Visit Willesborough Infant School

Willesborough Junior School

Our Curriculum

Willesborough Infants and Willesborough Juniors are federated schools.  The school community celebrate a shared ethos, vision and shared values.  We have worked together to create an ambitious and progressive curriculum to meet the needs of our unique Willesborough Schools Community.

Our Ethos;

Wonder – Inspire – Shine

In our schools we want our children to wonder what the future might hold for them, be inspired by the opportunities open to them in an ever changing world and shine through their achievements and those of others.  Our ethos embraces the ambitious belief that anything is possible and that we can change the world.

Our Vision;

Shaping Minds, Shaping our World

In a world that is ever changing, we as individuals have a responsibility to be part of shaping its future. Knowledge and empowerment drive change.  We teach children;

  1. About the leadership of people who deliver and have left lasting legacies
  2. Our responsibility towards the environment and living things
  3. That aspiration and determination open the gateway to change
  4. To respect and celebrate diversity within our community and across the communities of the world

The core values of leadership, aspiration, determination, responsibility and respect are lifelong attributes that are essential to achieve individual and collaborative success.

We deliver a curriculum where children;

  1. Have real experiences
  2. Learn creatively
  3. Understand and contribute to their community
  4. Celebrate their differences
  5. Care for each other
  6. Believe that anything is possible

 

Curriculum Implementation

 An individual teaching sequence is carefully mapped out for each subject within the curriculum and these are woven together, wherever possible through topics.  Lessons enable children to revisit, recall and apply previously learned skills and knowledge in different contexts. Sequences of lessons are carefully considered to build on components of knowledge that lead to conceptual understanding and clearly defined end points. We follow a knowledge engaged curriculum, in which knowledge is embedded to support the development of skills.  We understand that knowledge and skill are intrinsically linked.  Skill is a performance built on what a person knows.  Our children are taught to carefully apply our Characteristics of Effective Learning across all subjects and within all lessons to develop the breadth and depth of their learning;  Analysing and evaluating, making connections, asking questions, constructing arguments, thinking critically, collaborating, showing empathy and reflecting.

Outstanding progress can only be achieved when practitioners build accurately on the prior knowledge and experiences of each child as an individual, this includes their knowledge, skills and cultural capital. Teachers plan to meet the needs of individuals and groups of learners.  We review, refine and develop the topics we teach to meet the unique needs of our children year on year.  

 Our Curriculum Design

  1. Maps individual subjects and focuses on subject disciplines to ensure that coverage and progression are not lost within the thematic approach
  2. Seizes opportunity to address disadvantage and promote equality, filling in gaps from individual and groups of pupil’s backgrounds, including cultural capital
  3. Is reviewed regularly to meet the unique needs of different groups of children and individuals to enhance provision
  4. Demonstrates clear progression
  5. Uses intelligent and purposeful assessment to inform design
  6. Revisits, recalls and applies previously learned skills and knowledge and applies these to different contexts
  7. Considers sequences between components of knowledge that lead to conceptual understanding.
  8. Prioritises reading and mathematical fluency as essential skills in access and success for all.

 

Our Curriculum Leadership

The senior leadership team, key leaders and the governing body work together to ensure that;

  1. There is distributed curriculum leadership
  2. That leaders of all levels work together to regularly review and evaluate the curriculum design
  3. There are high levels of accountability for implementation and impact of the curriculum
  4. Clear methods are in place to check what pupils know, can do and understand so that the right work is taught and informs teaching
  5. Teacher subject knowledge is consistently strong across the school and there is high quality opportunity for professional development in all subject areas
  6. Subject leaders have the right skill set to carry out their role effectively
  7. Senior leaders rigorously check the implementation and impact of the curriculum as an instrumental part of whole school improvement
  8. Leaders know, understand and check that the component strands of the national curriculum subjects are thoroughly applied e.g. planning, designing, making, evaluating
  9. Pupils receive equitable provision across a range of subjects that does not focus narrowly on tests
  10. The curriculum provides parity for all groups

 

