PYP Curriculum Framework

All staff at High Halstow Primary Academy are committed to providing a highly engaging and relevant curriculum that takes into account the interests and needs of our pupils. Our curriculum is taught through the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB PYP).

High Halstow Primary Academy is an authorised IB PYP World School.

Overview

The Primary Years Programme (PYP) is a transdisciplinary curriculum framework that offers authentic learning experiences.

The PYP encourages students to learn to appreciate knowledge, conceptual understandings, skills and personal attributes as a connected whole.

Our Programmes of Inquiry Core Text Overview

IB World School…

Our curriculum covers all the requirements of the National Curriculum but is arranged around inquiries into six different Transdisciplinary Themes.

High Halstow Primary Academy is an IB World School, authorised to deliver the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme.

The International Baccalaureate® aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.

To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.

These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.

Overview of the PYP Framework

Our aim is to provide our children with an engaging, exciting and empowering curriculum that equips them for today and tomorrow. At High Halstow Primary Academy the curriculum is designed to recognise children’s prior learning, provide first-hand, engaging learning experiences, allow the children to develop interpersonal skills, build resilience and become creative, critical thinkers.

Every child is recognised as a unique individual. We celebrate and welcome differences within our school community. The ability to learn is underpinned by the teaching of basic skills, knowledge, concepts and values with a vision to prepare them for life beyond primary school. We constantly provide enrichment opportunities to engage learning. We believe that childhood should be a happy, investigative and inquiring time in our lives, where there are no limits to curiosity and there is a thirst for new experiences and knowledge. The IB learner profile attributes are used to promote positive attitudes to learning which reflect the values and skills needed to promote responsibility for learning and future success. Community involvement is an integral part of our curriculum, inviting families and visitors to participate in learning and share experiences such as assemblies, Open Classroom and PTA events.

Our aim is that every child leaves High Halstow Primary Academy with a sense of belonging to a tightly knit community where they have a growing confidence and skills to make decisions, self-evaluate, make connections and become lifelong learners.

The introduction of the IB PYP has ensured that the central idea and lines of inquiry followed by the children provide rich opportunities for deeper thinking, questioning and knowledge acquisition. By guiding the children to come up with the paths of learning they wish to follow, we are empowering them to make decisions, ask questions and feel confident to lead their learning.

The whole school follows the same transdisciplinary theme each module and learner profile attributes are explored further through assemblies. This is also underpinned by SMSC development and opportunities to celebrate British Values within assemblies. All subject areas, if possible, are taught through lines of inquiries and enable pupils to deepen their knowledge through thorough research and application. However, when necessary Maths and English skills are taught discretely.

International Baccalaureate Learner Profile Attributes

Knowledgeable

Caring

Thinkers

Open-Minded

Communicators

Inquirers

Risk Takers

Balanced

Reflective

Principled

Teachers work collaboratively to ensure they are able to pitch subject knowledge at a level which is appropriate to the age of the children, and that any new knowledge is linked to knowledge the children already have; integrating new ideas to those already known. They use opportunities for children to discuss and share their ideas and seek to provide clear explanations when misconceptions are identified.

Reading and phonics remain an instrumental part of our curriculum and the use of texts underpin the majority of lessons. Acquisition of reading skills goes beyond that of phonetic decoding and has to ensure comprehension and inference are mastered by all children.

A recent review of the marking policy, now means that the academy has adopted and implemented a feedback policy. This sets out to ensure that feedback is purposeful and delivered during learning time, when it is proven to have the most impact.

The curriculum incorporates the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum 2014 and other experiences and opportunities which best meet the learning and developmental needs of the children in our school led though the holistic IB PYP approach. An inquiry led approach has been implemented at the school so pupils are an active participant in their learning and to ensure high staff and pupil engagement. This approach enables project based learning, fostering each child’s curiosity and interest throughout each topic and also enabling the achievement of depth in knowledge and skills. Opportunities for child voice are planned at the beginning of each new term when the central idea, taken from the transdisciplinary theme, and this is used to inform the learning for each topic to ensure relevance.

The curriculum provides children with memorable experiences, in addition to diverse and rich opportunities from which children can learn and develop a range of transferable skills. The children’s own community, its heritage and traditions are beginning to be used as a starting point for engaging interest.

