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Curriculum

Overview

Pupils at Lindal and Marton Primary School are taught in mixed age classes. The school is currently organised into four classes. As with many small schools, fluctuating numbers and small cohorts may mean that this organisation changes from year to year. For this reason the school’s long term planning is reviewed on an annual basis.  We are proud to provide an inclusive education and curriculum which enables all students to develop their full potential meeting the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 and the Special Needs Educational Needs and Disability Regulations of 2014. Our current long term plan can be viewed here:

Medium term planning and termly newsletters for each class can be found on their web pages.

 

Subject Information

Our intention is for children to love learning, but also to remember the key knowledge they have learnt and transfer it to their long-term memories.  With this in mind, we plan engaging and relevant lessons alongside a variety of enrichment activities.

 

Mathematics

We are all budding mathematicians here at LAMPS. As a school, we are committed to ensuring that our children are excited by Maths and can recognise its importance in everyday life and the wider world. We have an inclusive and engaging curriculum that provides the knowledge needed to confidently use mathematics in a range of different contexts. We believe that Maths at LAMPS should be challenging but enjoyable and provide rich, balanced, progressive learning where skills learned can be applied with confidence. Maths is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. We believe that a high-quality mathematics education provides a foundation for understanding the world, an appreciation of the relevance of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject. 

 We aim for all of our pupils to: 

  • become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics so that they develop conceptual understanding. 
  • recall and apply mathematical knowledge rapidly and accurately developing fluency. 
  • solve problems by applying skills learned to a variety of situations, including unfamiliar contexts and real-life scenarios 
  • reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry and develop and present a justification, argument or proof using mathematical language.
  • have an appreciation of number and number operations, which enables mental calculations and written procedures to be performed accurately and with confidence. 

 

English

Reading and Spelling

Early reading and spelling skills are taught using the Read Write Inc Phonics programme (new from Autumn 2017).  We have chosen this programme to base our phonics teaching on because of the way in which it integrates comprehension, writing, grammar, spelling, vocabulary and handwriting.  We believe that this holistic approach is necessary in order to equip our pupils with the skill needed to access the Primary Curriculum.

Once children have completed RWI Phonics they move onto the Read Write Inc Spelling Programme.  Read Write Inc is a systematic spelling programme used for Years 2-6.

Visit the RWI website to learn more about both programmes.

At Lindal and Marton Primary School, the children’s reading is developed through the use of the Oxford Reading Tree Scheme, chosen because the books are written with a mix of high-frequency and decodable words to develop a range of reading strategies and they support the teaching of synthetic phonics. Our children learn to read at their own pace, but as a guide the stages can be broken down as follows:

Although Oxford Reading Tree is the main reading scheme used initially, we supplement it with books from other schemes to ensure the children are reading a wide variety of books.  We also believe that children should become free and independent readers as soon as possible and they are quickly encouraged to make their own choices.

Writing

In order to systematically assess and develop children’s writing skills we adopt a programme from Andrell Education called Big Writing.  Big Writing provides us with a definitive, comprehensive model that ensures both teachers and children know what they can and can’t do, identifying any gaps to accurately inform the next steps in teaching and learning.

Teachers deliver a ‘Big Write’ lesson every week where, after a series of games and activties that develop the children’s use of vocabulary, punctuation and more advanced sentence structures, they are encouraged to write independently for between 20 and 45 minutes depending on their year group. Our pupils love writing and thoroughly enjoy their Extended Write lessons.

 

Science

At Lindal and Marton Primary School, we encourage children to be inquisitive about the world around them. Our science curriculum fosters a healthy curiosity in children about our universe and promotes respect for the living and non-living. We believe science encompasses the acquisition of knowledge, concepts, skills and positive attitudes. Throughout the programmes of study, the children will acquire and develop the key knowledge that has been identified within each unit. Children are encouraged to develop and use a range of working scientifically skills including questioning, researching and observing for ourselves. Scientific language is displayed, taught and built upon as units are revisited in different year groups and across key stages. We intend to provide all children regardless of ethnic origin, gender, class, aptitude or disability with a broad and balanced science curriculum. 

Cross curricular opportunities are also identified and planned to ensure contextual relevance to the local surroundings. Children are exposed to a number of STEM related activities and events through links with local businesses such as Siemens Subsea and BAE Systems.   

