Curriculum Implementation & Impact

Westgate School staff are passionate about providing a stimulating learning environment to enable all pupils to become life-long learners.

Emotional and social development is at the centre of all we do. Memorable experiences are provided for our pupils from which they can learn and develop new and transferable skills.

Skills, values and a positive attitude are promoted, encouraging children to be successful learners who are prepared for the next stage of their learning journey. 

Trips, assemblies, workshops and special days provide learning experiences beyond the classroom. Community involvement is an integral part of our curriculum.

Graciousness, Responsibility and Respect for others are upheld as characteristics of effective learning and valuable life skills.

Achievement is central to our curriculum planning and we have high expectations of all learners to achieve their academic, social, creative and physical potential. 

Tailored to children’s broader development with a focus on spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, our curriculum celebrates our pupils’ rich diversity, wide range of backgrounds and prior experiences.

Engagement with global issues and the exploration of the links between their own lives and people across the world is a key goal.

Curriculum Implementation

All stakeholders regularly review our broad and balanced curriculum so that it enables children to develop the necessary knowledge and skills in all areas of their learning. The curriculum is organised into three key themes to allow pupils to make connections across their learning. Where links are not always obvious with key topics areas, knowledge and skills are taught in isolation to allow pupils to support the development of their semantic memory.

We believe that this approach facilitates the depth of knowledge surrounding subjects and ideas and as such building the cultural capital.

Each theme will consist of key visits planned or visitors and special moments so that pupils have developed their language and knowledge they need to help them fully immerse within the experience.

Teachers plan opportunities for retrieval of knowledge at spaced intervals to support their long-term memories and allow opportunities for pupils to make connections within and across their learning.

Our curriculum is designed to allow pupils to consolidate learning through regularly revisiting key skills (deliberate practise) in order to master key learning and become independent learners.

The curriculum delivers the programmes of study outlined within the National Curriculum. Wherever possible, reading, writing and mathematical activities are linked across lessons and reading is used continuously to discover and explore. The same quality of work is expected across all subjects which leads to higher standards and outcomes.

Knowledge organisers are increasingly used to ensure that knowledge and vocabulary are taught with clear progression across the school, whilst building on prior knowledge. Each subject leader develops a yearly action plan which contributes towards the design of our wider curriculum, along with feedback from pupil and parent questionnaires.

All our pupils receive a rich, diverse curriculum delivered by passionate teachers and supported by specialist provision, which includes visitors who deliver curriculum days, artists, musicians and sports coaches.  We make the most of every part of our grounds and have a Forest School area where children can develop their learning in the wider curriculum.

In implementing our curriculum, we are committed to the following key statements:

• Planning is sequential with lessons built through a series of steps that build upon prior knowledge
• Progression statements for each subject ensure that pupils are able to build upon prior knowledge and skills
• Children develop vocabulary and knowledge in the subjects they learn
• Lessons reflect the needs of all pupils with appropriate levels of challenge and support for more-able pupils and those with SEND
• Children ‘s memory skills are improved so that they can recall key facts in a topic
• Assessment is used effectively to check understanding and to help children embed and use knowledge fluently
• The broad curriculum offers extra activities that inspire and motivate children

Curriculum Impact

By the time pupils leave Westgate Primary School, at the end of Year 6, we expect that they have achieved their potential – academically, socially, creatively and physically and are independent and respectful learners. We use rigorous triangulated monitoring throughout the year to gauge the impact of the curriculum design. Senior leaders and subject leaders carefully monitor individual subjects: reviewing learning, evaluating pupil voice, providing individual feedback to move practice forward, celebrating positives and highlighting areas for development. Teachers track academic pupil progress throughout the year against age related expectations.  Regular internal and external moderation ensures quality assurance of teacher judgements. 

At Westgate Primary School, pupils’ emotional and social development is as much a priority to us as their academic progress. We monitor pupil’s individual emotional needs and respond to COMPASS questionnaires which identify areas of concern. We work with Safeline to provide targeted counselling for individual children who have been identified for additional support.

In addition to quantitative data, we measure the impact of our curriculum through pupil and parent questionnaires.  Our last parent questionnaire confirmed that 100% of our parents and carers felt that their child was well taught and a similar percentage felt that their child took part in a wide range of interesting and enjoyable activities at school.

Pupil Outcomes

The impact of our curriculum is measured in terms of the extent to which pupils have developed new knowledge, understanding and skills and that they can use and recall this with fluency.  

This will be measured by:

• Outcomes in KS1 and KS2 tests
• Outcomes in EYFS assessments, Year 1 Phonics screen and Year 4 Times Table Assessment  
• Outcomes in internal assessments 
• Knowledge Organiser assessment tasks
• In school attainment tracking of both core and foundation subjects
• Attendance data
• Behaviour Logs
• Engagement in enrichment activities
• Pupil voice – questionnaires, pupil book reviews
• Subject Leader monitoring – Lesson visits, scrutiny of books, assessment, pupil interviews and questionnaires 
• Governor monitoring