Stanton Cross Primary School | Art and Design Narrative

A quality art, craft and design curriculum will introduce children to the highest forms of human creativity. It will engage, inspire and challenge children; equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. The curriculum is focused on children learning to observe the world around them by being taught the skills of observational drawing and collating their ideas in a sketchbook, in readiness to be able to present their ideas creatively and proficiently through the medium of drawing, painting and sculpture.

The Stanton Cross Primary School Art Curriculum is made up of four strands: mastery in drawing, painting and sculpture, experience of other additional art forms, illustration of work and development of art appreciation as detailed below:

Each year children will be taught to master skills in drawing, painting and sculpture through a series of well-planned lessons within progressional units of work. The emphasis on the teaching of sculpture will be mainly through the medium of ceramics; other media used to create sculpture will aid mastery of this art form. The children will be taught to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design by investigating the work of a diverse range of artists, designers, and craftspeople (see NPAT Artists and Craftspeople Appendix). Through the rigour of the curriculum and by working alongside artists, children will know how art and design both reflect and shape our history, contribute to our culture, creativity, and wealth of the nation.

School will also provide opportunities for children to experience other additional art forms such as: printmaking, photography, video, textiles, or filmmaking in addition to the planned units of work. These short standalone experiences will be delivered to enhance and broaden the core art curriculum e.g., as part of the annual RSC programme.
Children will use their drawing and painting skills to illustrate pieces of work throughout the curriculum. They will do this as part of the English curriculum three times per year.

The school has a unique and enduring partnership with the National Gallery. During their time in school, the children will develop art appreciation by exploring prominent artworks and artists within the National Gallery’s collection. Each year the children will undertake in-depth studies of the life and work of an influential artist. These are: R: Titan ‘Bacchus and Ariadne’ 1523, Y1- JMW Turner ‘The Fighting Temeraire’ 1838, Y2 Jan Van Huysum; ‘Flowers in a terracotta vase’ 1736-7, Y3 George Bellows ‘Men of the Docks’ 1955 1533, Y4 (TOP), Y5 Hans Holbein ’The Ambassadors’, Y6 Van Gogh ‘Van Gogh’s chair’1888. The artist studied in Year 4 will be informed by the focus of the Take One Picture project that year. The works chosen span the time period of the National Gallery’s collection and represent works that are narrative, landscape, still life, and portrait. The children will compare and contrast these paintings with other dynamic artworks created by a diverse range of other artists, designers and craft people at different times and in different cultures, using a variety of techniques and influences. All children will have the opportunity to visit the National Gallery in Year 4 to further enhance their knowledge and understanding of the work of an artist at first hand.

During KS1, children will be taught to use a range of materials creatively to design and make products. They will use drawing, painting and ceramics to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination. They will study an artist in depth and be taught the language to describe the differences and similarities between different practices and disciplines and make links to their own work. Children will apply their drawing and painting skills to illustrate a piece of work within the curriculum that has been brought up to presentation standard each term.

During KS2, children will continue to build on and develop their techniques, including their control and their use of materials, with creativity, experimentation and an increasing awareness of different kinds of art, craft and design. They will improve their mastery of art and design techniques in drawing, painting and sculpture.

They will continue to be taught about and be inspired by the work of artist and craftspeople and will use what they have learnt to inspire and critically inform their own work. Children will apply their drawing and painting skills to illustrate a piece of work within the curriculum that has been brought up to presentation standard each term.

The following high dividend concepts have been identified as part of the NPAT art and design curriculum: colour, line, tone, texture, pattern, shape and form. These will form the ‘Big Ideas’ through which drawing, painting and sculpture will be taught. Teachers will make explicit reference to where children have met these concepts before in the curriculum.

Horizontal links will be explicitly made e.g. the mark making that children complete in the art drawing units leads into brush control in the painting units. All paintings will also start with an observational drawing.

Vertical links will be made where knowledge and understanding are built upon from previous art units e.g. in Year One the children will be introduced to the concept of tone and mark dark and light markings to three tonal values. In Year Two this advances to four tonal values and by Year Three they will be marking to six tonal values.

Diagonal links will be made, particularly where this is cross-curricular e.g., links to History e.g., in the Year Two drawing unit the children will draw local landmarks e.g., key buildings which the children will have learnt about in History.

