The Harehills Curriculum

Our bespoke curriculum has been designed around our motto because we believe that if children laugh and have fun when they are learning and love being at school, then they will learn and achieve to the best of their ability. 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 become educated citizens and outstanding members of tomorrow’s community. - Ultimately, we aim to provide a rich, relevant curriculum that will be broad and balanced and enable all children to leave our school with real life skills and a positive ‘can-do’ attitude.

 

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

 

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
• Cross-curricular opportunities to read more widely and more often to foster a love of literature
• 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.

 

Here is a snapshot of learning across school.  Click an image for a larger version.

 Reception

     

 

Year 1                        Year 2

          

 

Year 3                        Year 4

           

 

Year 5                        Year 6

                          

 

 

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. 

 

Whole School Theme Overview

 

For further information about the curriculum content within individual year groups please click on the links below.

(NB: we are currently reviewing all our plans due to the learning children have missed during the Coronavirus so that we can support recovery of knowledge and skills in all subjects)

	Nursery Overview		Reception Overview
	Year 1 Overview		Year 2 Overview
	Year 3 Overview		Year 4 Overview
	Year 5 Overview		Year 6 Overview

 

Foundation 1 (Nursery) and Foundation Stage 2 (Reception) use the curriculum guidance for the Foundation Stage to plan a high-quality learning environment with exciting, engaging activities and experiences for all our Early Years children. We work closely to ensure there is a smooth transition from the Early Years curriculum as children move into Year 1 and begin the National curriculum.

Early Years and KS1 follow the Twinkl Phonics scheme to teach phonics, with children completing a phonics screening check at the end of year 1. Children who do not pass this check receive additional support in year 2, re-taking the check at the end of KS1. Reception and KS1 mainly use Rhino readers and Oxford Reading Tree books to support reading in school. These books are phonetically decodable. These schemes are supplemented with other teaching resources where appropriate.

We have computers in every classroom and all classrooms have interactive whiteboards. All our computers are linked to a network, and they have broadband Internet access. There are laptops available for all classes to use in their classrooms.

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 and Assemblies

Religious Education is linked into themes wherever possible to enable children to make connections within their learning. We follow the requirements of the Leeds Agreed Syllabus ‘Believing and Belonging’. This allows our children to develop their understanding and appreciation of diversity and celebrating what we have in common.

Assembly is a very special time in our school; giving children time to gather together and share, celebrate and reflect. This is done in Family assemblies (Family 1 – Years 2,4 & 6 and Family 2 – Years 1,3 & 5), Key Phase assemblies for two-year groups (Early Years, Key Stage 1, Lower Key Stage 2 and Upper Key Stage 2)

Our assembly calendar enhances what our children learn in RE lessons; showcasing achievements, celebrating milestones, focusing on key ethos statements and informing about different religions and cultural events.

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