Curriculum

At Wheelwright Lane Primary School, we value Art and Design as an important part of the children’s entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum. Our Art and Design curriculum provides visual, tactile and sensory experiences and a special way of understanding and responding to the world. It enables children of all abilities to communicate what they see, feel and think through the use of colour, texture, form, pattern and different materials and processes. 

Year on year, our curriculum introduces every member of our school to a wide range of art and artists, including those from different periods and cultures. This in turn creates world citizens with an understanding of how art impacts and enhances societies and our surroundings, building up our cultural capital. High priority is given to opportunities for discussion, commentating on what we have seen, and talking through ideas and plans for our own work. Every year, there is a clear progression of skills, which build on prior learning – such as use of tools and techniques with increasing mastery.

At Wheelwright Lane Primary School, we aim to provide a high quality, inclusive Computing Curriculum which provides a broad range of opportunities for children to become competent and confident users of digital technology. Through focussed computing lessons and the use of technologies across the curriculum, we aspire for our learners to develop the knowledge, skills and understanding for use in an ever-changing digital world.

It is our aim to ensure we promote children’s creativity, communication and problem solving skills whilst teaching children to use technology safely and responsibly. 

We aim for children to be inspired by engineers, designers, chefs and architects to enable them to create a range of structures, mechanisms, textiles, electrical systems and food products with a real-life purpose. The children are taught to combine their skills with knowledge and understanding in order to design and make products.  Design and Technology encourages children to apply and develop their Social and Emotional Learning skills; we want them to think creatively and work through problems to find appropriate solutions.

Design and Technology supports children to apply the knowledge and skills learned in other subjects, particularly Maths, Science and Art. Children’s interests are captured through topics, ensuring that links are made in a cross curricular way, giving children motivation and meaning for their learning.  Children are also given opportunities to reflect upon and evaluate past and present design ideas, thinking about their effectiveness and we encourage our children to become innovators and risk-takers.

At Wheelwright Lane Primary School, reading is at the heart of all that we do and we celebrate children’s enjoyment of books and texts. High emphasis is placed on the teaching of phonics and acquiring fluency to enable children to access good quality and engaging texts that interest and inspire them. We encourage and support all children to read a variety of genres and authors in order that they become lifelong, avid readers. Through this exposure, children are encouraged to use adventurous vocabulary in their speech and written work. 

As spoken language underpins the development of reading and writing, we aim to foster excellent speaking and listening skills. Drama and role-play are promoted during lessons to encourage creativity in writing and confidence in public speaking.  We want our children to be enthusiastic, independent and lively writers with an innate desire to read and write for pleasure. We use our cross-curricular topics to provide a platform for enriched activities in reading and writing. Application of key literacy skills are therefore taught across all foundation subjects. English is celebrated and displayed in and around the school.

Geography skills and knowledge are taught and developed in every year group from Nursery to Year 6. The children begin to learn basic skills in Early Years when completing activities in Forest School and through the Knowledge and Understanding of the World element of the curriculum.  As children progress through the school, they begin to gain first-hand experience of studying the local area.  This expands to include places and features that are different to our own; for example, studying Poole’s Cavern, river study as well as rural localities.  

In addition to this, our curriculum is designed to ensure that teaching equips pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments.  Their growing knowledge about the world helps them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes.  By the time that pupils leave Wheelwright Lane, we want the children to have a love of geographical learning, gaining knowledge and skills through high quality teaching both inside and outside the classroom.  As the future generation responsible for our planet, we want our children to have a sense of respect for the world and further enhance their cultural capital.

At Wheelwright Lane, we believe that high-quality history lessons inspire children to want to know more about the past and to think and act as historians. By linking learning to a range of topics, children have opportunities to investigate and interpret the past, understand chronology and build an overview of Britain’s past as well as that of the wider world. We want to equip pupils to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. History helps pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups. It also helps children gain a sense of their own identity within a social, political, cultural and economic background. Because of this, we feel it is important for the subject to be taught discretely as well as incorporated within other curriculum subjects such as English and Art.

Visits and visitors are vital for the children to have the opportunity to learn about events and people in the past and how this impacts on our lives today.  By the time the children leave our school we hope that they have a secure knowledge of local, national and world history.