Stanton Cross Primary School | Design Technology Narrative 

The Design Technology curriculum prepares children to deal with tomorrow’s rapidly changing world. It encourages children to become independent, creative problem solvers and thinkers as individuals and part of a team. It enables them to identify needs and opportunities and to respond to them by developing a range of ideas and by making products and systems. Through the study of Design and Technology, they combine practical skills with an understanding of aesthetic, social and environmental issues, as well as functions and industry. This allows them to reflect on and evaluate past and present technology, its uses, and impacts.  

 At Stanton Cross Primary School, Design Technology is taught in all year groups every alternate term. The curriculum focuses on the progression of structures, mechanics, textiles, food and controlled vehicles. 

 The national curriculum for Design and Technology aims to ensure that all children: 

• develop the creative, technical and practical expertise need to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world 
• build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high-quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users 
• critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others 
• understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook. 

Children design products with a purpose in mind and an intended user of the products. Food technology is implemented across the school with children developing an understanding of where food comes from, the importance of a varied and healthy diet and how to prepare this. 

Design and Technology is an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject, requiring creativity, resourcefulness, and imagination. Children design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts. It is cross - curricular and draws upon subject knowledge and skills within Mathematics, Science, History, Computing and Art. Children learn to take risks, be reflective, innovative, enterprising and resilient.  

Each year, the children will study a designer in depth to understand their perspectives on how past technologies have influenced their work and innovations for the future. (Year 1- Zaha Hadid (structures, Year 2 James Dyson (mechanics), Year 3 Isambard Kingdom Brunel (structures), Year 4 Lisa Call (textiles), Year 5 Norman Foster (structures), Year 6 Marcus Samuelson (food). 

When designing and making, children will be taught the professional skills of investigating, designing, making, evaluating. 

Technical vocabulary will be promoted in every lesson. 

As part of their work with food, children should be taught how to cook and apply the principles of nutrition and healthy eating. Instilling a love of cooking in children will also open a door to one of the great expressions of human creativity. Learning how to cook is a crucial life skill that enables children to feed themselves and others affordably and well, now and in later life. At Key Stage 1, children will be taught to: 

• use the basic principles of a healthy and varied diet to prepare dishes.  
• understand where food comes from.  

At Key Stage 2, the children will be taught to: 

• understand and apply the principles of a healthy and varied diet.  
• prepare and cook a variety of predominantly savoury dishes using a range of cooking techniques.  
• to understand seasonality and know where and how a variety of ingredients are grown, reared, caught, and processed.  

 Subject Documents

Stanton Cross Primary School | Geography Narrative

A quality Geography curriculum will support children in understanding the world around them. They will become curious about our planet and fascinated by its many places, people, resources and environments. They will understand human and physical processes, and their impact on our world. Children will learn how the Earth’s features are formed and how they have changed over time. They will understand the effect that geography has on our everyday lives and that without it, other events and subjects have much less meaning. Children will develop an understanding and appreciation of their local area and the wider world which is around them.

During Key Stage 1, children will begin to develop knowledge of their local area, an understanding of the United Kingdom, and the names of the 7 continents and 5 oceans. They will recognise weather patterns, seasonal changes and begin to learn basic geographical terms. They will use globes, maps and atlases, begin to compare locations and have opportunities to explore their immediate environment through fieldwork. The following areas of focus have been selected: Where I live. Where would you rather live – Northampton or Hunstanton? How is Northampton different to India? From farm to fork – how does your food travel? Mapping Northampton and Inner London and Compare the climates of Antarctica and the Sahara Desert. This range of units will build geographical knowledge and an awareness of the locality using fieldwork. It will provide the opportunity for children to develop their awareness of their locality to the wider world.

During Lower Key Stage 2, children will be given the opportunity to develop their knowledge of their locality and the wider world. The following areas of focus have been selected: HS2 Impact on the landscape and settlements, natural disasters – Pompeii, recycling the environment, why is the rainforest important to me and from the Nene to the Nile. Year Four will also participate in the National Gallery Take One Picture Programme with explicit geography links made to the painting each year.

