Our Curriculum

Welcome to our curriculum page. We are really proud of our curriculum and how we deliver it. The curriculum statement below gives an overview and is followed by more detailed information.

Hazeldown School – Curriculum Statement

Intent (Why?)

Our curriculum has a clear purpose – the intent. Everything we do impacts on the future of the children, their life chances, their mental health and their success.

Our school ethos and ‘North Star’ drive the over-arching principles for our curriculum:

Aspiring to Excellence at Every Level,

Providing An Extraordinary Experience for all

A mantra of ‘Learning for Living’

Producing Socially responsible global citizens who dare to dream.

Our focus on ‘Learning for Living’ supports the children to gain the knowledge, skills and understanding covered by the National Curriculum, enhanced and extended with additional aspects that comprise our whole offer and leave them able to apply their learning to new challenges and later life (their North Star, supported by their Compass for Life).

Through our curriculum experiences, we aim to produce children who display the right attitudes and dispositions to enable them to ‘dream big’ and succeed to a level they wouldn’t have achieved had they not been part of our school community. They need to be able to solve problems they haven’t been exposed to yet – their ability to consider, to plan, to assess, to apply and to reflect is supplemented by a deep body of knowledge and a wide range of experiences which will enable them to adapt to change, continue to grow and develop and to be lifelong learners with mental, physical and emotional resilience.

Implementation (How/what?)

Our curriculum is based on Learning Journeys from the Cornerstones curriculum package, arranged and enhanced to suit our children and context. The structure of the Cornerstones Learning Journeys lends itself to a SOLE approach (Self Organised Learning Environment), beginning with a hook, or memorable experience and working through Engage, Develop and Innovate stages. Learning journeys finish with the Express stage, culminating in a celebration event to reflect on and showcase learning as well as supporting parental engagement in learning.

We follow a Teaching for Mastery approach in maths and are members of the Devon and Cornwall Maths Hub (CODE). We use the White Rose materials, supplemented by additional resources and supported by the NCETM Professional Development Materials.

We base our Literacy curriculum on sequences of work from Babcock Learning Development Partnership and focus strongly on providing purpose for writing. For Phonics, we follow the suggested sequence of learning from Letters and Sounds, complemented by Collins Big Cat phonically decodable books. In addition, materials from Jolly Phonics, Letter Join and Phonics Play are used. Spelling follows the No-Nonsense Spelling Programme, using the teach, practice, apply and assess principle. This is supplemented by the Readiwriter spelling resource. Vocabulary learning follows the Plymouth Oracy Project Framework, using Communicate In Print as a key tool. Reading is taught during phonics lessons and across the school there is a daily reading session including guided reading in a variety of forms, personal reading, reading for pleasure, reading journals and class novels read to the children.

RSHE follows the well-respected SCARF scheme of work, supplemented with additional materials, such as the Normal Magic 10-a-Day, to provide a positive approach to mental wellbeing and RE is based on the Devon Agreed Syllabus. We have linked both to Cornerstones where possible. PE follows the Primary PE Passport scheme supplemented by Devon PEDPASS materials as required.

Impact (So What?)

In line with our North Star, the impact of our curriculum is Excellent Outcomes for all and the creation of well rounded, socially responsible citizens who are curious learners, who have the power to choose and respond to change, and who recognise that they can have a significant impact on their community and the wider world. The development of Values Driven Attitudes to Learning through our approach to the curriculum produces children who can think for themselves, be resilient and face challenges with strategies to overcome and progress.

When they leave us, our children will demonstrate self-awareness, an independent will and a creative imagination. They are not afraid to dream, are aspirational for themselves and others and become positive contributors to society.

They demonstrate emotional intelligence, are innovative, resilient and demonstrate a ‘warrior spirit’ within themselves. They are determined strategists and develop a positive ethos and passion for who they are and what they do in pursuit of their own North Star.

Our children will have experienced a rich and broad curriculum during which they will have developed wide knowledge, deep understanding and significant skills which, coupled with a secure values system, an understanding of how they, themselves learn and high aspirations will see them equipped to achieve well in their futures.