Curriculum
CURRICULUM INTENT
Children learn best by doing things they enjoy, so our aim is to make learning stimulating, practical and above all, enjoyable. Our pupils are taught through a carefully planned programme of challenging activities designed to build confidence and inspire children to nurture a life-long passion for learning.
Vision and Values
At Garfield we have a clear vision, and a set of core values that underpin our commitment to ensuring our children thrive in their personal development and grow up ‘ambitious for their futures’. The core values that underpin our vision are:
Curriculum_Vision & Values.pdf
Ethos: what do Garfield Primary pupils look like?
Our vision is represented by children who embody the core values through their lived experience of school life. Teaching character and resilience, the core values foster robust learning habits that support pupils’ ongoing success in secondary school and beyond. Children at Garfield consistently meet high expectations of conduct, modelling our ethos throughout the school community. Assemblies, lessons and daily life reinforce values-learning and pupils know and show our ethos with confidence. The ethos is driven by our vision and values and evolves with our changing priorities and diverse community.
Children’s personal development is at the heart of what we do. The development of self and academic achievement are the outcomes of our curriculum provision. Our children know how to make a positive contribution to their community and the wider society. They learn to be creative and resilient problem-solvers, able to embrace new challenges with confidence, as safe and valued learners.
As children leave Garfield Primary School, they are well on their way to becoming responsible citizens, able to make positive contributions in the community and beyond. Our curriculum celebrates the diversity and culture of the school community, while supporting the children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Our children thrive as individuals - equipped with high aspirations, ambitions for their future, and able to deal with life's challenges. They are well prepared for secondary school and life in Britain and the wider world.
Our Curriculum Offer
The curriculum offer at Garfield provides broad and balanced, knowledge-rich learning which motivates all our children. We believe that children learn best by doing things they enjoy, and we create opportunities that inspire, build confidence and fluency, and develop each individual’s passion for learning.
Our curriculum aims to inspire children to read widely, embrace challenge, visualise themselves in multiple careers and be ambitious for their futures. The curriculum has five key aims:
- Reading, language & vocabulary development at the heart of the curriculum gives each child a voice
- Experiential learning opportunities excite, enthuse and raise future aspirations
- Children develop character through Core Values and are equipped to make positive choices for themselves, each other and their environment. We promote ‘Friendship, Respect, Excellence.’
- Questioning and thinking routines develop independence and metacognition
- Children are ambitious for their futures, able to visualise themselves in multiple careers
Our inclusive curriculum has been designed around the following key aims:
CURRICULUM IMPLEMENTATION
The curriculum includes the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum 2014 and those for PSHE and RE. We use a subject-specific approach with Science and the foundation subjects being delivered through Kapow schemes of work. These are adapted in response to the needs of each cohort in our school community.
The Mastery Approach
Across the curriculum we are in the process of developing a mastery approach. Using Storytelling Schools in English and NCETM materials alongside White Rose in Maths supports the delivery of the curriculum in small steps with varied opportunities for recap and repetition. We teach to the top, providing challenge for all whilst supporting those in need. Interventions are linked to content taught in the classroom, ensuring those who may struggle have pre-teaching and opportunity to practise and become fluent.
We prioritise staff CPD that builds knowledge, motivates staff, develops teaching techniques and embeds practice. We foster links with expert trainers and specialists through organisations such as the Wandle School Teaching Hub, The Maths Hub and Merton School Improvement Team. We support our teachers with peer to peer instructional coaching when learning evidence-based teaching strategies rooted in a deep understanding of how learning works. This helps our teaching team develop a shared understanding of key techniques.
Prioritising Reading
Teaching reading starts with oracy and phonics. We teach using ‘Read, Write inc’ - the Ruth Miskin phonics programme, providing a structured and systematic approach. This is complemented with purposeful talk and shared reading experiences that expose pupils to a wide range of vocabulary and sentence structures. Children in Reception and Year 1 enjoy a daily group phonics lesson in which they participate in speaking and listening activities precisely matched to their developmental needs. Teachers draw upon observations and continuous assessment to ensure children are challenged appropriately.
In Year 2 and throughout KS2 children enjoy daily whole class guided reading lessons. We focus on vocabulary development, specific reading skills and immersion in a range of texts. Lessons use class novels as a stimulus for deeper thinking and link fiction and non-fiction texts, developing contextual knowledge and understanding. Children use the VIPERS domains to explore vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval and summarising skills. Kapow’s knowledge organisers and Garfield ‘vital vocab’ also forms part of the reading curriculum.
