Curriculum Policy
Wansdyke School
At Wansdyke School, we understand the importance of a well-rounded, fulfilling curriculum
to prepare our pupils for the next stage of education, and their future as citizens of the UK.
Citizens of the UK should:
 Respect and obey the law.
 Respect the rights of others, including their right to their own opinions.
 Treat others with fairness.
 Look after yourself and your family.
 Look after the area in which you live and the environment.
At Wansdyke School, we promote fundamental British values throughout our curriculum.
From the Principles behind Chris Quigley’s Skills Based Curriculum:
Everything we do is to help children feel clever.
We want every child to leave school having found their talents in as many areas as possible.
Introduction
At Wansdyke School, the teaching and learning, achievements, attitudes and well-being of all
our children are important.
We encourage all our children to achieve the highest possible standards as is set out in our
motto ‘working together, playing together, learning to be the best we can’ and develop their
skills to become lifelong learners
Key Principles which we strive towards in our teaching.
 Learning involves making connections. We take steps forwards and sideways and
sometimes backwards in order to re-affirm the connections.
 Learning involves achievable challenge.
 Fun and enjoyment are important motivators for learning.
 Learning is frequently difficult and messy. It can involve periods of frustration and
confusion. The process of learning is often slow and uncertain.
 Learning experiences need to be meaningful and relevant to the lives of learners.
 A state of relaxed alertness is conducive to successful learning.
 Emotional literacy and emotional intelligence are vital areas of learning in order to build,
develop and maintain a learning community.
 Successful learners are explorers; they ask questions like: What do you think….? Why do
you think…? How do you think…? They are curious and playful and seek to delve beneath
the surface of things.
 Lifelong learning is our birthright. We can continually develop our capacity to learn in new
and challenging circumstances throughout our lives.
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Our capacity to learn is not fixed. Learning power can be developed by everyone
regardless of ability, background and age.
Ongoing research into ‘learning to learn’ suggests that there are key attitudes,
dispositions and habits that we need to develop in order to be successful lifelong
learners.
Aims and objectives
The aim of this policy is to help ensure that the curriculum we offer our learners is:
• Imaginative and innovative, promoting high achievement and maintaining learners’ interests
through subjects and skills which are interlinked to enable learners to make relevant
connections;
• A rich and varied programme of activities and experiences provided for all learners, within
and beyond the school day firmly rooted in skills based learning.
• Comprehensive in its preparation for the future of the learner.
How we plan and teach
The school uses a skills-based curriculum, based upon the Chris Quigley scheme. The scheme
covers all aspects of the National Curriculum from level 1 to 5. It is flexible in its
interpretation which has allowed us to adapt it to suit the development of our curriculum. We
have key features of our curriculum:
The 4 ‘Drivers’
 The Drivers are the things we feel most passionately about as a school and they also
link directly into our School Development Plan.
 This year the Drivers are Mathematics, Learnability, Books and Locality.
 Mathematics should be threaded through all areas of learning as this is an area of
development for us as a school.
 To develop the children as people and learners we have introduced ‘Learnability’ which
is based on the 5Rs.
 A book is used each term to drive learning forward and to link the skills being
developed.
 We also feel that it is essential for each class, each term, to link their learning back
to the locality of the school.
Non-Negotiables
There are some key aspects of our curriculum which are not up for negotiation!
 Each term’s planning must incorporate an element of local history or geography
 A book is used to drive each term’s planning and link skills together
 Numeracy/Mathematics is to be taught every day
 One literacy lesson each week is to be Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPaG)
 Phonics and Guided Reading must be taught daily
 Each class must have at least one session of learning outside each week which could
incorporate the ‘hide, find, use, create’ way of teaching
 Each class has a role-play area or box, the use of which links in to their plans for the
term
Learnability- Learning to Learn
At Wansdyke School we believe in developing our children’s learning power so that they
become resilient, resourceful and reflective learners who are confident to take risks and
who develop strong positive relationships to support their own learning. Through these skills
children will have the capacity for greater success in reaching their potential as learners. As
a school we have identified five key skills (the 5Rs) to develop children’s learning and
practical ability to apply skills across the curriculum:
RESILIENCE:
 Bouncing back from disappointment.
 Managing distractions.
 Concentrating really well.
 Sticking at tasks even when they become difficult.
RESOURCEFULNESS :
 Knowing what to do when we don’t know what to do.
 Asking good questions.
 Using different learning styles.
 Finding and using tools, materials and resources.
REFLECTIVENESS:
 Planning what to do next.
 Using time well.
 Connecting what we have been learning to other experiences.
 Thinking about things we’ve done.
RECIPROCITY :
 Working as part of a team.
 Learning with others.
 Communicating (sharing) our ideas.
 Picking up useful habits.
 Knowing ourselves.
RESPECT:
 Respect our own and others views, beliefs and cultures.
 Respect others bodies and personal space.
 Demonstrate appropriate behaviour and manners.
 Respect your own and others possessions.
Curriculum Delivery
The introduction of the 5Rs will begin in Early Years through school. Each of the Key Stages
have the responsibility of introducing skills that are applicable within their year groups.
Children have a chance to discuss and explore these key skills in appropriate areas of the
curriculum. Each class will have displayed the Learnability Wheel which shows all of the areas
we are working to develop within children. Each child has their own Learnability Wheel on
which they collect stickers/stars when they have demonstrated one of the key areas.
Explicit times within PSHE, class assemblies and Curriculum “Brain Days” will be used each
term to reinforce the importance of the 5R’s and give children direct activities to embed
their knowledge and understanding of these key learning skills.
Monitoring, evaluation and review.
 The quality and effectiveness of the curriculum will be monitored and evaluated through
regular reports to the Governors’ Curriculum committee, and a rigorous programme of
whole School self-evaluation.
 The school will review this policy annually and assess its implementation and
effectiveness.
 The policy will be promoted and implemented throughout the school.
 With our developing skills based approach we will be working closely as a staff to ensure
that the skills based curriculum is working for the children and the staff to develop what
we feel are ‘Wansdyke’ pupils.
Related Policies
All other Curricular Policies
Vision statement
Mission statement
Equality and equal opportunities policy
Policy written July 2015
Next review July 2016
Chair of governors P
Headteacher
Shah
C Robinson