Message from the Leadership Team

The education and welfare of the children in our care is of paramount importance to us, as of course it is to our parents. Co-operation and close relations between home and school are vital if every child is to fulfil their potential during the time they spend with us – our knowledge rich curriculum, good relationships with parents, and our high expectations for behaviour and achievement underpin the
success of our school. Children join our school with a wide variety of experiences and starting points. Our curriculum is designed to meet the needs of all of our children and our community. We pride ourselves in providing rich meaningful experiences across all subjects, pull out and emphasise language and vocabulary and offer numerous opportunities for children to develop resilience and independence. Doing this creates cultural capital. Each of our core intentions is evident through each subject and everything we do underpinned by theory and research. We invest heavily in training and developing our staff to make sure curriculum delivery is of the highest possible standard.

Our Curriculum

At Carpenters, we strive to ensure our children access a broad and balanced curriculum, through a skills based creative curriculum (Topic) approach. Through this approach, we ensure children are engaged in their learning and acquire the transferable skills they need as they progress through the school and prepare for their next stage of learning.

The Topic Curriculum is taught through exciting half termly topics from EYFS to Year 6. Through each topic, children are given opportunities to apply their learning across a range of genres and subjects. In particular, they have regular opportunities to write at length across the curriculum, read a range of topic related texts and apply their learning in mathematics to their learning in the foundation subjects.

During each half term, classes take part in a range of activities such as D&T days, art days, educational visits, RE weeks, visits from outside agencies and other special events. Take a look at our ‘Topic’ and ‘Learning Outside of the Classroom links’, to see what we have been up to.

Topic Overview 2020-21 - please click on the link to view.

EYFS

Children in our Nursery and Reception classes follow the Early Years and Foundation Stage (EYFS) Curriculum. This covers 2 main areas of learning which are separated into Prime and Specific Areas as follows:

Prime Areas:
Personal, Social & Emotional Development
Communication & Language
Physical Development

Specific Areas:
Literacy (Reading & Writing)
Maths
Understanding the World
Expressive Arts and Design

KS1 & 2:

At Carpenters, we follow the 2014 National Curriculum. Children in years 1-6 are taught the following subjects:

Core Subjects:
English (including Phonics (KS1), Reading & Writing)
Maths
Science

Foundation Subjects:
Computing (Formerly ICT)
Physical Education (PE)
Music
Art & Design
Design & Technology (D&T)
History
Geography
Religious Education (RE)
Spanish (Years 3-6)
P4C (Philosophy for Children)

Library

The school library is open to children throughout the day for children in the Early Years who are taken weekly to choose a book to take home. In KS1 & KS2 children are encouraged to use the library at lunchtime or after school on designated days