Curriculum

Through our curriculum, it is our intent that all children receive a broad, balanced and ambitious curriculum which encourages them to flourish and thrive by ‘Reaching Up and Reaching Out’ to achieve their individual potential. We provide a stimulating, creative and challenging learning environment in which strong and supportive relationships enables the children to become caring, confident and curious learners with a passion for learning and achievement and the resilience to keep going when things don’t come easily.

Our curriculum however, goes beyond the National Curriculum and we have personalised it to meet the needs of the children at Dovers Green to reflect the children’s backgrounds and experiences. Four ‘drivers’ underpin the children’s learning and underpin everything we do. They are behind every lesson, every activity and every interaction we have with the children. They are what makes the Dovers Green school curriculum unique.

Inclusive Individuals

The children at Dovers Green are Inclusive Individuals

Our motto is ‘Reaching Up, Reaching Out.’ We want our children to take their place in the world; equipped to reach up in terms of their own aspirational goals, and empowered to reach out to others as global citizens.

Children learn to make connections with each other, their local environment, and the world at large. We celebrate diversity and recognise that ‘We are all special, but we are all different.’

Confident Communicators

The children at Dovers Green are Confident Communicators

We believe that being an effective speaker and listener is essential in empowering the children to better understand themselves, each other and the world around them. It is the primary aim of our curriculum that children are able to communicate their thoughts, ideas and feelings. Our Oracy framework equips children to learn physical, linguistic, cognitive, social, and emotional skills so they gain the tools to be confident and effective communicators.

Environmental Explorers

The children at Dovers Green are Environmental Explorers

Our children are exceptionally fortunate to have access to wonderful outdoor spaces to support their learning, including a Forest School. We encourage the children to engage physically with these spaces across the school day. Our curriculum fosters a love of nature, an appreciation of environmental issues and an understanding of the role that our children have to play in looking after our planet.

Life-long Learners

The children at Dovers Green are Life-long Learners

It is our aim that our children are aspirational in everything they do; developing independence, confidence, and resilience - becoming the very best they can. They learn that it is from mistakes that we grow: our ‘Marvellous Mistakes’ – and that we can respond positively to feedback. Our curriculum is designed to inspire curiosity and to encourage questions. We want our children to embrace a love of learning – now and throughout their lifetime.

We believe that an effective curriculum offers knowledge, skills, understanding and progression that is planned so the children can build on their prior learning so that, ‘They know more and remember more’; their learning sticks. The teaching of basic skills, especially reading, is given the highest priority. Our curriculum has a specific focus on Reading and Vocabulary development. We believe that ability to read is fundamental to our children succeeding; enabling them to access the next stage of their education and beyond.

Our curriculum has been designed to create a balance between the National Curriculum statutory requirements and a range of experiences which allow our children the opportunities to broaden their life experiences. Most of the subjects are taught through a thematic, cross curricular approach so that children can make links in their learning. Through clear strategic planning, our curriculum provides not only memorable experiences but is rich in opportunities from which the children can learn and develop transferrable skills. Our vibrant and rich curriculum is designed so that the subject specific skills are scaffolded within a cross-curricular theme or context each term.

In order to ensure that progression and balance is maintained, the programmes of study are then developed into medium term plans which clearly highlight the learning objectives, assessment opportunities, differentiated tasks as well as links to other subjects. Teachers plan and tailor units of work and lessons to address the specific individual needs of pupils so that all pupils are able to reach their full potential regardless of their starting point. We are working towards the implementation of knowledge organisers so that each topic is meticulously planned to ensure that there is clarity about what the children will be learning and what they are expected to know at the end of the unit of work.

Each subject leader has mapped out the knowledge and skills learning for their subject so that there is progression from Reception through to year 2. We see skills and knowledge as being intertwined. Each subject leader has created their own Vision, Intent, Implementation and Impact document and has an Annual Action Plan which reflects next steps following analysis of pupil progress and attainment data.

At Dovers Green, on-going assessment enables our teachers to plan the next steps for each child. Teachers assess against the learning objectives and provide verbal and/or written feedback which enables each pupil to make progress within the lesson and over time. Children are expected to make good or better progress in all subjects and this individual progress is tracked.

Dovers Green uses triangulated monitoring throughout the year to gauge the impact of the curriculum. Senior Leaders and Subject Leaders monitor individual subjects: reviewing learning, evaluating pupil voice, providing individual feedback to move practice forward, celebrating positives and highlighting areas of development that through coaching and continued professional development are developed and strengthened.

The impact of the curriculum is measured against end of year outcomes for individual children and for the year group. Termly Pupil Progress reviews monitor the impact of the teaching of basic skills. Enjoyment of the curriculum promotes achievement, confidence and good behaviour. Children feel safe to try new things and are able to work collaboratively with their peers and independently as inquisitive learners who are motivated to excel and who have a thirst for learning.

The children will have a strong desire to embrace challenge and to be resilient learners. Our children will be respectful and will show tolerance and acceptance to those from different faiths and backgrounds. Through the teaching of our values and the British Values, our curriculum will also enable our children to become good citizens and demonstrate an appreciation for each other, the school community and the world.

We will measure the impact of curriculum through:

• Pupil achievement data.
• Attendance rates.
• Behaviour.
• Engagement in extracurricular activities.
• Pupil questionnaires and Pupil Voice.
• Parent questionnaires.
• Monitoring of teaching and learning.
• Curriculum Reviews