Curriculum Statement 2021
We believe that the school/parent relationship is key to promoting learning beyond the school gates and crucial in ensuring children make the best possible progress. We pride ourselves on our open, friendly and approachable nature that encourages parents to be involved in their children’s learning. Furthermore, we host regular consultation days and information events to inform parents about how they can support their child or even to allow them to work alongside their child.
At Tattingstone School we aim to provide the children with a rich curriculum which is broad, well balanced and above all stimulates the children to learn. Ofsted agreed in June 2019 “Leaders and governors ensure that pupils enjoy a broad, balanced and effective range of curricular and extra-curricular activities.
Through a positive and caring environment, we provide the opportunity for every child to achieve the best they possibly can. At Tattingstone School we recognise the importance of English and Maths teaching in order to open up other areas of the curriculum and therefore we place a strong emphasis on the development of the basic skills necessary to be confident independent learners and successful adults. Children rapidly begin to read in our Reception class by following a structured phonics programme. All children engage in daily English and Mathematics lessons. In addition to these, teachers try to make as many cross curricular links as possible in order to utilise these skills in a range of contexts.
The planning of the curriculum is based around a rolling programme of topics to ensure coverage of selected topics by all children who progress through the school. Teachers work hard to ensure the children make connections between and within subjects. This enables children to broaden their skills and knowledge simultaneously. The curriculum is planned thoroughly, starting with the children's current knowledge and skills, so that real progress is made.
The rolling programmes for both Key Stages makes use of our local environment. We also study other localities so that children gain an understanding of Britain as a diverse society. We continue to look for opportunities to develop links with other countries to enhance the children’s understanding of their global community. Whilst the core subjects are taught on a regular basis the foundation subjects may sometimes be taught as blocks of work over a matter of days or weeks. This programme is regularly reviewed to make necessary improvements to the existing programme of work and adapted to suit current trends and themes.
At Tattingstone School we seek to create opportunities for children to experience and excel in a range of activities that enhance and extend the National Curriculum. Children have opportunities both inside and outside the classroom eg Forest Schools, Residential trips, a variety of sporting events, visits and visitors and art projects. We also offer a range of after school clubs. There is a great deal of emphasis on the use of computing across the curriculum, in particular, computer skills to enhance the learning in all the subjects of the curriculum. Through the subject of ‘Computing’ we aim to teach a progressive set of skills that enable all the children to become competent and confident users of technology.
We value the role of modern foreign languages in the curriculum and French is taught throughout the school from Year 1 to Year 6. Children in Reception are also exposed to words, songs and greetings.
We embrace Christian values and ensure all children are ready for their next steps. As a church school, the RE curriculum is very important. We follow the Suffolk Agreed Syllabus and work closely with the Diocese to ensure that our RE provision reflects current thinking both locally and at a national level.
Children develop a strong sense of moral purpose in addition to a respect and understanding of people who have different characteristics to themselves, whether that be age, disability, gender, race or sexuality. A well planned curriculum, delivered by exceptional staff in an ethos of care, love and support enables our pupils to be well rounded, empathetic young people who have a thirst for learning and respect for all around them. When children leave Tattingstone School at the end of Year 6, they should be equipped with the full range of skills that enables them to become lifelong learners.
We acknowledge that people learn in many different ways and we recognise the need to develop strategies that allow all children to learn in ways that suit them. Opportunities are planned to cater for a range of different learning styles to ensure that all children despite their prior abilities, can access the curriculum and learn in a way that is best for them. Children are also offered a choice of challenges to enable them to take some ownership of their learning; each of the Learning Objectives (goals or intentions) has a set of differentiated colour coded Success Criteria which enables the pupils to choose their own level of difficulty. Throughout the activity children are encouraged to strive for the more difficult challenges.
The curriculum at Tattingstone Church of England Primary School aims to:
This is the philosophy of how we work and learn. These aims underpin all of the learning that takes place in our school.
At Tattingstone School we use a software programme called ‘Target Tracker’ to monitor the progress of our pupils. Teachers make individual assessment judgements for each child against the National Curriculum attainment targets. Teachers regularly update these judgements based on learning seen in the classroom.
Varying levels of assessment tasks such as ‘Cold and Hot tasks’ are implemented to inform teacher’s planning and assessment, as well as standardised assessment materials to help professionals make judgements about children's ability falling within the government’s age related expectations'. At Tattingstone School we use White Rose Maths Assessments and Rising Stars Progress Tests in Reading Comprehension and Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar, as part of our Assessment Cycle.
Teachers make a summative assessment judgement termly which is shared with parents at Parent Consultation Days. As well as pupils’ in-school achievements, teachers and parents also discuss ways to support their child at home. The pupils attend the consultation meeting and contribute their views towards their next step targets.
Children’s progress along a numerical Target Tracker scale is analysed termly by the Senior Leadership Team. This summative assessment, plus many styles of reports (with various pupil filters) in the Target Tracker software ensures that we can track individual pupils and groups of pupils to close the attainment gap. Regular termly assessments and deep analysis means that children who are not making expected progress are quickly identified and intervention can be swiftly put in place. Pupil progress meetings are held every half term at which ALL pupils are discussed. Children’s learning behaviours are identified and any children who require extra intervention are highlighted. Ideas are shared and decisions made with the individual child in mind.
Teachers plan their lessons based on Gaps Analysis data from Target Tracker, this shows how many children are working towards/achieved/mastered each National Curriculum attainment target, therefore supporting teachers to know where to focus children’s next steps and future learning.
Governors have their own access to Target Tracker school data, where they can view pupil percentages and filter groups to pose challenging questions to the Senior Leadership Team.
Children’s progress through our structured phonics programme (Read, Write, Inc.) is also monitored half termly. Pupils complete a phonics/blending assessment which is then used to re-organise phonics groups across KS1 and inform future planning for those children.