Implementation and Progression of our Curriculum
Our curriculum is structured around 'big ideas'. Within each subject discipline, 6 of these 'big ideas' have been identified and the progression within these ideas mapped out from EYFS to pupil's exit point at the end of Year 6.
Additionally, we have identified concepts to be taught and revisited within these 'big ideas', supporting pupils to develop deep schemas of knowledge over their time at Gatley Primary School. These concepts sit within the 'Connectivity' and 'Comprehension' drivers of our curriculum.
Within the 'Connectivity' driver of our curriculum, 6 cross-curricular concepts have been identified. These concepts are the key ideas within our curriculum, which pupils explore across subjects and which they become experts in, as they develop a secure schema of knowledge around each idea.
These concepts are:
Appreciation, Structures, Cause and Effect, Significance, Influence and Power
Additionally, under the 'Comprehension' driver, within each subject discipline, subject specific concepts have been identified which sit within each of the 'big ideas' we explore within a subject.
For example, within the 'big idea' of 'Physics Knowledge' in Science, the following concepts have been identified:
Cause and Effect, Space, Power and Waves
These concepts, along with the cross-curricular concepts that sit within each subject, have been mapped progressively from our children's entry point in EYFS to their exit point at Year 6, demonstrating the vertical sequencing of our curriculum. As each 'big idea' (and corresponding concepts) is explored within each year group, our curriculum is also sequenced horizontally as children develop their growing body of knowledge within a subject over time. This supports our pupils in making meaningful and coherent connections within their knowledge as they know and remember more over their primary school journey.
At the end of each phase, the key knowledge and skills children should have acquired within each subject has also been defined, as milestone knowledge and skill statements, supporting the planning, delivery and assessment of our curriculum offer. These statements sit across all of the themes and concepts covered within a subject, demonstrating how our pupils' conceptual knowledge within a subject comes together.