During Upper Key Stage 2, children will broaden their locational knowledge to include a wide variety of places on each continent, including their main geographical characteristics. They will explore the natural processes of the Earth and consider the impact of people on our planet. They will continue to explore the world around them using a wider variety of geographical sources which they will learn to use in detail. The following areas of focus have been selected: North America from East to West, Sustainability – Natural Resources, Global Warming, African continent, Exploitation of Natural Resources and Legacy – making a difference.

Children will therefore move to secondary school with a sound locational knowledge of the world and an appreciation of the geographical features and events that make each place unique. They will understand similarities and differences across the world and be able to use geographical vocabulary to discuss these. They will be confident when using a variety of sources, including a range of maps and atlases.

The following high dividend concepts have been identified as part of the NPAT Geography curriculum: Sense of Place, Global Links, Diversity, Representations of the World, Sustainability, Change, Travel, Commerce and Trade, Community, Settlement, Locality and Environment. These will form the ‘Big Ideas’ through which all geography will be taught.The curriculum has been carefully constructed to ensure children obtain a solid understanding of key geographical concepts and knowledge. This is a knowledge-rich Geography curriculum. Knowledge is given a high status and the aim is to empower our children and carefully build their understanding of the subject. The knowledge content is specified in detail and is taught to be remembered, not just encountered. Knowledge is sequenced and mapped deliberately and coherently so that beyond the knowledge specified for each unit. There are vertical and horizontal links which ensure the construction of a secure geographical schema. There will also be opportunities to make diagonal links to other disciplines which have been explicitly planned for.

Horizontal links will be explicitly made. E.g., In Year 6, children will learn about the natural resources of Africa which will be built upon in the next unit through a study of their distribution and UK trade links.

Vertical links will be made where knowledge and understanding are built upon from previous geography units. E.g., In Year 5, the USA unit will build upon knowledge and understanding from the Year 2 unit (Mapping Northampton and Inner London). In this Year 2 unit, there would be direct reference to the Year 1 learning in the “How is Northampton different to India” unit.Diagonal links will be made, particularly where this is cross-curricular. e.g., links between Science and Geography - such as Environmental Change (Science) with Rainforests/Deforestation (Geography) and Rocks, Soils and Fossils (Science) with Volcanoes (Geography). In Year 2 pupils learn about the geography of London and this then supports their understanding of the Great Fire of London in History.

Subject Documents

Stanton Cross Primary School | History Narrative

The history curriculum has been intentionally designed to ensure children develop a substantive knowledge (factual content) alongside the development of disciplinary knowledge (the action taken within a specific subject to gain knowledge) as they learn the fundamental elements of what it is to be a historian. Through key historical high dividend concepts, children will study a range of cultures and historical perspectives. The curriculum has been designed and sequenced to equip our children with a secure, coherent knowledge about local, British and world history with an understanding of influential key people, events and time periods from the past. This develops both subject proficiency and deeper learning associations in order for children to construct a secure historical schema. Units of work have been deliberately selected and sequenced within the Long-Term Map to aid children’s retention of knowledge, utilising the principles of Cognitive Science.

A high-quality history education will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. It should

inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past. Teaching should 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 and the process of change over.

time, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and challenges of their time.

(National Curriculum 2014)

The following high-dividend concepts have been identified as an integral part of the history curriculum: conflict, community, culture, trade, locality, legacy, change and power (including monarchy). These form the key conceptual understanding through which history is taught; they are frequently reinforced and developed. Teachers will make explicit reference to where children have met these concepts previously in the curriculum.

The teaching of history is driven by an enquiry question approach that seeks to capitalise on children's curiosity and prior learning. Units of work are structured around an overarching historical enquiry to ensure teaching is focused and children are working towards a clearly defined outcome. The overarching enquiry is broken down into small sub-enquiries to provide incremental progression that grows over a series of lessons to allow learning of content more manageable. The history pedagogy and curriculum has been developed to ensure learning is not just encountered but remembered. The substantive knowledge content is detailed within the unit planning and knowledge organiser; disciplinary knowledge is mapped out in the NPAT Disciplinary Knowledge Progression in History document, as well as within unit planning.

At the heart of our approach is retrieval practice and revisiting knowledge. Retrieval practice involves deliberately recalling knowledge from memory to make learning more robust and connected. Units of work refer to learning from previous units to enable children to grapple with historical concepts such as 'continuity and change', and 'similarity and difference' (see links referenced below).

