Chalton Lower Curriculum

The School Curriculum

“The curriculum is the heart of the school and the child is the heart of the curriculum”

The school offers a curriculum which covers the requirements of the National Curriculum and is balanced and broadly based.

It promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and prepares pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.

The curriculum offers the children a wide range of learning experiences.  We have a two year rolling curriculum [found below] so that all the subject areas are covered as the children are in mixed year groups.

Curriculum Intent

At Chalton Lower School, the curriculum is designed so that the we teach a well planned, structured curriculum that ensures children’s learning is built on effectively each year; it develops a positive attitude to learning; it allows the children to be creative and develop their own thinking; it helps them to be prepared for life in modern Britain, building resilience and self-esteem; it allows them to become independent learners with high aspirations;

• To enable all children to learn and develop their skills to the best of their ability;
• To promote a positive attitude towards learning, so that children enjoy coming to school, and acquire a solid basis for lifelong learning;
• To teach children the basic skills of literacy, numeracy and information technology (IT);
• To enable children to be creative and to develop their own thinking;
• To teach children about their developing world, including how their environment and society have changed over time;
• To help children understand Britain’s cultural heritage;
• To enable children to be positive citizens in society;
• To fulfil all the requirements of the National Curriculum and the Locally Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education;
• To teach children to have an awareness of their own spiritual development, and to understand right from wrong;
• To help children understand the importance of truth and fairness, so that they grow up committed to equal opportunities for all;
• To enable children to have respect for themselves and high self-esteem, and to be able to live and work co-operatively with others.
• To provide an exciting curriculum which is effectively adapted in order to include and inspire all children academically, regardless of their abilities or capabilities.
• To ensure that each child’s education provides continuity and progression.
• To ensure that all tasks are matched to a pupil’s needs and capabilities.  
• We recognise that all children are unique, and our curriculum promotes respect for the views of each individual child, as well as for people of all cultures.
• We value the spiritual and moral development of each person, as well as their intellectual and physical growth.
• We value the importance of each person in our community. We organise our curriculum so that we promote co-operation and understanding between all members of our community.
• We value the rights enjoyed by each person in our society. We respect each child in our school for who they are, and we treat them with fairness and honesty. We aim to enable each person to be successful, and we provide equal opportunities for all the children in our school.
• We value our environment, and we aim, through our curriculum, to teach respect for our world, and how we should care for it for future generations, as well as our own.

Curriculum Implementation

The Early Years Foundation Stage

Our Early Years curriculum is based upon the seven areas of learning and development in the Early Years Statutory Framework.  All the areas of learning and development are important and inter-related.  Three areas are particularly crucial for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning and for building the capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive.  These three areas, the prime areas, are: communication and language, physical development, and personal, social and emotional development. Alongside these are the four specific areas of literacy, mathematics, understanding the world and expressive arts, through which the three prime areas are strengthened and applied.

Each area of learning and development will be implemented through planned, purposeful play and through a mix of adult-led and child-initiated activity.  The planning will reflect the different ways that children learn:

• playing and exploring – children investigate and experience things and ‘have a go’
• active learning – children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements
• creative and thinking critically – children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things

We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. 

More details can be found here

Phonics

At Chalton Lower we teach phonics using Twinkl Phonics across the whole school.  At the end of year 1 pupils take the phonics test.  A repeat test will be completed at the end of year 2 should any child not achieve the required standard.  

For more information on Twinkl Phonics please see here

Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar [SPAG]

We have specific lessons and times when we teach key grammar and punctuation skills.  Children are also given spellings to practise each week.

Key Stage 1 and 2

At Chalton Lower School we follow the National Curriculum. 

Over the six terms of the key stage, each child has the opportunity to experience the full range of National Curriculum subjects.

The National Curriculum is delivered using a combination of teaching styles.  Approaches such as whole class, group and individual work are used according to the activity in hand.  Usually the children will be taught in a whole-class situation and then prepared follow-up activities will be given to each child to allow them to work at their own level within a group.

For more information about the English National Curriculum, please click here

For more information about the Mathematics National Curriculum, please click here

Years 1 and 2 [2022-2023]

Years 1 and 2 [2023-2024]

Years 3 and 4 [2022-2023]

Years 3 and 4 [2023-2024]

Religious Education

Our RE curriculum provides the opportunity to explore a variety of beliefs, how these impact on people’s lives and how this relates to the lives of our children at Chalton Lower School.

