Curriculum

Art and Design

Art and design stimulates creativity and imagination. It provides visual, tactile and sensory experiences and a unique way of understanding and responding to the world. Children use colour, form, texture, pattern and different materials and processes to communicate what they see, feel and think. They explore ideas and meanings in the work of artists, craftspeople and designers as they learn about the roles and functions of art and design in contemporary life and in different times and cultures.

Religious Education

Religious Education forms an integral part of the school curriculum. As a voluntary aided school we set our own syllabus. Currently this is set with regard to the Cambridgeshire Agreed Syllabus. This ensures that children also receive opportunities to learn about the major aspects of other world religions, such as Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism, Judaism and Hinduism. Visits are made to synagogues, temples and mosques. The school has a Christian foundation and this is reflected in all aspects of its daily life. The children are also given the opportunity to meet for Collective Worship as expressed in the 1988 Education Reform Act.

ICT

Children are taught to become confident in using Information Technology in a variety of contexts and skills are taught in a progressive way. Information Technology is seen to be an integral part of all areas of the curriculum but it also prepares children to participate in a rapidly changing world in which work and leisure can be increasingly transformed by access to varied and developing technology. Children use ICT tools to find, explore, analyse. They also learn how to use ICT to enable rapid access to ideas and experiences froma range of sources.

Increased capability in the use of ICT promotes initiative and independent learning, helping children to make informed judgements about when and where to use ICT to best effect and to consider its implications for home and work, now and in the future.

Design and Technology

The children are encouraged to investigate a situation, generate ideas, plan, make and test to find the best solution to a problem. Technology requires the children to apply knowledge and skills from a wide range of curriculum areas to solve practical problems. It also helps them to make use of, and understand the importance of technology in everyday life.

Music

Class music lessons include practical and creative music-making as well as extending children’s knowledge of more formal music styles.

All children are encouraged to sing for enjoyment and have the opportunity of learning notes and rhythms, being encouraged to compose and perform their own music using tuned and un-tuned percussion instruments. Many opportunities are provided for children to listen to a wide range of music and composers through CDs and live concerts by visiting musicians. Children are also given regular opportunities to perform in assembly, for School Concerts, in St. Peter’s Church and for outside organisations.

String, woodwind, percussion and brass tuition are available through the County Music Service on payment of a termly fee (in advance) with extra charges for the hire of an instrument. Parents interested in their children receiving tuition should contact the school office.

Physical Education and Games

All the children take part in a varied P.E. programme which encourages them to be physically active and develop their skills as well as co-operating with others as a team.

Opportunities are provided, within the curriculum and through extracurricular activities, for all children to take part in gymnastics, games, dance, athletics and swimming.

Swimming takes place at Sawtry Community College Pool and each child receives opportunities to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum, usually whilst in Years 4 to 6. Unfortunately the school must ask for a voluntary contribution of £2.00 per visit towards the cost of transport for this, although non-payment will not preclude a child from taking part.

The school enters teams in local competitions against local schools, when opportunities present themselves, and when it is feasible.

Personal, social, spiritual and health education and citizenship

Personal, social, spiritual and health education and citizenship help to give pupils the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to lead confident, healthy, independent lives and to become informed, active, responsible citizens. Children are encouraged to take part in a wide range of activities and experiences across and beyond the curriculum, contributing fully to the life of the school and the community. Through these they learn to recognise their own worth, work well with others and become increasingly responsible for their own learning.

They reflect on their experiences and understand how they are developing personally and socially, tackling many of the spiritual, moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up. They also find out about themain political and social institutions that affect their lives and about their responsibilities, rights and duties as individuals and members of communities. They learn to understand and respect our common humanity, diversity and differences so that they can go on to form the effective, fulfilling relationships that are an essential part of life and learning.

Our school has a No Smoking policy, which we hope will be supported by parents when on the school premises. In the Spring Term of 2001 the schools work in the area of PSHE was recognised by the award of Health Promoting School, achieved through work being focused on drugs, alcohol and bereavement issues. The school also places a high importance on the SEAL (social and emotional aspects of learning) programme, which is taught through out the school.

