Our Curriculum has been designed to ensure each and every child can ‘live life in all its fullness’ by offering stimulating and awe-inspiring learning experiences with Christian values at its heart.
We are committed to offering a curriculum that ‘ provides children with a thirst for knowledge, wisdom and a high level of challenge and a deep understanding that we are all equal and made in the image of God; our relationships with each other, our community and global companions leads us to want to care and serve others.”’
At Hampden Gurney, we not only focus on appropriate subject specific knowledge, skills and understanding as set out in the National Curriculum, but we also model the virtues given to us by Christ and by developing individual and collaborative learning experiences, a positive growth mindset, a sense of responsibility and challenges that take pupils beyond the classroom.
We are a small school with constantly evolving curriculum which responds to the needs of learners and their interest by enhancing learning experiences and raising awareness from the local area to the national and global arenas. Thus, we will develop outward looking pupils who are able to engage in learning about themselves and have an understanding of the wider world and different beliefs and cultures.
Ultimately, our curriculum is intended to:
• Develop our head and body: What we learn
• Develop our hearts and character: Who we are
• Develop out actions and attitudes: How we live and learn together
• Develop our moral and spiritual compass: Where we fit in the world
To achieve this, our curriculum is underpinned by the core values which live out our school vision:
Resilience Humility
Respect Forgiveness
Reverence Peace
Hence, our curriculum will provide the breadth and depth that allows pupils to develop and achieve the following:
Secure development and achievement…
• Provides opportunities for pupils’ personal development
• Allows pupils to achieve their personal best
Prepare pupils for ‘life beyond Hampden Gurney’ …
• Challenges, motivates, inspires and leads to a lifelong interest in learning
• Prepares pupils for further education whether academics or vocational and for the world of work.
Promote active community involvement…
• Ensures pupils are fully prepared for life in modern Britain, the understanding of tolerance, kindness and compassion – a commitment to British Values
• Offers a wide range of quality extra-curricular and enrichment opportunities for personal development and learning
• Involves working with the community to promote local, national and global awareness.
Through Teaching, Learning and Assessment
Through quality teaching of knowledge, skills and vocabulary across core and foundation subjects, all pupils will be challenged to be inquisitive, compassionate, courageous and creative learners. They will have opportunities to influence their own learning through age appropriate progressive themes and topics. Effective learning characteristics including being ambitious, reflective, resourceful, reciprocal, resilient and imaginative will drive teaching and learning.
Through effective marking and feedback as an essential part of our assessment for learning and monitoring pupils’ ongoing progress, achievement and attainment. Regular tests and progress checks to assess key constructs and inform direct improvement and reflection time
( D.I.R.T.; re-teaching where misconceptions or errors have been identified and study skills embedded and deepened in the context of subjects across the curriculum.
Through Transition
The School implements an effective transitional procedure between the EYFS and Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2 to ensure that all teachers have prior knowledge of pupils’ attainment in all academic subjects from the start of their new year group in order to accelerate their learning. Teachers undertake an analysis of the EYFS GLD outcomes and Key Stage 1 SATs results to highlight strengths and weaknesses, allowing them to adapt the curriculum in the new academic year.
Our transition strategy enables us to develop positive relationships and personal knowledge of all our pupils. Being a small school enables us to quickly get to know individuals and create a supportive culture. EYFS team make home visits to all new nursery parents and pupils. Transition day for all classes at the end of the summer term for pupils to move up to their next class to spend a morning with the new classteachers. The SENCO meets and discuss the needs with Head of Year from secondary school before transition for those more vulnerable pupils to ensure a bespoke transition with individual visits. Pupils are frequently offered summer schools or weekend educational programme by the Independent schools to familiarise themselves with the secondary curriculum and meet staff from the schools hosting these programmes.
Through Enrichment
We believe learning outside the classroom is as essential to pupils’ development as learning within the classroom, and so ensure out pupils experience a wealth of extracurricular opportunities. We offer a real breadth of experiences with pupils participating in, for example the Architectural Arts project, Sports tournaments, Godolphin and Latymer School Bridge Programme, Junior Citizenship, Women’s Science and Engineering event, Chess workshops and tournaments, Triborough Music Conference, Floating Class: science and geography, visits to museums and a wide range of curriculum related class visits ( see enrichment map).
The school has a comprehensive enrichment offer to complement the taught curriculum in subjects. This includes study support lessons, trips, working with subject experts. For example in Science:
• Science Week
• Science museum trips
• Science, Maths and Engineering for Women
• Mad Scientist Club
• Sustainability project
• Igloo EYFS project
• Floating Classroom – science class trips
• ISIS Centre – science class trips
• Sayers Croft – Yrs 4 and 5 Environmental and Habitat studies
• Kew Gardens – cross curriculum science trip – science/geography
• Science Day – workshops for Nursery –Yr 6
To remove barriers to enrichment, school offers financial aid for those pupils who are unable to pay for class trips or visits.
Hampden Gurney has a proud history of academic achievement with many pupils entered for Maths, English, Art/D&T competitions regularly over the years. For example:
• Winner of the Godolphin and Latymer Primary Mathematics tournament 2018
• Winner of the Explore Learning National Mathematics Competition 2018
• Winner of the Times Writing Competition 2018
• Category winners of the Chess completion 2019
• Third place winner of the Westminster Athletics tournament 2018
• Winner of the Third Plinth art/design 2017
• Third place Christ’s Hospital Yr 5 Maths Challenge 2018
Through Homework
Homework is a key part of the offer at Hampden Gurney. It is rigorous, set regularly in a timely manner, followed up and has high status. It is used to:
Develop reading skills
• Recall and retrieve prior learning
• Repeat a skill independently to encourage mastery
• Consolidate learning
• Deepen and extend learning
• Feed forward to future learning
Through Personal Development
Through a mixture of dedicated weekly PSHCE and RE lessons which deliver comprehensive programmes of study in a spiral, progressive and fully planned curriculum to provide pupils with relevant learning experiences to help them navigate their world and to develop positive relationships with themselves and others.
We advocate the Building Learning Power approach which develops every child’s capacity to learn in new and challenging circumstances throughout their lives through the four key learning dispositions: Resilience, Resourcefulness, Reflectiveness and Reciprocity. Our holistic approach to teaching and learning pays attention to children's physical, personal, social, emotional and spiritual wellbeing as well as cognitive aspects of learning, and is fully embedded in our curriculum.
With strong emphasis on emotional literacy, building resilience and nurturing mental and physical health, the Jigsaw PSHCE and RE curriculum equips the school to offer engaging and relevant approach to promote all these aspects of pupils’ personal development and Growth Mindset.
The Impact of the school’s curriculum is measured through several means:
• Outcomes for pupils at EYFS, Phonics Screening, Key Stage 1 and 2 SATs
• Progress and attainment date for current year groups
• Destinations data
• Attendance data
• Behaviour logs
• Engagement in enrichment activities evaluations
• Pupil voice
• Parents’ voice
• External reports and assessments
• LA annual monitoring category
• LA School annual comparative profile against local and national schools
• Governors’ reports
• Link advisers’ visit reports
• Learning Reviews and Curriculum Health Checks – external review reports