Marden Primary School’s Curriculum Parent Forum

Subjects covered (Early Years) Prime Areas To build the capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive: Communication & Language Physical Development Personal, Social and Emotional Development Specific Areas Through which the 3 prime areas are strengthened and applied: Literacy Maths Understanding the World Expressive Arts and Design Other Daily act of collective worship More at: foundation-stage-framework--2

Subjects covered (KS1 & KS2) Core Subjects Maths English Science Foundation Subjects Art & Design Computing Design & Technology A Modern Foreign Language (KS2 only) Geography History Music Physical Education Other Religious Education SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) Daily act of collective worship More at:

What’s changed about the KS1/2 Curriculum? Maths: Learning Objectives per year group rather than levels. Emphasis on DEPTH rather than BREADTH. Emphasis on reasoning. Expectations are higher earlier on, e.g. times tables, formal methods of recording, fractions. English: Learning Objectives per year group rather than levels. Content is about what and when, not how. The how is up to schools. Emphasis on SPAG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar) and vocabulary. Expectations are higher earlier on, e.g. using verb tenses consistently in writing; use of speech marks and conventions for layout when writing dialogue, and; use of complex sentences. Computing: Greater focus on coding and programming. Assessment: Remaining the same for the moment but there are changes ahead.

Curriculum Planning Marden’s Curriculum = National Curriculum + Our own additions Early Years: Teachers plan a variety of small topics designed to stimulate interest and engagement. From these topics, activities are planned based on children’s interests and requests. Across the year, teachers ensure that all areas (Prime & Specific) are covered to allow for development in them all. KS1/2: It was decided that we would stick to teaching via topics as this has been so successful and so a culling and ‘mapping’ exercise took place to ensure coverage and interest. We: Cut out less successful topics. Kept successful topics. Mapped the National Curriculum to the topics to ensure coverage. Created new topics where we had coverage gaps/wanted to add them.

Topic Cycle KS1

Topic Cycle Lower KS2

Topic Cycle Upper KS2

Marden Primary School Website About Us  School Information  Curriculum Overview Parents  Supporting your child Parents  How well is my child doing at school? Children  Phase page…. Children  Phase page….  Curriculum Information

What’s going well? Maths & English: Priority. Leader training. Professional Development for staff. School collaboration events. Local Authority support. Resources. Other: Science - Kent Scheme. Separate topics. Computing – training and resources.

Next steps… Modern Foreign Languages – consistency, confidence and resources. Science – resources. RE – resources and allocated times.

Q&A