At Hampden Gurney we aim to deliver a curriculum that provides children with a thirst for knowledge and wisdom, a high level of challenge and a deep understanding that we are all equal and made in the image of God.
We are proud to offer a much wider and in-depth curriculum, making most of the many and varied opportunities to broaden and enrich the curriculum for our pupils. We have developed a skilled based curriculum that successfully offers a wide range of developmental opportunities, often through themed work, and ensures that learning is both mastered and extended.
The mastery pedagogy works on the principles that all learners, with effort, will meet expectations while some learners will be able to access even greater challenges to deepen their thinking further, exceeding end of year (age related) expectations for attainment. Staff use the Guy Claxton’s Building Learning Power and Blooms Taxonomy approaches to support their planning, ensuring that the variation of independent learning tasks allows all children to access learning objectives at the relevant stage in the progression of concepts being taught.
The National Curriculum provides the school with the outline of knowledge, skills and understanding that we are required to cover in school. We teach key skills for each subject so that the skills practised develop pupil’s knowledge and understanding, within a meaningful context ( often through Humanities) where this is possible.
A revised version of the school’s curriculum was introduced in 2014 and reviewed again in 2017. We have continued to refine and make significant changes in 2018, revising school based schemes of work and curriculum map, outlining what themes are to be taught and the enrichment opportunities to support the units of work in each year group, as published on the school’s website.
The National Curriculum comprises the Core and Foundation subjects. The three Core subjects are: English, Maths and Science and these take up a larger share of the curriculum teaching time. As a Church school, we also regard R.E. and Collective Worship as part of our core provision, treating these two areas in similar high regard. The Foundation subjects are: Computing, Art and Design, Design and Technology, Spanish, Geography, History, Music and P.E. The school PE coach, Music and Art and Design teachers teach these subjects once a week and monitored by Subject Leaders for progression, curriculum coverage and attainment.
Below you can find an overview of the curriculum we aim to provide at each stage of your child's education. Please note these are working documents and subject to change.