Our Curriculum

Overview

At South Stanley Junior School we want our curriculum to be full of opportunities for pupils to explore the world in which they live, developing curiosity and skills which can be used across a range of subjects.

We want to provide real-life experiences to deepen and develop their interest and love for learning. We aim to stimulate their thinking, drawing upon first-hand experience as well as consideration and appreciation of the ideas, thoughts and achievements of others.

It is our aim to provide children with the skills to enable lifelong learning as well as the desire to pursue this whole-heartedly.

Our curriculum is designed with two goals in mind:

1) To give all pupils a rich set of experiences to help them develop as confident, responsible citizens;

2) To provide a coherent, structured academic curriculum that leads to good progress for all and a greater depth of understanding for those who are capable.

Underpinned by our school aims, ethos and vision (including British values), our curriculum uses the National Curriculum as the basis for content and expectations and keeps the basic skills of Maths, reading and writing at its heart. We have structured this so that each year group has a clear overview of what must be covered (documented in a curriculum map which includes key vocabulary), so that knowledge can be built, layered and transferred in a skillful manner.

RE and PSHCE also form a central part of our curriculum, complementing pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and fully equipping pupils in our school for life in modern Britain.

Maths

At South Stanley Juniors we teach for maths mastery. What does this mean?

The key intention is for all children to master the curriculum (set out in the National Curriculum 2014)

In line with the Singapore approach to teaching mathematics, content will be taught slower in order to achieve an in-depth understanding which will become embedded over time.  The other key concepts from maths mastery (see diagram) must be embedded into the learning week.

The 5 concepts are integral in all teaching and learning.

Teaching maths for mastery ensures that children develop their mathematical fluency without resorting to rote learning and are able to solve non-routine maths problems without having to memorise procedures. There is an emphasis on understanding rather than simply learning methods and facts.

At SSJ we use the above approach consistently to meet the needs of everyone in our classes.

If you would like more information please click on the links below or speak to the maths lead teacher in school – Mrs H Thomas

https://mathsnoproblem.com/en/mastery/what-is-singapore-maths/
https://mathsnoproblem.com/en/mastery/what-is-maths-mastery/

English

At South Stanley Junior School, we aim to engage and develop confident, articulate children who are able to communicate and express themselves through written and spoken words. We strive to develop a love for reading and writing which will serve them well throughout the rest of their lives.

Reading

Reading is the gateway to learning, opening doors to faraway adventures, new possibilities and promising futures. Without strong reading skills, children will face a host of difficult challenges throughout their lives.  We want to build a love of reading so they can strive to achieve the highest possible outcomes. We also want to make sure that children become avid readers, who can use reading to learn about their world as well as help them to make careful informed choices in their life and of course.

The Simple View of Reading provides the rationale for the structure of reading provision at our school. The Simple View of Reading, which is the conceptual framework that underpins reading in the new National Curriculum, sets out a model of reading that has two dimensions: word-reading and language comprehension.  At South Stanley Junior School, our pupils follow a system of synthetic phonics, based on the Letters and Sounds scheme. A rigorous intervention plan ensures children who struggle with word-reading receive further support in year 3 and if necessary, year 4.

At South Stanley Junior School, comprehension is taught through English lessons and guided reading sessions. English lessons are organised into units of work written around high-quality texts. Pupils are expected to develop a range of specific comprehension skills, ranging from straightforward retrieval of information to quite sophisticated inference. The differentiation is provided by texts of increasing challenge. The texts children read in lessons provide the stimulus for much of their writing work.

In addition to English lessons, guided reading and phonics, children at South Stanley Junior School have the opportunity to read independently and listen to books read to them by an adult. This supports their comprehension, develops their vocabulary and helps them to enjoy reading and lose themselves in a great book.

Here at South Stanley Junior School, we are always striving for teachers to give children the best possible reading opportunities. We have recently signed up to Reading Plus which the children can access both in school and at home to create an interactive reading strategy for the children. We have also recently set up a buddy scheme between the year 3 and year 5 pupils to support those children who are less confident. Again, promoting a love of reading.

