Our Curriculum

At Southfields, the staff and Governors strive to create an environment where children can develop intellectually, emotionally, socially, physically and morally. We endeavour to enrich the curriculum for our children by offering a wide range of learning, both within and outside the classroom. We work hard to provide a first class broad education that offers many opportunities to widen and enhance learning.

We aim to foster ‘Learning for Life’; providing a curriculum that inspires a lifelong love of learning and equips our pupils with the key knowledge and understanding, skills and personal qualities they will need to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

The staff work hard to provide a bespoke curriculum which is split into year groups. Pupils access age appropriate materials and experiences.

Our curriculum is designed specifically for Southfields pupils; considering their interests, gaps in learning, experiences and opportunities to develop good learning behaviours.

The school has a statutory requirement to provide a broad and well-balanced curriculum. Within the classroom, we have structured the curriculums statutory requirements in a progressive nature across Key Stage 1 (KS1) and Key Stage 2 (KS2). In addition, we have implemented a cross-curricular approach within each year group. This approach encompasses all core and non-core subjects in an interlinking manner, which provides pupils with more opportunities to develop their writing skills for different purposes, teaching and learning skills in a transferable curriculum which ensures a broader and deeper understanding.

Curriculum Aims

The curriculum provides pupils with the essential knowledge that they need to be educated and well-rounded citizens who are life-long learners and prepared for the world.
The curriculum is just one element in the education of our children; there is time and space planned in our curriculum during each school day, week, term and year to extend learning beyond the national curriculum specifications.
Our curriculum outlines core knowledge and teachers have developed exciting and stimulating lessons to promote the development of pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills as part of the wider school curriculum.
Our curriculum is communication rich and the children have a wide range of opportunities to learn through The Arts.
We appreciate creativity and celebrate achievement and successes from all aspects of life.
We provide opportunities to recap prior knowledge, as well as learning new skills and concepts.

Curriculum Design

We teach English and Mathematics daily, as well as Guided Reading and whole class reading. We revisit basic skills for English and Mathematics each day, in order to embed core concepts and principles.

English encompasses writing, grammar, punctuation, spelling, DEW (Daily Exercise in Writing), handwriting and presentation. Where possible, our learning is centred around a high-quality text that full of rich vocabulary. We immerse the children in their learning through the use of a range of opportunities based around a text, enabling them to get lost in the magic of a book whilst delveoping their vocabulary and English skills and knowledge.

In Mathematics, we teach core concepts and knowledge, as well as providing opportunities to learn through reasoning and problem solving. We use concrete aparatus, manipulatives and a wide range of resources to enhance a broad understanding. We adress misconceptions as they occur in order to prevent errors in understanding. We also take a mastery approach, so that the children acquire a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of the subject.

At Southfields, we nurture a love of reading and aim to link learning with texts where possible, creating a book-rich environment. The children have opportunities to listen to adults read, explore texts and read a range of genres for pleasure.

In addition to this, we have medium term planning for the Humanities (Geography and History), RE (Peterborough Agreed Syllabus), The Arts (Music, Art and Creative Design, Dance and Performance), STEM (Science, Technology, Electronics and Mathematics), Computing, PE and Sports and SMSC (PSHE, SRE and British Values).

Where possible, we develop cross-curricular links and embed prior learning and understanding through opportunities in which skills can be re-enforced through teaching and learning within another subject.

Staff strive to create the best, relevant and purposeful learning opportunities and keep up to date with educational research, initiatives and ideas. Staff share excellence and expertise to further enhance learning and create the best possible opportunities for the children.

Growth Mindset

We are committed to developing a growth mindset in all members of the school community and encouraging learning behaviours that support this.

Children need to be prepared for an ever-changing world. The teaching of mindsets builds resilience, a desire to learn, to challenge themselves and to encourage others – all of which are necessary for children’s future success.

The teaching of growth mindsets has had a huge impact in our school: it has raised standards, built resilience and created a culture of collaborative learning in both the classroom and the staffroom.

Blooms Taxonomy

We plan our curriculum carefully considering Bloom's Taxonomy . This provides a good foundation from EYFS to Year 6, focusing on developing a good mindset and higher-level thinking skills.

Wider Curriculum

In our school, we believe that our extended curriculum develops the whole child.

This includes opportunities such as:

➢ School clubs – run by staff, who strive to share their hobbies, and specialised coaches.

➢ Competitions - national, regional and local sports and academic events

➢ Community links - within Stanground, Peterborough and in shared regional and national communities including charity work, developing relationships, understanding of different religions and beliefs, projects and innovations and eco work.

➢ Educational visits related to various areas of the Curriculum – whereby pupils are given the opportunities to reinforce classroom work and provide immersive experiences beyond those possible within school.

➢ Residential visits – aimed to extend school activities, which are not practical within school ie:- canoeing, climbing, cycling, archery, rock climbing, visits to the theatre, museums, art galleries, tourist attractions, different locations, zoo's and farms, seaside resorts, boat trips and bowling. These visits extend the curriculum and also provide unique opportunities for pupils to develop friendships and Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education, preparing them for adult life and extending their life experiences.