Subjects
At Shade we follow a full and exciting curriculum. Click on each link to find out what our children learn in each subject.
English
The English Curriculum is delivered using the National Curriculum 2014 and the Early learning Goals are followed to ensure continuity and progression from the Foundation Stage through to the National Curriculum.
SPEAKING AND LISTENING
The Four Strands of Speaking and Listening: Speaking; Listening; Group Discussion and Interaction, and Drama permeate the whole curriculum. Interactive teaching strategies are used to engage all pupils in order to raise reading and writing standards. Children are encouraged to develop effective communication skills in readiness for later life.
READING
The opportunities, organisation and provision for the teaching and learning of reading are as follows:
- Shared reading
- Guided reading
- Independent reading
- Phonics
Teachers also take time to read class novels and model reading for pleasure. It is important that children enjoy reading and also have the opportunity to experience books from classic and modern classic authors such as Michael Morpurgo, Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton among others.
Reading/Phonics are mainly supported by the following published resources: Oxford reading Tree, Phonics Bug, Jolly Phonics, Letters & Sounds and Rigby Navigator. Other schemes are utilised throughout the school to supplement these.
- Resources – A book banded reading scheme operates across the school which comprises of a range of different schemes. Children work their way through the Key Stage One and Two schemes and then become free readers.
- Links to parents – Each child has a reading record book which logs books they have read and comments about their reading. Parents and teaching staff write in this book.
- Class books: Stories are read to the children on a daily basis throughout the school.
- Reading at home: Children are encouraged to read at home every day.
WRITING
Opportunities, organisation and provision for the teaching and learning of writing are as follows:
- Phonics and spelling: Four daily 20 minutes Phonic sessions in Key stage 1 and Reception.
- Emergent writing: In Reception and Key Stage 1 children are given regular opportunities to write freely within a particular genre and across the curriculum. This gives them the opportunity to become emergent writers.
- Shared Writing: Within each teaching sequences shared writing is a key part.
- Guided Writing/Independent Writing: Each teaching sequence ends with an opportunity for guided and independent writing. There are also frequent opportunities for independent writing throughout the other curriculum areas.
- Extended writing: Throughout the term there are opportunities for extended writing. On a termly basis samples of these extended writing outcomes are used for assessment purposes. Children are immersed in a plethora of stimuli in order to ensure they are truly inspired to write.
- Handwriting: The school has adopted a cursive handwriting script and this is taught and reinforced regularly in Key Stage 1. As children move through the school opportunities to practice handwriting continue and when the class teacher feels a child is able to join fluently they are encouraged to write in pen.
- Spelling: Children from Years 1 to 6 are given lists of spellings each week to learn at home. Children are tested on these words weekly.
Teachers provide personalized targets for reading and writing and the children work to achieve these over the course of a term.
Work is marked and assessed in line with the marking and assessment policies and three yearly meetings involve teachers moderating the assessment of this work.
Work is assessed in many ways. The findings of the assessment are used to inform planning to help the teaching and learning process. In line with the New National curriculum requirements and the raised expectations that this document requires teachers also assess termly whether a child is working at/below or above the level expected for their again
Maths
The Maths Curriculum is delivered using the National Curriculum 2014 and the Early learning Goals are followed to ensure continuity and progression from the Foundation Stage through to the National Curriculum.
Maths is taught in five strands: Data Handling, Shape Space and Measure, Number, Calculation and Using and Applying.
At Shade we provide a daily maths session that seeks to reinforce previous learning and allow children to take on new skills and apply these in a range of contexts.
Half termly assessment activities are planned which involve a range of ideas and skills linked to one or more of the key objectives covered previously. As a result of these assessments, individual targets are discussed with pupils.
Teachers provide personalized targets for maths and the children work to achieve these over the course of a term.
Long-term assessments are undertaken through a combination of teacher assessment and end of year tests. The tests used are the national tests at the end of Year 2 and 6 and the optional tests for Years 3, 4 and 5.
Continuity and progression
A yearly overview is created by all teachers for maths, English and the foundation subjects; this ensures continuity and progression throughout the school.
Each teacher has time allocated to discuss each pupil’s attainment and progress with their existing teacher at the end of the term before pupils move class.
Year 1 Mastery Term by Term Overview
Year 2 Mastery Term by Term Overview
Year 3 Mastery Term by Term Overview
Year 4 Mastery Term by Term Overview
Year 5 Mastery Term by Term Overview
Year 6 Mastery Term by Term Overview
Science
Science stimulates and excites pupils’ curiosity about phenomena and events in the world around them. It also satisfies their curiosity with knowledge. Because science links direct practical experience with ideas, it can engage learners at many levels. Scientific method is about developing and evaluating explanations through experimental evidence and modelling. Pupils learn to question and discuss science-based issues that may affect their own lives, the direction of society and the future of the world.
At Key Stage 1 pupils observe, explore and ask questions about living things, materials and physical phenomena. They begin to work together to collect evidence to help them answer questions and to link this to simple scientific ideas. They begin to evaluate evidence and consider whether tests or comparisons are fair. They use reference materials to find out more about scientific ideas. They share ideas and communicate them using scientific language, drawings, charts and tables with the help of ICT if it is appropriate.
At Key Stage 2 pupils learn about a wider range of living things, materials and physical phenomena. They make links between ideas and explain things using simple models and theories. They apply their knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas to familiar phenomena, everyday things and their personal health. They think about the effects of scientific and technological developments on the environment and in other contexts. They carry out more systematic investigations, working on their own and with others. They use a range of reference sources in their work. They talk about their work and its significance, using a wide range of scientific language, conventional diagrams, charts, graphs and ICT to communicate their ideas.
Humanities
In the most part History and Geography are the key drivers behind termly topics and other areas such as literacy will be utilised as a vehicle to explore these areas. At Shade we are keen to provide children with opportunities to experience geography and history first hand and as such teachers organise regular school excursions to help inspire the children.
History
In Key Stage 1 children learn about the lives and lifestyles of familiar people in the recent past and about famous people and events in the more distant past, including those from British history.
In Key Stage 2 children learn about people and important events and developments from recent and more distant times in the locality, in Britain and in other parts of the world. Children will learn about historical enquiry by looking at as many real sources as possible and by recreating events from the past.
Geography
Geography is concerned with the study of places, the human and physical processes that shape them and the people who live in them. In the Early Years, children learn about their immediate environment and how to read and draw simple maps using invented and conventional symbols.
In Key Stage 2, the children develop this knowledge into a wider area and study transport, weather and landscapes, both in their local area and in many other countries.
Knowlwood Road, Todmorden, Lancashire OL14 7PD
01706 812913
admin@shade.calderdale.sch.uk