 

Physical Education

Physical education at Lindal and Marton Primary School aims to develop a fun, high-quality PE curriculum that inspires all pupils to succeed and excel individual’s abilities physically, mentally and competitively. PE is an imperative element of the curriculum, which develops a need for healthy lifestyles, a balanced diet, positive growth mind-set and the resilience to persevere with challenges. We are passionate about the need to teach children how to cooperate and collaborate with others, as part of a team, understanding fairness and equity of play to embed life-long values.  

We want all children to experience a wide variety of sports and physical skills which will enhance life-long fitness and life choices. At LAMPS, we challenge and promote self-esteem through the development of physical confidence and problem solving. It teaches children to cope with both success and failure in competitive, individual and team based physical activities. We want our children to succeed and excel in competitive sport and physical activities. We offer all children the opportunity to compete in sport events in Barrow, Dalton and Ulverston. This helps them build character and learn values such as determination, honesty, passion, team work, self-belief and respect.  

 

PSHE & RSE

At Lindal and Marton Primary School, PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Education) including Relationships Sex Education (RSE) is at the heart of our school values and ethos and runs throughout all that we do. It is our intention that when children leave us, they will do so with the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to lead confident, healthy lifestyles and to become informed, responsible citizens in today’s ever changing and diverse society. 

The PSHE and RSE curriculum at LAMPS underpins our commitment to the safeguarding of all pupils and equips them with the awareness of how trusted adults in school can support them to stay safe and address any concerns they may have. We teach PSHE with the aim to help children understand real-life issues they may face as they grow up and how to deal with these appropriately so that they maintain good mental health and well-being. 

Pupils are provided with opportunities to learn about rights and responsibilities and appreciate what it means to be a valuable member of an ever-changing diverse society. We will help them to understand and consider many of the moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up in Modern Britain along with the fundamental British values of democracy, individual liberty, the rule of law, mutual respect and tolerance.

 

Music

Music is integral to the life of a LAMPS child. We provide a vibrant musical experience for all children from Nursery-Year 6. Children gain a firm understanding of what music is through listening, singing, playing, evaluating, analysing, and composing across a wide variety of historical periods, styles, traditions, and musical genres. 

Through our music curriculum pupils will: 

  • Gain enjoyment, self-confidence and a sense of achievement through musical activities. 
  • Be aware of, understand and respond appropriately to the rich variety of sounds in their environment and particularly to those organised arrangements of sounds called music. 
  • Acquire musical skills and understanding of musical concepts through primarily active listening then performing and composing. 
  • Develop their capacity to express ideas and feelings through the medium of sound. 
  • Attend extra-curricular clubs such as our school choir, performing arts and instrumental lessons to enhance the curriculum on offer.  

Summer concerts and events take place annually along with church services to further inspire pupils and develop their musical and cultural abilities. We are extremely proud to provide children with the opportunity to progress to the next level of their creative excellence by delivering whole class violin sessions from Year 3-6.  

 

RE

Our RE provision offers a broad and rich curriculum to allow for coverage of the areas prescribed; to allow for a variety of ways to explore religions, their community and personal development and wellbeing.  

The Twinkl RE Scheme provides high quality, coherent and progressive experience of the subject, with scope for cross-curricular learning. Through each unit, children will know about and understand a range of religions and world views. They will be able to identify, investigate and respond to a variety of issues. SMSC, personal growth and community cohesion are featured throughout each non-statutory strand and are there to ensure opportunities for children to develop positive attitudes and values and to reflect on and relate their learning in RE to their own experiences.  

By the time children reach Year 6, they will have a secure understanding of the relevance of RE in today’s modern world and how it affects our lives. 

 

Computing

At Lindal and Marton Primary School, we want our pupils to be masters of technology, technology is everywhere and plays a pivotal part in students’ lives. Therefore, we want to model and educate our pupils on how to use technology positively, responsibly and safely. At our School, we aim to prepare our learners for their future by giving them the opportunities to gain knowledge and develop skills that will equip them for an ever-changing digital world. Knowledge and understanding of ICT is of increasing importance for children’s future both at home and for employment. Our Computing curriculum focuses on a progression of skills in digital literacy, computer science, information technology and online safety to ensure that children become competent in safely using, as well as understanding, technology. These strands are revisited repeatedly through a range of themes during children’s time in school to ensure the learning is embedded and skills are successfully developed. We want the use of technology to support learning across the entire curriculum and to ensure that our curriculum is accessible to every child. Our intention is that Computing enriches their experiences in school.  