Horizontal links are explicitly made e.g., Year Three children learn about the impact of the Romans on Britain in Autumn One, including the invasion, culture, the rebellion of the Celts and the Roman legacy. When children learn about the Anglo-Saxons teachers will explicitly link the chronology, how the culture of the Anglo-Saxons was different to that of the Romans etc. Where there is legacy within a time period then this will be explored explicitly. If there is no real legacy, then this will also be explored.

Vertical links will be made where knowledge and understanding are built upon from previous history units. E.g., In Year 2, the Great Fire of London unit will build upon knowledge and understanding from the Year 2 unit, the Great Fire of Northampton.

Diagonal links will be made, particularly where this is cross-curricular. e.g., links between History and Geography: such as the Northampton Boot and Shoe Industry (History) with Where I Live (Geography), The Romans (History) with Natural Disasters - Pompeii (Geography) and Ancient Egypt (History) with From Nene to Nile (Geography). Links between History and Science: such as Industrial Revolution (History) and Materials and Evolution (Science).

Units of work have been intentionally selected and sequenced to ensure children have knowledge of historically significant men and women from a range of diverse cultures.

During EYFS, with reference to the NPAT Curriculum Frameworks for EYFS, children will begin to develop their historical substantive, disciplinary and conceptual knowledge through Understanding the World – Past and Present.

During KS1, with reference to the National Curriculum, children will develop their knowledge of changes within living memory, the lives of significant individuals and historic events that occurred nationally or within their locality. The range of units selected will build both historical substantive and disciplinary knowledge. The following units of work have been selected: Queen Elizabeth II, Edith Cavell and Mary Seacole, the Northampton Boot and Shoe Industry, The Great Fire of Northampton, Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong and The Great Fire of London. They will also complete two short units in each year about Remembrance Day and The Gunpowder Plot.

By the end of KS2, with reference to the National Curriculum, children will gain coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world and of the legacy both at the time and that still influences our lives today. This has been done through attention to chronology, the study of a range of time periods, and through the study of local history. The range of units selected will continue to build both historical substantive and disciplinary knowledge.

During Lower Key Stage 2 the following units of work have been selected: The Stone Age through to the Iron Age, The Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, a School Designed Local History study and Ancient Egypt. Opportunities to develop their understanding of local history are explicit throughout.

During Upper Key Stage 2, the following units of work have been selected: The Industrial Revolution, Shakespeare in the time of the Tudors, Walter Tull (World War I), World War II, Benin AD 900 – 1300 and Ancient Greece. Local historical knowledge will continue to be developed through the study of Walter Tull in Year 5.

Local history has been planned within units in Years One, Two, Four and Five.

The NPAT History curriculum reflects our various localities to ensure children have a rich understanding of their local heritage as well as changes over time. Local history is woven into our history curriculum to ensure it is explicitly taught and that links with larger historical themes are made. For example, in Year 1, Northamptonshire children learn about the Boot and Shoe Industry, its relevance, legacy and historical significance to the local area. In Year 5, children in Northamptonshire schools learn about Walter Tull a local war hero, and football legend.

The NPAT curriculum and pedagogy will therefore enable children to begin secondary school being able to articulate, with a secure chronological knowledge, aspects of local, British and world history. They will be able to use appropriate historical terms as well as note connections, contrasts and trends over time.

Subject Documents

Content to follow.

 

Documents for this area are under development and will be displayed when available.

Stanton Cross Primary School | Modern Foreign Language Narrative

Introduction

Learning a foreign language is part of the primary National Curriculum and is a requirement for all children within key stage 2 (KS2). Stanton Cross Primary School  has adopted a whole school approach to the teaching of French to all KS2 pupils.

Aims

Our aim is to develop the confidence and competence of each child in the foreign language they are learning. Our goal is for them to be passionate, curious and confident about their own foreign language learning abilities when they finish the primary school phase of their education.

We will help them develop and demonstrate substantial progress in the 5 key language skills necessary for learning French:

• Speaking
• Listening
• Reading
• Writing
• Grammar

We aim to ensure that pupils of all abilities develop solid foundations in these key language learning skills - properly preparing them for the next stage of their language learning journey. These skills will develop children’s ability to understand what they hear and read and enable them to express themselves in speech and writing. We will extend their knowledge of how language works and explore the similarities and differences between the foreign language they are learning and English. We will also help strengthen their sense of identity through learning about culture in other countries and comparing it with their own.

