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Our curriculum is the means by which we ensure that our children receive their fair share of the rich cultural inheritance our nation and our world affords. It aims to empower children with the knowledge they are entitled to: knowledge that will nourish both them and the society of which they are members. This cultural inheritance includes the study and practice of artistic endeavour and social and physical skills as well as intellectual thought. Our intention is that our children are suitably equipped to contribute positively to their community and to wider society.
We have an obligation to our children – they are entitled to a world-class curriculum that offers them the best possible opportunity to succeed. The curriculum will be planned and sequenced so that the understanding of key concepts is deepened. Connections within and across subjects (vertical links which are ‘high yield’ concepts revisited in the same subject over years, horizontal links, which are made between different subjects in the same year and diagonal links, which makes links between different subjects in different year groups) will be made around a topic (schema-building) so that children understand their learning is inter-linked.
Teachers will be confident that their subject knowledge is strong enough to deliver a sequence of learning with precision and clarity. They will focus on developing the long-term learning of children, not just the here-and-now. With that in mind, retrieval practice will feature throughout the curriculum so that children are encouraged and supported in remembering what they have been taught. This will be supported by assessments that we ask the children to take part in.
The Gawthorpe Academy curriculum is designed with knowledge at its heart to ensure that children develop a strong vocabulary base and an extensive understanding of the world. The curriculum promotes long-term learning and we believe that progress means knowing more and remembering more. As pupils learn the content of the curriculum they are making progress. We have developed a curriculum built on current research regarding how memory works to ensure that children not only have access to ‘the best that has been thought and said’ but are taught this in a way that ensures children can remember the curriculum content in future years.