Curriculum Intent and Implementation

Intent

At North Waltham School, we believe that every child deserves a curriculum that inspires curiosity, nurtures creativity, and builds strong foundations for lifelong learning. We aim to provide our pupils with engaging learning experiences that will inspire them to want to ask questions, be creative and learn more.

With this in mind, we have implemented an ambitious and aspirational curriculumthat is challenging, promotes active learning and enables pupils to be more ‘outward facing’ and step away from their comfort zone. This, in turn, should lead to them becoming well-rounded individuals.

In particular, we want to provide opportunities for learning which enable them to become more open-minded and grow in resilience and independence.

We aim to empower our pupils to develop their identity, not only as part of our community but as respectful, responsible global citizens.

Rationale for Implementation

We use Dimensions ‘Learning Means the World’ Curriculum as the main vehicle for achieving our outlined intent, with a view to providing an ambitious, highly visible curriculum offer.

This curriculum is underpinned by four highly relevant world issues, known as the four Cs:-

Communication            Culture            Conflict            Conservation

Communication

We believe that communication is the key to unlocking our pupils learning and enriching their future opportunities in life, including opening doors to travel and what may be, as yet unknown careers. Our pupils will be given opportunities in all year groups to develop their vital communication skills including collaboration, teamwork, speaking and listening.

The Communication themes explore the many ways we share our ideas, feelings and information within, and across different subjects. By engaging pupils in debates, presentations, storytelling, digital media and collaborative projects we aim for the pupils at North Waltham School to be able to clearly express themselves and their ideas whilst being open and understanding towards others.

 Culture

North Waltham School that is located in a very rural setting and is proud of its rich heritage and the part it plays in the local community. Through our curriculum, we want them to fully appreciate and embrace diversity by learning about and developing an understanding of a range of cultural heritages and challenges. We want them to avoid stereotypes, celebrate differences, value the importance of cultural identity and behave in a respectful and tolerant way towards others, regardless of faith, ethnicity or background. Culture is what makes us who we are, so we want our pupils to recognise our history, traditions and beliefs and have a clear understanding of their own place within a global community.

Conflict

Conflict is a natural part of growing up, and at North Waltham, we view it as a valuable learning opportunity. We also believe conflict is very closely linked with communication and, as conflicts often result from poor communication, we want our pupils to reflect on history and see what we can learn. We want children to develop a deeper understanding that there are different viewpoints, including grey areas, which should be respected and valued. Through our curriculum experiences we want them to understand that conflict is a driving force for change. It also gives them the tools to resolve differences, think critically and appreciate multiple perspectives.

Once they begin to understand what conflict is in today’s world at all levels, globally and personally and can recognise catalysts for conflict, school should be a safe place to explore how to debate conflicts and resolve disagreements.

 Conservation

North Waltham School is located in a small village with a wealth of opportunities to explore and discover rich natural resources and wildlife. We want to build on this and provide opportunities and experiences for our pupils to understand and appreciate this is not the case everywhere. Within our curriculum we want pupils to be more aware of the wider challenges which are threatening our environment now, and in the future. We want our pupils to care passionately about our world as global citizens and feel they will do this best through a curriculum that puts sustainability at the heart, employing a more structured approach to developing environmental awareness and appreciation. We need our children to play their part in future thinking and problem-solving, as both advocates and activists for positive change.

Our curriculum narrative begins with Culture as we begin the year by reinforcing our school vision and values to strengthen our personal identity within in the community. Aligned to this we believe it is important that we begin to develop a wider appreciation of our sense of belonging to a wider national and global community. We have followed this with Communication, as this is a key area for our pupils to demonstrate they are active participants in their learning. This theme underpins and links to the three other areas and can be built on throughout the year.  The next theme is Conflict, as we aim to build upon the understanding of the previous themes and how conflict good and bad can arise from this understanding. Finally, Conservation, considering local challenges and to further explore the impact of human actions on a wider scale. To look towards the future and collaborate towards a better and sustainable world.

We also encourage our pupils to have high aspirations by teaching them about human creativity and achievement through additional Competency Units about famous figures that focus on Creativity, Commitment, Courage and Community.