At Woodlea Primary School, we believe that knowledge helps develop well-rounded, empowered citizens who are ready for life in the wider world.

The choices around what we want children to learn are deliberate. Skills, vocabulary, and conceptual understanding are forms of knowledge. Skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving need to be taught within specific subject contexts. Students are empowered through knowing things and acquiring powerful knowledge. We want our pupils to develop into well-rounded citizens with a host of our values that will emerge through being immersed in a knowledge-rich curriculum.

We believe that children learn best when:

• Subjects are taught discretely, so that both the knowledge and skills of the subject can be explicitly taught. However, we also support children to see links between the different subjects, so they can make connections in their learning and utilise knowledge and skills across subject domains. 
• Schemes of work are planned in advance and fully resourced so that learning can be carefully sequenced and a variety of learning activities included.
• The curriculum provides a clear progression model, supporting the layering of new knowledge on secure foundations and enabling children to build secure schema.
• Units of work are supported by knowledge organisers that detail the facts and vocabulary to be learnt.
• Units are planned to incorporate learning from cognitive science: spaced retrieval practice, formative low-stakes testing, and strategies to build fluency.
• Explicit vocabulary instruction is included in all subjects. We believe that strong language skills underpin all learning.
• Curricular visits are planned to deepen, enrich and build on classroom learning as well as giving children opportunities for personal development.

Skills Progression

Progression grids are used to plan each subject to ensure all objectives are taught and that pupils build on their skills each year.  Links can be found to the progression grids within each subject area, which you can view by clicking on the appropriate section below.