At The John Moore Primary School and Little Foxes Pre School, our intent is to promote a lifelong love of learning by delivering a meaningful education that ignites and stimulates children’s minds, alongside nurturing their talents and interests. Our bespoke and enriched knowledge-engaged curriculum recognises that knowledge and skills are the two core components to learning. It is designed with great thought and care, recognising the school’s unique characteristics and the needs of the children that it serves.  

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Our curriculum encompasses not only the statutory requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and the National Curriculum, but also a rich variety of learning intentions that engage the children in thinking and learning beyond our statutory obligation. We offer a broad curriculum that values the discipline and importance of each subject. Coherently planned lesson sequences ensure progression of knowledge and skills within and throughout the years. Meaningful links are made within and across subjects, enabling children to embed prior learning, think more deeply and make clear connections. Where possible, we utilise opportunities for cross-curricular learning; however, some subjects are taught in discrete blocks, if that is more appropriate.  

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Opportunities are created for children to thrive in different subject areas through a balance of written and practical activities, enabling them to develop interpersonal skills, take risks, problem solve, build resilience and become creative, critical thinkers. Children are encouraged to work individually and also as part of a successful group or team to reach their learning goals.  

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Communication and language and reading are at the heart of our whole curriculum. High-quality texts spanning a range of genres are used to ignite the children’s imagination and passion for literature. This captures the inclusive nature and high aspirations of our school. 

We have a clear understanding that children learn and progress at different rates and the child as an individual is key during our planning of all subjects. We ensure that the curriculum is taught at the appropriate level and challenge for the stage of the child's development. If required, adaptations are made to the content to ensure that it is accessible for all children at The John Moore, irrespective of any educational needs or disability. 

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Throughout our curriculum, we prepare the children with the skills and understanding needed for later life. We aim to promote an understanding of our local community and this is frequently used to inspire children by drawing upon the rich resources in Gloucestershire. Local history is valued and studied, along with other heritage, geographical, creative and business links. Children are encouraged to compare and contrast their local area with other parts of the country/world to develop a greater understanding of social and cultural diversity. Wider global issues are also studied in order to prepare children with the skills and understanding needed for later life. 

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Children leave the school with a sense of belonging to a tightly-knit and thriving community where they have the confidence and skills to become responsible, respectful and active citizens who can contribute positively to society in the 21st Century. 

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Our curriculum is underpinned by six key themes which sit under our four school values of Soar, Share, Strive and Sparkle. We call these key themes our ‘drivers’. These determine the direction and development of the work that we undertake in all areas of school life, ensuring that we offer a curriculum that it is enriched and personalised in order to meet the interests and ambitions of our children. 

Our curriculum drivers are the factors that we value as a school, that underpin our ethos which is embodied by the words ‘SOAR, SHARE, STRIVE AND SPARKLE’. They also support the teaching of British Values throughout the school.  

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AMBITIOUS INDIVIDUALS (SOAR) 

Children at The John Moore Primary School are encouraged to be the best that they can be by aiming high and having aspirational goals. They embrace the school ethos and are willing and excited to challenge themselves as learners. Establishing positive role models across the school is of key importance to us and enables children's experiences to broaden. Children at The John Moore Primary understand that attitude, effort, belief, self-motivation and continuous improvement are part of the learning process and a route to success.  The message of “Never Giving Up”- resilience, is embedded in all classrooms. Rich and varied learning experiences are designed with great thought and care, ensuring that they are ambitious and challenging for all children. We work to broaden our children’s horizons, expanding their knowledge of the world of work by nurturing their interests. This captures the inclusive nature and high aspirations of our school and gives children the confidence required to pursue their dreams.  

GLOBAL CITIZENS (SOAR) 

The curriculum at The John Moore Primary is relevant and responsive to the age in which we live, educating for life. Our curriculum provides the children with meaningful experiences, engendering significant and purposeful learning opportunities.  The children learn skills that they can develop as they mature, whilst at the same time understanding the key age-appropriate knowledge from every subject within the National Curriculum. We believe that PSHCE (Life Skills) is vital for pupils to learn how to keep safe and healthy in an ever-changing world. Our progressive PSHCE (Life Skills) curriculum is relevant to the lives that children live today and prepares them for the future. Wider global issues are also studied, in order to prepare children with the skills and understanding needed for later life. Children leave The John Moore Primary with a well-rounded education that equips them with the knowledge, skills and attributes needed to be active citizens who can contribute positively to society in the 21st century.   

