Our School Curriculum

At Lingdale Primary School, we endeavour to nurture children who are respectful, resilient and ready to develop the life skills needed for the whole of their learning journey with us.

What is our universal offer for all of our children all of the time?

We want all our children to receive and participate in a curriculum which is broad, balanced and  stimulating while meeting the requirements of the National Curriculum and which offers many learning experiences both in and out of the classroom. We strive to offer all of our pupils, regardless of background, an education which teaches them the skills and knowledge needed to be well-rounded citizens ready to face the joys and challenges of living in modern-day Britain.

As parents, you will receive a termly class newsletter providing information about what is going to be taught in the core subjects as well as P.E, R.E, P.H.S.E, (S.M.S.C/British Values), Design Technology, Geography, History, Music, French and Art and Design. Parents are invited to consultation evenings in the autumn/spring terms to discuss progress and to talk through our expectations as detailed on our Home/School agreements. They also receive information about their child’s progress in the form of an annual school report in the summer term.

Out of the classroom, we provide visits to a variety of places that enhance learning. Many of these visits are funded ( partly or wholly) by school so that socio- economic factors do not disadvantage any child. We are proud of where we live and have strong links with the community- using the local area for learning – particularly in History and Geography- wherever is possible.

Lingdale Primary School has a whole school consistent approach to both learning and attitudes, which we believe is a strength of ours. Behaviour around school is exemplary which means that teaching and learning are in no way hampered.

Our latest Ofsted report stated the following-

Lingdale Primary is a happy and welcoming school. Pupils are kind and respectful to one another. The school has a particularly supportive, caring and nurturing ethos. This helps pupils to develop positive attitudes towards each other. Pupils are keen learners. They enjoy their lessons and wider activities. Pupils say they feel safe in school and that staff care about their well-being and welfare. The school motto of ‘be safe, be ready, be respectful’ teaches pupils how to keep themselves safe. Behaviour is managed very well, creating a calm and orderly atmosphere in school. Pupils know who to talk to if they have any concerns and trust staff to help them. Pupils told inspectors that bullying does not happen. There are positive relationships between staff and pupils. Staff know their pupils very well and are aspirational for their futures. Pupils are proud of their roles on the school council ‘working together to be the best we can be’. Relationships are a strength of this school and its community. Everyone is aware of the expectations of behaviour. Pupils who have been excluded from other settings spoke about how nice everyone is to them and how supported they feel. Pupils are happy to come to school and enjoy the lessons they receive.

Early Years

At Lingdale Primary School we are committed to providing a high-quality early year’s education which gives children a secure and confident start to their school life and which nurtures a lifelong love of learning. This is achieved by developing children’s interests which then influences the flow of the curriculum, supports their choices and allows them autonomy. Skillful practitioners scaffold learning enabling children to develop their own unique learning journey.

When you as parents and carers choose our school, we want you to be confident that we will keep your children safe and help them to thrive. The (EYFS) Early Years Foundation Stage applies to children from birth to the end of their reception year. Most children join us for their pre-nursery experience in our Little Explorers two year old provision, complete their nursery experience and then enter full-time schooling in the September of the year in which they are five.

Key Stage One

This is where we continue to  develop our children even further, establishing greater independence and the basis for study skills. We aim for them to become independent thinkers and expand their naturally explorative minds in our learning zones which offer provision in creativity, writing, maths and construction. We continue to focus on Phonics, Maths and English dividing our time between the carpet and formally sitting around tables. Lingdale Primary School is committed to the daily delivery of phonics using the Ruth Miskin Systematic, Synthetic Phonics scheme of Read Write Inc. Our expectation is that all children ( unless they have a significant special need) “ learn to read” in KS1 so that they can “read to learn” throughout the rest of their school journey. Teaching is planned to ensure that children make progress  and develop key skills in the core areas of learning. We strive to ensure children are actively engaged in their learning at all times, maximising the use of our extensive outdoor areas.

Key Stage Two

Our aim at the top end of school is to develop autonomy, creativity and flair. Skills are built upon and new knowledge embeddded making sure our oldest children are resilient and ready for secondary school. We want them to be confident in whom they are – championing the strand of Individual Liberty within fundamental British Values. As with the rest of school, we choose books from our reading spine which encompass a range of authors and  genres and engage our children during devoted reading/story time. Children are encouraged to complete homework to consolidate learning that has happened the previous week- staff offer a homework club to support families.

Mixed Year Groups– As all our classes are made up of mixed- year groups, our curriculum runs on a Cycle A/B rotation in certain subjects.  All our classes have a teaching assistant to help facilitate this style of teaching and learning. We feel that this model lets children reap the rewards of older role models and the security of being in the same “ team” every other year.

Click below to see our Year on a Page Curriculum overview documents:

• Little Explorers
• Nursery
• Reception
• Years 1 & 2 – Cycle A
• Years 1 & 2 – Cycle B
• Years 3 & 4 – Cycle A
• Years 3 & 4 – Cycle B
• Years 5 & 6 – Cycle A
• Years 5 & 6 – Cycle B

Pedagogy

“We are what we repeatedly do.” Aristotle.

At Lingdale, we base our teaching on Barak Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction.

• Beginning a lesson with a short review of previous learning.
• Presenting new material in small steps with the children practising after each step.
• Limiting the amount of material children receive at one time.
• Giving clear and detailed instructions and explanations.
• Asking a large number of questions and checking for understanding.
• Providing a high level of active practise for all children.
• Guiding pupils as they begin to practise.
• Thinking aloud and modelling steps.
• Providing models of worked-out problems.
• Asking children to explain what they have learned.
• Checking the response of all pupils.
• Using time to provide explanations.
• Providing many examples.
• Re- teaching where necessary.
• Preparing children for independent practise.
• Monitoring students when they begin working independently.

Our staff understand that children’s brains organise information into schemata. Typically, new information is only stored if we can connect it to knowledge we already have. As a result, prior knowledge is a major factor in our capacity to learn new information. Just as you wouldn’t bake a cake or build a wall without breaking the task down into a set of instructions, teachers ensure pupils have these same, detailed steps.

Effective questioning is at the heart of our lessons with large numbers of questions posed and wide numbers of children asked.   We try to foster a climate of independence with the older children being responsible for checking their own answers against each others and by using mark schemes.

To obtain a high success rate, we believe children need to approach challenge with a positive attitude, understanding how to learn from mistakes and not be afraid of making them. We regularly say to children that “We would rather you have a go and get it wrong rather than not have a go at all.” This helps us see where a misconception may have arisen. To further develop independence, learning experiences are structured by explaining, modelling, checking, scaffolding, withdrawing support  with the child finally becoming fluent in the activity. In its simplest form this is seen as “I do it, we do it, you do it.”

However, we realise that even with this quality first teaching approach not all children will achieve at the first, second or even third attempt. This is where our bespoke intervention programme plays its part. Staff carefully timetable individual and group interventions to ensure  maximum impact is felt.

Reading

Reading is of high importance at Lingdale Primary School, with phonics and early reading being a priority. We expect children to read at home a minimum of three times a week to be entered into a weekly book draw. In classrooms, we study  a wide range of high- quality novels to base English lessons around. Guided Reading based on Reciprocal Reading happens daily with children leading the sessions and commenting and questioning with confidence. Our lowest 20% of readers are heard regularly with  the Accelerated Reader Scheme ensuring they are reading books at the correct zone of proximal development ( ZPD) for the individual child. Reading is embraced at Lingdale with librarians taking pride in the school library which classes visit as part of their timetable.

We are currently developing  a Reading for Pleasure culture  based on the pedagogy of Teresa Cremin. This has involved remodelling reading areas in classrooms (and eventually in our extensive outdoor grounds) Social reading environments are proven to be key to creating richly reciprocal reading communities Physically engaging, the most successful environments tempt children into texts and offer spaces to relax, browse, and read for pleasure. Staff are also learning more about the children and the genres they enjoy reading. Research has revealed that when teachers knew more about children’s reading practices and experiences beyond school they were more effective in nurturing a Reading for Pleasure culture and building communities of readers.