Teaching and Learning Overview

Our whole school approach to language teaching and learning is in line with the recommendations of the National Curriculum and the requirements outlined in the Department for Education Languages Programme of Study for Key Stage 2.

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 authentic writing in the language studied.

By the end of key stage 2, pupils should be able to:

1. Listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding.
2. Explore the patterns and sounds of language through songs and rhymes and link the spelling, sound and meaning of words.
3. Engage in conversations; ask and answer questions; express opinions and respond to those of others; seek clarification and help.
4. Speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary, phrases and basic language structures.
5. Develop accurate pronunciation and intonation so that others understand when they are reading aloud or using familiar words and phrases.
6. Present ideas and information orally to a range of audiences.
7. Read carefully and show understanding of words, phrases and simple writing.
8. Appreciate stories, songs, poems and rhymes in the language.
9. Broaden their vocabulary and develop their ability to understand new words that are introduced into familiar written material, including through using a dictionary.
10. Write phrases from memory, and adapt these to create new sentences, to express ideas clearly.
11. Describe people, places, things and actions orally and in writing.
12. Understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied, including (where relevant): feminine, masculine and neuter forms and the conjugation of high-frequency verbs; key features and patterns of the language; how to apply these, for instance, to build sentences; and how these differ from or are similar to English.  

Displays of the topics being taught in French will be displayed around individual classrooms (if space allows) or will feature on a general school board.

Organisation & Delivery

French is taught in a whole-class setting by the class teacher or language specialist and is therefore not reliant on one key member of staff.

Teachers plan their lessons using the Language Angels scheme of work and can supplement this with their own ideas and experience and those of their colleagues.

The lessons are designed to motivate, captivate and interest children from the first moment. They have clear, achievable objectives and incorporate different learning styles. SEN children have access to the curriculum through variation of task, grouping or support from an adult.

Each class has a timetabled lesson of at least thirty minutes per fortnight.

French can also be revisited in short sessions throughout the week to consolidate knowledge and ensure new language is retained.

French lessons include:

• PowerPoints and interactive whiteboard materials
• Interactive games (which pupils can access from home to consolidate their learning)
• Songs & raps
• Differentiated desk-based consolidation activities
• Worksheets (at three different levels of challenge) are provided throughout each teaching unit and can be used in class or can be sent home to be completed as a homework exercise

Each lesson will focus on a combination of the 5 key language learning skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing and grammar). 

Below is an example outline of the units we will cover throughout KS2:

* Core Vocabulary lessons cover; Classroom Commands; Colours; Days Of The Week; Maths Calculations; Months Of The Year; Numbers 1 – 100; Maths Calculations.

Resources

The Language Angels scheme is a fully online resource enabling all teachers in all classes to have instant and continuous access to all the resources they need to teach whichever lesson they choose.  

Evidence of Teaching & Learning and Transition at End of Key Stage

Where appropriate worksheets completed by the children may be kept in their books which can be passed through the years and become a portfolio of their learning. Teachers can also upload scans of pupil written work along with audio and video recordings of pupils speaking and presenting in French to a centralised secure file store on their Tracking & Progression Tool.   

All of this information along with the pupil’s individual Learning & Progression Timeline and skills progress reports can be forwarded to their secondary school at time of transition.

Assessment of Pupil Learning & Progression

Two forms of assessment are available at the end of every Language Angels unit:

1. Peer and self-assessment ‘I can do…’ grids. A quick and easy way for all pupils in the class to record which units they have completed and the progress they are making.
2. More detailed skills based assessments using bespoke skills assessment worksheets. This form of assessment enables us to determine the learning and progression of all pupils in the key language learning skills as well as monitoring their progress against the 12 attainment targets stipulated in the DfE Languages Programme of Study for Key Stage 2.

Monitoring and evaluation

The Subject Leader monitors the effectiveness of the language teaching provided throughout the school via regular termly observations with feedback given to teachers delivering foreign language lessons. The Subject Leader and class teacher will together monitor the learning and progression made by pupils across the key stage.

The Subject Leader will encourage, where appropriate, class assemblies and presentations in French. They will also encourage cross-curricular topics be taught in French to knit together various areas of the curriculum.