Our main aim is for the children at our school to be understanding and tolerant of others’ beliefs, regardless of their own ideas, needs and experiences. Developing these traits at the first stage of their school life will help our children play a part in sustaining a liberal and open-minded society from when they leave our school and beyond. 

We also aim to teach our children to develop an insight into their own beliefs by reflecting on the beliefs of others. We work with the children to think about challenging questions, to reflect on their own experiences and to articulate their ideas, all whilst respecting the rights of others to differ.

Our intention is to deliver an exciting and purposeful RE curriculum to equip our children with knowledge and understanding of a range of religions and views, to support them to develop and understand their own ideas and beliefs. At Chalton Lower School we follow the Central Bedfordshire Agreed Syllabus for RE, which supports our teachers to provide an interesting and engaging RE curriculum. 

 To find out more please look at our policy for RE

Sex and Relationships Education Policy [SRE]

Relationships Education best describes the teaching and learning we offer to the young people in our school, helping them to understand their own and others sexuality and to develop skills for relationship and informed decision making.  We believe that SRE is the entitlement of all young people and we are committed to deliver it within the context of a broad and balanced programme of health education, supporting them in learning about different faiths and cultures and underpinned by values promoting equality and respect.

To find out more click here

PSHE

The school uses the the 3 Dimensions scheme of work to cover our work in Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education.  There are three core themes of health and well-being, relationships and living the world.

Reading

We use a range of reading schemes – Story World, Oxford Reading Tree, Project X, Jelly and Bean and Twinkl Phonics.  However we also use a variety of other approaches to develop the child’s reading skills.

We very much value the parental help we receive in hearing your child read at home.  This makes a real contribution to the children’s progress.

We always welcome parent volunteers to hear children read in school.

Writing

The children are taught and encouraged to write across all curriculum subjects.  Specifically in English lessons, teachers use carefully chosen fiction and non-fiction text as a stimulus for writing, which enhance and compliment our half termly topics. At Chalton Lower School we use the Letter-Join Handwriting scheme to support the children’s handwriting development. In Nursery and Reception we focus on the correct formation of letters. From Year 1 upwards we begin to teach the children cursive handwriting.

English and Language Development

High priority is given to language development as this is the key to formulating and communicating ideas and concepts.   Children are encouraged to ;

Describe, explain and sustain a dialogue

Develop fluency and coherence in speech

Develop comprehension and understanding using creative approaches such as drama

Develop listening skills

Be aware of the importance of literature

Participate actively in simple discussion

Initiate conversation

Mathematics

There is a strong emphasis on mental maths, especially in the early years.  In addition to this the children learn about numbers, measure, shape, space, pattern and handling data.  Using and applying mathematical skills in a wide variety of practical activities is an important part of our approach to the children’s mathematical learning.

Science

Children learn to enquire and hypothesise about the world around them.  Through investigating and questioning they will be encourage to report and record their finding through oral and written work.

ICT

Computers are used as a tool in the process of learning in subjects across the curriculum.  Younger children are taught to word process, draw, store and interpret data.  Older children enrich their learning with materials which they access through the internet.  The children have access to the Chalton Virtual Learning Environ and are all issued with passwords which you should keep safe.  Our E-Safety Policy reflects how the children will use this resource and the internet safely. They also use ICT to store and edit their work.

Art

We aim to provide the children with as wide a range of media as possible with which they use to observe nature and the works of various artists to see how different things are represented at different times and in different values.

Design Technology

Children learn design and make artefacts, and systems using a range of materials.  They are encouraged to discuss and evaluate their work.

French

Children in years 3 and 4 take part in learning songs and poems in French.  They are encouraged to participate and to learn basic vocabulary.

Humanities [History and Geography]

These subjects help children to develop and understand our world and their own place in society.  We aim to increase the children’s awareness of our inheritance and other cultures and provide opportunities for research and exploration.

Music

The school uses ‘Sing Up’ and the Espresso scheme of work.  Our approach is to make it fun and exciting for the children.  They will make their own music through singing, rhythm work and the use of instruments.

Physical Education

We aim to develop co-ordination and a positive and enjoyable attitude to physical activity.    This will be achieved by developing an understanding and appreciation of various forms of games and physical activities including dance and movement.

Personal, Social, Health and Citizenship Education [PSHCE]

All the children take part in PSHCE where they are encouraged to discuss and understand their relationships and attitudes to each other and learning.  They look at the seven units of work from the Social Emotional Aspects of Learning programme and the Values Education.  The children learn about road and water safety.

Homework

Please see our homework tab for more information

Monitoring and Review

Our Governing Body’s curriculum committee is responsible for monitoring the way the school curriculum is implemented.