Curriculum
Our aim is for every child to flourish and we value building belonging, showing kindness and doing the right thing. Our classrooms may be the only source of knowledge for our most vulnerable children and so we must guarantee knowledge through our curriculum. Our curriculum is ambitious for children with SEND in order to close the attainment gap. We set out the knowledge and understanding that children will acquire in their time at Courthouse which are necessary precursors to critical thinking, analysis and creativity.
Our curriculum is a framework for setting out the aims of our programme of education, including:
The knowledge and understanding to be gained at each stage (intent)
Translating that framework over time into a structure, narrative and with subject specific pedagogy (implementation)
Evaluating what knowledge and understanding pupils have gained against expectations (impact)
Curriculum ambition
The curriculum enables children to deepen their understanding of the big ideas within each curriculum area through carefully thought out units of work. These big ideas are informed by the work of subject associations. The analogy of a narrative is used to illustrate the intent of the curriculum. As a narrative’s events build over time to enable the reader to make sense of seemingly unconnected events, the reader’s understanding is deepened and through that understanding comes the joy and appreciation of the narrative – those subtle hints at the beginning hold more importance with hindsight and are vital for understanding the later twists. Similarly, as children move through school and study the curriculum, they develop an iterative understanding of the key concepts in each subject area and how they are interlinked through internal using a rich knowledge base.
It is the knowledge base that is key to developing understanding and is perhaps the most significant factor that the school can control regarding tackling disadvantage. The various subjects are more than their respective knowledge domains though for mastery of communication is the expression of that knowledge domain using the language patterns of a specialist. Children are taught key language patterns to think and in turn speak and write like a historian, a scientist, a theologian or a musician. The curriculum is enriched through carefully chosen trips and workshops, which give children the experiences that bring knowledge to life.
Realising the ambition
We are committed to high quality professional learning that focuses on what makes great teaching, subject knowledge development and sound formative assessment practices. Curriculum design is driven by a curriculum team which supplements the traditional subject leader roles. Subjects are taught discretely but links are made where there is natural alignment to ensure that children develop an interconnected web of general knowledge. It is the non core curriculum that is a key driver in developing reading comprehension.
Explicit instruction enables children to see expert modelling and hear expert explanations.
How we know if the curriculum is being learned
The curriculum is the progress model – if children are keeping up with the curriculum then they are making good progress. Progress means knowing more and remembering more. Knowledge that has been learned and retained in long term memory is necessary for analysis, creativity etc. We ask: has the child gained the knowledge to understand the key concepts and ideas? Is this enabling them to develop the skills they need to master? We set regular low stakes quizzes as well as cumulative quizzes on old topics. An end of unit written task is set where children demonstrate their knowledge gained by communicating in the language patterns that they have been taught. Old units of work are used as prompts for independent writing, giving further opportunities to assess what has been committed to long term memory and can be retrieved easily.
Parents can find out more information about our curriculum by contacting their child's class teacher in the first instance.
Interested external parties can find out more about our curriculum by contacting the school office at office@courthousejunior.co.uk.