Ash Grove Curriculum
A knowledge-rich Curriculum
At Ash Grove Academy, we have designed our curriculum in a way that we believe empowers our children with knowing more, remembering more, and being able to do more, therefore providing a foundation for achieving success. The more children know and remember, the more they can learn.
We recognise that a curriculum has to be broad, balanced and diverse. It must offer opportunities for children to develop a wealth of cultural capital which engages them with their world and enriches their life experience.
As a result, we have devised a curriculum that aims to ensure our pupils enjoy learning and feel prepared for life after primary school - one that is empowering and positively encourages self-improvement, reflecting our school motto of ‘Aspire’.
We deliver the curriculum through classroom-based and experiential learning. Thought has been given to making each unit of work meaningful to our children and the context in which they live, providing them with opportunities to learn about the world around them at a local, national and global level. We promote equal opportunities for all of our pupils throughout our practice, in line with the Equality Act 2010.
Coherence in Knowledge Sequencing:
Our curriculum is mapped out in discrete subject areas, with each unit of work linked directly to the 2014 National Curriculum programmes of study. The careful sequencing of content, in order to build on prior learning, is the essence of our spiral curriculum, ensuring that knowledge acquisition builds in a way that is remembered. Although subjects are taught discretely so that children understand the key disciplinary concepts, authentic connections are planned in to mutually reinforce and enrich knowledge areas.
Classroom-based learning:
A mastery approach and a culture of high expectations underpins our classroom practice. Our lessons are structured carefully to allow small-step progression in the understanding of key concepts. Our children understand that learning from misconceptions and mistakes is as valuable as celebrating successes. Children's oral language skills and understanding are developed through a range of questioning and dialogic teaching techniques, alongside deliberate vocabulary development. When learning a new concept or skill, children are guided through a sequence of live modelling using visualisers, scaffolded practice, and finally onto independent practice. Teachers continually assess learning and provide immediate verbal feedback, which enables children to address their next steps.
Experiential and Enriched Learning:
We believe that experiential learning is an essential building block for children's knowledge acquisition and understanding, therefore concrete experiences are deliberately mapped out across all curriculum areas. Hands-on experiences, such as handling objects in history, carrying out investigations in science and observing environments in geography, both within the school and through trips, not only allow children to build secure schema when moving to more abstract knowledge, but also provide intrinsic learning opportunities that are central to primary education.
We also provide an extensive range of extra-curricular opportunities (including after-school clubs), including Forest School, inter-school sports competitions, class presentations, music, art and drama experiences, residential trips for children from Year 1 - Year 6, including trips abroad; community engagement projects, and local, national and international fundraising events. These opportunities link directly with our Rights Respecting Schools agents, supporting children to become global citizens by enhancing pupils’ learning experiences, helping to form personal connections between pupils, their peers and their community, and teaching them skills essential for life after school.
To find out more about how we are complying with our duties in the Equality Act 2010 and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 by making the curriculum accessible for those with disabilities or special educational needs, please refer to our SEND and Equality information pages.
If you wish to find out more information about your child's curriculum, please contact the school office on 01625 919610 and a member of our admin team will be happy to arrange for you to speak to the relevant class teacher. Alternatively, you can click on each subject area using the tabs down the side of this page, or click on the CURRICULUM BY YEAR GROUP tab to see how the subjects are broken down for each year group.
You can keep up to date with all of the exciting events and activities taking place across school by following our Ash Grove Academy Twitter feed.
