Harold Court Primary School

Our curriculum ensures learning is effective, exciting and above all, relevant to the needs of our children.

We aim to provide a happy, healthy, safe and compassionate environment where every child is valued and inspired to achieve and exceed their potential.

We provide an enriched curriculum every day which will develop every child’s self-confidence, resilience and passion for lifelong learning.

We have high expectations and aspirations for the achievement of every child, providing them with high quality teaching and personalised learning opportunities every day.

We believe in bringing learning to life, both indoors and out, with an emphasis on engaging and purposeful learning.

We respect the religious and cultural traditions of every child and in doing so, celebrate our British values and the diversity reflected within our school community.

We aim to instil our core values of friendliness, unity, compassion, delight, endeavour, tolerance and respect through our curriculum.

 Every lesson at Harold Court needs to include some ingredients from the Harold Court Way for teaching and learning:-

Our curriculum follows the National Curriculum with subjects being taught both discretely and as part of carefully planned topics.  Within these topics we carefully incorporate key skills as well as subject specific skills which are applied across the curriculum plan to give a holistic approach to learning, sometimes led by children’s interests, whilst at the same time ensuring the development of individual subject skills and knowledge. 

A wide variety of teaching methods are used, which are designed to give children the chance to learn in different ways. Children are taught as a whole class with both group, paired and individual work also widely used.

Harold Courts curriculum encompasses a variety of learning opportunities that your child will experience whilst at school. It is planned with clear progression and cohesion to make learning experiences relevant and meaningful.

The framework of the National Curriculum is the basis on which learning is organised; National Curriculum subjects are sometimes taught separately; at other times we adopt a more thematic joint approach.

We consistently aim to build on the child's previous learning experiences and engage them in a level of work that is appropriate to their needs

Implementation-how do we achieve this?

At the heart of our curriculum are the core subjects of English and Mathematics, which are taught each day. These core curriculum subjects are given dedicated time in order for children to develop and embed the key skills and knowledge. We use diverse quality core texts in English to develop and improve reading, writing and speaking and listening skills.

In maths we use Mathematics Mastery enabling children to learn key vocabulary, key facts, methods and apply these through reasoning and problem solving skills. The children develop a strong foundation of learning and relevant fluency. Children also take part in Times Table Rock Stars to develop their fluency in times table facts. 

We also truly value our wider curriculum, covering all other National Curriculum subjects. This wider curriculum is organised through a progression of skills framework so that we can ensure that children's learning builds effectively over time to ensure children are ready to meet the expectations of each stage of primary and secondary school. The wider curriculum is taught as either as discrete subject specific work or through  ‘cross-curricular’ learning where meaningful links can be made with other subjects that help secure prior learning or develop learning further.

Subject leaders play an important part in the success of the curriculum by leading a regular programme of monitoring, evaluation and review and the celebration of good practice contributes to the ongoing commitment to evolve and improve further. All subject leaders are given training and the opportunity to keep developing their own subject knowledge, skills and understanding, so they can support curriculum development and their colleagues throughout the school.

 We offer a thoughtful range of experiences that support our children's learning. Our curriculum includes exciting subject and theme immersion days and weeks such as World Book Day, Art week, WW2 Day,  which allow a more in depth focus on individual subjects and a variety of enrichment opportunities including visits out and visitors into school.

The school takes pride in providing a highly inclusive environment, through 'Quality first teaching', where learners demonstrate high levels of enjoyment in their education and most make good progress in most subjects and areas of learning. Children at all levels are helped to achieve their potential. Those who are most able are challenged and supported through being offered tasks which provide opportunities for greater depth and those who struggle are encouraged and given targeted support to embed skills, to develop at their own pace or simply to learn in a style that best suits their individual needs.

Impact for our children

From their different starting points, all children will make good progress academically, emotionally, creatively, socially and physically. Knowledge, understanding and skills will be secured and embedded so that children attain highly and are fully prepared for secondary school.

• They will have strong communication skills, both written and verbal. and will listen respectfully and with tolerance to the views of others.
• They will take pride in all that they do, always striving to do their best.
• They will demonstrate emotional resilience and the ability to persevere when they encounter challenge.
• They will develop a sense of self-awareness and become confident in their own abilities.
• They will be kind, respectful and honest, demonstrate inclusive attitudes and have a sense of their role in our wider society.