Our ASPIRE Curriculum
Our school vision is:
‘Teach children how they should live and they will remember it all their lives’ Proverbs 22:6
In order to achieve this at Huyton with Roby we have the ASPIRE curriculum:
A knowledge rich curriculum, responsive to the needs and interests of all children;
Seeking to prepare children for life;
Promoting perseverance, resilience, independence and an understanding of the diverse world God has created;
Inspiring our children through exciting and challenging experiences with
Reading at the heart of our curriculum;
Embedding the development of rich and purposeful vocabulary and language;
Our ASPIRE curriculum focuses on the knowledge and skills we need to succeed in life. We want our children to gain and remember knowledge and develop skills which will equip them for life in the modern world. To provide children with an experience of the Christian faith and the values both Christian and British which will enable them to be good citizens who will contribute positivity to the community as a whole.
The curriculum is planned to ensure that this knowledge is revisited using the knowledge organisers. This ensures that key concepts are remembered within subject, throughout the year and across year groups from one topic to the next so that knowledge is embedded and our children know more and remember more and commit it to their long term memory.
Subject leads have identified the content that is most useful for our children taking into account where our children live. For example in History our local area is Liverpool and the children will also learn about the Beatles as we feel in our context this is useful for our children to know. In Art we identified Lowry as an important Artist as he is fairly local to our school. In order to ensure that content is in a logical progression and that it is taught systematically and explicitly and progression documents are used in subject areas.
Reading is a priority in our school at the heart of our curriculum with rich and meaningful vocabulary. Reading and the ability to use language is threaded throughout our curriculum and it is promoted across all subjects.
Where children have special needs or disability we make provision for them so that they too can flourish.
We encourage children to be keen, enthusiastic, independent learners and we give them lots of opportunities to develop their inter-personal skills by working and cooperating with others. Through the curriculum we build their self-esteem and self-confidence.
Each year in school builds on the previous year. We assess progress and achievement and we regularly report to parents about how well their children are doing.
The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum
In September 2012 we began using the government’s curriculum for the Early Years Foundation Stage.
The learning and development requirements comprise of:
- seven areas of learning and development and the educational programmes which set out what will be covered in each age group.
- the early learning goals, which summarise the knowledge, skills and understanding that all young children should have gained by the end of the Reception year; and
- the assessment requirements (when and how practitioners must assess children’s achievements, and when and how they should discuss children’s progress with parents and/or carers).
The seven areas of learning include: communication and language; physical development; personal, social and emotional development; literacy; mathematics; understanding of the world; expressive arts and design.
Four guiding principles shape our practice. These are:
- every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured;
- children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships;
- children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and/or carers; and
- children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates. The framework covers the education and care of all children in early years provision, including children with special educational needs and disabilities. We ensure that we make specific adaptations to the curriculum so that it is accessible for those with disabilities or special educational needs.
If parents or others would like more details about our curriculum in each academic year group then please contact the school on 0151 477 8460/1. We would be pleased to show you the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum, National Curriculum Subject Guidelines and our school curriculum schemes of work.