Curriculum Statement
Our curriculum is driven by the intent to equip children with the knowledge and skills to be highly educated global citizens. It is designed with our school, the community and the demands of a rapidly developing 21st century world. It is taught and assessed in order to support pupils to build on their knowledge and to subconsciously apply their retained knowledge to new experiences. Our curriculum contains essential knowledge which we build on year upon year in a logical progression.
At Earlham, the implementation of our curriculum means that children will learn and make progress by knowing more, remembering more and being able to do more. The impact of the Earlham curriculum is that children leave having achieved the best they can from their starting point. Each new learning experience results in an alteration to the long–term memory, hence new knowledge has been learned.
The Earlham curriculum is successfully adapted where needed to meet the needs of the pupils with Special Education Needs and early stages of language acquisition. These children make progress by developing their knowledge, skills and abilities to apply what they know and can do with increasing fluency and independence. They build on this acquisition year upon year.
We also address social disadvantages and, as a result, our curriculum reflects the school’s local context by addressing our families’ backgrounds, heritage and cultures. The majority of children in our immediate community are not typically exposed to a wide range of vocabulary, regardless of language, or have a rich exposure to quality reading materials. Words have the power to ignite imaginations and unlock doors to a world of understanding. It is because of this that we have a literature spine, linked to our curriculum, across our school which exposes all children to a range of high quality texts including classic British literature.
The social disadvantages which many of our families face means many children are not exposed to quality enrichment opportunities. Our curriculum includes a variety of visitors, educational visits and extra-curricular activities and clubs which help embed the taught knowledge and skills in a logical progression.
At Earlham, our curriculum ensures that every child leaves in Year 6 having achieved their personal best whatever their starting point. They have the knowledge and skills to thrive in their adult lives in an ever evolving local and global society.
Basic principles
- Learning is a change to long-term memory.
- We strive to ensure that our pupils experience a rich and wide breadth of study and have, by the end of each key stage, embedded in to their long term memory the knowledge, skills and the deeper cultural capital needed for them to excel in the next stage of their education and beyond – ‘learning for life’!
Our key aims are to:
*Embed – knowledge & skills in to long term memory
*Enrich - children's cultural capital
*Excite - through engaging experiences