Curriculum

Curriculum Statement

At Harlands, we foster children’s development through our Golden Threads of creativity, community and choice.

Rationale

At Harlands, our aim is to provide the best possible school experience for all of our children allowing them to leave the school as confident, capable citizens with drive, ambition and the necessary skills set to allow them to succeed in whatever area they choose as adults. As educators, we know all children have the ability to excel and we recognise that it is our job to unleash their excellence.

Therefore, as practitioners, we must make sure we are striving for excellence; developing a strong moral purpose within the school by delivering an enquiry focused, broad and balanced curriculum. To provide excellence we must constantly be growing and developing as teachers and leaders. As a school team, we are all focused on the school’s shared vision. These can be seem in all of our classes, all around the school and in how our curriculum is planned. All of our subjects have curriculum statements that give an overview of the teaching and learning that takes place at Harlands. These curriculum statements are all organised in the same way:

‘Intent’ – this explains what the principles are that underpin teaching and learning.
‘Implementation’ is how the children learn and make progress.
‘Impact’ outlines how the children at Harlands benefit from our curriculum.

Intent

Our aim is for our children to become happy healthy global citizens. We have seven key values that underpin our ethos School Values (respect, responsible, optimism, tolerance, kindness, critical thinking and confidence). Our overall Moral Purpose, Golden Threads (of creativity, community and choice) and curriculum further develop these values and they are woven into the curriculum through purposeful links.

Implementation

Skills and knowledge are taught discretely in subject areas so that our children gain a broad understanding of each subject and know exactly what subject they are learning about. However, the curriculum is designed to embed transferable skills and where possible make purposeful links, and our Golden Threads help us to do this.

We recognise that at our school children learn best when they:

Have their basic physical needs met
Feel secure, safe and valued
Feel a sense of belonging to the group
Are engaged and motivated
Can see the relevance of what they are doing
Know what outcome is intended
Can link what they are doing to other experiences
Understand the task
Have the physical space and the tools needed
Have access to the necessary materials
Are not disrupted or distracted by others
Can work with others or on their own, depending on the task
Are guided, taught or helped in appropriate ways at appropriate times
Can practise what they are learning
Can apply the learning in both familiar and new contexts
Can persevere when learning is hard
Can manage their emotions if things are not going well
Recognise that all learners make mistakes and mistakes can help us learn

To complement the above Quality First Teaching, The Learning Pit, Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction and The Zones of Regulation are used throughout the school to ensure safe learning environments where mistakes are part of the learning journey, where children are encouraged and supported to self-regulate; and where children are engaged, enthused and challenged in their learning.

Impact

At Harlands, we recognise and value the uniqueness of our children. By having high aspirations for all and striving for excellence in our curriculum, we hope to support all of our children so they can reach their full potential, not just academically but with equal emphasis on their wellbeing. Our ambition is for our children to be well rounded, happy positive school leavers with growth mindsets and the skills they need to be lifelong learners and global citizens. Our Golden Threads and values underpin our whole school Moral Purpose and can be seen across our curriculum.