Curriculum
At Hildenborough CE Primary School, we offer a broad, balanced and knowledge-rich curriculum for all our learners. As a church school, we are inspired by the strength and support we receive from Christ and this underpins our vision:
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," (Philippians 4:13) so that I can be the best that I can be, for myself, for others and for God.
We aspire for our community to flourish as we journey together to fulfil our God given potential by encouraging a delight in the pursuit of wisdom and knowledge. We cherish each person as unique and special, and celebrate God’s creation through providing rich experiences, which enlighten, challenge, shape and enhance life’s opportunities for all.
Everything starts with the child and how we as professionals can create a learning environment for them which nurtures their mind, body and soul to develop a happy, healthy and well-rounded citizen of the world – a child who can live and enjoy life to the full.
Our curriculum provision has been developed with a clear intent to:
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Provide a broad and balanced programme of study that meets the needs of all of our children.
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Enable all of our children to make progress in their learning and achieve their full potential.
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Support the acquisition of knowledge and vocabulary.
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Promote good behaviour and safety.
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Support children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
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Provide a wide range of rich experiences.
Passport of Experiences
The staff met to share our hopes and dreams for the children at Hildenborough. We prioritise the personal development of children because we know that it is essential to develop the whole child by offering them experiences beyond the ‘normal’ school day, allowing the children to flourish in (hopefully) a variety of ways. We aim to provide the children with a range of opportunities or activities including visits to places that enhance the curriculum offer whilst providing cultural capital.
We used these hopes and dreams to formulate a list of all of the experiences we want our children to have through their time with us. These were divided between year groups and have begun turning them into a reality!
You can view this document at the bottom of the page.
Leaders have devised an ambitious curriculum and aspire for all pupils to achieve well. Well-sequenced plans and appropriate training have supported staff to implement the curriculum.
A Knowledge- based Curriculum
Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are taught using the EYFS framework with an emphasis on developing key skills, knowledge and understanding through direct teaching and purposeful play. The statutory National Curriculum is taught across Key Stages 1 and 2.
Our curriculum is designed with knowledge at its heart to ensure that children develop a strong vocabulary base and understanding of the world. The curriculum promotes long-term learning and we believe that progress means knowing more and remembering more.
In developing our curriculum, we have taken into account research on how memory works, to ensure that children are taught in a way in which they can remember the content in future years. We make use of knowledge organisers to ensure children know exactly which information is expected to be learned over the course of their topic. Our curriculum is divided into subjects, recognising the identity of the disciplines we study, fostering a love for subject content.
One of our central aims of the curriculum is to ensure that our pupils are both “interesting and interested”. We want them to be ‘interesting’ to talk to because they know a great deal about the world and ‘interested’ in finding out more. We understand that knowledge is ‘sticky’, in other words, the more pupils know the easier it is for them to know more.
We also believe that our children deserve and need us to provide more than just the National Curriculum. Life has so much more to offer and our children have so much more to learn and experience. With this in mind, we are carefully planning for the things we want our children to experience during their time with us. In deciding on these experiences, we take into account the following:
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the needs of our children here at Hildenborough
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the needs of our wider community
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the values of our school
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the location of our school.
Our Curriculum Design
We have designed our curriculum to ensure coherence and connectivity so that knowledge, skills and concepts are introduced, built on over time, and are revisited and assessed. We believe that a well-connected curriculum will enable our children to grow intellectually, spiritually and emotionally. It will enable them to become increasingly knowledgeable and make sense of complex concepts that might otherwise be taught in isolation.
Please click below to view each year group’s curriculum overview: