At Tollerton Primary School, children experience a broad curriculum that aims to go beyond the scope of the National Curriculum. We have developed an ambitious curriculum – bespoke to our school – which prepares children for secondary school and beyond. Our ambition is that all children leave us not only with a secure and fluent understanding of reading, writing and maths, but also with a breadth of knowledge and skills across the full range of curriculum subjects.

Our curriculum is designed so that each subject area is taught discretely and learned on its own merits, although links are made between subjects under overarching themes when these are meaningful. It has been constructed to ensure there is rigor and clarity over the knowledge taught within each year group and each individual subject. However, as well as learning key knowledge and vocabulary, our ambition is that children are also taught the unique disciplines and concepts of each subject, so that they learn how to think, for example, as a historian or as a scientist. As a result, children become well-rounded learners ready to succeed across the full curriculum when they reach secondary school.

Teachers structure lessons so that they are focused and engaging, and also so that learning builds sequentially to deepen and secure children’s understanding of key knowledge. Knowledge taught will have clear links to prior learning and to future learning and children will leave each year group prepared fully for the next. To achieve this, teachers plan their lessons so that identified core knowledge is remembered so that it can be securely built upon, and Knowledge Organisers are used as a way of supporting children to secure their understanding of key learning points. Our ambition is not that children just cover the curriculum or learn different knowledge in isolation, but that they remember what they have learned long-term and develop a secure grasp of wider, ‘big picture’ concepts that thread through each subject. For example, within our history curriculum, children continually build upon their knowledge of key concepts such as invasion, monarchy and civilisations through their learning over multiple year groups.

Throughout the full curriculum, there is also an emphasis on developing children as successful learners and instilling them with positive learning behaviours, attitudes and values that will support them to become life-long learners. Independence, creativity and resilience are all promoted through lessons, and children are encouraged to employ our school values – such as Aspiration, Perseverance and Taking Care – in their approach to learning. Furthermore, through our curriculum we seek not only to broaden children’s knowledge of the world, but prepare them to be active citizens within in, and thus there are strong moral and ethical dimensions to the curriculum. For example, through geography children develop a deepening awareness of global environmental issues and ways in which they can play their own part in looking after the world. Furthermore, our curriculum specifically seeks to promote diversity as part of preparing children to live in a deeply interconnected world, and thus different cultures and faiths are studied and celebrated.

Our ambition is that the curriculum is accessible for all pupils. To achieve this, teachers employ a range of strategies that support all children to learn alongside their peers and develop the knowledge they need in order to be ready for their next stage in learning. Similarly, our curriculum is designed to be ambitious and challenging so that it enables children of all ability levels to fulfil their potential. The success of our curriculum is not only measured in attainment outcomes, but equally important is the individual progress that each child makes.

Please see each individual subject for our curriculum offer. As we review and adapt the curriculum we may make changes within some areas, based on development needs within the school.

If you would like to find out more about the content of our curriculum, please contact the school office via telephone or email, and we will be happy to assist.

Spiritual, Moral, Social & Cultural Development (SMSC)

We recognise that the personal development of pupils, spiritually, morally, socially and culturally plays a significant part in their ability to learn and achieve. We therefore aim to provide an education that gives children the opportunities to explore and develop their own values and beliefs, spiritual awareness, high standards of personal behaviour, a positive caring attitude towards other people, an understanding of their social and cultural traditions and an appreciation of the diversity and richness of other cultures. This is embedded throughout all aspects of school life.