Harehills Curriculum

At Harehills Primary School we offer a curriculum which is broad and balanced and:

• Promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and of society, and
• Prepares pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.

 

 

The Key Principles of the Harehills Curriculum

Aims

• At Harehills Primary School we want to create a curriculum which will enable our children to learn, laugh and love.
• To prepare our learners with the skills to respond to opportunities, responsibilities and experiences.
• To create quality activities, enabling children to develop happy and lasting memories.
• To ensure high expectations are embedded within an effective curriculum.
• To promote high quality teaching and learning to inspire, motivate and challenge all learners.
• Staff and children are deliberately ambitious in all that they do and barriers to learning and achievement are recognised and removed.
• Enable children to have the essential knowledge and skills needed to be educated citizens and proactive members of the community.
• Ultimately we aim to provide a rich, relevant curriculum that will be broad and balanced and enable all children to live a ‘life fit 4 learning’

 

Through the Harehills Curriculum we want to develop learners who can;

 

Harehills Curriculum Design

The content of the National Curriculum is delivered through themes across the school.

Within each learning experience there will be;
• Inspirational Starter Lesson (ISL) / A clear purpose for learning
• Key text(s) that will maximise reading opportunities and extended writing
• Speaking and Listening embedded within teaching and learning that includes the teaching of specific vocabulary
• Real experiences which provide and reinforce context for children
  (trips, visitors, props, role-play etc…)
• Extensive opportunities for basic skills in Literacy and Numeracy to be developed and applied
• Links to prior learning and clear progression within skills developed
• A broad range of activities that incorporate and include visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learning styles.

 

As an introduction to each theme staff will provide children with the opportunity to discuss prior experiences and knowledge. This will then be used as a foundation for them to build upon their skills and shape the pathway of learning that they will follow. Key attributes from our curriculum statement will be identified and used as a focus throughout the theme.

All evidence of work and progress made by the children will be recorded within a ‘theme book’. This will enable children to reflect upon their individual learning journeys and self-assess against the key attributes and required outcomes.

In addition to the themes there will also be direct teaching of Phonics, Basic Skills including SPAG, PE, PSHE and RE. A cross-curricular approach which encompasses healthy living and global dimensions will also be used across the school.

 

The Whole School Curriculum Overview

 

 

For further information about the curriculum content within individual year groups please ask your child's class teacher. We will be adding more information here soon.

 

Foundation 1 (Nursery) and Foundation Stage 2 (Reception) use the curriculum guidance for the Foundation Stage to plan the learning environment, activities and experiences for the Early Years curriculum.

KS1 follow letters and sounds in order to teach phonics with children completing a phonics screening check at the end of year 1. Children who do not pass this check recieve additional support in year 2, re-taking the check at the end of KS1. KS1 mainly uses the Oxford Reading Tree to support reading in school. This scheme is supplimented with other teaching resources where appropriate.

Our school has a computer suite that allows whole class teaching of computer skills. Computers are also sited in every classroom. All classes have interactive whiteboards. All our computers are linked to a network and they have broadband Internet access.

In our school, children work at levels appropriate to their individual abilities and needs. A flexible approach is adopted, which means that children may be taught individually, in groups and as a whole class, as appropriate. More formal whole class teaching is evident at the upper end of the school.

Religious Education

All schools provide Religious Education for all pupils as part of the basic curriculum. We follow the requirements of the Leeds Agreed Syllabus. We aim to educate pupils in their own religion and that of others, so that they have some understanding of the major world religions.

Collective Worship

Assembly is a time when children meet to share activities, ideas and events. Each week our school introduces an ‘Ethos Statement’ which encompass such themes such as ‘forgiveness, respect, justice and love of ones neighbour.’ These themes are discussed and developed in class circle times and other assemblies throughout the week.

Children are told about significant Religious Festivals.

Parents who wish to withdraw their children from Religious Education or Assemblies may do so by informing the Head Teacher in writing.

Personal, Social and Health Education (P.S.H.E.)

Our school PSHE curriculum - You, Me, PSHE - aims to promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and prepare all pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life as future citizens.  PSHE is vital for pupils to learn how to keep safe and healthy in an everchanging world. Our progressive PSHE curriculum is relevant to the lives that children live today and prepares them for the future. 

Our PSHE curriculum is divided into 7 different strands: 

• Growing and Changing - Sex and Relationships Education (SRE)
• Drug, alcohol and tobacco education (DATE)
• Physical health and wellbeing
• Mental health and emotional wellbeing
• Keeping safe and managing risk
• Careers, financial capability & economic wellbeing
• Identity, society and equality

In addition, our curriculum overviews make links to MindMate lessons - an additional SEMH half-termly focus for all classes. 

All staff in school are committed to delivering a comprehensive programme of high quality PSHE. 

 

Partnership work & PSHE

 We are delighted to work with colleagues at the NSPCC on their ‘Speak Out Stay Safe’ programme. This bi-annual assembly and workshop focuses on important safeguarding messages for pupils in Key Stage 1 and 2.

  We have just embarked on an exciting piece of work with colleagues at the PSHE Association and the NSPCC to trial a series of three lessons as part of the ‘Real Relationships’ resource. The lessons have been designed for Year 6 pupils and focus on transition and online/ offline safety.

We are fully committed to the Future in Mind: Leeds strategy are proud to have been actively involved in the development and trialling of the MindMate lessons over the past 12 months. The lessons are now embedded in our whole school PSHE curriculum map. Our children were proud to be pioneers in this field when they took part in a ‘live lesson’ at the launch of the MindMate lesson resources in the summer term 2017.

Our pupils even appeared live on Radio Aire to talk about their experience of learning about Mental Health and the MindMate lessons!

 

We are proud to be a Stonewall School Champion School. Our whole school curriculum map includes lessons focused on raising awareness in relation to LGBT and our membership gives us access to high quality staff CPD in relation to this area.

 

PE, Physical Activity and Sport

Our school uses the Real PE scheme of work as a vehicle to develop the 'whole child'. Throughout a child's school career they will develop their agility, balance, and coordination skills. In conjunction to learning fundamental skills, children learn multi-cog skills, which focus on teaching the positive values that can come from PE, PA and sport.

Our extra-curricular provision includes football, netball, cricket, and badminton. Children in years 3 and 4 attend weekly swimming lessons for one and a half terms. Our Active School's Cluster PE Lead, Alishia Schofield leads high intensity dance sessions on Tuesday and Thursdays.