Our Curriculum at Rode Heath

To excite and inspire... We believe learning is fun, and that the greatest satisfaction is to be obtained from achieving one’s best.

Curriculum Intent 

At Rode Heath Primary School our core purpose is defined in our mission statement: ‘Inspiring learning, nurturing minds and achieving for life’. In order to deliver on our mission statement, our curriculum is underpinned by the school’s four core values: curiosity, teamwork, fairness and resilience. RHPS prides itself on the broad, balanced, creative, relevant and continually evolving curriculum it provides for every child. Our bespoke curriculum builds on the statutory national curriculum; exciting children about the world around them, challenging them to achieve their potential by introducing pupils to the best of what has been thought and said, engendering an appreciation of human creativity and achievement, whilst preparing them for the opportunities, experiences and responsibilities of later life.

Curriculum Design

The curriculum at RHPS is delivered through a dynamic, structured, topic-based approach; however, pupils know that they are being taught knowledge, skills and vocabulary from a specific subject/s. The headteacher, SLT and subject leaders are all currently contributing to the writing of year group specific curriculum plans. The school’s three curriculum drivers are then the starting point for class teachers to plan their topic and decide how they teach and aim to meet the needs of all learners in their class. The year group teaching teams ensure that all children make progress, drawing on the support of the SENCO and outside agencies as required.

At RHPS English is taught as both a subject in its own right and a medium for teaching. Fluency in English language is an essential foundation for success in all subjects. Therefore, at RHPS, we prioritise the teaching of phonics in EYFS and into KS1 to promote ‘Getting Them Reading Early’. Once the children have completed the primary benchmark banded reading system, they are supported via the accelerated reading program Renaissance. The impact of this strategy is evident in the 2018 data where it is reported that 81% of KS2 pupils achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics which is 16% above the national proportion.

The mastery of mathematical concepts and procedures are embedded in our daily maths lessons in order for our pupils to develop a deep understanding of the subject and the skills therein, as a precondition to success across the whole curriculum. High quality science teaching is a strength of our school. Our science curriculum provides the foundations for pupils to understand the world around them. Furthermore, our science curriculum goes far beyond the national curriculum to incorporate natural links to industry such as engineering, computer science and technology.

All three core subjects above are taught by individual class teachers. The vast majority of foundation subjects are also taught by class teachers; however, this is supplemented by subject specialists to ensure the highest quality of teaching is maintained. The year group curriculum maps show that often a termly theme will be drawn from a historical period or have a geographical focus. Art and design often support the topic/theme but discrete skills are taught along with the study of famous artists and their techniques. Design and technology is often blocked to make the most of curriculum time available. Again, where possible, this is linked to our whole school focus on engineering. A recent development to design and technology has been our focus on food and nutrition. Computing is taught as a discrete subject and a medium for teaching, as well and a method of communicating for pupils.

Pupils’ work in science, design technology and computing allows them to achieve very high standards, which go beyond the requirements of the national curriculum.                                                                                                                                                                                  Ofsted May 2017

The subjects of music, languages (Spanish) and physical education are taught by subject specialists. Each key stage two class has two terms of music and two terms of Spanish per year and one of the two weekly PE lessons is taught by an external coach. In addition, the school teaches religious education as detailed in the agreed syllabus and PSHE/SRE are interwoven into each term/year. 

Click here to find lots more detail on each of the individual curriculum subjects.