Our Curriculum

Our vision at Ladybridge Primary School is for all children to ‘show respect, be reslient and am high’. We are committed to delivering a curriculum which enables all our children to become confident and ambitious, lifelong learners. We aim to develop our children’s skills and knowledge as well as encouraging curiosity, aspiration and a love of learning that will continue into adulthood. We aim to deliver a curriculum that is suited to our unique context. 

Our curriculum aims to develop our pupils by providing:

• Respect –A curriculum that develops every child’s ability to care, respect and understand themselves, others and the world in which they live. A curriculum that also ensures that every child feels valued and cared for.
• Aim High– A curriculum that provides a range of opportunities, designed to develop every child’s sense of what is possible for them to achieve now and in their future lives.
• Resilience  – A curriculum that ensures all children have the skills, knowledge and crucially, the attitude to achieve in all aspects of their lives, persevering through challenges and misconceptions.  

Nursery and Reception pupils follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum. Pupils in Years 1 to 6 follow the National Curriculum 2014 to ensure that children are taught aspects of subjects at an age-appropriate level. We use Kapow Units for: Science, Art and Design, Design Technology, History, Geography, Music and MFL (Spanish). We use the Stockport Agreed Syllabus for RE and PSHE Association units of work for PSHE. The schemes of work provide the content which satisfies the statutory requirements and recommendations of the Foundation Stage and the National Curriculum. Our curriculum is broad and balanced and aims to make good use of our extensive outdoor learning areas.

We aim to make our curriculum accessible to all pupils, regardless of their special educational needs or disabilities. Extra support from staff may be appropriate, but we believe it is important that all pupils experience and take part in the full range of subjects on offer.

The Learning Challenge Curriculum

The Learning Challenge approach is designed to develop thinking skills and encourage greater participation and involvement. It requires deep thinking and encourages our pupils to work using a question as the starting point. This means that our learning will be focused around questions.

Each half term the children will be introduced to a new Learning Challenge, which will be in the form of a question.  Knowledge Organisers will esablish what children already know about a theme, and allow them to question areas they would like to find out more about; this is used to plan for the rest of the half term.  Each week will then begin with a further question that we will try to answer or solve.  We will be researching, presenting, designing and making in order to answer and solve lots of question challenges.  A homework project will be linked to the learning challenge each half term, these are displayed throughout the school for the children to share and discuss.

Our Learning Challenges have adriver subject, which is the main focus of the half term, this is either Science, History or Geography.  Links are also made to additional national curriculum subjects which include Science, Geography, History, Art and Design and Technology.  At times, where appropriate, they may also include links to other subjects that we are also learning such as Music, Dance, Computing, Maths, English and PSHE

Here are some example learning challenges:

• Would you rather be a penguin or a meerkat?
• Were the Vikings always victorious?
• Why do we love to be beside the seaside?
• Are you strong enough?

Phonics and reading at Ladybridge Primary School

At Ladybridge the phonic scheme used is called Read Write Inc.  The whole school adhere to this one scheme, teachers are fully trained, the reading leader regulalry leads with Masterclasses and there are three development days each year to ensure that all our phonc lessons are taught to a high standard.  We are very proud of our improving standards in our outcomes for phonics.

In EYFS and Year 1, 5 times a week, we use the principles as set out in the Read, Write, Inc programme that is an approach to teaching literacy through synthetic phonics. We have an agreed progression for the teaching of new sounds in streamed groups. Once a week, children access a lesson which focuses on a specific reading skill linked to the National Curriculum.  During the Summer Term in Year 1, pupils undertake a Phonics Screening Test which assesses their ability to apply what they have learnt. Pupils who do not pass their Phonics Screening Test continue to have interventions to support the acquisition of these key skills. For children who acquire phonics knowledge and understanding in Year 1, they quickly move to work in developing their reading skills throughout Year 2 and KS2, where they access 4 whole class 30 minute reading skills lessons a week. If children need additional support, they have tailored intervention with their phonetic development through the use of 1:1 sessions that take place in addition to the lesson. Within lessons, teachers target support for the children who aren’t making the expected progress to enable them to achieve at an age-related level wherever possible. Children who are making more than the expected progress are also given opportunities to demonstrate a greater depth of understanding through extended answers, targeted questioning requiring more reasoned answers and making greater links across and between texts. Within lessons or as part of a planned intervention, teachers target support for the children who aren’t making the expected progress to enable them to achieve at an age-related level wherever possible.

Whole school Reading: Children in EYFS, Year 1 and 2 (if necessary), have books carefully selected for them which include sounds they have been previously taught while they are learning to read. Children also take home a book which they have chosen from the library for their parents/carers to read with them at home. There is a variety of good quality reading materials for children to select for home school reading. The books are structured to ensure that children have access to a wide range of texts, and allows for pupils to develop their skills and preferences within a level before moving to the next level. All pupils have a home-reading record which they are encouraged to take home daily. Parents and carers are asked to add comments to the home-reading records to indicate how much pupils have read. 
Throughout school, children develop an understanding from a range of genres that are covered and, where possible, links are made with other areas of the curriculum.
At Ladybridge, the children develop a love for reading by taking part in library sessions with our librarian. The children visit the library to listen to a story; as well as choosing a story of their choice to take home and share with their parents/carers.  Each class have a new class novel each half term which the class teacher reads to them. Each classroom has a book corner with a range of books where the children have the opportunity to read a book of their choice throughout the day.

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