Our School Curriculum
Contents
Learning At The Heart of the Community
Learning is at the centre of everything we do at Woolsery Primary School. We are physically in the centre, or heart, of our village Community but also in the heart of rural northwest Devon. This is reflected strongly in our curriculum offer. Even our classes are named after local hamlets around our school and we are careful to build links with our surrounding locality, both within our core curriculum offer and for additional activities like beach cleans, bring-a-bulb day or inviting guests from the community in to talk to the children about their work or project. Therefore our school’s strapline “Learning At The Heart of the Community” truly is at the core of what we do.
Throughout the school, we encourage children to develop key characteristics of effective learning. These are represented in our school by different animals:
- Owl: understanding the learning jourey, reflecting back and looking forwards
- Spider: making links and connections between different areas of learning and across different subjects
- Bee: learning together, from each other and with each other
- Cat: being curious, questioning and challenging what we are taught
- Tortoise: being a resilient learner and not giving up
- Dolphin: diving into our learning and giving everything a go
We base our curriculum on the Early Years Foundation Stage and the National Curriculum, a programme of study which set standards in all subjects. It was laid out by the Government in September 2014 and is divided into Key Stages aligned to a child’s year group. Woolsery Primary School is a small school there has mixed-year group classes. As we have very different numbers in different year groups the make-up of classes changes every year. The table below shows the make-up of our Classes in both Academic Year 2020-21 and 2021-22:
Class | Year Groups 2020-2021 | Year Groups 2021-2022 | Curriculum |
Sunflowers Preschool | N0, N1 and N2 | N0, N1, N2 |
Early Years Foundation Stage
|
Cranford Class | Reception | Reception |
Early Years Foundation Stage
|
Burscott Class | Y1, Y2 | Y1, Y2 |
National Curriculum Key Stage 1
|
Stroxworthy Class | Y2, Y3 | Y3, Y4 |
National Curriculum Key Stage 1 & 2 (’20-21) National Curriculum Key Stage 2 (’21-22) |
Alminstone Class | Y4, Y5 | Y4, Y5 |
National Curriculum Key Stage 2
|
Ashmansworthy Class | Y5, Y6 | Y5, Y6 |
National Curriculum Key Stage 2
|
As part of our Curriculum Offer in all sections of our school, we have a strong focus on First Hand Learning and Learning In the Outdoors. Our School has had both an on-site and off-site Forest School since 2008 and staff here are highly experienced in delivering outdoor learning across the subjects of the National/EYFS Curriculum and through our programme of Forest School activities which take place for all children at the school in every term of the year. We also have very spacious grounds which are used extensively for outdoor learning including a very large field, a large yurt and a school garden, which from Autumn 2021 will move to a new location and include a large polytunnel to accommodate year-round whole class learning and growing activities.
Progression across the Curriculum
Below is our document which maps progression in the National Curriculum. It sets out clearly how small steps of learning build up to an ambitious curriculum, together with outcome statements for the end of each National Curriculum Year Group. In addition to a useful planning tool, as the curriculum settles post-Covid, our staff will be able to use this document to benchmark outcomes for all learners.
Foundation Subject 2 Year Plan
Different Curriculum Areas
On these pages, you can discover more about our approach to different curriculum areas for our school:
Personal, Social and Health Education (including RSE)
Art and Design
Knowledge Organisers
Our knowledge organisers are aimed at securing long term knowledge in a more coherent way across the school. As our whole curriculum is tied to the National Curriculum, it is the expectations set out in that document which form the basis of our Knowledge Organisers – the declarative knowledge that the children should retain on their journey through the school. Teachers are able to use the documents for revision work and for children to use as a scaffold for talking about previous learning,
The first tranche of our Knowledge Organisers is available below and will be added to over the coming weeks and months:
Art and Design
Art: Sculpture, Textiles and Print
Art: Sketch, Portrait and Colour KS1
Art: Sketch, Portrait and Colour KS2
Computing
Computing Knowledge Organiser Years 1 and 2
Computing Knowledge Organiser Years 3 and 4
Computing Knowledge Organiser Years 5 and 6
Design and Technology
Key Stage 1
Lower Key Stage 2
Upper Key Stage 2
Geography
History
Key Stage 1
History: Where was the railway in Bideford?
History: Armstrong and Columbus
History: How did Clovelly become a tourist location?
Key Stage 2
History: Stone Age to Iron Age
History: Victorian Britain – The First Railways
Modern Foreign Language (French)
We are a member of the Primary Languages Network and use their materials in our planning and delivery of our MFL Curriculum in Key Stage 2. The link below gives access to online knowledge organisers containing sound files to help with pronunciation and oral development.
Music
Science
Key Stage 1
Science Year 1 and Year 2 Everyday Materials 1
Science Year 1 and Year 2 Everyday Materials 2
Science Year 1 and Year 2 Seasonal Changes
Science Year 1 and 2 Animals including humans 2
Science Year 1 and 2 Living Things And Their Habitats
Lower Key Stage 2
Science Year 3 and 4 – States of Matter
Science Year 3 and 4 – Animals including humans – Digestion, Teeth and Food Chains
Science Year 3 and 4 – Electricity
Science Year 3 and 4 – Forces and magnets
Science Year 3 and 4 – Living Things and Their Habitats – Classifying and grouping
Science Year 3 and 4 Animals including humans
Upper Key Stage 2
Science Year 5 and 6 – Animals including humans – Circulatory and disgestive systems
Science Year 5 and 6 – Animals including humans – Human life cycle
Science Year 5 and 6 – Electricity
Science Year 5 and 6 – Evolution and Inheritance
Science Year 5 and 6 – Living Things and their Habitats – Classification
Science Year 5 and 6 – Living Things and their Habitats
Science Year 5 and 6 – Properties and Changes in Materials
Science Year 5 and 6 Earth and Space
Science Year 5 and 6 Living Things And Their Habitats – Life Cycles
Beyond The School Day
Before and After School Clubs
Sadly our school just isn’t large enough for an extended day (Breakfast Club, After School Club) to be financially viable. However, our dedicated staff offer after school clubs in different areas of interest during term time. These include activities such as running club, football, tag rugby, multi-skills, singing, ukuleles, recorders and so on. These are advertised to parents at the start of each term and children
Music Tuition
We offer a range of peripatetic music lessons for our children. these are often offered during the school day but after school sessions can be arranged as well. Through our peripatetic teachers, we offer guitar, keyboard, drumming and singing as standard programmes, but can also bring in other teachers for woodwind and brass where there is sufficient demand.
Scouts
Although not a formal part of our school, our Governing Board worked hard in 2018 to have a scout group established in our village. This came from the identification of emerging social problems for many of our older children and early secondary phase children who were suffering from rural isolation and a lack of interesting things to do after school. Accompanied with these issues was a rise in antisocial behaviour in the community and an increase in drug use.
1st Woolsery Scout Group was formed in June 2019 and now has a thriving membership of over 100 Beavers, Cubs and Scouts. Meeting weekly on the school premises, the Group offers a full Scout offer from 6 to 14 years and beyond, and over 50% of the school roll are members, with the remained coming from our surrounding five parishes. The Scout Association approach is a good match for the school’s outdoor curriculum and the shared values between the two organisations is evident throughout the school.