Curriculum

• Our curriculum content is selected because it is powerful knowledge
• We teach and assess our curriculum in ways that helps pupils to remember it

 Powerful knowledge is important for pupils’ life chances.  Knowledge is what we think about and what we think with.  Knowledge is also generative – the more that pupils already know, the more easily they are able to make connections to understand new learning. 

We therefore make carefully considered choices of the knowledge content and key foundational concepts we want pupils to understand, remember and master for each subject area in our curriculum during their time in primary schooling.  Subjects are taught discretely in years 1 to 6, and each is equally valued. Where appropriate, we make wider links between subject disciplines to enrich learning opportunities. 

The curriculum at Wimbledon Park Primary aims to prepare children to have the knowledge they need to maximise their choices and chances in the next stage of their education. We want our pupils to be equipped to be successful learners and successful citizens, as well as being able to exercise choice as they move forward in life.

Our curriculum is based on research findings of cognitive science. We have planned a comprehensive and knowledge rich curriculum which demonstrates coherence and progression.  We ensure that our curriculum takes the opportunities that being a London school provides and carefully select learning experiences to supplement and enrich. 

We ensure that our curriculum in each subject area is carefully organised and sequenced cumulatively so that new knowledge is built in small steps and linked to prior knowledge, whether from the week before or from previous years.  In our curriculum planning, we start from foundational knowledge and concepts upon which later learning depends.  The curriculum can be thought of as a spiral in which key concepts and ideas are revisited over time during the primary school years in order to elaborate and refine existing knowledge and understanding in increasingly complex ways.  We have a strong focus on vocabulary throughout our curriculum - we think and communicate with words and so words are the building blocks of knowledge.  

A successful curriculum needs to be remembered by pupils, and the importance of memory and retention is an everyday part of our approach to the curriculum.  We place an emphasis on the regular questioning and quizzing of students to support the transfer core knowledge to their long-term memory.  We develop resources such as knowledge organisers that outline this information clearly and enable teachers, parents and students to use them regularly for low-stakes quizzing.

Primary school pupils are novice learners and therefore need clear direct instruction and guidance in lessons. Our curriculum is built around teachers using steady, step by step, explicit instruction and detailed explanations of worked examples, and giving students multiple opportunities for deliberate practice, including using use low stakes quizzing to revisit key knowledge and information that we know is vital for children to master.  This approach of teaching for remembering is embedded in out Teaching and Learning Framework.

This approach to implementing the curriculum is captured through our Teaching and Learning Framework:

Teaching and Learning Framework 

Each unit (or sequence) of learning will be supported by:

• A knowledge organiser which outlines the key knowledge we want children to learn (including vocabulary)
• A cycle of lessons which build on prior learning and are planned for progression and depth of understanding, and address misconceptions before they become embedded as correct 
• Low stakes quizzing to support the strengthening of connections and learning being ‘remembered’ as well as freeing up the working memory and reducing cognitive load
• 3 key questions for children to have a good understanding of by the end of the sequence of learning 
• Enrichment activities including trips and visitors
• Opportunities to work with learning partners, in small groups and independently 
• Various ways of recording understanding to cater for all groups of learners 

Our wider curriculum overview and a parent information evening presentation about how we teach the woider curriculum  can be downloaded here: