Visit the local library
Play with water
Solve real life problems
Eat a school dinner
Grow a plant from seed
Enjoy a whole school picnic
Visit a theme park
Take part in a dress up historical day
Design a board game
Watch a pantomime
Create a model volcano
Dissect a flower
Swim 25 metres+
Dress up
See a ballet
Learn to sew
Join a school club
Learn to cook
Try playground art
Go pond dipping
Hunt for mini beasts
Bake cakes
Climb a hill / mountain
Make and fly a kite
Papier mache balloon modelling
Seasonal decoration in class
Take part in a community project
Programme an electronic device
Take part in a quiz
Represent the school
Go on a residential trip
Complete a home learning project with a family member
Experience another culture
Sing around a bonfire / campfire
Raise money for charity
Visit a farm
Visit a zoo
Visit a museum
Visit the seaside
Visit a castle
Take bikeability lessons
Attend a school disco
Run a stall at a school fair
Launch a model rocket
Read/ perform Shakespeare
Make something from wood
Be a pupil leader
Make a clay pot
Help in a school environment project
Travel by train
Visit a theatre
Cook and share a meal
Learn where foods come from
Make a musical instrument
Learn to play a musical instrument
Learn about local history
Visit London
Visit a place of worship
Decorate a pumpkin
Make a Christingle orange
Write a letter to an MP or local leader
Take part in an Armistice Day event
Write to someone at a different school
Take part in a Christmas performance
Meet an author
Watch a live sporting event
Learn a different language
Learn basic first aid
Have tea with the Principal
Be a pupil leader
Take part in a play
Have a piece of your writing published
Take part in a school competition
Take part in the Singing Playground
Show a visitor around the school
Climb a rock wall
Do some yoga
Learn about stamps from across the world
Complete a reading passport
Be a times table Rock Star
Get a 100% attendance certificate
Join a school club
Make a picture using hand / foot prints
Write yourself a letter to read in ten years’ time
Draw with charcoal
Enjoy a French breakfast
Invent something to make the world a better place
Win 50 values points for your house
Take part in sports day
Have your work displayed in our school gallery
Do some outdoor Science
Act as a buddy or mentor for another pupil
Run a lunchtime activity for younger pupils
Conduct a science experiment
Write a poem
Take part in a nature watch activity
Make an area of our school look beautiful
Develop wildlife areas on our site

And for 100 – Show an act of kindness to someone who supports you in school!