Statutory Information: Curriculum Information

Curriculum Statement

At Eliot Bank, we know that pupils who have a positive attitude towards their learning will make good progress and be successful.

We want all our pupils to relish challenges, embrace their mistakes as part of the learning process, value the importance of effort, respond carefully to feedback and take inspiration from others. This will help them to achieve, not only with us, but also in their future lives as adults.

Central to this attitude and approach to learning is high quality research led and driven teaching based on theories and proven evidence of Growth Mindset. This is a term coined by psychologist Carol Dweck and her research has identified the characteristics of learners with a fixed and a growth mindset.

Our knowledge-engaged curriculum is rich and deep whilst remaining exciting and firmly rooted in the knowledge and skills children need to progress to the next stage in learning. As we develop our curriculum, we make meaningful links between the different subjects. Ambition is threaded through all aspects of our work: teachers know and share the expectation that every child can and will achieve well.

Subject Information

To find our more about individual subjects use the links below:

   Art

   Computing

   Design Technology

   English

   French

   Geography & History

   Maths

   Music

   Physical Education

   Relationship & Sex Education

   Religious Education

   Science

   Remote Learning

Parents can find out more about the National Curriculum by using the link below to access more information.

The National Curriculum - Parents Complete Guide

Phonics and Reading Schemes

The development of language and English is at the heart of everything we do at Eliot Bank. We want our children to leave primary school as confident and skilled readers, writers, listeners and communicators. Emphasis on this starts in Nursery and continues right the way through to Year 6.

For phonics and early reading, the Children at Eliot Bank will be following the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised scheme. Starting in Reception, children will read in small groups with an adult, where the focus is on decoding, prosody and comprehension.

When children are learning to read, it is imperative that they practise independently with fully decodable books, which are matched to their secure phonic knowledge. In Reception and the beginning of year 1, we will use Big Cat Collins books and e-books to support this early reading practice.

The children will also bring home a book which you can share with them to encourage a love of reading. As the children become more proficient at reading through Key Stage 1, they will have the opportunity to choose from a wider variety of books, including high-quality picture books and short novels. Reading records are provided to children and include a variety of activities to support the love of books at home. These journals also provide parents with a means of communicating their child’s reading progress and habits at home with the class teacher.

Children receive short, fun daily sessions to develop their phonic knowledge. From EYFS to Key Stage 1, children are supported with their decoding skills for reading and writing in daily systematic synthetic phonic sessions. At Eliot Bank, we use the synthetic phonics programme, Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised progression which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through the school. We also link handwriting and spellings to our daily phonics teaching. This phonic resource will also be used for Rapid Catch up for children in Year 2 and above who require extra support.

Writing is taught through Talk for Writing: an approach which develops speaking, listening, vocabulary and grammar as well as children’s creative writing skills. It has had a huge impact on our children’s literacy skills; their ability to be successful storytellers and the quality of their writing is astounding because of it. The method focuses on children learning quality texts off by heart so that rich language and structure is embedded and built upon in every year group. A range of fiction and non-fiction genres are taught throughout the year and writing toolkits are established so that children are aware of the features of different text types.

We have a handwriting policy which is based on the cursive script. This is also taught in short sessions 2 – 3 times a week. Once children have mastered the joins, handwriting is linked to spellings.

Mary Quinn, English Team Leader