Curriculum vision and overview | Elm Grove Primary School

Improvement and Development Priorities 2023-2024

This is Elm Grove’s 2023-24 development plan. Priorities have been agreed as a result of data analysis, professional dialogue, governor input, monitoring and questionnaire feedback.

2023-2024 School Improvement Priorities

Reading

The teaching of reading at Elm Grove is centred on the objectives for reading in The Reading Framework (published July 2023) and the National Curriculum in England: English programmes of study (updated July 2014).

Reading at Elm Grove (in depth look)

Reading Spine Whole Class Books

Phonics

Staff in Reception and Key Stage 1 and Key stage 2 are currently being or have recently been trained in a new Systematic, Synthetic Phonics programme called “Sounds-Write”. Sounds-write is one of the validated systematic synthetic phonics programmes on the list published by the DFES following the January 2022 update to the phonics validation process. The Sounds–Write approach to teaching phonics is phonographic, which is to say it starts with what all children acquire naturally and right from the start – the sounds of their own language; then it teaches that letters or combinations of letters, called graphemes are the agreed ways in which we represent these sounds when we write.

Handwriting

At Elm Grove we use the Kinetic Letters programme for our handwriting curriculum. Using four main threads of making bodies stronger, holding the pencil, learning the letters, and flow and fluency, the programme enables children to develop legible handwriting that is produced quickly and automatically. With the development of automaticity, handwriting becomes a valuable tool and not a hindrance to learning.

Learn more about Kinetic Letters:

We would like all of our parents/carers to read and sign our Home School Partnership.

Maths

At Elm Grove we believe that learning mathematics is about enjoyment, curiosity and discovery. We don’t just want to ‘get things right’, we want to talk about different and efficient ways of finding answers, explain why they are true and maybe ask more questions! We use concrete materials and visual representations to expose mathematical concepts and we learn how to use precise mathematical language to communicate ideas. Through problem-solving and talking about our maths we develop deep and secure understanding. We also rehearse, repeat and revisit key concepts to help ideas stick. We know that if we build good mathematical fluency (knowing and understanding key facts), it is much easier to move on to more complex problems. At Elm Grove, everyone is a mathematician; we learn to notice patterns, make connections, spot mathematical rules and feel success.

Maths at Elm Grove (in depth look)

Fluency progression at Elm Grove

Elm Grove TimesTable Booklet

PSHE

The importance of PSHE education in for example preventing bullying, prejudice, and in contributing to positive physical, emotional and mental health and healthy relationships is increasingly recognised at Elm Grove Primary School. Therefore, at Elm Grove Primary School PSHE education is an important part of our curriculum as it enables our pupils to build healthy friendships and keep themselves safe now and in the future. We believe that effective PSHE education supports the teaching of behaviour for learning, and that it contributes to the wellbeing, safety and achievement of all pupils in this school.

Please view our policies:

Computing

Please click on the following link to view the Elm Grove Primary School Programme of Study for computing lessons.

Elm Grove Primary School Programme of Study

The following policies may also be of use to you:

E Safety Policy
Please have a look at the website link below for information on internet safety, ranging from how to help boost body image and self-esteem to an interactive online game you can play with your children to help them become more confident and safer online

https://parentzone.org.uk/

Curriculum Overview

Here is our current curriculum map:

Elm Grove Curriculum Map

PSHE progression document

Science progression document

History progression document

MFL Spanish progression document

PE progression document

MUSIC progression document

RE Progression Document

Geography progression document

ART progression document

Computing progression document

DT progression document

See our year group pages for this term’s topics:

Knowledge Organisers

What is a ‘Knowledge Organiser’?

A Knowledge Organiser is a go-to document for a unit of work: each one identifies the key information that children will have learnt about by the end of a topic or unit of work. It also acts as a tool to support children in retaining and retrieving knowledge for life-long learning.
They are used by teachers as a planning tool – to plan the essential knowledge that children need to cover in the topic or unit. This may include:

Links to prior learning children will have done in previous year groups, linked to this unit
Key vocabulary and definitions
Key concepts – in ‘child-friendly’ language, with diagrams or pictures to aid understanding
Key dates
Key people
Key events

How do they help children?

They provide the essential knowledge that children need to cover in the topic or unit, which is shared at the beginning so children know what they are going to be learning.
They help children to remember key dates, key people, key events, vocabulary and definitions and key concepts.
They can be used as a fun assessment tool to help remember the learning.

How do they help parents?

Parents will have a better understanding of what the children need to know. They will allow parents to build on their knowledge at home and provide an easy tool for parents to quiz children at home (and children to quiz parents!)

These knowledge organisers are designed carefully to match identified ‘key knowledge and vocabulary’ we want each class to understand in each topic or unit of work.

Once each Knowledge Organiser has been completed, we will update this page for your information.