Curriculum Design

Our curriculum has been carefully designed to ensure that learning is progressive and develops knowledge, skills and understanding within each subject discipline. Information regarding the content for each year group can be found in the overview documents below which detail how our curriculum is implemented. We follow a two year cycle; in the school year 2023 - 2024 we are in Cycle 1. If you wish to know more about our curriculum offer, please contact your child's class teacher or Mrs Wheatcroft (Curriculum Lead).

Reading

At Winchcombe Abbey it is our intent that all children will aspire to be accomplished, independent readers, self-motivated to read widely for a range of purposes and to enjoy reading for the joy and stimulation it can bring.  Children at Winchcombe Abbey will achieve fluency in their reading: reading with confidence, intonation and clarity. As such, they will have a secure understanding of how reading enables them to acquire and build their knowledge of the world, whilst being a vital tool to communicate their thoughts, feelings and ideas.  Through a broad reading diet of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, children will seek to stretch their imaginations and learn more about themselves and their world.  Equipped with a positive attitude to reading, children will believe in the power of reading to develop them as citizens and individuals: developing their emotional and social intelligence, expanding their knowledge of others and cultures of the worlds, ultimately helping to inform their own beliefs.  

Writing

At Winchcombe Abbey it is our intent that all children will aspire to be accomplished, independent writers: confident to write for a range of purposes and taking pride in their written work through fluent and legible handwriting. Children at Winchcombe Abbey will achieve competency in their writing: forming, articulating and communicating ideas, and then organising them coherently for a reader. They will develop a secure understanding of how to write for a range of purposes and audiences, selecting from an increasingly wide repertoire of vocabulary and grammar as suited to their purpose & audience. Children will seek to utilise writing as a crucial tool to communicate their thoughts, feelings and ideas in a range of creative contexts and for real-life purposes in the present and looking ahead to their future.  Through their writing and their learning of the writing process, children will have a belief in their potential as writers to entertain, inform, persuade, discuss and to make a difference to others.

Maths

In Mathematics, it is our intent that pupils will foster a positive, ‘can do’ attitude where they feel safe to try new things and aspire to have a go at challenging concepts. Our pupils will achieve a much deeper mathematical understanding through our lesson and activity design which ensures they do not ‘race’ through mathematical content, but rather explore concepts in more detail allowing them to enjoy the process of problem solving. We encourage our pupils to seek curiosity from this process by providing them with the verbal reasoning skills needed to become well-rounded mathematicians – the answer is only the beginning so proving and justifying thoughts is central to our mathematical learning. Mistake-sharing is a crucial part of our learning journeys and it is through celebrating these that we can fully adopt a whole class team approach where everybody has a chance to shine and truly believe they are the best mathematician they can be.

Science

In Science, it is our intent that pupils will aspire to be ‘Scientists’ - children who have a sense of excitement and curiosity, who can ask and answer scientific questions about the world around them. Our pupils will achieve a secure understanding of the scientific knowledge, methods, processes and the uses of science by building up a body of key foundational knowledge and concepts. Children will be curious about the world around them and seek to find rational answers that explain natural phenomena. They will believe that science has the power to change lives, and that it is vital to world’s future prosperity and health. 

Religious Education

In RE, it is our intent that pupils will aspire to understand how religious beliefs impact people and their ways of living, as well as growing a sense of the own ideas and the potential these have for impacting their world. Our pupils will achieve a secure understanding of the diverse religious and non-religious worldviews that exist in our world today and use this understanding to express their own perspective on the world. Children will seek to ask and answer questions about the beliefs and worldviews of the others which will provoke their curiosity about the world and the big questions of life. They will flourish in their personal beliefs about themselves and the world around them by exploring the diversity of experiences, worldviews and perspectives present within their local region and wider world.  

History

In History, it is our intent that pupils will aspire to recognise their own potential legacies through exploring the stories of the past. They will achieve a secure chronological understanding of significant historical events and the impact these have had, and still have, on their lives today. By studying a variety of historical contexts, children are encouraged to seek out different perspectives and interpretations of history in order that they might develop their ability to ask and answer big questions about the world. Through the study of significant people and events, children will learn to be reflective and open-minded about their foundational beliefs, views and experiences.

