Curriculum

We have mixed Year Group classes. Giant and Duckling Class - has Reception and Pre-school provision for 3-4 year olds ,Trendle Class has Year 1 and Year 2 class and Abbey Class has Year 3 and 4.

 We are now teaching from the revised New National Curriculum 2014. http://www.primarycurriculum.me.uk/ More information can also be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum

We have an enquiry based approach to the curriculum where by we have an enquiry based question every half term and most non-core subjects are linked to finding out the answer. Please see the latest enquiry questions and Knowledge and Skills Organisers under Class Pages and also this Curriculum page. 

In addition to this curriculum approach we have discrete Phonic & Spelling teaching sessions in all classes, usually five times a week. We currently use the Read, Write Inc Phonics programme to support our teaching of phonics in Reception and Year 1. The children then move onto the Read, Write Inc Spelling Programme in Years 2, 3 and 4 and the Comprehension Programme. We are currently preparing our more able readers to move onto Accelerated Reader books when they finish the Read, Write Inc programme and are fluent readers. For more teaching and learning details please see our Teaching and Learning policy and our Spelling Policy (under Key Information and Policies).

The children also have daily maths lessons.
 

Our unique curriculum offer here at Cerne Abbas includes golden threads which are woven throughout the curriculum subjects. These are our Christian values, how we enable children's spirituality to be developed, our local  community and beautiful surroundings and encouraging our learners to have a growth mindset outlook.

Our values are strong and driven by our faith. All our rewards are linked to how we behave according to our values and how we are developing as learners.

At Cerne Abbas CE VC First School all class teachers are responsible for providing a curriculum that is suitable for all pupils in the class, including those with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND) with support from the SENDCo. We have high expectations for all pupils and are committed to ensuring our curriculum complies with the Equality Act 2010 and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014. As far as our building allows us, we provide an inclusive learning environment for pupils including those with SEND. Additional information on this can be found in our Special Education Needs Information Report and Equalities Policy.

Please find below our Curriculum Intent,  Topic Enquiry Questions, Overviews, Knowledge, Skills Organisers and an example of a curriculum plan which includes the progression of skills. We are currently improving our curriculum by ensuring the plans have records of previous learning and the specific knowledge we want the children to know and remember in their current learning. These are working documents and available on request. If you would like to find out more please come into school and speak to our Head Teacher or one of the class teachers.

Please note due to having classes of two year groups we teach a two-year rolling programme: Year A and Year B. For the academic year 2023 - 2024 we are teaching our Year B curriculum.

Curriculum Intent

Our intention is that our curriculum, underpinned by our Christian values of Trust, Peace, Friendship, Joy, Courage and Forgiveness:

• Inspires and extends opportunities by using our beautiful surrounding community
• Raises aspirations through high expectations
• Opens children’s eyes to the world beyond
• Enables children to live happy, healthy productive lives.

It recognises previous learning, provides first hand experiences and allows the children to develop the skills they need to be confident learners who believe their talents can be developed through good strategies. We want learning to be meaningful and memorable so that our pupils are not only ready for each next step in their school journey but believe they can make a difference to our world.

In short we intend for every pupil to ‘be the best they can be.’