Curriculum & Assessment Information

Our Curriculum 

“Live & Learn”

Parson Street Primary School Curriculum Expectations 2020 & Beyond

Our curriculum centres around the ambition we have for our pupils in seeking to achieve the best in everyone. We aim to provide an excellent education, which brings out the best in our children and prepare them for success in life. To this end our curriculum becomes the vehicle that helps everyone to achieve our core purpose:

Working together to create an empowered learning community where all are valued and lives flourish

Curriculum Design

As a school within Trust in Learning (Academies) we are committed to the agreed curriculum framework of the trust and our own contextual provision builds upon the values and principles within that collective framework. For example, Trust in Learning schools all serve communities with significant levels of disadvantage and as a family of schools we have focused upon some central themes that will be tackled and developed through our individual curricula - oracy, cultural capital and reading being three of these.

From this agreed framework Parson Street has put in place a curriculum that is designed to offer more breadth and depth within subjects; ensure that we introduce and develop subjects outside of the core and that our curriculum promotes and develop those values that are important to us as a school.

In order to achieve this, we have designed a curriculum model which covers all aspects of the Early Years Foundation Stage and all the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum. The exciting, challenging and ambitious topics and units of learning as well as the enriched educational experiences that we have planned help our children develop the knowledge and skills that they need in order to flourish and thrive year on year.

Curriculum Statements

Whilst ensuring there is a synergy to the Trusts curriculum framework we have agreed 4 statements that describes what we want from our curriculum:

1. In line with our ethos of ‘Live and Learn’, our curriculum teaches children the relevant skills they need to live in a diverse society where all are equal and valued. It supports the needs of all pupils and encourages them to embrace challenge and achieve academic success.
2. Our curriculum provides a broad and balanced education, full of rich experiences and opportunities that gives our pupils the skills, knowledge and resilience to be lifelong learners. It is underpinned by a strong set of core values that inform every interaction of daily school life.
3. Our curriculum is progressive: so that teaching builds upon what has gone before, to develop skills, knowledge and concepts in a systematic way.
4. Our curriculum is holistic, valuing the personal and physical development of every child and maximising opportunities to partner with parents, families and the wider community.

Impact upon our pupils

In building our curriculum around our core purpose and our curriculum statements we will ensure that each child becomes:

• A successful, resilient learner, who is curious and excited by learning and achieves well
• A confident individual, able to articulate and reflect as well as live a safe, healthy and fulfilling life
• A responsible citizen, able to make a positive contribution to society.

In achieving this, our children will long remember us not simply because of what we taught them, but how we taught them and how they learned.

Curriculum delivery or implementation

As indicated earlier the school adheres to the National Curriculum and the EYFS framework thus covering all statutory responsibilities. Our curriculum is made up of knowledge and content to be learned and which supports our core purpose and curriculum statements. It is also important to recognise that when we refer to our curriculum we classify this as the taught curriculum, the approach to spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, the co-curricular provision and the ethos and ‘hidden curriculum’ of the school.

In terms of our curriculum structure we are concerned to ensure that subject specialism is at the heart of our curriculum and that this is the case even when we deliver teaching via a thematic approach, for example via our cornerstones curriculum which looks to deliver some of the foundation subjects and content. 

Our approach to teaching and learning supports our curriculum by ensuring that lessons build on prior learning and provide sufficient opportunity for guided and independent practice. What is emerging via our teaching and learning policy is the introduction of Barek Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction to develop our teaching practice. This is a developing programme prioritising certain principles that ensure structure and consistency in delivery.      

Curriculum Information

On this page, and the links included, you can find information that details our approach to the curriculum in both the Early Years and Key Stages 1 and 2.  This has been fully revised to meet the requirements of the New National Curriculum 2014.  Teachers will share further information with parents at welcome meetings at the start of the year and during parents'/carers' evenings in the Autumn and Spring terms.

You will find out lots more about our exciting curriculum on our Year Group pages by clicking here.

If you require any further information about the curriculum then do not hesitate to contact your child's class teacher or contact the school to speak to a member of our Senior Leadership Team.

Assessment Information

At Parson Street Primary School our teachers assess the children's progress in line with the curriculum expectations for their year group. Our focus is very much on identifying the next steps in children's learning and using this to plan a personalised curriculum which enables all children to achieve all aspects of the curriculum in line with age related expectations (ARE).

At various times in the year, all year groups from Year 1 to Year 6 undertake more formal NFER assessments in Reading, Grammar and Spelling and Mathematics. These assessments enable the teacher to identify learning gaps as well as show individual progress within the subjects. An individual standardised score gives an indication of how well each pupil is achieving against their age related expectations

We track children's progress against the ARE expectations for their year group using a tracking system called Insight. We are constantly developing our use of this tool and parents are given access to information at certain points in the year (information is sent home to parents).

When we report this information to parents we will use terms that show where they are in relation to their OWN year group expectations (See table below). We ensure we provide every opportunity for children to broaden and deepen learning in the curriculum for their own year group rather than move them on to a different set of expectations.

In our Early Years Foundation Stage, teachers gather evidence to support their assessments using individual Learning Diaries and Insight. Please speak to your child's class teacher for further information and to gain access to your child's learning journey.

Statutory Assessments

There are a number of times during their time at Parson Street that children will undertake statutory assessments. Information about these can be obtained by looking at: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/standards-and-testing-agency

We also offer a number of sessions throughout the year to help parents/carers understand what is involved for their children.

Curriculum Targets

 We use the National Curriculum Government guidance to ensure all our pupils are being taught and assessed on the appropriate objectives for their age range. For your information, see attached Y1 - 6 curriculum sheets which you show you what your child will be learning about over the year.