Willow Tree Primary School

The Willow Tree Curriculum

This page is currently undergoing heavy editing

Our curriculum puts the child at the centre of our growing, achieving, inspiring, nurturing school. Positive relationships, based on mutual trust and respect are at the heart of everything we do. Our ambitious curriculum has been designed to take account of the legal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum and the Primary National Curriculum. Built to develop a love of reading, it immerses our children in progressive knowledge and skills; equipping them with personal characteristics required to succeed in life.

Curriculum

EYFS

In Nursery and Reception, the children follow the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum. This involves a lot of play to encourage the children to talk and communicate which is vital at this early stage of learning.

For further information, please follow the EYFS link on the 'Curriculum' tab. 

English

Our English curriculum is designed to support and allow children to achieve the overarching aims of the 2014 National Curriculum.  They are:

• read easily, fluently and with good understanding
• develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
• acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
• appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
• write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
• use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
• are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate

In English, we use a variety of books to practice, rehearse and develop skills in reading and writing.  The school follows the Steps to Read programme throughout Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.  This whole class shared reading dedicated session allows teachers to ensure all children have access to high quality texts. For further information about what the children will learn in each year group as part of the Steps to Read program, see the following documents:

All children in EYFS & Key Stage 1 receive daily phonics following Read, Write Inc.  All children who require additional phonics support continue to receive phonics in Key Stage 2. If you would like any further information about the Read, Write Inc programme, you can visit our Read Write Inc page, as well as visiting the RWI website (click here). 

We also implement the Read to Write program across the school to focus on our writing, again linked to a high quality text that we are studying. For further information about what the children will learn in each year group as part of the Read to Write program, you can see the details here:

Our Yearly Overview for English is split into a separate document for Reading and Writing, as follows:

Maths

In Maths, children experience lessons which support the 3 aims of the 2014 National Curriculum.  They are:

• become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.
• reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language
• can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.

Reception - Year 2 also follow the Mastering Number program. For more information, see the below document:

Science

Our Science curriculum is designed to develop children's knowledge and understanding of not only Scientific fact, but also their ability to work scientifically.  

The aims of the Science curriculum are:

• develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics
• develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science through different types of science enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them
• are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future.

All classes have a dedicated lesson a week using 'Love to Investigate' from Cornerstones.

Foundation Subjects

The Foundation Subjects include:

Our Foundation Subjects are covered using the Cornerstones Curriculum.  The Interactive Learning Projects mix learning from a variety of subjects through 4 corners - Engage, Develop, Innovate & Express.

RE

Our school follows the Locally Agreed Syllabus.  The objectives in the Locally Agreed Syllabus are met through the Cornerstones Love to Celebrate scheme of work.   The Love to Celebrate topics cover all major religions and faiths in the U.K including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism.  Each year covers all religions and there is clear progression in each unit, which builds on prior learning.

RSE

Here you can find our RSE (Relationships and Sex Education) overviews information:

Curriculum Overviews Per Year Group

Here you can see a brief overview of what the children will be learning in class throughout the whole of the school year, broken down by year group:

Differentiation at Willow Tree

Here you can see all of our information concerning differentiation at Willow Tree.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss our curriculum in more detail, please make an appointment to see the class teacher or a member of the Senior Leadership Team. You may also find out more information on your child's Class Page.