The Curriculum

Radford Primary Academy is committed to exemplary teaching and learning with the highest aspiration for all children.  Through work and play we encourage everyone to dare to dream big.  Our whole curriculum exposes our children to a wide range of subjects and experiences. We believe they should have concrete learning experiences in every subject to help build foundations of knowledge, life-experience and cultural capital.

Within the expectations defined by the National Curriculum, in designing our curriculum we asked a number of questions:

·  Which aims, values and principles should our curriculum pursue and enact?

·  What are children’s ‘lived world experiences’? What are the challenges of a super-globalised, politically, socially, environmentally and technologically uncertain world?

·  How can a curriculum nurture children’s childhood as well as prepare them for their adult future?

Our curriculum aims to be challenging and stimulating.
It encourages our children to fully learn and develop into well-rounded pupils ready for the challenges
of the 21st century.

We think of our whole curriculum as four interlocking parts.

National Curriculum

The teaching of English and Mathematics are key priorities for our school alongside placing great importance on providing enrichment opportunities to enhance the curriculum for all of our children. We want to inspire the historians, geographers, scientists, artists and engineers of the future with a purposeful and well designed academic curriculum. We teach individual subjects linked through a half termly topic based theme. Alongside this our children have specialist music, PE and modern foreign language teaching each week.

An integral part of our curriculum involves developing subject specific vocabulary to help the children achieve a mastery of each foundation subject. Through this rich and varied vocabulary, the children will be able to reason, debate and converse to a high standard in every subject.

Reading Curriculum

“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” – Frederick Douglas.

Our reading curriculum is centred around our determination to make sure that every child learns to read whilst they are at Radford Primary Academy. We prioritise reading as we know it will provide a foundation for future learning. We want our children to embrace their own individual learning journey and celebrate their reading milestones within our reading community.

Through teaching reading well, we understand that children will be able to access the rest of the curriculum and reach their full potential. Phonics is a fundamental part of our EYFS and KS1 curriculum. We follow the Read, Write, Inc (RWI) Phonics scheme to ensure children are well prepared for learning in KS2. In KS2, we teach reading skills through daily Whole Class Reading sessions.

We pride ourselves on developing a love of reading throughout the school and consistently promote our reading for pleasure ethos. We want children to see reading as something to enjoy and not a chore!

The Radford Curriculum

The Radford Primary curriculum weaves its way through and supports our approach to the national Curriculum. All of our themes have trips or real-life experiences which connect the children to their learning, developing their cultural capital. At SSP Primary every child has the chance to access these enriching experiences, through a variety of ways. We plan for our extra-curricular activities to be broad and enriching. In addition to this, we organise special events, visitors, off-curriculum days, and family events to enrich our pupils’ lives and challenge them to aspire to be people who leave a mark on the world. Some opportunities are whole-school initiatives, while others are focussed on small groups or individuals. These are an exciting and motivating way for children to use a range of skills and work in new and exciting ways at school. Some of our most successful Enrichment events are: Art week/ Values day/ Maths Masterclass Course/Online Safety Week. We also embrace opportunities to link with our local community and believe this empowers our children to be diverse learners and good, well rounded citizens

Values Curriculum

Our school ethos is one of high expectations and standards throughout. It is value driven with good values integral to all that we do. We aim for all our children to grow up valuing themselves, others and the environment.

We want all our children to be polite, respectful, tolerant and community-minded. We want them to aspire, achieve and then challenge themselves to do even more. Academic achievement is hugely important but we see this as a natural outcome of a holistic approach to learning. We instill the belief in each and every child that they can be a success in later life, whatever they choose to do. We place key importance on equality and diversity and we actively discuss British Values and their worth within our everyday school life.

The holistic nature of our Values Curriculum and pastoral care promotes positive health and well-being, enhances our children’s life chances, social skills and aspirations. Our Values curriculum is not only taught, it is a passive tapestry for everything we do at Sidney Stringer. Adults are encouraged to model exemplary values and to give time for reflective practices ensuring that values are the principles that guide behaviour. Following our discussions with children and families, we created our own Sidney Stringer Primary Academy key values. We promote and teach these values to our pupils with a focus on one in particular each half term to allow us to focus in more depth on each.

Our Values:  

Co-operation,   Responsibility,     Determination,    Care,     Achieve,     Respect  

To find out more about our curriculum or request a paper copy of any of the information on our website, please contact the school admin team via email. admin@radfordprimaryacademy.org.uk