The St Alban’s CE Aided Primary School Curriculum

What does your child learn at school each day? Find information about our curriculum here.

Our Curriculum Intent

We define ‘curriculum’ as the totality of a child’s experience at St Alban’s CE Aided Primary School, not just the programmes of study set out in the National Curriculum.

Our curriculum is driven by our vision for every child to be ‘Inspired to make a difference in God’s world with excellence and love’ which is firmly underpinned by our core Christian values of Love, Hope, Thankfulness and Compassion.

Through a consistent focus on developing our vision and values, and a first class educational experience, we aim for all children who come to our school to:

• know that they are unique and precious, loved by God
• become skilled, knowledgeable and academically successful with a love of learning and curiosity
• be respectful of all people and God's world, tolerant, accepting and open minded
• be prepared for a rapidly changing modern world, knowing how to keep themselves physically and mentally healthy and safe
• be independent and self-motivated with high aspirations
• become confident and resilient with a strong sense of self worth
• be morally principled, courageous advocates, able to challenge and stand up for what is right and know when to compromise
• develop compassion and the ability to forgive
• develop creativity
• become emotionally intelligent, skilled in teamwork and building relationships
• be able to explore faith and spirituality

Our Curriculum Implementation

Like all schools in England, we must follow the National Curriculum; this sets out subjects and content that we must teach. Within this, however, there is flexibility so that we can interpret and plan to meet the needs and interests of our children. How we structure and organise the statutory curriculum is detailed below.

Alongside the National Curriculum, we also follow the locally agreed syllabus for Religious Education (Living Difference IV). We teach phonics using 'Essential Letters and Sounds’ (ELS).

The individual subject documents below describe how our curriculum is organised from Year 1 to Year 6, and also the knowledge children are expected to learn in each unit of work. These documents also detail clearly for all staff the subject specific expectations for high quality teaching and learning practice and pupil experience.

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Curriculum

In Reception class we follow the 'Statutory Framework for the EYFS', supported by ‘Development Matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage’ (non-statutory curriculum guidance for the EYFS).  Topics are designed in the EYFS to enable content from the Statutory Curriculum and Development Matters to be taught in a context that is engaging, meaningful, relevant and motivating to our children. You can view Development Matters and EYFS curriculum maps by selecting the following links:

Beyond National Curriculum Subjects

It is essential that all children who progress through our school have regular opportunities within our curriculum for spiritual, moral, social and cultural development (SMSC), including British values. You can read more about how we plan for this by selecting the links below:

We also provide a wide range of extra-curricular opportunities and experiences as part of our wider curriculum provision to supplement and enhance the requirements of the National Curriculum. For example:

• Peripatetic music tuition, including the opportunity for every child to learn how to play three instruments in Year 4 (Listen2Me tuition)
• ‘Buddy’ peer coaching scheme for Year 6/R and Year 5/1 pupils, where our oldest pupils are trained to become effective mentors and role models to our youngest pupils, contributing actively to the creation of the ‘St Alban’s family’
• Before school, lunchtime and afterschool clubs and activities with a particular focus on increasing physical activity for all
• Inter-school sporting competitions and ‘friendlies’
• Regular opportunities for every class to perform to an invited audience every term through our rich worship program which also includes opportunity for pupils to plan and lead their own acts of class worship
• Pupil leadership ambassador scheme in specific areas, such as Worship, Values, Sport, the Hive (see below)
• Library sessions led by our school librarian (to help all pupils learn how to use the library, and including hearing from visiting authors and contributing to publications)
• A varied and interesting program of visits to ensure learning is memorable and taught through real contexts
• Visits, visitors and activities that promote ‘staying safe’. For example, Junior Citizen, NSPCC Speak out stay safe, Rail safety, online safety with PCSO Lee Haywood, Fire Safety
• House and House Captain system and a School Council, ensuring pupils have a voice, contribute to decision-making and recognise the responsibility they have in improving their school
• Emotional Literacy Support curriculum with bespoke support for groups and individuals

Outdoor Learning Curriculum (Trailblazer)

We provide opportunities for all children to engage in outdoor and environmental education across the curriculum. Each class pledges to carry out at least 40 hours of outdoor learning each year. This includes class trips and residential visits as well as learning in other curriculum subjects. For example, ‘longitudinal studies’ are planned as part of our Science curriculum and enable children to observe, investigate, study and manage their changing outdoor environment over the course of an academic year. The school’s outdoor curriculum also provides opportunities for children to engage in gardening with wildlife in mind and is supported by a specialist teacher, members of Havant Horticultural Society and by other gardening volunteers.

Our focus on outdoor learning ensures that pupils are not only motivated to learn, but also able to develop an excellent understanding of their impact on the environment and their responsibility to protect it for future generations (making a positive difference in God’s world). As a result, pupils at our school take this responsibility very seriously and also successfully influence others to make positive changes, for example through the ‘Polli Promise’ campaign described below.

