Curriculum

Key Stage 1
Our Curriculum

NATIONAL CURRICULUM FOR KEY STAGE 1

Cavendish Primary Phase offers a curriculum which is balanced and broadly based and which:
  • promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and of society, and
  • prepares pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.
National Curriculum 2014 provides pupils with an introduction to the essential knowledge that they need to be educated citizens. It introduces pupils to the best that has been thought and said; and helps engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement.
National Curriculum 2014 is just one element in the education of every child at Cavendish. There is time and space in the school day and in each week, term and year to range beyond the national curriculum specifications. The national curriculum provides an outline of core knowledge around which teachers can  develop exciting and stimulating lessons to promote the development of pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills as part of the wider school curriculum.

STRUCTURE OF THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM

Pupils of compulsory school age in community and foundation schools, including community special schools and foundation special schools, and in voluntary aided and voluntary controlled schools, must follow National Curriculum 2014. In primary school it is organised on the basis of 2 key stages and eleven subjects, classified in legal terms as ‘core’ and ‘other foundation’ subjects.
National Curriculum 2014 is required to publish programmes of study for each national curriculum subject, setting out the ‘matters, skills and processes’ to be taught at each key stage. Schools are free to choose how they organise their school day, as long as the content of the national curriculum programmes of study is taught to all pupils. The structure of National Curriculum 2014, in terms of which subjects are compulsory are set out in the table below:
(ks1)

Key Stage 1

Learning environments
Each learning environment will contain working walls in English and Maths to aid children in their learning. The classroom environment should be used to create a safe working environment that promotes good behaviours for learning and celebrates success.
Classroom management should reflect our aim to encourage children to be independent, well organised and to develop good learning behaviours. This will require flexibility in the organisation of furniture and creativity in learning. Each classroom should promote a positive learning ethos, that is calming and open ended.
In Year 1 children will continue, initially, to learn through play. They will experience hands on open ended activities that promote extensive communication and cooperation. This will develop into a structured learning environment through into Year 2.

English

The overarching aim for English at Cavendish is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment. The national curriculum for English aims to ensure that all pupils:

  • read easily, fluently and with good understanding
  • develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
  • acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
  • appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
  • write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
  • use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
  • are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate

Here is our whole school text map

Maths

Our principal aim when teaching Maths in the Primary Phase is to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum 2014 for the teaching and learning of mathematics. It is also our intent to give pupils a consistent and smooth progression of learning in all key areas of Mathematics across all year groups and for all learners.

Concrete, Visual, Abstract:
A key principle behind the Singapore Maths and Maths Mastery is based on the concrete, pictorial and abstract approach. Pupils are first introduced to an idea or skill by acting it out with real objects (a hands- on approach). Pupils are then moved onto the pictorial stage, where they are encouraged to relate the concrete understanding to pictorial representations. The final abstract stage is a chance for pupils to represent problems by using mathematical notion. Whilst our intent is to apply the CPA approach to all maths learning, it is not always noted further up the year groups. However, it is expected that the CPA approach is used continuously in all new learning and calculations even when not noted.
Pupils are taught strategies to develop and strengthen their mental agility on a daily basis . They also need to be able to apply written calculation skills in order to:

  • represent work that has been done practically
  • support, record and explain mental calculation
  • keep track of steps in a longer task
  • work out calculations that are too difficult to do mentally

By the end of Year 2, pupils should know number bonds to 20 and be precise in using and understanding place value. Children should be able to fluently recall their 2x, 3x, 5x and 10x table by and be able to recall the related division facts.
Pupils should read and spell mathematical vocabulary, appropriate to their level.

Calculation Policy

Key Stage 1

Statutory phonics screening check

At the end of year one, your child will undergo a statutory phonics screening check. This is a statutory assessment which began in 2012.  All children in Year One must take the check and any Year Two children who did not meet the expected standard in the previous year will take the check again.  The phonics screening check is designed to confirm whether or not individual children have learned phonics decoding to the appropriate standard.

Phonics

In KS1, we follow a linguistic Phonics approach called Sounds-Write. This is a quality first phonics programme. Its purpose is to provide pupils with a comprehensive system in which to learn reading, spelling and writing. It is introduced in Reception EYFS, taught in KS1 and fine-tuned throughout the rest of Key Stage 2.

The rationale for Linguistic Phonics is that children are taught to understand the relationship between spoken language and written words. Teaching children to read through Linguistic Phonics allows them to develop their decoding skills; this supports children in learning to blend graphemes (letters) for reading, segment phonemes (sounds) for spelling and manipulate phonemes (sounds) to develop accuracy in reading and spelling. Linguistic Phonics teaches the concept that all sounds can be spelled. We therefore do not promote silent letters, magic letters, or memorising whole words by sight. We appreciate parental support and ask that you read with your children in this way, encouraging children to use their decoding skills to read and spell.

At the start of the programme (Initial Code), simple, one sound/one spelling, one-syllable, CVC words only are introduced. As the programme progresses, the complexity of one-syllable words is increased to four-, five- and six-sound words of the structure CVCC, CCVC, CCVCC/CCCVCC, before introducing the most common consonant digraphs. Throughout KS1, once the children are secure in initial code, the children are taught in the Extended Code. This teaches children that spellings have more than one sound and sounds can be represented in more than one way.

Our teachers and teaching assistants receive training to deliver the Sounds-Write phonics programme. Sounds-Write takes children through systematic, incremental steps to teach children the 44 sounds in the English language and their multiple spellings.

Wider Curriculum

Curriculum Planning

At Cavendish, the children are taught History, Geography, Science, Art, Design and Technology and computing through a thematic approach.

Each term, the curriculum is underpinned by a key enquiry question ‘Why do we play with different toys as we grow older?’, ‘ Can party food be healthy?’

At the beginning of each theme there is a ‘Stunning Start’ to introduce the key question. The middle of each theme is celebrated with a ‘Marvelous Middle’. This is an event that inspires the children and keeps the theme alive for them. A ‘Marvelous Middle’ can involve a visitor or a trip. At the end of each theme the children will have an opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills acquired through the celebration of a ‘Fabulous Finish’.

Educational workshops and visits are an integral part of our curriculum offer and an enrichment activity is planned during each theme.  This can be in the form of a visitor, workshop in school  or trip linked to the theme. Pupils experience ‘real-life’ opportunities through having these opportunities. Some of the enrichment activities the children have enjoyed this year include; Battle Abbey,  The Toy Museum, The Motor Museum and workshops on Chinese dancing.

Click here to download the 2021 – 22 Wider Curriculum Overview

Click here to download the PE Curriculum Map EYFS & KS1

%

of pupils achieved 9-4 in English.

After School programs

%

of pupils achieved 9-4 in Maths.

Years Established

Celebrating Success

The staff and governors of Cavendish wish to congratulate all of our Year 11 pupils for the fantastic GCSE grades they have achieved this year.

Headteacher, Peter Marchant said, "The grades that our pupils have achieved are a reflection of their hard work throughout their time at the school and they can rightly feel proud of what they have achieved through these  challenging times."