Curriculum

Wonderful displays surround our school, demonstrating the exciting, engaging topics we are learning across the curriculum, as well as celebrating children’s feeling of success and showcasing just how hard working and talented they are. We have high expectations of every child and are very proud of all their achievements.

There are many aspects of our provision which we feel truly enhance learning for all our pupils across the curriculum, to further develop, deepen and broaden their understanding. (See Appendix 1 for examples of the wide range of experiences we provide)

Lowercroft’s curriculum aims to provide:

• Engaging, stimulating, inspiring contexts for learning
• Differentiation and challenge for all abilities
• Development of a wide range of skills in all subjects
• Progression across the year groups and depth of subject knowledge and coverage

• A mix of independent and group learning, enabling children to develop effective skills of co-operation and collaboration
• Clear learning intentions and outcomes
• Opportunities for cognitive challenges
• Respecting and celebrating diversity (gender, sexuality, race, religion, cultures and heritage
• Learning that reflects the current needs of our local and wider community
• Key relationship skills and personal development, to enable our children ot be responsible citizens who can make a positive contribution to our society
• Create confident individuals who know how to live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives
• Create a sense of wellbeing, centred around a sense of fulfilment and achievement. Building confident learners, who can fully explain their understanding in a meaningful, sophisticated way
• Provide learning that allows for thinking, exploration, discussion, describing, explaining, suggesting, reasoning, problem-solving, questioning, reflecting, negotiation and enjoyment
• Promote in our children a love of learning which will last a lifetime.

Curriculum Map

We have carefully organised and planned our curriculum to ensure children are not merely covering content but achieving a depth to their learning which enables them to apply their skills and understanding in other contexts. It is designed to allow for revisiting, practising and embedding of subject knowledge and skills. This is because we believe that building in opportunities to revisit previous learning allows children to develop a deeper understanding of concepts rather than simply acquiring new facts and knowledge.

Our curriculum map outlines the learning undertaken each term, from Reception through to Year 6. Each unit is carefully designed to ensure clear progression of knowledge, understanding and skills learned across school. It is customised to allow children to benefit from a full range of academic, spiritual moral, social and cultural activities.

Cross curricular links are made whenever possible to deepen understanding, to allow enquiry-based learning to occur and to really immerse children in the context of more meaningful and purposeful learning. In Reception and Key Stage 1 cross curricular links are mostly made from a topic theme (eg Explorers), or based around a key text in English. Themed days for Art are opportunities to explore an artist’s works and techniques in some depth. In KS2 cross curricular links continue to be made but by the time our children leave Year 6 they are ready for the subject specific learning that takes place at high school and they have more understanding about the specific skills needed to be an effective historian or geologist for example.