Our Curriculum
Aspire not to have more but to be more
We believe that a happy child is a successful one. Our vision is to develop well-rounded, confident and responsible individuals who aspire to achieve their full potential in every aspect of life.
Intent
Our school curriculum has been carefully constructed to go beyond the ambition of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework and the National Curriculum. We intend to give all pupils, particularly the most disadvantaged and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) the knowledge and cultural capital that they need to succeed in life. Our curriculum provides a strong foundation on which to build resilient, inquisitive and aspirational learners. We have coherently planned and sequenced the knowledge, skills and experiences we want the pupils at Prince Albert to receive, practise and embed in order that they are open to their future possibilities. We continually review and develop our curriculum based on internal and external research into best practice and what we know works well for our pupils.
We strive to empower pupils to be active global citizens who are able to make positive decisions in their own lives, and support those around them to do the same. We believe that our curriculum provides pupils with the opportunities to ‘aspire to be more’, in an environment which is rooted in our school values and respect for each other. We teach pupils that the quality of their character is about how they act when no one is looking.
Throughout the design and implementation of our curriculum we always go back to our philosophical belief that it 'has to be good enough for our own'. This belief permeates everything that we do at Prince Albert and as you enter our main Reception area you will see a display full of photographs of the children that are most important to our staff. This display serves as a daily reminder of why we work hard to ensure that our pupils get the best - because, it has to be good enough for our own!
Prince Albert School Values:
At Prince Albert the foundation of our curriculum is the National Curriculum 2014. The National Curriculum sets out in programmes of study content for core and foundation subjects that will be taught to all pupils. We believe that through the teaching of the National Curriculum we promote the universal values of respect and tolerance especially for characteristics protected under the Equalities Act 2010. We are committed to ensuring that our pupils are prepared for life in modern Britain. There is no option for opt out, for pupils, within the legal requirement of the National Curriculum.
Implementation
To ensure effective delivery of the curriculum, we ensure that teachers have good knowledge of the subjects that they teach. We do this by not only providing a well-planned curriculum which clearly identifies the skills and knowledge that pupils need over time, but also ensuring that teachers have opportunities for regular high-quality professional development. We use high-quality research to support teacher and curriculum development.
There are clear expectations on how curriculum content should be delivered and teachers present learning clearly, promoting appropriate discussion within the lesson. Teachers check pupils understanding and address misconceptions. Pupils receive timely feedback and respond to this appropriately. Over time pupils will learn more and remember more which will enable them to use this knowledge to support with future learning.
We believe strong oracy skills are crucial. By teaching pupils to become more effective speakers and listeners we empower them to better understand themselves , each other and the world around them. It is the route to social mobility, empowering all pupils to find their voice to succeed in school and life. We have developed a progressive oracy curriculum, using the Voice 21 framework as a starting point. We dedicate targeted curriculum time to teach specific oracy skills that are then used across the curriculum.
We are an inclusive school and all pupils receive a high quality of education. Some of our pupils attend our full-time nurture provision which provides specialist support for pupils that need a more personalised and specialist curriculum. In 2020 we were very proud to win the NASEN award for provision of the year for our inclusive practice. We are also an ‘Inclusion Quality Mark’ flagship school.
At Prince Albert teachers use assessment to check understanding and inform future teaching. Summative assessment is collated termly and we use this information to check on pupils progress and make plans for additional support where needed.
We are very proud of our school culture. We teach pupils about the importance of building their individual characters and looking after their mental health. We teach kindness and compassion and have a motto of ‘do the right thing’. We create an environment that enables learners to focus on learning. Our restorative approach to behaviour ensures that pupils understand that actions have a consequence and pupils learn to take responsibility for their own actions. Our pupils understand the power of education and the value of learning for lifelong success. Because of our positive school culture our pupils are kind, caring and polite.
At Prince Albert, we are very lucky to have our very own secondary school, Prince Albert High. The majority of our school leavers transfer to Prince Albert High once they leave us. We work closely with our secondary colleagues to ensure that our curriculum is not only progressive from Nursery to Y6 but flows seamlessly into the secondary curriculum therefore supporting pupils to transition effectively from primary to secondary school.
Impact
Pupils learn and remember the curriculum content that they are taught. This is reflected through our internal assessment systems and reflected in results from national tests. Pupils are intrinsically motivated and engaged in their education with a growing knowledge base which prepares them for effective transition for their next stage of learning and equips them for life.