Our curriculum

Intent

At Culgaith CE School, we see every child as a unique individual with the capacity and right to thrive and be successful. Our curriculum permeates our school vision of 'Wonderfully Made' and is designed to reflect our local community and how we fit into the wider world. We are a small, rural school with the majority of our children living in the countryside therefore we want to celebrate and plan for these areas of knowledge, skills and expertise. We also acknowledge that as a small Cumbrian school, we need to help our children experience different cultures, cities and have a good awareness of others. We deliver an inclusive, creative and challenging curriculum, developing and delivering cultural capital. All subjects are given equal value and are underpinned by learning about knowledge and skills, improving our long term memory. These skills and knowledge are built upon in order to make meaningful connections between their lives and the experiences they are learning about. 

Our curriculum is rich in vocabulary and develops a positive attitude to learning. Our passion to develop a love of language weaves through our curriculum.  Pupil voice is actively encouraged and celebrated through a range of mediums such as School Council. We seek to inspire in children a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people; to promote the children’s interest and understanding of diverse places and people. 

 Implementation

Each lesson, subject and topic at Culgaith CE School is linked to how it relates to the pupils, their lives and their local area, bringing the content into a context that can be understood and built upon by making connections, as well as through our curriculum drivers. Educational visits and visitors enhance learning opportunities within the classroom by ensuring that our pupils have a wide range of opportunities and insight into the wider world as they journey through our school.

Our subject leaders are responsible for the design, implementation and impact of their subject area. We expect all subject leaders to have the knowledge, expertise and practical skills to lead their areas of responsibility successfully. Leaders at all levels, including Governors, rigorously monitor teaching and learning, holding staff to account for high standards in all subjects. We design learning experiences that excite, hook and engage our children therefore we are adaptable and the skills taught are based around the children's understanding and likes. The children steer our teaching and help plan learning at the beginning of each topic helping teachers plan how to teach the skills. Our topics are the vehicles to learn about specific skills where learning is deep. Each subject is taught discreetly and has its own book or method of recording.  The curriculum is carefully mapped out to ensure that pupils acquire knowledge, vocabulary and skills in a well-thought out and progressive manner in every curriculum subject, ensuring sufficient coverage across each subject over time. New learning is based upon what has been taught before and prepares pupils not only for the next stages of learning but ensures they acquire effective learning behaviours for lifelong education. Knowledge organisers are used in every subject at the start of each study. These could include key vocabulary, facts, diagrams and definitions that will support their pathway through the study.

Assessment is thoughtfully designed to shape future learning and is part of the working practices of every classroom. Assessments are reliable and are moderated within and across local schools and through national benchmarking.

As a C of E school, we embrace the spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional, moral and social development of our children.  We aim to deliver excellence in education and want the very best outcomes for our children so that they can achieve their fullest potential. These values are embedded in everything that we do and we aim to teach these themes within our wider curriculum topics. 

Culgaith CE School actively promotes wider learning opportunities. Residential trips to different cities and outdoor adventure centres widens children’s experiences beyond the local area. 

We have quality first teaching with a robust identification process for children who may be struggling. We know that quality teaching develops good learning behaviours. We identify barriers to learning quickly and we increase children's understanding with a broad depth of learning where we increase children's understanding of skills and knowledge. Deep learning allows for children to become deep thinkers.

Impact 

The impact of our curriculum will be shown through meaningful learning conversations with children and their books about what they have learnt in a particular study, seen in the children’s engagement and enthusiasm in their learning.  Regular opportunities for retrieval practice will be given to gain insight into what children have been able to recall independently, weeks or months after they last discussed it in class. If the pupils can talk fluently about their study, and their confidence in this is improving, the teacher should be confident in the impact of their teaching and the curriculum. Skills will be assessed throughout the school year. All of this information will be drawn upon in order for a judgement to be made at the end of the year on children’s understanding of the skills and knowledge outlined for that subject and year group. This will support the pupil’s transitions as they move through the pathway to personal success and the next step of the journey in their education. We expect our children to develop and be respectful. We ensure our children are able to decide what is right and what is wrong and be resilient to the influence of others. We measure, this not just by the work they complete, but in the behaviours we see in school each day. Our children are unique and so is their learning journey. Our staff guide, support and inspire our children to achieve their best during their time with us so that they are academically and physically prepared for the next stage in their learning.

Curriculum overviews

Please see below for our over-arching topics. For more detail about individual subjects, click on the links.

Class 1

Class 2/3