The school’s ‘Polli Promise’ campaign, which is supported by the Government and has been awarded three consecutive ‘Bees Needs’ awards by DEFRA, developed from the St Alban’s pupils Polli:Nation ‘Art with a Message’ competition winning entry. The school’s pupil-led campaign group (The Hive) has been securing pledges from pupils, parents, teachers and members of their local community and beyond to put aside a one by one metre plot to grow plants that provide food and shelter for pollinating insects.

Following on from the success of the Polli Promise campaign, our school has been chosen to be part of a National Geographic project (XPolli) which is helping to take Polli Promise to other schools in Hampshire and Italy in partnership with the Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) at Imperial College London. This is providing opportunities for our pupils to engage in real research (Citizen Science) and test new computer technologies as the lead school helping to develop computer-based pollinator identification and planting tools that will be used in the XPolli project.

“We are absolutely delighted that St Alban’s students are involved in XPolli:Nation. Your Polli Promise campaign was so inspirational that we wanted to take it to other countries. We also wanted to combine it with some helpful technology to develop a citizen science programme that not only collects useful data for scientists, but that motivates other young people and their communities to learn about, and protect pollinators. We can’t wait to start work with your school. You will be so valuable in helping us to improve our tools, supporting research by recording pollinators and convincing others to provide homes and food for these vital insects.” Dr Lakeman Fraser (OPAL)

Inclusion

All children are entitled to experience success and to have the opportunity to engage in a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum. At St Alban’s CE Aided Primary School all children are treated as unique individuals and are valued as part of the school’s inclusive ethos. We make adaptations to our provision and provide additional support to ensure that every pupil has the best possible chance to succeed and thrive.

We provide additional support when this is needed for any pupil who requires it, with an emphasis on identifying needs and providing appropriate support as early as possible in order to close gaps and help pupils achieve well. The Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) policy, available on the school website or on request, fulfils the regulations in the Disability Discrimination Act and the SEN Code of Practice. The school also seeks advice and works closely with a wide range of external services and agencies to support our work, e.g. Educational Psychologist, EAL, Hearing, Visual Impairment Advisory Teachers, Speech and Language Therapists. The degree of support and the nature of the support given are determined by the needs of each individual child.

Safeguarding within the curriculum - how are pupils taught to keep themselves safe?

All schools have statutory responsibilities relating to the safety of children in their care. This includes the responsibility to teach children about safeguarding as part of a broad and balanced curriculum, as required in Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE).

Pupil safeguarding rightly takes the very highest priority at our school. We ensure that we meet all safeguarding requirements and we also have a strong focus within our curriculum on ensuring that children learn about important safeguarding topics and issues in an age appropriate way. Learning about these areas is an essential element of children’s personal development as it ensures that they are better equipped to keep themselves safe throughout their lives and can live life ‘in all its fullness’ (a central aim of the Church of England’s Vision for Education).

Safeguarding content is delivered within many curriculum areas, including in particular our Personal, Social, Health and Economic curriculum (PSHE), Religious Education (RE), Computing and Online Safety, Worship, Science and our Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural curriculum (SMSC).

A large proportion of safeguarding content is delivered within our PSHE curriculum. This curriculum includes topics that enable children to learn about a range of age appropriate and important safeguarding content, for example:

1. What constitutes a healthy relationship (both online and offline), including how and when to seek help if they have concern
2. Understanding fundamental British values, including learning to appreciate and respect diversity, understanding that difference is positive, not a negative (and that individual characteristics make people unique), and supporting children to recognise extremism
3. Recognising online risks to their well-being and being aware of the support available to them
4. Developing resilience, including developing strategies for managing peer influences
5. How to keep safe in a range of practical areas, for example, road safety, cycling safety (Bikeability), fire safety, how to respond safely to adults they don’t know, what to do in an emergency, how to deal with minor injuries, firework safety, sun safety, and so on
6. Mental wellbeing (understanding factors that support good mental wellbeing and recognising when and how to seek help)
7. Physical health and wellbeing (including, for example, hygiene, risks associated with issues such as drugs, alcohol and tobacco, good sleep habits, physical fitness and healthy eating)

As well as taught topics, we also raise pupil awareness by joining in with national events. For example: Road Safety Week and Anti-Bullying Week (November), Safer Internet Day, World Sleep Day, Children’s Mental Health Week (February), National Mental Health Awareness Week (May), International Friendship Week (June).

The Prevent Duty  

All schools and colleges are subject to a duty under section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 (the CTSA 2015), in the exercise of their functions, to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”. This is known as the Prevent duty.   One of the ways in which we meet this duty is through the safeguarding content that we deliver within our curriculum (for example, point 2 above).

Our Early Years Curriculum 

This helps children to learn how to stay safe through the Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED), Physical Development and Communication and Language Goals.  Through the development of these skills, children learn to: 

1. Show sensitivity to others’ needs and feelings and form positive relationships with adults and other children
2. Be confident to speak in a familiar group, able to talk about their ideas and express themselves to a trusted adult
3. Talk about how they and others show feelings, talk about their own and others’ behaviour, and its consequences, and know that some behaviour is unacceptable
4. Know the importance for good health of physical exercise, and a healthy diet, and talk about ways to keep healthy and safe
5. Learn how to manage their own basic hygiene and personal needs successfully, including dressing and going to the toilet independently