Our Curriculum

At Abbotsweld, we passionately believe that all children deserve access to an education that will provide them with life-fulfilling opportunities and the freedom to make choices about their future. Our curriculum is designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills they need at each stage of their educational journey, while upholding and promoting our core school values.

By focusing on three intrinsically linked key drivers: academic success, physical development and positive wellbeing, we provide children with the opportunity to thrive in fundamental areas, preparing them to be not only 'next stage ready' but also 'life ready as global citizens.'

Through a carefully sequenced core curriculum, alongside an inspiring wider curriculum, children at Abbotsweld will leave with:

• The confidence and skills to express themselves effectively
• Fluent reading skills, combined with a passion for reading, supporting them in understanding and interpreting the world
• An acceptance and appreciation of others' differences
• Tools and strategies to ensure positive wellbeing and happiness
• The capacity for metacognitive thinking and self-regulation, enabling them to take control of their learning
• Character defining and memorable childhood experiences that foster the development of cultural capital

Curriculum Implementation

Our curriculum is built upon the foundations of the National Curriculum, with subjects carefully planned and sequenced to outline the key knowledge and subject-specific skills children must master at each stage. For some subjects, the trust has developed its own sequential and progressive curriculum, ensuring the local context is reflected. In other subjects, external schemes of work have been adopted and tailored to meet the needs of our children.

Each unit includes essential learning questions for children to explore, alongside key subject skills that are developed progressively from the Early Years to Year 6. This approach fosters the growth of key concepts and schemas, ensuring both knowledge and skills build over time.

Key vocabulary is explicitly highlighted and taught throughout all lessons, aligned with the trust’s teaching and learning policy. Additionally, the consistent use of high-quality texts across the curriculum maximises opportunities for reading and vocabulary development.

Curriculum Impact

The aim of our curriculum is to ensure high achievement and success for all pupils, regardless of their backgrounds or starting points. Pupils' success is reflected through various outcomes across our curriculum drivers - academic success, physical development and positive wellbeing:

• Children are motivated to learn and establish positive attitudes, preparing them for a successful future
• Disadvantaged children are provided with opportunities and experiences to achieve as well as their peers
• Children with SEND thrive both academically and personally, as a result of an inclusive curriculum, focusing on the individual needs of each child
• Children are ready for secondary school, equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills
• Children are happy and demonstrate a range of tools to regulate emotions
• Children understand and value the importance of being physically healthy

Wider Curriculum

We strongly believe it is essential that primary schools are proactive in their approaches towards wellbeing and this is at the heart of Abbotsweld’s wider curriculum. A structured, purposeful whole school approach and mission helps to support pupils in developing lifelong positive wellbeing and can strengthen any additional support pupils may have for mental health and wellbeing.

Abbotsweld’s mission- ‘Where everyone find a Sense of SELF’ is the basis of our approach to supporting pupils at each stage:

 To be ‘life-ready’ socially pupils should know who they are themselves, in the community and in the world.  

 To be ‘life-ready’ pupils should have appropriate exposure to make choices based on their own context, in  their communities context and the world. 

 To be ‘life-ready’ with appropriate life-skills pupils should know how they can look after themselves, in their own lives, in the community and in the world. 

 To be ‘life-ready’ pupils should be fascinated about their own lives, their community and the world. 

It facilitates the development of positive wellbeing, whilst supporting an acknowledgement that physical development helps to enhance a healthy mindset. In turn, this enables the creation of a positive and proactive zone for wellbeing thus enabling those who are more vulnerable every chance to grow more resilient and positive in mindset. Some of our ‘Sense of SELF’ experiences include:

How do we teach our curriculum?

Our teaching and learning policy highlights our consistent pedagogical approach across all subjects:

Key teaching intentions:

• Teachers have secure subject knowledge
• Prior knowledge is explored, recapped and built upon
• Retrieval opportunities are provided across all subjects
• Knowledge and skills are progressive
• Learning questions and steps to being successful are made explicit
• Oracy is built into all lessons
• Vocabulary is explicitly taught in all lessons, focusing on tier 2 and tier 3 words
• A range of formative assessment strategies are used
• Scaffolded planned activities ensure expectations remain high and all learners can be successful
• Metacognitive skills are developed and promoted across all areas of learning
• Plenaries allow learning to be consolidated and moved forward. Learning behaviours linked to the school’s values and subject specific skills are consistently reflected upon

Curriculum Subjects

 You can explore our curriculum further, by clicking here...

 If you would like to find out more about our curriculum please contact the school office on 01279 630120 and ask to speak to the Head of School.