Our Beliefs | Our curriculum is exciting and draws from the best of what has been. It is knowledge-engaged and broad and balanced. We understand the importance of ensuring our children are not offered a narrowed curriculum. | Our curriculum is ambitious for all our pupils including those with SEND and the most disadvantaged. We have a key role in addressing social disadvantage and ensuring our children have the very best chance of future success and happiness. | Our curriculum is designed to be ambitious for our SEND pupils whilst ensuring it is adapted to develop knowledge, skills and ability with increasing fluency and independence. | Our curriculum is coherently planned around individual subjects rather than topics. This ensures that everything we teach is planned with a secure progression of knowledge and skills. Links are drawn between related learning points which also ensures prior learning is recapped often within a different subject. |
Adapting the Curriculum |
We ensure that our children are taught the National Curriculum and don’t just encounter it. We believe that learning has occurred when a child has experienced a change in their long-term memory.
We recognise that many of our learners do not have a broad base of key vocabulary. This must be addressed within our curriculum to prevent this from affecting children’s outcomes.
We recognise that the constituency in which the school sits has higher than average rates of obesity. Liskeard West and Dobwalls has the highest rate of childhood obesity and excess weight in Cornwall. It also ranks in the top 12% of all council wards in England.
Community & Cornish Roots
We ensure that our children experience the best that Cornwall has to offer so that they appreciate the beautiful landscape and enriching opportunities that are ‘on our doorstep’.
We embrace a rich, diverse British culture and actively seek out opportunities for our children to experience the multi-culturalism that they may not experience in their home country. Beyond Britain, we ensure our children develop an understanding of, and curiosity about, the wider world, preparing them for their role as a global citizen.
Our school values are embedded into our learning: challenge, resilience, aspiration, courage and kindness.
Reading | We recognise that reading is key when assuring the future prosperity of our children. | Early Reading The systematic use of synthetic phonics scheme (RWI) gives children the building blocks to blend sounds into words. This is matched with whole word recognition and comprehension strategies to ensure fluency and understanding go hand-in-hand with phonic decoding. |
Cohesion As children progress in their reading skills, we ensure books are matched to their ability initially using RWI phonics matched books until children progress onto the Accelerated Reader scheme. |
Vocabulary We understand the importance of children building a wide and varied vocabulary and don’t leave this to chance. From EYFS through to Year 6, our teachers teach new vocabulary through topics and by reading a range of rich challenging texts. |
Reading Skills We recognise the importance of word recognition going hand in hand with language comprehension. We ensure that teachers teach children all the skills they need to be accomplished readers. |
Love Reading Teaching children to read without installing a love of reading is only doing half a job. We want our children to devour books, opening up the wide world of rich literature. |
RADAR Principles | Ready? Before we teach anything, we ensure that our children are ready to learn it and that they don’t have gaps which may lead to misconceptions. This is done through effective AfL. |
Acquire Knowledge & Skills When we are teaching, we think it is important that children acquire, and are not just introduced to, key knowledge and key skills. This ensures, for example, that children haven’t just been introduced to the Romans but that they actually know the key aspects of the Roman unity. This is achieved through deliberate practice. |
Develop Knowledge and Skills Although, the teacher modelling key skills and passing on knowledge is important, it is also important that children develop their knowledge and skills. Without this, there is a danger that the curriculum could become spoon-fed. |
Apply Knowledge and Skills At Hillfort, we believe that children should have, express and be able to justify an opinion. |
Remember Learning has only taken place if there has been a change in long-term memory. Our teachers support children to recap and retain key knowledge and skills so that they know more, remember more and can do more. |
Teaching: Acquiring Knowledge and Skills | Modelling When teachers are modelling new learning, they understand the importance of breaking it into small steps and achieving success at each step before moving on. Aspects of modelling include using explicit narration, a completed version and a conceptual model. |
Practising We recognise the importance of children practising key skills to embed them into their long-term memory. This practice is controlled. It starts as guided practice and, only once children are secure, are they allowed to move to independent practice. This ensures that children don’t practice is wrong. This enables children to free up working memory as they achieve automatically in skills and knowledge. |
Recap and Recall We ensure that learning is not fleeting. Recap is mapped into our curriculum so that once children acquire new knowledge and skills, they don’t lose them. |
Subject Leadership | Subject Knowledge Our subject leaders are the experts in their area. They have subject specific knowledge and skills which enable them to lead their subject for the whole school. |
Subject Pedagogy Our subject leaders are the experts in the pedagogy of their subject. |
Subject Specific SEND Working closely with the school’s SENDCo, our subject leaders understand how specific SENs need to be supported within their subject. |
Building Cultural Capital Subject leaders understand the importance of building cultural capital and build in opportunities for this into their long-term plans. This includes ensuring that children have access to high quality experiences outside of the classroom. Eg trips, visitors, residentials, and charity / community events. |
Reading Subject leaders understand the importance of reading around the curriculum for children to acquire tier 2 vocabulary. Opportunities for reading are therefore built into their long term plans. |
Planning | Subjects not Topics We have a linear curriculum model which ensures that all subjects are taught and given equitable curriculum time. What we teach in any subject is chosen because it is important in that subject. Links are made between subjects horizontally, vertically and obliquely where they are useful for children in securing a deeper understanding. |
Long Term & Medium Term Planning Long term and medium term planning is written by our subject leads. We have high expectations and ensure work is demanding and matches the aims of the curriculum. |
Short Term Planning Individual lessons are mapped by our subject leads, and delivered by class teachers. All lessons have a clear purpose. Some lessons may be tightly mapped by the subject lead whereas others may be left more open for class teachers to be creative in the delivery of the task. |
Teacher Workload We value our teachers and understand the importance of managing workload. This is particularly evident in our assessment and feedback policy. In addition, we have a staff welfare committee lead by a governor. |
Assessment We use a variety of assessment methods including GL standardised tests. We use the information gathered efficiently and effectively to promote progress. |
Assessment & Attainment | How we assess academic standards National Tests, GL Assessment, AR Star Reader, RWI Assessments Analysis undertaken by class teachers / subject leaders / SLT Reviewed by Governors |
How we assess that children are ready for the next stage of their learning Transition meetings PASS survey Analysis of key skills: Reading, Writing, Maths, Science Analysis of wider curriculum: knowledge and skills |
How we assess children’s personal development Analysis of attendance Analysis of behaviour PASS survey Pupil Conferencing & Questionnaires |
Evaluation | Governance Full Governors Meeting 1 x per half term Core Committee Meeting 1 x half term Governors attend book looks and pupil conferencing |
SLT Half termly review of curriculum Regular review of data Book Looks Work scrutiny Pupil Conferencing Planning Conferencing Drop ins |
Phase & Subject Leaders Regular review of data – pupil progress meetings Book Looks Work Scrutiny Pupil Conferencing Planning Conferencing Drop ins |
Parents & Community Questionnaires Ofsted Parent View Regular meetings with community groups |
Staff Questionnaires Staff Welfare Committee Collaborative approach SWIVL |
Learners Pupil Conferencing Curriculum Ambassadors School Council |