Storytelling Schools
Garfield is a storytelling school - pupils are taught six oral stories each year and these are linked to each year group’s topics, which help drive the whole curriculum. As far as possible, cross-curricular links are encouraged and a thematic approach is used. We promote fluent language use, enabling children to gain confidence by using their voice in an improvised way across a range of contexts in fiction and non-fiction. Through creative deepening activities, this oracy translates into engaged and empowered writers.
Kapow Schemes of Work
We use Kapow to ensure coverage and knowledge-rich progression in the wider curriculum. Kapow schemes provide a carefully sequenced, cohesive curriculum created by specialists with guidance for subject leaders and non-specialists. Content is delivered through subject-specific projects, which last a half term. Lessons deepen pupil knowledge and extend vocabulary, with varied recap and retrieval opportunities.
Kapow schemes of work are designed as spiral curriculums with these key principles in mind:
✓ Cyclical: Pupils return to the key and skills again and again during their time in primary school.
✓ Increasing depth: Each time a skill is revisited it is covered with greater complexity.
✓ Prior knowledge: Prior knowledge is utilised so pupils build on previous foundations, rather than starting again.
Curriculum enrichment experiences are also prioritised. Memorable experiences are often drawn from the heritage of each class, with home traditions a starting point for capturing children’s interest.
The Wider Curriculum
Garfield provides an inclusive environment, where learners enjoy their education and most children make good progress. Children at all levels are helped to achieve. Those who are able are challenged and supported through tasks providing opportunities for greater depth. Those who may struggle are encouraged with support to embed skills or to learn in a way that suits individual needs.
The school benefits from drawing on the expertise of a wide range of professionals. Garfield children work with specialist teachers and coaches who deliver their subjects with skill and enthusiasm.
Garfield works alongside Merton Music Service to deliver high quality teaching and individual instrument lessons. All KS2 children learn a tuned instrument, the ukulele, during their time at Garfield. Through the school’s commitment to Merton School Sports Partnership children receive excellent support in P.E. The school has held Merton’s ‘Platinum Award’ for five years, for excellence in sports provision. A specialist in French teaches each KS2 class once a week.
Enrichment
Enrichment is crucial. We ensure every child is offered opportunities that complement the curriculum with lasting memories. The main trips/experiences for each term are listed here: 24-25 Trips / Experiences.pdf Additional experiences may be added throughout the year.
The school offers a variety of extra-curricular activities, with clubs that support the core curriculum, as well as those developing specialist skills.
During the year we have themed weeks, such as Book Week, Arts Week and STEM Week (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths), which allow children to develop their skills in a more focused way. Educational visits reinforce learning taking place in the classroom and we enjoy visits from a variety of experts including musicians, historians and scientists. We also benefit from the help of parent volunteers and we welcome input from parents who offer their expertise e.g during annual Careers Week.
CURRICULUM IMPACT
Pupils’ progress is measured: through ongoing daily formative assessment, in assessed lessons, at the ends of topics, through samples of learning moderated against agreed standards, and additionally through three summative assessment points at the end of each term. Work is planned to address misconceptions and learning gaps are identified to ensure the curriculum meets the needs of all learners.
Impact is measured through analysing and evaluating data streams: learning walks, learning samples, book looks, formative and summative data and pupil, parent and teacher voice.
The school’s curriculum design ensures individual and group needs can be met by high quality teaching, supported by targeted interventions, so teaching impacts positively on children’s outcomes.
Our Summary of Assessment at Garfield Primary School provides a useful overview of our assessment system.
Parents_Assessment_Summary_.pdf
Early Years Foundation Stage
INTENT
At Garfield Primary, the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is an important first step in our school. We aim to provide a happy, stimulating learning environment where all children are celebrated and where we promote good learning, development and behaviour. Every child deserves the best possible start in life and support that helps them fulfil their potential.
The Early Years Foundation Stage includes all children in our Nursery and Reception classes. Our core values underpin everything we do at Garfield and this begins with Early Years as they are the first step in developing the core values - building on children’s skills, attitudes and knowledge.
Our EYFS children experience seven areas of learning, organised under the following areas:
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Communication and Language
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the World
- Physical Development
- Expressive Art and Design
These areas contribute to the organisation of the learning environment; the activities provided for children and the monitoring of childrens’ progress and development.
IMPLEMENTATION
Our EYFS includes the Nursery, offering a choice of morning or afternoon sessions, or 30 hours full-time places for children aged 3 and 4. We also have two full time classes for children aged 4 and 5 in Reception. Our outdoor learning areas offer a wide range of opportunities for children at each age. Nursery enjoys a spacious and inspiring indoor and outdoor environment. Reception children can access both Reception classrooms and outdoor learning areas as well as the main playground and all its facilities at different times during the school day.
Through our well designed, ambitious curriculum and nurturing staff, we support children in being happy and self-confident individuals with strong values and a ‘can do’ attitude. Our children are encouraged to respect the rights of others, aspire for success, aim for excellence and achieve their full potential. We want our children to love learning and be ready for the future.
