The Southroyd Curriculum
Our curriculum is based on our mission statement: ‘Nurturing Active Citizens‘
Children are given the opportunity to work as photographers to develop photographs for the school prospectus.
Children are able to take part in rich new experiences for example the TriGolf activity sessions in November.
INTENT:
We offer an inspiring, broad , balanced , curriculum built around meaningful real life experiences that are relevant to our children. Our curriculum is ambitious so children get the diet and experiences they need to motivate and support them to achieve their best.
Throughout the school, we ensure that children rapidly master key skills in reading, writing, speaking, listening and mathematics. Central to our curriculum is our intention for all children to be strong readers: the foundation for further learning and a source of well being and pleasure.
Through their journey at Southroyd we aim to support the acquisition of cultural capital and encourage our children to be responsible, active citizens contributing to and benefiting from our immediate community and beyond. We want them to enjoy learning every day.
IMPLEMENTATION:
We have a well planned curriculum where knowledge and skills are clearly outlined in an age appropriate and progressive way from Early Years to year 6 so that the children’s confidence and understanding is built on year upon year. To maintain engagement and ensure it is real and relevant teachers and children own this and draw on the exciting, meaningful learning opportunities that emerge throughout the course of the year where appropriate .
For example; year 4 study a Geography topic learning all bout Leeds, their city ,and developing their Active Citizenship skills by raising awareness of issues local to them. In 2022 to 2023 Leeds celebrated the Year of Culture and so we adapted our curriculum to take part in this. The children still achieved the same core learning intended for their year group – but with the excitement of taking part in a city wide project with children from all over Leeds. They took part in Art and Music activities that culminated in a children’s Peace Camp in Roundhay park where parents and the public could visit and see their work . In this way our children benefited from and contributed to the unique opportunity afforded to us through the year of culture without compromising their well planned learning journey.
All teachers, guided by our subject leaders, plan their topics and learning to motivate and achieve the best outcomes for all the children in their class. We are an inclusive school that meets the needs of a very wide range of children. Our curriculum is ambitious, flexible in its delivery methods, time allocations and teaching styles and always underpinned by clarity around learning intentions.
We have several themes and drivers that make learning at Southroyd unique:
- Our co-operative values - including equality and diversity
- PSHCE/ Investors in Pupils - we value Active Citizenship and children having a voice in our school..
- Learning from and in the outdoors
- Current/real life learning – we bring our curriculum alive with examples from the world around them when we can.
- A global curriculum /international school
- Top Talking – we value and explicitly teach high quality spoken language skills
- Growth mindset – our children learn ‘don’t stop till you’re proud!’
- Active learning- we constantly seek ways to keep our children healthy and active to optimise well being, health and learning.
Using our Investors in Pupils approach children are consulted about their learning and this is reflected in the approaches, topics and wider curriculum activities chosen . Our school curriculum has been developed after consultation with staff, parents, children and governors to ensure Southroyd pupils reach their full potential.
The children have told us what they enjoy learning and how they enjoy learning it. (Outdoors, theme days/weeks, Indian partnership, practical work especially in Science, using authors and visitors, more trips.)We have tried to ensure their wishes are considered when we plan our teaching and learning so that our curriculum is always real and relevant to them.
In response to the children’s requests we have a variety of ‘themed’ weeks or ‘theme days’ that form part of our curriculum. These can vary from year to year but usually always include:
Shakespeare week – an annual event where, as a school, we study a chosen play through drama, costume, assemblies and work in class. Shakespeare himself usually makes an appearance!
Climate week – to reflect the importance of Science and our commitment as global citizens, we always get involved , usually during the Spring months.
Refugee Week - a special focus, using real and relevant situations, for children to develop their awareness , understanding and empathy for this important area.
Take Over Week – a part of our Investors In Pupils work where children learn more about the roles of adults in school and learn a bit about the world of work through being exposed to the cycle of applying for a job and using their social and communication skills to work alongside adults in a work experience environment.
We call the bit of our curriculum that reflects the children, staff, parents and Governors’ wishes ‘The Southroyd Promise’ and we use it to enrich the National Curriculum and give the children greater ownership over their learning.
Meaningful first hand experiences including trips and residentials are a key feature of our curriculum. Children experience progressively more challenging residentials in year 4,5 and then 6. In addition every year group plans at least one trip to inspire and enrich their in school learning .
IMPACT:
We aspire for all children to flourish and achieve their maximum potential, by having high expectations and excellent standards. We achieve very good results in terms of academic success. Our children make very good progress from Foundation Stage and, by the end of Key Stage Two, do extremely well when compared with national results. Our stimulating curriculum teaches core skills in English, maths and science whilst actively promoting all other curriculum areas giving our children the confidence, knowledge and skills they need to access and enjoy the full curriculum as they move to high school. . We have a proven track record of supporting children successfully to meet their full potential across the curriculum, with our Alumni achieving success in traditional work and academic routes but also achieving highly in Art, Theatre and Music. Our inclusive curriculum enables all pupils to find their talents and achieve their best.
The children are assessed regularly so the teachers plan the next steps to be taught. Children are expected to make better than good progress in all subjects and where slowing progress is identified resources and support are provide to accelerate this. Parents are kept well informed if a child needs additional support and we work together to target and maximize progress made.
Our children enjoy lessons and we believe this early love of learning stimulates children to become life-long learners.
Our work on promoting social skills including good manners, resilience, self-awareness, consideration and cooperation throughout the curriculum enables most children to become fantastic active citizens and the very best version of themselves. Our main transferring high school repeatedly reports that our children are the ones who talk, who get involved and who enjoy the chance to take responsibility – for example as young sports leaders.
Children took part in a Medieval Day, having the chance to dress up and experience the life in a medieval militia.
The CAS framework is important to the Southroyd curriculum, with children given opportunities to stay active during their school day. During April, for example, the whole school took part in the Rhinos Dance Spectacular as part of our cabin open day.
