Curriculum

Aim

At Abbey our aim is to spread the joy of learning throughout our school and throughout our entire community. We hope that in doing so, we can support our children to discover their strengths, passions and a love for learning.

Vision ‘Being the Best we can Be, Living and Learning in Tune with God’

Our Christian vision is rooted in our firm belief that we are a church community where all members are respected, cherished and valued. Our mission is to provide a safe environment in which children can learn, make mistakes and develop their confidence and understanding of the world around them, whilst being supported by their school community. Our Christian vision is underpinned by our belief that anything is possible for our children and our school. This is rooted in the verse from Philippians 4:13 ‘I can do all things through Gog who strengthens me’.

Our Core Christian Values

Care (Following the teachings of Jesus in everything we do)

Confidence (Trusting in the Holy Spirit to help us reach our goals in learning)

Community (Living in tune with God and one another)

Creativity (Following our creator God by expressing ourselves creatively in our learning)

Intent

At Shaftesbury Abbey Church of England Primary School, we aim to provide a broad and engaging curriculum which will inspire children to develop a passion for learning. The Primary National Curriculum (2014) provides our learning framework. Subject content is sequenced so that children learn in a structured and comprehensive manner. The curriculum is then adapted to the needs of all pupils and enhanced with planned opportunities that make up the wider school curriculum. While emphasis is placed on children learning core skills of English and Maths, we provide an engaging programme of study in all curriculum areas and cross-curricular links are made where possible. We believe it is vital that children engage in a range of learning experiences which are challenging, meaningful and enable them to become lifelong learners. Our aim is to enrich every child’s school experience by creating an environment where they are encouraged to succeed and be the best they can be. The curriculum is further enhanced by our commitment to Christianity, our school values and British values. Through this, we provide learning experiences which promote confident, self-motivated, successful learners.

Implementation

At Shaftesbury Abbey Primary School we embrace the idea of 'Personalised Learning"; an approach which expects all children to reach or exceed national expectations, to fulfil their early promise and develop latent potential. High expectations of progress apply equally to children working above, at, or below age-related expectations, including those who have been identified as having special educational needs. There is an expectation of participation, fulfilment and success; and teaching and learning is characterised by ambitious objectives, challenging personal targets, rapid intervention to keep pupils on trajectory and rigorous assessment to check and maintain pupil progress. There are clear plans to support those who are struggling to maintain trajectory.

Traditionally it was expected that teachers would differentiate by task or expectation and many different levels of success were accepted, this approach often ran the risk of lowering expectations. Today, the effective teaching practices see teachers expecting everyone to succeed by offering higher levels of support or extra challenge for those who need it, so that pupils can access the learning at the expected year group standard.

Impact

The impact of our vision 'Being the Best we can Be, Living and Learning in tune with God' is seen through the development of confident, resilient and well-rounded pupils who are ready in Year 6 to take the next step in their future lifelong journey. Our broad and balanced curriculum gives them skills, values and knowledge to make them valuable future citizens. We often hear about the progress of former pupils who share with us their success and aspirations. This is turn inspires our current pupils to aim high and achieve their potential.