Writing

We intend to build accurate writing which engages our pupils across all subjects. Our writing curriculum is linked to whole class texts and termly or half termly topics. Teachers are encouraged to make writing meaningful and purposeful. This may mean changing the genre types dependent upon what is current for that particular class. Writing is planned sequentially, with an end goal, which is continuously shared with the pupils so they understand what they are learning and why it is important. Accurate modelled speaking, listening, reading and writing is paramount in all lessons. Pupils are continually exposed to high level vocabulary in all lessons and given as many real-life experiences to further expose and embed new vocabulary to help broaden children’s knowledge. We want our pupils to value accurate writing in all of their work and realise that writing can make positive impacts on the world around them, writing can entertain and writing can be purposeful.

Spelling 

We want all pupils to take pride in their spelling and independently take steps to improve and check their spellings in all writing.  As we are a junior school, it is important that teachers, especially in years 3 and 4, are knowledgeable of spelling provision expected in year 2. We also believe that, when in year 3, pupils revisit phonics and year 2 spelling rules to help ease the transition from one school to another.  We aim to provide pupils with a chance to revisit spellings from previous years and ensure that any pupils struggling, especially disadvantaged and SEND pupils, are targeted through quality first teaching and extra provision. We want children to see the value in being good at spelling and transfer taught spellings, especially HFW and CEW’s, in all books.

A spelling scheme is not adopted in school, however, County Durham’s progression in spelling document is used alongside an expected teaching cycle (systematic approach) and a long-term writing overview.  Letters and Sounds are used to implement a systematic approach to teaching of phonics, which is in line with South Stanley Infant School.

 

Curriculum Plans

You can view or download  our curriculum overviews and view more detailed information about our approach to the National Curriculum by clicking the links below:

Curriculum overview
Year 3 curriculum overview
Year 4 curriculum overview
Year 5 curriculum overview
Year 6 curriculum overview 

Geography

At South Stanley Junior School, we aim to develop an interesting and engaging geography curriculum which should broaden children’s horizons to the world around them; locally; nationally; and internationally. We aim to promote fieldwork opportunities to provide practical and active learning experiences in order to enrich progression across each of the four areas outlined above. At our school, we want children to become positively aware of their place within the community and understand how this relates to the wider world around them. Lastly, we wish for children to expand their acquisition and understanding of vocabulary by providing them with high quality locational and place knowledge in order to be promote their future opportunities.

Religious Education

At South Stanley Junior School, we aim to build a Religious Education Curriculum which develops prior learning, engages pupils in critical, enquiry-based learning and equips them for the diverse world in which they live. Pupils will have opportunities to be critical, reflective and evaluative through a systematic approach to the teaching of World Religions. Pupils be given a rich curriculum enhanced by the use of visits, visitors and religions artefacts. We expect that work done in books will be of a high quality and in-line with teacher expectations found in writing books. Where appropriate, pupils will be asked to transfer and use their English to RE lessons.

PSHCE/SRE

At this school, we aim to provide children with an understanding of the world around them; to help them to accept differences in religion, gender and race and to give children the skills for life to keep them safe, have meaningful relationships and to understand what a bad relationship is, in addition to what they need to do if they experience these things. We also want to teach children the dangers of life online and how to stay safe on the internet and in social media. Our curriculum aims to give our children the information and skills to make informed decisions as they go through life and where to seek support if they need it.

Computing

We believe that the computing curriculum needs to be engaging as well as giving children the skills they need to prepare them for later life. Children need to be aware of the opportunities in the digital world as well as the dangers that can occur. Therefore, our computing curriculum aims to equip children with the knowledge and skills in all three areas of computing: digital literacy, computer science and IT that they can then develop throughout their time in school and beyond. It is extremely important to teachers that children explore all the up and coming possibilities within computer science, given the advances within the digital world.

MFL

At South Stanley Junior School, we aim to give children the experience of learning a modern foreign language and to learn about another country. We aim to give them the skills to speak a basic level of French that they would be able to use should they get the opportunity to travel. We also hope this inspires the children to want to see and learn more about the world and its diversity.

 

Links to our other curriculum subject will be uploaded soon…

If you would like to find out more about our curriculum please contact school.

Find out what your child will be learning – visit the Class Pages  to see our curriculum in action.

SMSC and British Values

At South Stanley Junior School we promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils. We have a duty to prepare our children for life in modern Britain and to keep them safe. Find out more  about SMSC and our approach to British Values by clicking here: SMSC & British Values .

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

At South Stanley Junior School,  we believe that inclusive education means providing all pupils with appropriate education and support alongside their peers. The Curriculum is all the planned activities that the school organises in order to promote learning, personal growth and development. Further information can be found in the SEN Information Report.