Curriculum

We are always reviewing our curriculum to ensure that while we deliver the National Curriculum, we augment it to engage and enthuse the children in their learning. We have crafted a curriculum that is unique to Stoke St Michael Primary and Nursery School and uses resources from a variety of teaching platforms to ensure that the children receive a broad learning experience in every subject.

We use Cornerstones Maestro Curriculum as a basis for our topic teaching. The topic-based learning ensures excellent coverage of the curriculum objectives, opportunities for retrieval of prior learning and creative hooks and end points to each unit of work.

Alongside the ‘Maestro’ curriculum, we use other teaching platforms such as Jigsaw for our Personal, Social, Relationships and Health Education (PSRHE), SingUp for music and, Imoves for Physical Education. Maths follows the White Rose programme, which is based on the Singapore Maths methods of teaching.

Our curriculum intention is for all of our children to be enthused and excited to learn. Like our logo we want the children to take flight – be aspirational, with freedom to learn and like the leaves that surround the Lark, grow, be nurturing and have a connection to nature. Therefore, we aim for all our lessons to be well-crafted, fun and engaging – whilst providing just the right amount of challenge to whet their appetite for more; moving their learning onwards.

Our aim is to equip the children with the necessary knowledge and skills so that by the time they leave Stoke St Michael Primary and Nursery School, they will be more than ready for the next stage in their journey.

Staff work together to plan their lessons, drawing on each other’s expertise to ensure that teaching and learning is built upon each year. Optimum learning behaviour is reinforced in every lesson and through displays around the school. Knowledge Organisers are used to support the children’s knowledge and understanding of the key information and essential facts that they need to have learned by the end of a unit of work, so the expectation of what the children should know by the end of the year is clear. Staff spend a lot of time reflecting on the impact of their teaching through assessment, pupil conferencing, learning walks and scrutiny of data, and are able to adapt their planning and delivery of their lessons, should the need arise.

From the moment pupils join, to the moment they leave our school, our children know that they belong to and are PROUD of our own ‘Stoke St Michael Family’ which is inclusive and supportive. They develop a confidence that they carry with them into secondary school and leave us as thinkers, questioners and problem solvers. We are extremely proud of every one of them.

Where possible the work is based on first-hand experience and investigation. We find that children are highly motivated by this approach and work at a very high standard as a result. From their very first day at school children are encouraged to develop the skills of independent learning.