English

Language is integral to everything a child does. Children learn about themselves and about their world by using language in its various forms. English is therefore part of the whole school curriculum. We aim for the highest standards in this subject through a carefully structured and planned programme of work set out in the National Curriculum. The school follows closely the approach and plans set out in the National Literacy Strategy. Work in English covers speaking and listening (including drama), reading, writing, spelling and handwriting.

By the end of their four years in the school most children should be well on the way to:

• reading and writing with confidence, fluency and understanding;
• being able to orchestrate a full range of reading cues (phonic, graphic, syntactic, contextual) to monitor their reading and correct their own mistakes
• understanding the sound and spelling system and to be able to use it to read and spell correctly;
• being able to write fluently and legibly;
• having an interest in words and their meaning and a growing vocabulary;
• knowing, understanding and being able to write in a range of genres infiction and poetry, and understanding and being familiar with some of the ways in which narratives are structured through basic literary ideas of setting, character and plot;
• understanding, using and being able to write a range of non-fiction texts;
• planning, drafting, revising and editing their own work;
• developing a suitable technical vocabulary through which to understand and discuss their reading;
• a life long interest in books, reading with enjoyment and evaluating and justifying their preferences;
• developing their powers of imagination, inventiveness and critical awareness through reading and writing.

Where appropriate, intervention strategies are used to support pupils.

Mathematics

Our mathematics curriculum gives children the opportunity to think for themselves and learn through investigation. This will ensure that they not only enjoy mathematics, but have confidence in what they know and are equipped with the basic skills they need for adult life. The work covered follows the programme of work outlined in the National Numeracy Strategy.

Strong emphasis is placed on appropriate and accurate recording of mathematical work with regular practice of number bonds and tables. Children are expected to learn the multiplication tables so that they have instant recall up to at least 10 x 10. The school also places a high importance on problem solving and investigative skills.

During the four years at the school children will be taught the necessary knowledge, skills and understanding through:

• activities that extend their understanding of the number system, including integers, fractions and decimals;
• approximating and estimating more systematically in their mathematical work;
• using patterns and relationships to explore simple algebraic ideas;
• applying their measuring skills in a range of contexts;
• drawing inferences from data in practical activities, and recognising the difference between meaningful and misleading representation of data;
• exploring and using a variety of resources and materials, including ICT;
• activities in which the children decide when the use of calculators is appropriate and then use them effectively;
• using mathematics in their work in other subjects.

Science

Our children study a wide scientific curriculum, which involves science as a way of working as well as a body of knowledge. Thus the children learn the skills that will enable them to design and carry out investigations, interpret results and findings and communicate concerning their experiments. The Science curriculum has been divided into the following topics, which are developed two or three times during a child's four years at the school:

Earth and Beyond, Light, Sound, Forces, Electricity, The Body, Health, Materials and their Properties, Material (change and separation), Plants and Habitats.

History

History enables the children to develop an awareness of the past and of ways in which it differs from the present. It also introduces them to historical sources of different types.

Periods studied are:

• Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece
• Romans, Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings
• Victorians or Life in Britain since 1930

Geography

Geographical work within the school is based on direct experiences, practical activities and exploration of the local area and other localities. It includes enquiry into mapwork and plans, features of the environment and environmental issues.

Assessment

Assessment is a continuous process by which teachers measure and monitor each child’s individual progress, both in terms of the National Curriculum statements of attainment and in general progress.
Evidence is collected, in various ways, for each area of the curriculum and discussed with parents at the Autumn and Spring Term Parents Evenings. Parents may also discuss their child’s progress at the Summer Term Celebration of Work evening in July, or at other times by appointment. Parents and pupils are also able to contribute to the ongoing records as appropriate.
Each parent receives an annual written report, towards the end of the Summer Term, covering all aspects of their child’s progress at school.
In May each year children are formally assessed through End of Key Stage Two Tests in English, Mathematics and Science, which provide evidence of each child’s progress and attainment on a national scale. The test results are published by the Department for Education so that parents can compare the results of local schools.
Children in Years 3, 4 and 5 are assessed using the externally provided Optional SATs tests in English and Maths.
Termly and half termly assessments are carried out at various points throughout the year, particularly in Writing, Science and Mathematics.