All data, ranging from evidence of classroom teaching to individual pupil skills reports, is securely stored on a password protected database. This can be accessed by class teachers, the Subject Leader and SLT so all key stakeholders can evaluate delivery, performance and progress. This data can be presented to parents at parent-teacher meetings and will also be used to ensure the Foreign Languages SEF is updated as appropriate.

Subject Documents

Stanton Cross Primary School | Music Narrative 

Music is a universal language. A quality music curriculum will engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians. The curriculum will enable children to perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the work of the great composers and musicians.

Each year children will study an influential composer, their life and works (Y1 Ludwig van Beethoven, Y2 John Williams, Y3 Jean Sibelius, Y4 Antonio Vivaldi, Y5 Edward Elgar, Y6 Grazyna Bacewicz) whilst listening to, reviewing and evaluating music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions. They will be taught to appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from great composers and musicians and different traditions round the world, thereby developing an understanding of the history of music. These musicians will include composers such as Scott Joplin, Hans Zimmer and Anna Meredith, singers such as Frank Sinatra, Freddie Mercury and Etta James and instrumentalists such as Glenn Miller, Jake Shimabukuro, Ravi Shankar and Jess Gillam. 

Children will understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions which will form the ‘big ideas’: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations. Teachers will make explicit reference to where children have met these concepts before in the curriculum.

Every child will learn to use their voice and sing, compose music on their own and with others and have the opportunity to play several musical instruments and progress to the next level of musical excellence.

All children from Years 1-6 have the opportunity to engage in extracurricular music, including choirs and other instrumental groups.

Children will be taught to sing weekly in Reception and Key Stage 1 in a singing session. At Key Stage 2, children will be taught singing in year groups. Children will be taught music once every two weeks.

Whilst in Key Stage 1 children will be taught to use their voices expressively and creatively. They will be taught to play tuned and untuned instruments musically, including whole class ocarinas in Year 2. They will listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music and experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the inter-related dimensions of music.

In Key Stage 2 Children will be taught to sing and play musically with increasing confidence and control and will have the opportunity to play other musical instruments. They can have peripatetic lessons from a specialist teacher on a range of instruments. The children will receive whole class ukuleles in Year 3 and recorders in Year 4. They will also have a First Access percussion project delivered by NMPAT in Year 4. They will have opportunities to play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression. They will develop an understanding of musical composition, organising and manipulating ideas within musical structures and reproducing sounds from aural memory. They will improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music, listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory, use and understand staff and other musical notations. In Years 5 and 6 children will learn a range of songs for Young Voices and have the opportunity to perform in one of the largest choir concerts in the world to further enhance their knowledge of musical participation and performance.

Subject Documents

Stanton Cross Primary School | Personal, Social, Health Education (PHSE) Narrative 

The PHSE curriculum is at the heart of our pastoral curriculum offer which also supports the schools Vision and Values that transcend across all aspects of school life at Stanton Cross. 

The school uses the Jigsaw scheme of work throughout the school as the basis for our PHSE lessons. Jigsaw holds children at its heart, and its cohesive vision helps children understand and value how they fit into and contribute to the world. With strong emphasis on emotional literacy, building resilience and nurturing mental and physical health, Jigsaw properly equips schools to deliver engaging and relevant PSHE within a whole-school approach. Jigsaw lessons also include mindfulness allowing children to advance their emotional awareness, concentration and focus. 

Jigsaw is comprehensive programme, including statutory Relationships and Health Education, Internet safety and anti bullying. It is planned in a spiral, progressive and fully planned scheme of work, giving children relevant learning experiences to help them navigate their world and to develop positive relationships with themselves and others.  

Jigsaw consists of six half-term units of work (Puzzles), each containing six lessons (Pieces) covering each academic year. The six units are consistent across the school and the subject is taught for one hour per week. Term 1- Being me in my world, Term 2- Celebrating difference,  Term 3- Dreams and Goals, Term 4- Healthy me, Term 5- Relationships,  Term 6- Changing me.  Every Piece has two Learning Intentions, one specific to PSHE (in purple) and the other designed to develop emotional literacy and social skills (in green). 

In addition to Jigsaw, the children are taught protective behaviours through a structured programme for one hour per term. The children understand the two protective behavior objectives ‘we all have the right to feel safe all of the time’, and ‘We can talk with someone about anything, even if it feels awful or small’.  

