Our Curriculum Statement

Intent

Our school motto, ‘Committed to Excellence, Equality and Enjoyment’ underpins school life at Wykeham Primary School. We believe that every child is entitled to achieve success and we strive to provide the highest standards of learning for all our children. We follow the statutory National Curriculum and, where possible, we have used a cross-curricular approach to design our Learning Challenge Curriculum.

The Learning Challenge Curriculum provides the following opportunities:    

• Children develop a love for learning and become confident readers;
• Children acquire essential knowledge and develop skills necessary to become safe and responsible citizens;
• Children develop greater autonomy in their learning;
• Children develop critical thinking skills;
• Children develop their emotional and physical well-being;
• Children relate positively to themselves and others;
• Children manage conflict or risks in situations in an appropriate manner;
• Children develop enterprise skills;
• Children develop knowledge and a sense of self to reinforce their identity within the local and wider community.

Implementation

We enhance the prescribed National Curriculum so that our children are exposed to all the following in our Learning Challenge Curriculum:

• The teaching ensures that children are enjoying and are active in their learning; have opportunities that allow them to develop and demonstrate their excellence and creativity. They experience an appropriate level of challenge that enables them to achieve their potential and, where needed, they are supported to sustain their efforts.  
• The curriculum is planned and sequenced so that new knowledge and skills build on what has been taught before and children work towards a clear end point.  
• Opportunities are planned across the curriculum to provide a broad range of experiences that help children learn, remember and make connections with what they already know – in the classroom, through educational visits, and other extra-curricular activities. Where possible, we link aspects of the curriculum to the local and global community. Children understand the purpose and value of their learning and its relevance to their lives now and in the future.  
• Our teachers have high expectations of all children and ensure that children make progress whilst meeting their needs; enhancing their aptitudes; enabling them to discover and develop their interests whilst requiring them to think deeply. Children are given rich opportunities to develop their cognitive skills with increasing complexity.  
• Our teachers use assessment to check children’s understanding and to inform future teaching which supports children to remember, embed and apply their knowledge, skills and understanding.    
• We make excellent use of quality resources to differentiate the teaching and learning to meet the needs of all children. These include additional staff, practical equipment, a purposeful learning environment and empowering children to become autonomous learners. Children are encouraged to choose tasks that will challenge them to step even further out of their comfort zone.

Impact

The Learning Challenge Curriculum supports our children to flex their ‘Wykeham Learning Muscles’ to instil a growth mindset that allows children to welcome new challenges through a culture of learning that is enjoyable and stimulating for both children and staff: