At Courthill, we provide a broad, progressive and challenging curriculum to enable all children to thrive, develop a thirst to learn more and be the best they can be. We set high expectations that nurture all children to develop their learning skills as well as develop a Growth Mindset, enabling them to succeed academically and become ambitious individuals.

Our adaptive curriculum supports children in developing key knowledge and prevents misconceptions from being formed. It is also tailored to our local context to ensure the children are learning about concepts important to them and the community in which they live. 

 

Teaching through our Vision and Values

 

Intent

At Courthill, our curriculum is underpinned by strong subject knowledge of all staff. Our curriculum teaches specific key knowledge as well as providing children with rich experiences. Each subject is planned and sequenced so that new knowledge and skills build on what has been taught before and towards its clearly defined end points. Active learning is key to our ethos at Courthill so regular physical activities are planned into the timetable each day to support the children's retention of learning. 

 

Implementation

Each unit of work has topic knowledge, some of which has been identified as key knowledge that all children must learn, which is clearly sequenced into lessons. Every lesson begins with a recap and review session to ensure children build on prior key knowledge. This prior knowledge could be from a previous year group, previous unit of work or from a lesson within the unit. Taught knowledge and skills are clearly identified alongside learning goals. The planning and delivery of the curriculum follows all ten principles. Lessons are structured using the ‘Gradual Release Model’ as a guide, including (where relevant) Modelled, Shared and Guided instruction. The engaging activities vary from lesson to lesson, and provide opportunities for the children to apply high order thinking skills to use their knowledge and skills.

In all lessons, children receive regular feedback, both verbally and written of how well they are meeting the learning goal and their next steps. If children are successfully demonstrating they have met the learning goal, there are challenges to enable children to have an opportunity to illustrate a deeper understanding.

Teachers use effective questioning, recorded learning and observations to assess children’s understanding of the learning goal. Teachers continually assess which children have understood and retained the key knowledge. Teachers adapt the recap and review sessions according to the children’s understanding and next steps.

 

 

Impact

At Courthill, the impact of our curriculum is that the children will:

• Be highly engaged and have a passion for life-long learning
• Demonstrate a secure understanding of the world we live in as well as our local community
• Have a varied and rich vocabulary
• Make good progress and achieve well in their end of year outcomes
• Be courageous, kind, curious and responsible
• Be mentally and emotionally happy learners

 

 

To find out more about specific subjects at Courthill, please see our Subject Specific Information pages. If you have any questions regarding our curriculum as a whole, please speak to Mrs Elkins through the school office.