Geography

In Geography, it is our intent that pupils will aspire to be active citizens, ready to engage with the diverse range of people, places and geographical issues they will meet in their lifetimes.  Our pupils will achieve a secure understanding of the world’s locations and a variety of general geographical concepts (human and physical). Children will seek to ask and answer big questions about the physical world and its relationship with humans.  They will form beliefs on the relationships between humans and the physical world and reflect on their own responsibilities within this.  

Art & Design

In Art & Design, it is our intent that children will aspire to create their own works of art, craft and design. They will achieve a secure knowledge of artists and designers across history as well as the skills to experiment in using a variety of materials and artistic mediums to create their own works of art. Children are encouraged to seek to develop their own creativity, finding inspiration for their own creative projects through the study of existing artistic pieces. Children will think critically and will form their own beliefs as to how art and design can contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.

Design Technology

In DT, it is our intent that pupils aspire to develop a critical understanding of the design process and the impact of Design Technology on daily life, so that they can contribute to the creativity, culture, wealth and wellbeing of the wider world. Pupils will achieve success through risk taking, becoming resourceful, innovative and enterprising citizens.  Children are encouraged to seek to nurture their own creativity and innovation through design, and to explore the made world in which we live and work.  They will think critically, drawing on knowledge from disciplines such as mathematics, science, art and computing, while developing the belief that they can design and make their own products to solve real and relevant problems

Music

In Music, it is our intent that pupils will aspire to openly engage with a scope of musical genres and seek to understand how these styles of music have contributed to the lives of others.  This will include exploring musical styles from a diversity of cultures and being able to respond to these in their own way.  Our pupils will achieve a secure understanding of the vocabulary needed to describe pieces of music, the understanding required to improvise, compose and record this process and the opportunity to perform in different contexts.  Most notably, it is through these performance opportunities that pupils aspire to be the best they can be and realise their full potential.

Physical Education

In PE, it is our intent that pupils will aspire to live a positive and healthy lifestyle by empowering them with a diverse experiences of sport and physical activity at a young age where they can build a lifetime habit of participation. We inspire our pupils to achieve excellence in competitive sport and other physically-demanding activities where they will develop team and social skills. Children will seek new challenges and opportunities to develop fundamental practical skills, through which they will build character and embed values such as fairness and respect. They will believe in individual contest, personal challenge and competition with others around them. These sporting opportunities will help pupils to become physically confident in a way which supports their health and fitness and also their mental, social and emotional wellbeing.  

PSHE

In PSHE our pupils aspire to develop their own self-confidence, belief in their own abilities and encouraging them to be the best they can be through teaching on wellbeing, health and relationships. Our pupils will achieve secure understanding of their rights and responsibilities and will develop age-appropriate life skills to enable them to lead healthy, fulfilling lives. They will be able to recognise success and celebrate themselves and others.  Children will form beliefs through valuing people’s differences and learning about their community and the wider world. Our pupils will seek out differences and similarities in themselves and others by exploring friendships, other people’s views and experiences. They will seek out how to keep themselves and others safe. 

PSHE is taught weekly in every class and is taught in single year groups with age-appropriate content.  We follow the Coram Life Education scheme of work for both our PSHE and RSE teaching (https://www.coramlifeeducation.org.uk/scarf/).  

Computing

In Computing, it is our intent that pupils will achieve a secure understanding of computational thinking and creativity, regardless of their previous knowledge and experience.   Our pupils aspire to become digitally literate, using technology purposefully and safely to become active participants in our ever-increasing digital world.  Our pupils will believe in the capacity for Computing to forge meaningful connections across the globe and will seek out new ways of using technology to enhance and change the world around them. 

Spanish

Through our Spanish teaching, pupils aspire to be able to communicate with others, both verbally and in written form, and they deepen their understanding of the world. Children achieve the skills of communicating with increasing accuracy of pronunciation and intonation, laying the foundations for further foreign language study at KS3 and beyond. They seek to broaden their knowledge of different cultures and to express their ideas and thoughts in another language. Our pupils will believe in their capacity to learn languages and the opportunities this brings for their future work, study and leisure.