The Willesborough Curriculum

We have carefully considered how the curriculum meets the needs and the context of our school.  We celebrate a community curriculum wrapped around equality and diversity.  Staff, governors, parents and stakeholders have worked together to identify the unique needs of the Willesborough learning community;

  1. A significantly high proportion of families celebrate three generations of attendees to the school. Willesborough has been an established Ashford community for more than a century.  There is a strong community sense and a wealth of community organisations.
  2. The Willesborough Schools are large schools.  Each year group has four classes.  There are twelve classes on the infant site and seventeen on the junior site.  There are five classes in year three.  It is important that we utilise all the attributes that our large and diverse school community has to offer.
  3. Ashford is a national growth area.  The area and resources available to us are changing all the time.
  4. There are a number of large organisations and employees in Willesborough including the International Railway Station, William Harvey Hospital and the Retail Outlet Centre.
  5. A significant proportion of pupils have limited experiences beyond their local community i.e. travelling further afield within the UK, or engaging in a rich variety of cultural experiences such as visits to museums, exhibitions or theatres.
  6. The Willesborough schools celebrate a significantly higher proportion of pupils who speak more than one language in comparison to other Ashford schools.
  7. The level of attainment on entry to reception is comparative to national average and slightly below national average for communication, language, reading and writing.
  8. On entry to reception, Willesborough children exhibit strong characteristics for effective learning.
  9. Parents and carers place a high value on the opportunities they have to share learning experiences with their child in school
  10. Willesborough pupils are lively and upbeat.  They especially enjoy active and experiential opportunities that lead to high levels of engagement and strong achievement across the curriculum.

 

Our Shared Curriculum

Our curriculum places a strong focus on parent, carer and community engagement.  The wealth of opportunities parents are offered to engage in their child’s learning are a widely recognised and celebrated success.  This provision is carefully planned and mapped out in our Parent Offer’ document.

We actively promote the engagement and ownership of the curriculum with all stakeholders through parent, pupil and community forums and questionnaires.

 

Our Enrichment Curriculum

The enrichment curriculum provides additional opportunity for breadth and depth.  It delivers a wealth of cultural capital experiences.  Our Pupil Offer’ document maps out our pupil offer for; community and partnership learning, outdoor learning, specialist curriculum learning, arts and cultural experiences and educational visits.  Our Pupil Offer, is reviewed annually, according to the needs of our pupils.

 

Our Extended Curriculum

Children are learning all of the time and the school provides an excellent platform for learning experiences and opportunities beyond the school day.

After and before school clubs are offered to pupils throughout the year and delivered by school practitioners and external providers.  Our schools carefully consider the breadth and depth of opportunity offered.  We ensure equality of opportunity through fair access for all.  Equally, we consider the needs of individual pupils and vulnerable groups when planning provision and prioritising attendees.

Additional opportunities are offered to families throughout the school week and at weekends and holidays. The range of opportunities and times meet the interests and requirements of our family stakeholders.  This is carefully planned and outlined in our Parent Offer.  It is reviewed annually, according to the needs of our families.  

We actively promote family engagement in the wider community curriculum, outside of school.  We share information with parents about the many learning opportunities there are for their children after school, in the holidays and at weekends through weekly newsletters and electronic communications.

 

Curriculum Impact

Our children achieve strong core learning outcomes at the end of each key stage and we ensure that they apply and achieve these outcomes across all areas of the curriculum.  Progress means knowing more and remembering more and we are mindful of this intent across the curriculum.

The impact of the curriculum is measured through;

  1. The quality of teaching and learning
  2. The measure of pupil’s engagement and enthusiasm for their learning
  3. The quality of leadership
  4. The quality of pupil’s work
  5. The quality of pupil’s ability to articulate and discuss their learning
  6. The quality of pupils’ ability to use and apply the characteristics of effective learning across all subjects and through all experiences
  7. The clarity and consistency of stakeholders ‘buy in’ to our school’s ethos, vision and values and how this manifests itself in daily practice
  8. Data including, pupil achievement and progress, progress organisers, pupil and parent questionnaires, wellbeing and involvement assessments, parental and family engagement analysis

Please click here to view our Parent Offer

Please click here to view our Pupil Offer

Please click here to view our Extra-Curricular Offer