 

French

Bonjour! 

Our intent here at LAMPS is to give all of our pupils the confidence to speak and understand simple French in everyday contexts. We believe that having confidence in learning another language can help children to overcome potential barriers. It is therefore essential that we provide our children with a high-quality education in French that nurtures a love of learning about other languages and cultures. It is our aim that, by the end of our children’s primary education, they will have developed an understanding of both spoken and written French. 

 The national curriculum for languages aims to ensure that all pupils: 

 understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources. 

  • speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation 
  • can write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt  
  • discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied.  

Children have weekly lessons in French throughout Key Stage 2 with a French specialist teacher: Madame Bailey. As a school, we use the units of work from Twinkl’s PlanIt French, in addition to some of Madame Bailey’s own resources. The overall focus of study in primary level French is practical communication. Our lessons enable pupils to understand and communicate ideas, facts and feelings in speech and writing, focusing on familiar and routine matters, using their knowledge of phonology, grammatical structures and vocabulary. 

In Lower Key Stage 2, children acquire basic skills and understanding of French with emphasis placed on developing their Speaking and Listening skills. These will be embedded and further developed in Upper Key Stage 2, alongside Reading and Writing, gradually progressing onto more complex language concepts and greater learner autonomy and fluency.  

In our cosmopolitan and multi-cultural country, we believe in the importance of inspiring pupils to develop a love of languages, expand their horizons and become global citizens. We aim to help children grow into curious, confident and reflective language learners by providing them with a foundation that will equip them for further language studies and potentially international related work later in life. 

Salut! 

 

Topic

Our school is characterised by our varied, creative and challenging curriculum. We are passionate about empowering our children to strive for success while valuing mistakes to ensure that their physical and mental health is nurtured and to equip them with the skills and confidence to succeed, where barriers are overcome and difference is celebrated.  

Our topic units encompass several subject areas from the National Curriculum for England, ranging across art and design, design and technology, geography and history. They are sequenced and intertwine to create a progressive skills and knowledge based curriculum where learning is delivered to ensure retention (through the use of Knowledge Organisers) and is carefully built upon as children move through school from their starting point in the EYFS to the end of their primary school journey in Year 6. The child and the world around them both personally and globally are at the heart of the wider curriculum and so our long-term topic cycle has been developed to equip and empower pupils for the next stage in their education and is based on units from Hamilton Trust.  

Art and Design 

The teaching of Art and Design stimulates the imagination and creativity. It facilitates visual, tactile and sensory experiences that allow pupils to experiment with line, shape, colour, pattern, texture, form and space. Pupils develop the self -confidence in their ability to use these elements, investigate their creativity and learn about the role of art. We believe our Art and Design curriculum engages, inspires and challenges our pupils; allowing our pupils to have a secure mastery of drawing, painting, sculpture, craft and design techniques enabling them to become artists of the future! 

Design and Technology 

Children will acquire technical knowledge about variety of structures, mechanisms, textiles, electrical systems and food products, through which children will develop their skills and vocabulary. Children will make purposeful links with other areas of the curriculum including mathematics, science, computing and art. We believe that a high-quality DT curriculum will inspire children to think independently, innovatively and become resilient problem solvers equipped to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world. 

History 

We will teach children the skills required to be a good historian; how to research and obtain information, as well as how to question the sources that are available for authenticity, perspective and reliability. This naturally leads them into investigating why people interpret the past in different ways and they will learn that history is made up of opinions and viewpoints which are interwoven amongst historical ‘facts’, utilising skills from all curriculum areas. 

Geography 

We teach children to develop an understanding of local, national and global geography as well as a sense of curiosity about the world in which they live. Geography session aim to allow children to foster a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people which will remain with them for the rest of their lives, promote the children’s interest and understanding of diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, an understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes as well as developing a sense of identity and responsibility through learning about their locality and the wider world. 

Enrichment 

We provide many opportunities for children to experience rich cultural diversity, to embrace a love of the environment and to develop a wide vocabulary and develop their speaking and listening skills through links to topic units. Some of the ways we do this are through shows, museum trips and learning within our school garden and school grounds.