It is our intent at Wheelwright Lane Primary School to develop children’s love of learning about languages and cultures. Our current language taught is French. However, we strive to provide children, where we can, with opportunities to experience a range of other languages.  It is our intention to ensure that by the end of our children’s primary education they have acquired an understanding of both spoken and written French, confidence to speak in French with others and know how important other languages can be in their future.

We provide a curriculum which caters for the needs of all abilities, allowing children to make good progress from their starting points.  Our expectation is that all pupils within our school will be taught an age or stage appropriate curriculum.  Pupils who grasp concepts rapidly will be challenged with rich and sophisticated problems to deepen their mathematical thinking.  We recognise the importance of the four operations, quick recall of times tables and secure understanding of number bonds. Where fluency in these areas is not at the appropriate level, further support will be in place to consolidate them.

We will ensure that pupils develop fluency and make rich connections across mathematical ideas, allowing all children to apply what they already know, even when challenged with new concepts.  All children will work in concrete, pictorial and abstract forms, developing a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts.  Throughout the school, all children will be exposed to the correct mathematical terminology and use mathematical vocabulary when developing their reasoning skills.  We use mistakes and misconceptions as an essential part of learning, allowing all children to foster a positive attitude.

At Wheelwright Lane, we make music an enjoyable learning experience. We encourage all children to participate in a variety of musical experiences through which we aim to build up their love of music, self- confidence and sense of achievement. Our teaching focuses on developing the children’s ability to sing in tune and with other people; play tuned and untuned musical instruments with increasing control, fluency and expression and listen critically to a wide range of music from different periods, genres, styles and traditions.

We feel it is important to give all children the opportunity to learn an instrument and experience playing in front of a live audience by taking part in class assemblies and concerts throughout the year. By the time children leave our school they will have been able to develop a love and appreciation for a wide diversity of musical genres to enrich their cultural capital and enhance wellbeing.

At Wheelwright Lane Primary School, we aim to provide a high quality, inclusive PE curriculum which motivates and inspires children to become physically active citizens, benefitting their long-term health and well-being.  Children are encouraged to develop their competence and confidence in a range of sporting activities. We recognise the value of physical activity in supporting children’s health and mental wellbeing and provide a supportive environment in which children can succeed. We aspire for children to build a positive mindset and to show determination and resilience. Through regular opportunities to participate in school and local sporting competitions, we promote the conventions of fair-play, team-work and respect. 

The intent of PHSE is to encourage the emotional and social development of our pupils and involves learning about sexual health, sexuality, healthy lifestyles diversity and personal identity.

The aims of PHSE are:

• To foster a safe school community where pupils can learn, grow and develop positive, healthy behaviour for life.
• To nurture secure learning environments where children can be inquisitive and curious, develop tolerance, empathy and self-esteem, and show respect and consideration for others.
• To meet our safeguarding obligations by providing a preventative programme that enables children to learn about the safety and risks in relationships.
• To ensure that all pupils are prepared for the physical and emotional changes they go through during puberty.
• To provide age-appropriate knowledge about sexual health and human development, together with an opportunity to consider the values and attitudes around sexual health issues.
• To help pupils to keep themselves safe, both on and offline, to develop positive relationships with others, and to understand the difference between consenting and exploitative relationships.

Religious Education at Wheelwright Lane Primary School plays a significant role in helping children to understand their world. We promote respect and open-mindedness towards others with different faiths and beliefs. We encourage pupils to develop their own sense of identity and belonging through self- awareness and reflection.  The teaching of Religious Education aims to engage pupils in an enquiry approach where they can develop an understanding of other religions and world views in the local, national and wider global community. The multi-faith community in which we live provides us with rich opportunities to visit places of worship to enhance children’s experiences and understanding of other faiths.

At Wheelwright Lane Primary School, we recognise the importance of Science in every aspect of daily life.  Through teaching Science, we aim to provide our pupils with the foundations to understand the world around them, enhancing their knowledge, skills and cultural capital. We want children to develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about phenomena and big questions and to explain how and why things happen.

Children are encouraged to develop and use a range of skills including questioning, testing and observing as well as building up their knowledge and scientific vocabulary. Children are exposed to high-quality teaching and learning experiences, which allows them to explore their outdoor environment, persist in analysing and testing theories and questions, follow lines of enquiry and engage with practical experiments, reflecting on their science knowledge and drawing meaningful conclusions from their data.

We intend to provide all children with a broad and balanced science curriculum so that they can fully engage with the world around them and enhance their sense of wellbeing and self-esteem.