Jigsaw, protective behaviours and age appropriate information about keeping safe is promoted on display boards in each phase entitled ‘Being Mindful, keeping safe’. Jigsaw and protective behaviours also support internet safety and anti bullying (friendship week) events in school. 

Stanton Cross Primary School | RE Narrative

Children are growing up in world where there is increasing awareness of diversity of religious and non-religious worldviews. It is therefore vital that the RE curriculum provides a rigorous and rich study of religious and non-religious worldviews. A quality RE curriculum creates another space for respect, exploration and understanding of the diversity of world views and belief systems. “RE is an important curriculum subject. It is important in its own right and it also makes a unique contribution to the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils and supports wider community cohesion.” (Religious Education in English Schools: Non-statutory guidance 2010). Learning about religion and worldviews will help the children to develop respect, understanding and empathy for others. They will be provided with a safe space in which to have deep, meaningful discussions during which they learn to respectfully understand, challenge and accept differing viewpoints, to reflect critically and responsibly on their own spiritual, philosophical and ethical convictions.

During EYFS, with reference to the NPAT Curriculum Frameworks for EYFS, children will begin to develop their scientific substantive, disciplinary and conceptual knowledge though Understanding the World – People, Cultures and Communities.

During KS1, children will explore and develop their knowledge and understanding of beliefs and practices of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Children will start with concepts that are more personal to them and their communities. Once they have looked through this lens, they are able to move outwards linking their community/network to faith. They will be encouraged to raise questions and begin to express their own views in response to the material they learn about and in response to questions about their ideas. To compare and contrast religions and religious beliefs children need to understand various world faiths. This will help them to understand why their own community may follow certain traditions or celebrations. Judaism has been introduced early on so that children understand that The Old Testament is important to Judaism as well as Christianity. It is important in today’s society that children understand the origins of Islam and that it is a peaceful religion. Children are introduced to big questions and have the chance to agree and respectfully disagree with each other, knowing it is acceptable to have different views. For example, children are asked to think about why it is important to look after the world, whether they are religious or non-religious.

During KS2, the RE curriculum provides opportunities for children to make connections between their knowledge and understanding of Christianity and the religious traditions and beliefs in Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and those of no faith. They will be provided with learning opportunities to make connections between the beliefs of others and their own lives and their way of understanding the world.

During Lower KS2, the following areas of focus have been selected: Christianity - Creation, Jesus as a loving and caring person, The Old Testament (Promises), Pentecost, Festivals – Christmas through light and love, Ramadan, Passover and Easter, Hinduism, Sacred books and Commitments. Through Hinduism children are introduced to the first non-Abrahamic faith and are starting to see greater differences between different faiths.

During Upper KS2, children continue to make connections in the following areas of focus that have been selected: Christmas through Peace, Judaism, Buddhism, Stories of Faith, Christianity through the arts, Islam, Humanism, The Old Testament (Freedom), Creation and Science, Sikhism and Pilgrimage.

The following high dividend concepts have been identified as part of the NPAT RE curriculum: belief, worship, festivals, community, salvation and incarnation. These will form the ‘Big Ideas’ through which all RE will be taught. Teachers will make explicit reference to where children have met these concepts before in the curriculum. As a child progresses through school, core concepts are expanded upon and explored in greater depth. Some units are thematic. These units refer to more than one religion to explore a religious concept such as sacred books, worship or life as a journey. The RE curriculum has been carefully constructed to ensure children acquire a rich deep knowledge and understanding of belief and practice. Children are given opportunities to use reasoned arguments and debate to explore differing controversial views in a familiar and supportive environment. They explore current social injustice which exists in the world. Thus, enabling children to make connections between differing faiths and beliefs and their own lives and ways of understanding the world.

The curriculum has been carefully sequenced to ensure a progression in substantive and disciplinary knowledge and to reveal the interplay between them. The content is specified in detail and is taught to be remembered, not just encountered. Disciplinary knowledge is embedded within the most appropriate substantive context. Teachers will make explicit reference to prior learning and planning will identify relevant links throughout the curriculum:

Horizontal links will be explicitly made e.g. In Year 1, children begin by learning about belonging to communities and faith and then later pick up the Jewish holy book when learning about the Torah in their Judaism unit. They also learn about the Creation story at the end of the year. 

