Our vision is for every child within Stanton Cross Primary School to experience an excellent education and to flourish. Our focus is on the whole child. We aim for all of our children to achieve well, be happy and make lifelong memories. They will do this in a safe, loving environment; committed to helping them achieve extraordinary things in all areas of life.
As part of the Northampton Primary Academy Trust, we share the same curricular vision as our Trust. NPAT schools subscribe to a broad and comprehensive definition of ‘curriculum’ as ‘all the learning which is planned and guided by the school’ (Kerr quoted in Kelly 1983). This requires planning and decision making to be intentional across all areas of school life.
Key principles of our wider curriculum
The NPAT curriculum model is robust, aspirational, wide-ranging and varied, with substantial coverage across all National Curriculum subjects including additional areas of study and enrichment. Our NPAT Curriculum is embedded in research evidence. Curriculum and teaching approaches are built around the most effective strategies for long-term learning. Our curriculum is rooted in Cognitive Science research including sequencing, coherence, and intentional development of pupils’ schema. High quality professional development opportunities for staff, to develop subject knowledge, will augment the implemented curriculum materials. Our curriculum begins in Early Years Foundation Stage, as stated in our NPAT EYFS Curriculum Frameworks.
NPAT schools recognise the following 2019 definition of curriculum by Ofsted. “The curriculum is a framework for setting out the aims of a programme of education, including the knowledge and skills to be gained at each stage (intent); for translating that framework over time into a structure and narrative, within an institutional context (implementation) and for evaluating what knowledge and skills pupils have gained against expectations (impact/achievement).” (Ofsted 2019)
The importance of knowledge
Our NPAT Curriculum has a clear focus on the acquisition of both substantive and disciplinary knowledge. Substantive knowledge being the specific, factual content for subjects, which is connected in a careful sequence and disciplinary knowledge being described as the action taken within a particular subject to gain knowledge. For example, in history this might mean using evidence to construct a claim, meanwhile, in science it might mean testing a hypothesis. The intentionally planned curriculum will enable children to build their knowledge and understanding of the world with clear end points mapped from EYFS to Year Six. Cultural capital is defined as “the essential knowledge that pupils need to be educated citizens” (DfE, 2014).
Knowledge Organisers - Supporting your Child’s Learning
As part of a project to develop excellence in our wider curriculum across all NPAT schools, we are introducing ‘Knowledge Organisers’ at Stanton Cross Primary. These are a simple side of A4 that captures the key knowledge that the children will learn in different subjects such as history, geography and science. These provide support for children’s learning and are also a valuable way in which children can share what they are learning at home. The intention is that these will be added to the school website before the children learn the topics so that parents and carers have the opportunity to take a look before the learning starts in school. These may also give parents ideas for days out to museums or places of interest in the holidays that would support your child’s learning. We will be using the Knowledge Organisers below with the children after half term and then regularly during lesson time. For more details, please ask your child’s teacher.
Values within our curriculum
NPAT schools share the trust’s values of aspiration, collaboration, integrity, community and a genuine commitment to sport and the arts. These values permeate school life and are a central part of the planned and enacted curriculum. Throughout the curriculum, children meet and learn about the 'British values' of democracy, the rule of law, liberty, respect and tolerance both explicitly and implicitly.
Core and wider curriculum subjects
In NPAT schools our children have access to the full range of subjects specified in the National Curriculum. In English our leaders and teachers deliver a reading and writing curriculum that meets our trust aims and principles. Schools’ maths’ curricula also meet our trust aims and principle for maths.
At Stanton Cross Primary School, we value reading, writing and spoken language as key life skills, and are dedicated to enabling our pupils to become effective, inquisitive, curious readers and communicators. We believe literacy is the bedrock of success in education and that reading is the fundamental life skill, which is key to unlocking knowledge and understanding of all curricular areas.
Through reading, writing and the spoken language, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Literature, especially, plays a key role in such development. Reading enables pupils both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know; writing and spoken language allows them to communicate confidently with a range of audiences.
For early literacy, we use the validated synthetic phonics programme
Read Write Inc, which is an inclusive literacy programme for all children learning to read (decode) and spell (encode). Through this programme, children learn to identify, read and spell the 44 common sounds in the English language with increasing automaticity and accuracy. Here is more information:
Parents and Carers - Ruth Miskin Literacy
Talk for Writing and Talk for Reading are used as a structured approach to teach reading and writing through oracy.
To find out more about our approaches to phonics, reading, writing and maths, please select the relevant option on the curriculum drop-down.
Below you will find links to the wider subjects we teach in Stanton Cross Primary School. To find out more about a particular subject, click on the relevant and read more about our approach to teaching it, a long term map for the subject and also a Knowledge Organiser to help you support your child at home.
Subject Areas
Stanton Cross Primary School | Art and Design Narrative
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The following narrative sets out the current intent for the Computing curriculum at Stanton Cross. As...
Stanton Cross Primary School | Design Technology Narrative
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Stanton Cross Primary School | Geography Narrative
The following narrative sets out the current...
Stanton Cross Primary School | History Narrative
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Stanton Cross Primary School | Modern Foreign Language Narrative
Introduction
Learning a foreign...
Stanton Cross Primary School | Music Narrative
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Stanton Cross Primary School | Personal, Social, Health Education (PHSE) Narrative
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The following narrative sets out the current intent for the P.E. curriculum at Stanton Cross. As a...
Stanton Cross Primary School | RE Narrative
The following narrative sets out the current intent...
Stanton cross Primary School | Science Narrative
The following narrative sets out the current intent...