The school’s curriculum is continuing to develop to ensure it is always broad and balanced. The school was recently awarded the Silver Arts Mark award for our contribution to developing opportunities within the arts in school. The outdoor environment and the local community are considered an opportunity for active learning for all our children. The school grounds have been developed so they can enrich different curriculum areas and are beginning to be used more richly. Music and performance have a high profile in the school and the school has a specialist music teacher, with each child in KS2 receiving lessons for at least two terms during the year. In addition, KS1 pupils take part in an eight week music programme with a specialist music teacher. Pupils have the opportunity to perform to their peers and parents. The school regularly take part in the Carol Service at Rochester Cathedral as well as other performances at local theatres. High Halstow pupils have further opportunities to learn from specialist teachers such as gymnastic and swimming coaches. The school take part in mini-Youth Games which regularly involves over 50 schools as well as Leigh Academies Trust events.

A varied timetable for extra-curricular activities is offered by the school, with clubs that support the core curriculum offer, as well as those which develop specialist skills, such as Irish dancing, football and sign language. A primary focus of our curriculum is to raise aspirations, engender a sense of personal pride in achievement, and provide a purpose and relevance for learning.

The practice across the academy develops a strong foundation of knowledge and conceptual understanding that builds towards an end point, ensuring our pupils leave primary school ready for the next stage of their education.

The curriculum ensures that the needs of individuals can be met within the environment of quality first teaching, supported by targeted, proven interventions where appropriate.

The work that pupils produce demonstrates the knowledge and skills that they have learnt across the curriculum. Pupils articulate their knowledge and understanding with confidence, highlighting the learner profile attributes they demonstrate and the action that they have taken as a result of their learning.

Our pupils are independent learners and global citizens who take action at a local and international level. They have a wider understanding of what is happening in the world and their responsibility within it.

subject specific curriculum statements

International Mindedness

International-mindedness is central to the IB mission and is a foundational principle to its educational philosophy; it is at the heart of the continuum of international education.

International-mindedness is a view of the world in which people see themselves connected to the global community and assume a sense of responsibility towards its members. It is an awareness of the interrelatedness of all nations and peoples, and is a recognition of the complexity of these. Internationally minded people appreciate and value the diversity of peoples, cultures and societies in the world. They make efforts to learn more about others and to develop empathy and solidarity towards them to achieve mutual understanding and respect (Oxfam 2105; UNESCO 2015).

Primary Years Programme (PYP) learners and their learning communities have a range of perspectives, values and traditions. The concept of international-mindedness builds on these diverse perspectives to generate a sense of common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet.

High Halstow Primary Academy offers a caring and supportive learning environment that nurtures pupils’ development into positive, well rounded members of the global community. We strongly believe in providing a world class education to our pupils to ensure that they are caring, open-minded global citizens with an understanding of the world that they live in.

Our aim is to promote equality of opportunity as it is a basic human right. All pupils in our academy are equally valued and share the same right of access to the curriculum and school activities and the same entitlement to respect for their individual identities.

Here too, we wish parents to know that we will not tolerate any form of behaviour which is inherently racist or which discriminates against another individual or groups within the academy, whether intentional or unintentional.

Our staff will challenge such behaviour wherever they meet it in school. As with bullying , children are encouraged to tell their concerns to staff with the assurance that these will be similarly acted upon.

Co-Curricular High Halstow Primary Academy

Co-curriculum refers to the activities and learning experiences that take place in school alongside the academic curriculum.

We offer a comprehensive programme of co-curricular opportunities at High Halstow Primary Academy, which include…

Nature Squad
Student Council
Gymnastics

STEM Clubs and Workshops
Sports Coaching
Drama Productions

Spanish Club
Tennis Club
Multi-Sports Club

Educational visits to places of interest to support the curriculum are planned by teaching staff at relevant times during the school year. Academy clubs vary but include Spanish Club, Irish Dancing, Choir, Gymnastics and Football. There is also an after school club on site led by outside providers until 5:15pm.

Pupils in Year 6 have the opportunity to take part in a residential visit.

Pupils take part in numerous sporting events and competitions throughout the year. These include swimming , hockey, football, cricket and athletics.

On occasions voluntary contributions may be sought from parents to help pay for certain activities. Full details will be given to parents in advance of the activity. Such activities would include trips to museums and exhibitions as well as visits from performing artists or groups where broader curriculum experiences are offered or curriculum work can be enhanced.

We have a fantastic outdoor learning environment with our new Outdoor Classroom. Pupils can take their learning outside where appropriate.

Our School Council play an important role at High Halstow Primary Academy. Children have the opportunity to be voted in as a School Council representative and work alongside the Principal on school improvement and charity projects to support the local and global community.