At The Drive Primary School we have designed our curriculum with all of our child in mind with the intent that children must have the best possible start and the chance to become successful in the future. 

We thought long and hard about how our children (paying particular attention to disadvantaged and SEND) learn best, especially for the time of day these subjects are taught (afternoon). In order to improve engagement of all children, taking into account the barriers to learning, and to improve retention of the knowledge and skills taught, we have really focused on utilising active learning strategies such as creating, role playing, debating, discussion, experiencing and reflecting as well as providing our children with first hand experiences they would not usually have outside of school through trips linked to their topics.

We designed a curriculum that immerses our children in the topic studied by making links (where appropriate and worthwhile), to other subjects. In English we link topic content to high quality texts. This is to extend their knowledge and embed the topic specific language in a meaningful context and as our children become increasingly more like ‘experts’ in the topic studied, they are then better equipped to write quality texts.

We also encourage our children to have shared responsibility for their own learning, choosing which areas of the topic they are most interested in. Encouraging ‘enquiring minds’ motivates our children to focus their learning (within the parameters of the curriculum) on things that interest them and therefore making their learning more relevant to them and memorable. We have introduced curriculum teams, with two representatives from each class – this gives all the children ‘a voice’.

During revision sessions in class, half termly verbal assessment with children by SLT and curriculum leaders and through evidence of children’s writing, particularly at the end of a topic, we know that children are successfully retaining what is taught and articulate their learning with enthusiasm.

If you want to find out more about the curriculum your school is following  this information can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-primary-curriculum