Our Inspire Curriculum
Deep Knowledge, Critical Thinking, Strong Communication and Exciting Learning Opportunities
We are united with the Canonium Learning Trust by our shared purpose:
To provide every child with the very best education possible.
At Kelvedon St Mary’s Church of England Primary Academy, Nursery and Autism Support Centre, the very best education possible demands a curriculum that is designed – to inspire wisdom.
Influenced by the Church of England’s vision to educate for ‘life in all its fullness’ (John 10:10), our focus on wisdom prioritises the spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional, moral, and social development of our children. We aim to inspire wisdom with a golden thread of deep knowledge, critical thinking, strong communication and exciting learning opportunities running consistently throughout our curriculum.
Ultimately, we want our pupils to leave our academy as knowledgeable, thoughtful and articulate individuals, who are equipped with the cultural capital to thrive in our evolving world and society. By working together, we ensure our pupils are supported and challenged to nurture a keen mind, a willingness to question and the ability to make right choices, so that they are prepared for secondary school and beyond.
Inspire Curriculum – Intent
We want children, who graduate from Kelvedon St Mary’s, to be:
- Deeply knowledgeable
At Kelvedon St Mary’s children grow the cultural capital they need to succeed in life through the teaching and learning of essential knowledge. Our focus on knowledge aids reading comprehension, enabling us to champion a love of reading. We are very aware that some knowledge is best learnt first-hand and so through an extensive programme of rich experiences our pupils develop their own character and interests.
- Critical thinkers
Our teachers create the conditions for investigation, practice, reasoning and questioning of knowledge to develop our pupils higher order thinking skills.
- Excellent communicators
We are a vocabulary rich school, where children are supported and challenged to develop their spoken language skills.
- Excited to learn
We ignite a lifelong enthusiasm for learning that enables every child to reach their full potential.
Inspire Curriculum – Implementation
To deliver our curriculum intent we have two key implementation ingredients:
1. Learn to know more and remember more
We have a shared understanding of the role of the working memory and long-term memory in the learning process. Deliberate practice and retrieval activities are prevalent in teaching and learning at Kelvedon St Mary’s Academy to promote deep knowledge and critical thinking. For instance, low stake quizzes provided by Accelerated Reader are used to hone children’s reading skills with authentic practice. Similarly, our early morning mathematics activities give pupils a daily dose of retrieval practice on a range of mathematical concepts from current and previous years of learning.
At the end of a sequence of learning, children may be asked to produce a final piece that communicates the breadth and depth of their learning. For example, applying ball skills to a competitive game; performing a song; writing a persuasive letter to our local MP; coding a game in computing for a peer to play; creating a final piece of artwork inspired by a great artist or constructing a double page spread in subjects such as history, geography and science to summarise what they have learnt.
2. Teach for mastery and depth
We aim to support and challenge all children to achieve a deep understanding and competence in all National Curriculum subjects. Our long-term plans detail Constant Concepts that are explored in every year group and Essential Objectives that span over a one or two-year period to gradually increase pupils’ understanding. Exploration Contexts give our pupils subject specific content to think about our Constant Concepts and apply them in different ways. We value the role of the practitioner to devise lesson objectives that allow the learner to accumulate the knowledge that is required to make progress from their individual starting point.
As a vocabulary rich school, subject specific terminology is made explicit to the children and modelled throughout by the practitioner.
With a tighter focus on the essential knowledge that matters through a mastery approach, we can be sure that at the end of a sequence of learning, our pupils have:
- Built on their prior understanding to deepen their knowledge and positively impact their reading comprehension skills.
- Engaged in critical thinking for effective learning.
- Communicated their understanding with subject-specific vocabulary.
- Engaged in learning that is not only exciting but also purposeful!
Inspire Curriculum – Accessibility for all
We are committed to ensuring our Inspire Curriculum is accessible for pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
At our academy, we recognise the importance of knowing every child. Whether a pupil has aidentified SEND or whether a pupil has no identified needs but is not making expected progress, the approach is the same:
Assess – we monitor progress regularly
Plan – we collaborate with staff, parents and external agencies to plan adaptations where necessary
Do – class teachers lead on the agreed plan of support, with guidance from the SENCo
Review – we review progress regularly, intervening quickly if the plan is not working.
We are passionate about ensuring all pupils make good progress from their individual starting point across the curriculum. These high expectations encompass the development of personal, social and life skills as well as academic learning. Our approach is based on two key principles:
- Every teacher is a teacher of SEND
- Inclusive practice is likely to benefit all pupils, including those who additional needs have not yet been identified.
https://www.gov.uk/national-curriculum/key-stage-1-and-2
Thank you for attending our parent and carer year group meetings. Handbooks and planning overviews for the academic year 2022/23 can be found below: