Our School Curriculum
What will my child learn in school?
At Viewley Hill we believe our curriculum promotes high standards in learning and personal development. It is based on the 2014 national curriculum which you can access via this link:
We are currently part way through reviewing our coverage and content to ensure our curriculum provides all our children need to be ready for the next stage of their education as learners and confident and happy individuals.
Our curriculum is designed to help the children make links to prior and future learning through a cross-curricular approach. Children are taught through themes that have a distinct subject focus and purposeful links to other subjects.
At Viewley Hill Academy, we want to encourage our children to be curious and ask questions about the world around them. Themes are planned with interesting and engaging experiences to get the children hooked into their learning. Our curriculum is designed around questions that hook children’s interest and help give purpose for the learning. At the end of each theme, we plan for opportunities children to showcase their learning in some way. This can be to parents, the wider community or other classes in school. Examples include things like a carnival procession, a living museum, a VE party or a Stone Age market.
Our Aims
Our Curriculum has been created around 3 key aims:
- Breadth of study – a range of studies across the National Curriculum, giving children a wide and varied general knowledge as well as developing key skills in the core areas of maths and English.
- Depth of study – conceptual knowledge, skills and understanding developed in subject areas.
- Cultural Capital – experiences and opportunities to learn about the wider world beyond the curriculum.
These 3 broad aims help children build a secure understanding of the world around them, transfer this knowledge and remember key information. We hope that children’s confidence is built upon year on year.
Our Approach
Most learning takes place within the context of a theme or topic. However, some subjects, or elements of subjects, are taught separately. These include: Mathematics, PE, Computing, PHSE and Phonics.
The subject foci run concurrently throughout KS1 and KS2 which we find supports sibling and family links. Some last half a term and others are arranged for longer depending on the content to be covered. Where possible, Early Years themes link into these foci. Because we have vertical year groups due to numbers, our curriculum is planned over a two year cycle: Cycle A and Cycle B, to provide coverage across the phases of Key Stage1, Lower Key Stage2 and Upper Key Stage 2.
Please use this link to view our broad themes and subject foci for Y1 – Y6.
Our key curriculum drivers are Reading, Writing, and Maths. These are crucial in enabling children to access the whole curriculum and ensure that children are given frequent opportunities to develop independent, critical thinking skills. In addition, we place a great emphasis on building positive self-esteem and relationships with others so that our children develop a deep sense of belonging to our school family and our community.
Please click here to find out more about our school’s participation in sport and PE on the School Games Website.
