Curriculum
At Duchy of Lancaster Primary School, we aim for all pupils to be successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens.
Overview
'At Trinity Partnership Schools our curriculum is valued, specified, well-sequenced and taught to be remembered'.
At The trinity Partnership we have a rich knowledge based curriculum that is designed to give all pupils, particularly disadvantaged and SEND pupils the knowledge and cultural capital required to succeed in life. We have an English curriculum that ensures pupils will become fluent readers and writers who will be able to confidently access the demands of the secondary school curriculum, this is driven by a canon of culturally important, high-quality texts.
Our Phonics programme (Sounds Write) is highly specified, carefully sequenced and code knowledge is revisited, so that it is taught to be remembered. Phonics is taught whole-class and any children who did not fully grasp the learning repeat the lesson / part of the lesson that same day to ensure gaps do not form.
The wider curriculum is coherently planned and sequenced towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge and skills for future learning and employment, it places ‘Powerful Knowledge’ at the heart of what they learn. The knowledge in our curriculum is valued, carefully sequenced, highly specialised and taught to be remembered. It is divided into subjects, History, Geography, Science and Art, recognising the identity of the disciplines we study, fostering a love for subject content that will flourish as children move through the curriculum. Where pupils have SEND the curriculum is adapted, designed and developed to build on their knowledge, skills and abilities whilst fluency and independence.
"We learnt about GDP which we did not know what it was, now we know it’s about gross domestic product and how much wealth or goods a country has. "
"We have also learnt about the prime meridian, longitude and latitude and where to find them on a map and where the arctic circle is. "
"It was good when we had the God and the Big Bang workshop (RE) . There were two people – the lady believed that God made the world and the man was a scientist and believed that the world was made from dust and particles. We did lots of experiments and talked about whether it was really science or whether it was a miracle ! "
KNOWLEDGE ORGANISERS
Using knowledge organisers at home
It is important that any work done with knowledge organisers at home is kept relaxed and supportive. Children will forget what you talk about. This is ok. Children will make mistakes. This is ok. If this happens, try to respond with – “Excellent, you now have the chance to remember something you have started to forget. Let me remind of what the answer is.” Forgetting is an important step in remembering. Children will take time to learn what is on the organiser and will forget parts. It is by being encouraging and acknowledging that forgetting is part of learning that children will start to remember and this learning will stick.
Ideas for use
- First, discuss the knowledge organiser. Just talk about it and read what is on there. Help the children with any tricky words. Be fascinated by what you are finding out – even if you already know it. Tell your child that you can’t wait to find out more.
- The key vocabulary listed is vital. It will be used in each lesson. Using a my turn, your turn approach is really useful to help build confidence. You say the word, your child says the word. You say the definition, your children says the definition. Do this a few times. You can then mix up the order. You say the word, your child says the definition. You say the definition, your child says the word. You say half the definition, your child ends it. Or your child can test you. They say a word and you give the definition or the other way round.
- You are also able to cover up words from the vocabulary section. You could cover up all the target words and leave your child to write what has been covered. Or you cold cover up the bold words from the definitions and your child has to fill them in. This could be verbal or written.
- When you are out and about you might spot an opportunity to use some of the vocabulary. Rather than naming something, describe it using the definition and tell your child you forgot the name. Or simply say, there is that thing we were talking about, what’s it called? If the word was evergreen you could say – “oh, look at that tree that keeps its leaves all year long, what’s that called?” or “Wow, that’s an evergreen tree, what does that mean?”
- It is also worth checking/ learning the spelling of the key words. We won’t test this at school but they will be words that children will need to use in their writing. Keep this low stakes. Some words are very tricky.
- Ask your child if they have learnt anything at school that matches the knowledge organiser or to tell you more than the knowledge organiser shows?
- If the organiser has a timeline, can your child name which event happens before or after an event you name, can they tell or write the events in order. Can your child tell you more about the events?
- With diagrams and images ask why they are there or if your child can write or tell you what they show.
The children have 3-4 knowledge organisers (Year 1/2 have 3, Year 3/4/5/6 have 4). Try to look at each one, once a week. This could be Geography on Monday, History on Tuesday, Science on Thursday and Art on Friday. Only use one or two of the activities at a time.
Remember – the children learn what is on the knowledge organiser over the space of 6 weeks. They will only know a bit from school at the start.