Vertical links will be made where knowledge and understanding are built upon from previous RE units e.g., in Year 4 Holy Week builds upon knowledge and understanding from the Year 2 unit on Easter. 

Diagonal links will be made, particularly where this is cross-curricular. e.g., links between RE, Science and Geography such as Environmental Change (Science) with Rainforest and the story of Creation and RE and Science – Creation and Science with Adaptation and Evolution (Science).

Subject Documents

Stanton cross Primary School | Science Narrative

A quality science curriculum will support children in gaining a fascination for – and understanding of - the world around them. They will become curious about our planet and gain a desire to learn more about the physical and natural phenomena to be found both there and in the wider universe. They will learn about: the physical laws and principles which have shaped our world and maintained the systems found therein; the chemical processes and concepts controlling all forms of matter; the diversity and inter-relatedness of all living things, with particular emphasis on the life processes which are essential to the maintenance and health of the human body. They will learn about the effects that science has on our everyday lives and will develop a sense of responsibility for the care of our world, recognising how an understanding of science is essential in the preservation of our natural and human environments and of how resources can be managed sustainably.

During KS1 children will be given the opportunity to experience and observe phenomena, exploring in ever-increasing detail the natural and humanly constructed world around them, as specified in the National Curriculum. They will be encouraged to be curious and to ask questions about what they notice. The following areas of focus have been selected: identifying and naming common plants and animals; identifying body parts; exploring plant structure and growth; investigating habitats and the inter-relatedness of all living things; investigating materials and their properties. This range of units will foster greater self-awareness and encourage an understanding of the natural and material world through investigation and problem-solving, hence inspiring an interest in - and a responsibility towards - the balance of nature and the wider world around them.

During Lower KS2 children will be given the opportunity to broaden their scientific view of the world around them. The following areas of focus have been selected: human biology (including nutrition, the digestive system and the functions of the skeleton and muscles); plants; classification; environmental change; states of matter; rocks; light and sound; frictional force and magnets. This range of units will provide pupils with a broad grounding in the scientific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics.

During Upper KS2 children will be given the opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of a wide range of scientific ideas. They will encounter more abstract concepts and begin to recognise how these will help them to understand and predict how the world operates. They will begin to recognise that scientific ideas change and develop over time. The following areas of focus have been selected: human biology (including the circulatory system and healthy lifestyles); evolution and inheritance; classification; life cycles; material science; forces; light; electricity; Earth and space. This range of units will complete a broad and comprehensive science education within the disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics in readiness for the challenges of secondary school science.

The following high dividend concepts have been identified as part of the NPAT science curriculum: Energy, Forces, Matter, Earth and Space, Life, Evolution. These will form the ‘Big Ideas’ through which all science will be taught.

Furthermore, Enquiry (and the associated investigative skills) will be at the core of all learning. As such, observing with a scientific eye, predicting, problem-solving, decision-making, communicating, thinking critically and evaluating will form common threads which will underpin science learning throughout the curriculum. Teachers will make explicit reference to where children have met these skills and knowledge before in the curriculum and planning will reflect their integration across all units.

The curriculum has been carefully constructed to ensure children obtain a solid understanding of key scientific concepts and knowledge. This is a knowledge-rich science curriculum; knowledge is given a high status and the aim is to empower our children and carefully build their understanding of the subject. The content is specified in detail and is taught to be remembered, not just encountered.

Horizontal links will be explicitly made. E.g., Where observation over time is identified as a key concept (such as in Year 1, where Seasonal change is revisited at four points throughout the academic year) or where scientific concepts bridge units (such as in Year 5, where gravity is encountered in the Earth and Space unit and then explored in greater depth later in the same year in the Forces unit).

Vertical links will be made where knowledge and understanding are built upon from previous science units. E.g., In Year 6, the Light unit will build upon knowledge and understanding from the Year 3 unit, Light and Shadows; likewise, in Year 4, the Digestive System unit will make direct references to the Nutrition unit covered in Year 3.

Diagonal links will be made, particularly where this is cross-curricular. E.g., links between science and geography - such as Environmental Change (Science) with Rainforests/Deforestation (Geography) and Rocks, Soils and Fossils (Science) with Volcanoes (Geography).

Subject Documents