Children access stimulating indoor and outdoor learning environments with resources chosen to meet their needs and promote learning. We encourage confidence, independence and a desire to learn. Books are used to support learning in all areas of the indoor and outdoor learning environments and stories/poems and rhymes are read/sung aloud frequently. Children have opportunities to develop and embed maths skills in a wide range of contexts.
IMPACT
The impact of the EYFS curriculum is reflected in happy and confident children transitioning into Year 1. We measure progress and children’s learning across the year through formative and summative assessment based on the teacher’s knowledge of the child, their observations and interactions with others as well as evidence in their ‘Tapestry’ learning journeys including photographs, samples of learning and comments from parents. Staff use observational assessments to identify children’s starting points and plan experiences that ensure progress.
As a team, we carry out internal moderation and staff attend external training so we feel confident in our judgements and that these are consistent with other settings. By regularly monitoring assessment we see what learning is taking place and how each child is progressing in the seven areas of the EYFS curriculum.
Please find our whole school curriculum map here. This provides you with a complete overview of the learning from Nursery to Year 6.
Please find our subject schemas here. These are subject specific interconnected networks of knowledge crucial for pupils’ learning, that build over time.
Please find each Year's Curriculum Overviews and Curriculum Booklets on the Year Overview page under the Learning tab.
Please find here the agreed features of effective lessons delivered over a sequence of learning at Garfield.
Our Storytelling Curriculum
Storytelling provides a natural way of developing rich and active story language for children to recycle in their own story making and writing. In a storytelling school, all pupils are taught six stories every year, closely linked to their curriculums. This is planned as one story each half-term, from EYFS to Year 6. Creative storytelling teaching methods drive the entire curriculum.
Storytelling schools usually start off with oral tradition stories, as they are the most easily told. Once mastered, storytelling techniques can then be applied to non-fiction, literary stories, History, Geography, Science - almost anything where there is a sequence to be learned. After it has been learned orally, the story is linked to the objectives for that half-term. In English, this will include shared and independent writing, innovation and invention, and non-fiction text types. For other subjects, such as History and Science, the content of the story provides the basis for further explorations of the topic.
This short video explains the Storytelling Schools model: Storytelling Schools Video
The Storytelling Schools website is a rich resource for parents, teachers and children: https://storytellingschools.com/
These two booklets designed for parents and produced by Garfield Primary and Merton suggest some excellent strategies for supporting your child when reading at home:
Reading Information Booklet for Parents
The following videos from Oxford Owl suggest ways to support your child with reading and comprehension:
Their full range of videos covering the whole curriculum can be found on the website here:
https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/oxford-owl-videos/
This book list shows the core text studied each half term in every year group. It would be very helpful for your child to read the book with you during the holiday preceding the topic, to familiarise them with the story before they delve deep in class. All books should be available in local libraries.
RSE: Relationships Education
Garfield Relationships Education Progression Map
Relationships_Education_Policy_October_2023-24
Progression of skills for PSHE & RHE
Mathematics at Garfield: White Rose Maths Scheme including CPA approach.
White Rose Maths provides a comprehensive programme of learning suitable for all children regardless of age, gender, background, abilities or prior knowledge. The scheme is split into Early Years (ages 3–5) and Years 1-6. Each year is split into three terms: Autumn, Spring and Summer. Each term is divided into three to six sub-terms of up to 15 sessions each. Each sub-term starts with a scheme and has worksheets for each session.
White Rose Maths helps children develop their conceptual understanding of mathematics by using concrete objects, pictorial representations and abstract thinking. This inclusive approach is based on the principles of cognitive psychology and child development.
Concrete - the “doing” stage involves physically manipulating objects to solve a Maths problem.
Pictorial - the “seeing” stage involves using images to represent objects to solve a Maths problem.
Abstract - the “symbolic” stage involves using only numbers and symbols to solve a Maths problem.
The three CPA stages are interlinked within maths lessons, with the aim being to remove the need for concrete manipulatives so children do the maths using the abstract number system. Manipulatives are there to represent a maths idea and help children 'see' the structure of the maths behind the problem - rather than using manipulatives to 'do' the maths.
Here is a White Rose Maths link for extra information and resources for parents: https://whiterosemaths.com/parent-resources
We are in the process of developing a mastery approach in Maths. Using NCETM materials alongside White Rose in Maths supports the delivery of the curriculum in small steps with varied opportunities for recap and repetition. We teach to the top, providing challenge for all whilst supporting those in need. Interventions are linked to content taught in the classroom, ensuring those who may struggle have pre-teaching and opportunity to practise and become fluent.