Curriculum
At Great Kimble we are proud to be an inclusive school that provides aspirational creative and challenging education. Each and every one of our children experiences a sense of enjoyment and is supported to achieve their full potential within our happy, safe and nurturing environment.
As a school, we strongly believe that children learn best when experiences are first hand and lessons are delivered in a variety of ways to suit different learners. We provide a highly inclusive environment where all learners enjoy their education and pupils at all levels are supported to achieve their full potential. We focus heavily on quality first teaching for all pupils within the classroom, which is further supplemented by scaffolding, adult supportive and intervention as appropriate.
In short, at Great Kimble, we aim for every child to...
Love - love one another and love their school
Learn - learn together and love learning
Live - live the school values daily as they continue their learning journey.
At Great Kimble Church of England School, we focus on important skills. We are striving to be an ‘ABC’ school (explained below). This idea is important to make children engaged, gain a love of learning and learn skills for life. We give children the opportunity to gain skills to master the curriculum – allowing them to use these skills across different areas of the curriculum.
ABC
Active learning:
- To seek and enjoy challenges
- To collaborate with others
- To show commitment and perseverance
- To assess themselves and others
Basic skills:
- To speak clearly and convey ideas confidently
- To read and to communicate ideas in writing efficiently and effectively
- To calculate efficiently and apply skills to solve problems
- To use new technologies confidently and purposefully
Creative thinkers:
- To ask questions to extend thinking
- To generate ideas and explore possibilities
- To overcome barriers by trying out alternatives and adapting or developing ideas
- To connect ideas and experience inventive ways
Our ‘topic’ curriculum (history, geography, art and DT) is based on the Guerrilla Curriculum, by Jonathan Lear. This is a tried and tested approach, which allows teaching at greater depth. Our three terms are ‘Discover’, ‘Explore’ and ‘Create’. In the autumn term, we all ‘Discover’ and this is history themed. In the spring term, we all ‘Explore’ and this is geography themed. In the summer term, we all ‘Create’ and this is art and DT themed. By focusing on these skills, the children learn in more depth and develop their skills further.
All aspects of our curriculum are accessible to all children, irrespective of their background, gender, disability, religious or linguistic background and complies with our duties in the Equality Act 2010 and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014. We strive hard to meet the needs of those pupils with special education needs, those with disabilities, those who are more able and those children learning English as an additional language.
At Great Kimble Church of England School, we have an intake of 15 children. This means the we have mixed aged classes. In order to ensure curriculum coverage, without repetition, we have created a rolling curriculum for each class. We have a two-year cycle (Cycle A and Cycle B) and you can find more information about each curriculum area on those curriculum webpages.
Intent
Our curriculum aspires to be exciting, engaging and meaningful. It aims to empower and inspire children to become life-long learners with passion, resilience and respect for themselves and the world around them. Great Kimble C of E School is not only committed to meeting the requirements of the primary National Curriculum, it also aims to extend a world of opportunities and possibilities to our children. Each child is unique and we therefore endeavour to provide a holistic approach, focusing on the individual. As such, the curriculum is taught with the consideration of the needs of all learners in our caring, Christian community. Great Kimble fosters acceptance, understanding and love for all no matter their faith, culture or background and this is reflected in all elements of school life and within our broad and balanced curriculum.
Great Kimble has an excellent and bespoke curriculum. We are a rural school but our children learn through a range of experiences about the wider world in which they live, and through this, they extend their understanding of themselves. Skills, knowledge, attitudes and values are developed through the curriculum to enable the children to prepare for their next stage of learning, become life-long learners and enable them to be successful, active participants in the community. Embedded across all curriculum areas, and taught explicitly, are key elements of active listening, oracy and talking, growth mindset and metacognition.
Our school has high expectations for every child to develop and show a sense of responsibility and self-discipline whether alone, together, at work or at play. To achieve this, we promote a curriculum of strong values, mindfulness and reflection. Growth and personal successes are celebrated, along with overcoming obstacles and demonstrating our school values in practice. We believe that this will provide a strong foundation for education and life beyond our school as positive members of the community.
Our curriculum is strongly supported by our commitment to integrated outdoor learning and wider experiences beyond the walls of a classroom. We showcase this through our exceptional outdoor classroom (Smokey Row), making maximum use of our outstanding environment and through relevant, meaningful trips and experiences planned each term.
We believe that by nurturing our children throughout this key stage of their lives, we can teach them to love themselves and one another, to learn about themselves and the world around them and to live out our school values and contribute positively to the world. It is for this reason that our school motto is ‘Love, Learn, Live’.
Implementation
We are excited to be developing our wider curriculum to teach the content across three terms. This will allow us to explore each area of the curriculum in greater depth.
Autumn Term - Discovering through history
Spring Term - Exploring through geography
Summer Term - Creating through design technology and art
We use Kapow Primary to support our teaching and learning in Science and all other Foundation Subjects. For more information about Kapow please visit their website. www.kapowprimary.com
In KS1 we support the delivery of our curriculum through Enhanced and Continuous Provision.
How To Find Out More About Our Curriculum
To find out more about our curriculum please visit individual subject pages for overviews and progression documents. Please contact our Curriculum Lead, Miss Lunnon, via the school office, if you have any further questions.