RESPECTFUL, KIND CITIZENS (SHARE) 

At The John Moore Primary School, adults act as positive role models; actively teaching the children the four embedded school values (Soar, Share, Strive and Sparkle) and how we can live by these.  We believe that it is paramount to teach children how to work well with other people and how to be respectful communicators in a variety of different settings. Character education is valued, ensuring that children are fostering life-long learning behaviours that will allow them to succeed in their next stage of education and beyond. Nurture is at the heart of the school, enabling children to take risks, problem solve and to become freethinkers. As part of this, physical and mental well-being is paramount; we believe that a good education promotes health and happiness as well as academia. We want the children at our school to be proud of their successes and achievements, but also of those of others. Our curriculum also develops children's understanding of diversity and encourages open mindedness, as they to gain a deeper understanding of the world in which we live.  

 

CURIOUS MINDS (STRIVE) 

We believe that choosing the right context to engage our children in their learning is vital in fostering a love of learning and also maintaining our high standards. Our curriculum is planned around the distinctive needs of our children, promoting curiosity and interest. Within each unit, open-ended questions to investigate are presented to the children, engaging and motivating them as learners.  These questions are designed to provide the context for learning in most subject areas, enabling the children to further develop and deepen their knowledge and understanding. Children are encouraged to drive their own learning forward by questioning, investigating and solving problems. 

KNOWLEDGE (STRIVE) 

At The John Moore Primary, pupils are exposed to a carefully constructed and sequential knowledge-engaged curriculum, which has been rigorously designed to support children’s learning throughout their primary education. Substantive knowledge is powerful knowledge. This has been deliberately considered according to its cultural capital value and relevance to our children’s lives. It is progressively sequenced, allowing for cumulative knowledge to be built upon. Supporting disciplinary knowledge allows pupils to understand how substantive knowledge comes to be accepted and rejected as truth within a particular discipline. Curriculum leaders have specified the knowledge and skills to be taught in each unit of work within each subject; these are outlined in our unique and personalised progression grids. 

RETRIEVAL (STRIVE) 

Our approach within The John Moore Primary’s curriculum design ensures that all subjects are true to discipline and are delivered through carefully sequenced and progressive knowledge and skills content, so that learning is truly embedded. Vertical links are deliberately mapped out across the subjects so that concepts are encountered multiple times to support the embedment of powerful knowledge. Within year groups, horizontal links are also made to provide children with opportunities to apply their learning from one subject area to another. Diagonal links within our curriculum design enable children to utilise their prior learning, to think deeply and to make connections across year groups and across subjects. Our consistent approach to retrieval practice strengthens children’s ability to develop understanding and connect new knowledge with existing knowledge. 

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ALL OF THE ABOVE DRIVERS ENABLE US TO DEVELOP OUR SPARKLE VALUE- TO CELEBRATE OUR SUCCESSES AND TO LOVE OUR LEARNING  

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Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

The EYFS applies to children from birth until the end of their Reception Year. It focuses on the key principles:

• A Unique Child

• Positive Relationships

• Enabling Environments

• Learning and Development

There are three Prime areas of learning:
1. Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED)
2. Communication and Language (CL) and
3. Physical Development,

And four Specific areas of learning:
1. Literacy (L),
2. Mathematics (M),
3. Understanding the World (UW) and
4. Expressive Arts & Design (EAD).

 

More information and links regarding EYFS can be found here

The National Curriculum  

Every state-funded school must follow the National Curriculum which is a set of subjects and standards used by primary and secondary schools so children learn the same things. It covers what subjects are taught and the standards children should reach in each subject.

Every school must offer a balanced curriculum which:  

• promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and of society

• prepares pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life

 

The National Curriculum for five to 11 year olds is made up of blocks of years, known as key stages:

• Infant children (Year 1 and Year 2) are known as Key Stage 1.

• Junior children (Years 3 to 6) are known as Key Stage 2.

Formal assessment takes place at the end of each Key Stage (Years 2 and 6). A phonics screening check takes place in Year 1.

In addition, schools are advised to teach personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) and citizenship, together with at least one modern foreign language.

 

Please look through our curriculum pages for more information about how we deliver each subject and the links for the National Curriculum Programmes of Study.