Curriculum

Our curriculum follows all of the programmes of study detailed in the National Curriculum, as well as Religious Education. We provide a knowledge-rich curriculum, which goes beyond facts and figures; it allows children to progressively build knowledge, and to apply this within different contexts, using key skills, behaviours and attitudes.

We enhance the foundation of the National Curriculum, with engaging school trips, visitors, workshops, clubs, musical tuition, sporting events, outdoor learning, cookery and many other opportunities, designed to offer children the chance to find their individual interests, strengths and abilities both in the classroom and beyond.

Alexandra Junior School is committed to helping children to learn to persevere, to have the courage to make mistakes and to recognise setbacks as learning opportunities. Our skilled and experienced staff encourage the children to be curious about the world and to use their creative energies both in the classroom and outside. The learning habits we encourage will serve the children in the years ahead, allowing them to make the most of their opportunities.

What do we want our curriculum to achieve for our children?

We want our curriculum

• to be ambitious, broad, balanced and deep so that all children have the knowledge and experiences that they need to have successful life chances, especially for the most disadvantaged, or those with special educational needs;
• to be coherently planned and sequenced, at least as ambitious as the National Curriculum, and informed by current educational research, and the contexts of our children and local community;
• to provide deep knowledge, experiences and values that work to close the achievement gaps for groups of children (socioeconomic and cultural diversity);
• To provide children with curriculum knowledge and planned opportunities, and to encourage them to think deeply about what they’ve learned and apply it to different or similar situations;
• to be inclusive, and adaptive so that all children study the full curriculum because we teach the full range of subjects. This means that we are careful, for example, about the necessity and impact of interventions outside of the classroom, as too many interventions means that children miss the quality first teaching going on in the classroom, and can experience a narrowed curriculum diet as a result;
• to be reading rich and vocabulary rich, and to value all curriculum subjects as subjects in their own right through deep, coherent learning sequences.

The impact of our curriculum is that:

• children are developing a love of learning and reading, and some are developing a special passion for particular subjects;
• children are articulate and able to communicate their thinking and opinions confidently. They know that their questions and opinions are valued;
• children are building a strong knowledge base which they are able to apply to different and similar situations with increasing confidence and independance;
• children make good and excellent progress relative to their starting points;     
• children have a strong sense of community, social and personal responsibility, and respect for others who may have different views, religions or lifestyles.

This impact is monitored and evaluated by teachers through:

• assessing what children understand and remember through questioning and learning tasks, day to day;
• assessing the development of children’s behaviours and attitudes that support learning;
• assessing children's deepening knowledge acquisition, progress and attitudes to learning as seen in their books over time;
• use of more formal tests and assessments, which allow us to identify what children know, and what their learning gaps are.

Term Plans

Year 3 Autumn Term Plan - Autumn 2024Year 4 Autumn Term Plan - Autumn 2024

Year 5 Autumn Term Plan - Autumn 2024

Year 6 Autumn Term Plan - Autumn 2024