Curriculum

Curriculum Rationale at Horspath CE Primary School

At Horspath CE Primary School, we inspire and nurture our children to discover and reach their full potential. Our curriculum aims to equip pupils with the skills they need to be lifelong learners, prepared for the next steps in their education and for the wider world. We encourage our children to be creative, critically curious, and ambitious, giving them the confidence and self-belief to lead fulfilling, successful lives and work towards their dreams.

Our Curriculum Aims

We aim to:

• Deliver high-quality teaching and learning: We strive to raise standards through creative and innovative pedagogical approaches, motivating and challenging learners to fully engage with their education.

• Remove barriers to learning: We promote fairness, equity, and equality in all aspects of our school life, ensuring that every child is given the opportunity to succeed.

• Develop partnerships within and beyond our school community: By working closely with families and external partners, we foster a happy, nurturing, and collaborative school environment.

• Nurture skills for learning, life, and work: We empower children to become independent, responsible, and effective learners, developing the skills they need now and in the future.

• Celebrate personal achievement: We provide opportunities for children to succeed both in the classroom and beyond, helping them build resilience, motivation, and confidence as they grow.

Curriculum Structure and Design

Horspath CE Primary School has a unique class structure due to our Pupil Admission Number (PAN) of 20. Our reception class works separately through the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), while the rest of the school is organised into mixed-age classes:

• Year 1 and 2 (youngest)

• Year 2 (oldest) and Year 3

• Year 4 and 5 (youngest)

• Year 5 (oldest) and Year 6

To ensure full curriculum coverage without repetition, we have designed a three-year rolling curriculum (Cycle A, Cycle B, Cycle C), which maps out the journey of a child through the school. This approach ensures that skills and knowledge are developed progressively, with clear outcomes and experiences at each stage of learning.

The curriculum is designed to develop skills across all subjects, providing a solid foundation for lifelong learning. The progression of skills builds upon prior learning, supporting pupils in becoming confident, independent learners who can apply their knowledge in new and challenging contexts.

Curriculum Intent

At the heart of our curriculum is the belief that all children should be empowered to become passionate, resilient learners, with respect for themselves and the world around them. Our semi-rural school is fortunate to have extensive outdoor learning facilities, which we aim to incorporate into our curriculum as much as possible.

Through this curriculum, we nurture each child to:

• Develop a love of learning.

• Cultivate skills for life and work.

• Demonstrate our school values: Kindness, Courage, Responsibility, and Justice.

• Value and respect diversity, both locally and globally.

• Appreciate the importance of sustainability and community responsibility.

We strive to provide a curriculum that offers both academic excellence and personal growth, ensuring our children leave Horspath with the knowledge, skills, and character to succeed in the modern world.

Curriculum Implementation

Our curriculum is:

• Inclusive: We ensure that every child is challenged and supported to reach their full potential. We focus on developing vocabulary and offering diverse learning experiences that are accessible to all.

• Engaging: The curriculum is designed to be enquiry-led, encouraging curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking. Children are encouraged to apply their learning in real-world contexts and to develop a deep understanding of key concepts.

• Progressive: We provide clear progression in each subject, allowing pupils to revisit and build upon prior learning. This approach ensures that knowledge is embedded in long-term memory.

• Culturally relevant: The curriculum is designed to reflect the experiences and backgrounds of our children, while also broadening their understanding of the world beyond their immediate environment.

• Experiential: We believe that hands-on, real-life experiences enhance learning. Our curriculum includes school trips, local community visits, residential trips, and visiting speakers, which all help to strengthen classroom learning and create lasting memories.

• Holistic: Alongside academic learning, we provide opportunities for pupils to develop their social, moral, spiritual, and cultural (SMSC) understanding. British values are woven throughout the curriculum, helping children become responsible citizens who understand and respect diversity.

Curriculum Impact

We measure the impact of our curriculum through:

• Academic progress: Children make excellent progress from their starting points, achieving national expectations or above.

• Social and emotional growth: Children leave Horspath with a love of learning, self-confidence, resilience, and a strong sense of moral purpose. They develop the skills to thrive in the modern world and are prepared to take on new challenges.

• Development of key skills: Our children develop strong core skills in reading, writing, and mathematics, along with a lifelong love of reading for pleasure.

• Values-based education: Children demonstrate respect for themselves, others, and their environment. They embody the school’s values of kindness, responsibility, justice and courage in all they do.

• Life skills and citizenship: We equip children with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes they need to become responsible, active members of society. They are encouraged to challenge prejudice and injustice and to make positive contributions to their local and global communities.

Parental and Community Engagement

We recognise the vital role parents play in their child’s learning journey. At Horspath, we work in close partnership with families to support children’s academic and personal development. Through regular consultations, workshops, and school events, we ensure that parents are fully involved in their child’s education.

Monitoring and Evaluation

We regularly review the effectiveness of our curriculum through:

• Pupil, staff, and parent feedback: We engage with our school community to ensure that the curriculum meets the needs of all our children.

• Academic tracking: We monitor children’s progress and attainment to ensure they are making expected or better progress from their starting points.

Self-evaluation and improvement:

Our culture of continuous improvement ensures that our curriculum evolves based on feedback and best practices, always striving to offer the best educational experiences for our pupils.

Phonics and reading

At Horspath we recognise that reading is the gateway to most learning across the curriculum. We use the systematic synthetic phonics scheme, Little Wandle, from the reception year. This places an emphasis, not only on the children recognising the sounds that build up words, but also with reading fluently, building confidence and understanding.  The linked books are varied to engage the children through fiction and non-fiction texts.  We use this to teach our youngest children to read accurately, fluently and with understanding, to spell, and to write their own compositions. 

Thereafter, we aim to: 

• promote high standards of literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the written and spoken word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment
• ensure that all pupils read easily, fluently, expressively and with good understanding of the text
• develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information 
• ensure that all children acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and a knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language 
• encourage children to appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage

How to find out more about our curriculum

Class teachers share curriculum maps with parents and carers at the beginning of each term.  These 'maps' show what the pupils will be learning in the term ahead.  The children share and celebrate their learning with their parents and carers, and the rest of the school, in termly class assemblies.  

You can contact class teachers about what your children are learning by emailing the school office, who will forward your query.  If you want to find out more about the design of the curriculum, please contact the school office and ask to speak to the headteacher.