Our Curriculum

 

At Penwortham Primary School we provide a broad and balanced curriculum, underpinned by our whole school values. Our school curriculum has been developed over time and is continually being enriched and enhanced to make the development of our curriculum a dynamic process. It has been formed through working with our pupils, parents, staff and governors.

The school follows the Statutory National Curriculum for England but this has been developed to provide for the needs and interests of our pupils in their community. At the heart of all we do is the drive for every pupil to be the very best they can through 'My Personal Best'. We aim for our pupils to be the very best 'Social Me' , 'Healthy Me' and 'Thinking Me' and become confident young people. These Personal Best attributes are developed through a planned whole school approach to the nine values by which we underpin all our learning. These values are: trust, communication, respect (Social Me); curiosity, problem solving and reflection (Thinking Me); responsibility, resilience and honesty (Healthy Me).

Our three curriculum drivers (2020-2023) have been chosen because we believe that our curriculum will be enhanced and enriched through a focus on these areas. Our curriculum drivers are:  The Arts, Cultural Diversity and Outdoor Learning.

Pupils are taught in single year group classes. From Years 1 to 6, the school organises the day into discrete ‘lessons’.  An example timetable is here.  It should be noted that this is a ‘base’ for the delivery of a balanced curriculum over time, and teachers have the discretion to ‘block’ lessons together from time to time when this proves educationally beneficial to the learning outcomes.  As such, exact timetabling will vary from week to week.

Detailed information regarding curriculum planning and individual subjects is available on our subject pages of this website.

Assertive Mentoring

Assertive Mentoring is a powerful tool we utilise for ensuring excellent progress for every pupil.

At Penwortham Primary School, we use Assertive mentoring throughout school. This covers both English and Maths, with weekly skills checks in both Maths and Grammar, as well as termly assessments in reading, writing and Maths. This enables regular over learning and revisiting of key skills. Assessment data is collected and used as a formative tool to ensure accurate next steps progress for each pupil.

Reading
Reading assessments are undertaken on a termly basis, with some pupils being assessed on a half termly basis. These are stage / level based, where pupils read a text independently and then answer appropriate questions orally by the class teacher. Outcomes also guide our guided reading focus. We gather a range of evidence including fluency checks, phonics checks, comprehension skills as well as decoding new words.

Writing, including Grammar and Spelling.
Pupil’s writing is assessed on a half termly basis using grammar level criteria from the Assertive Mentoring framework and against Age Related Expectations for their year group. A sample of this work is then moderated by all teaching staff across the key stages and a level agreed. At least once each year we also moderate our writing with other schools in our cluster.

Grammar Hammer – this skills check for pupils in Key Stage 2 is used on a weekly basis. Achievement is banded into 3 areas, red, amber and green. Once children have achieved green on a stage for at least 4 weeks, then they are moved up to the following stage. This can be at any point in the year at the teachers’ discretion.

 

Maths
Pupils’ undertake two elements of maths assessment within Penwortham Primary School. On a weekly basis, children complete Maths Basic Skills checks – these are short 25 question challenges which pupils answer questions on number, multiplication/ division / fractions and shape / data.

Pupils’ also complete half termly assessments. Pupils’ strengths and weaknesses are presented in the form of their Maths targets and assessment data is used by teachers to ensure effective assessment for learning and provide accurate next steps learning.

These core skills are linked throughout our curriculum planning providing pupils with oportunities to link learning across all subjects.

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Find Us

Penwortham Primary School

Crookings Lane, Penwortham, Preston PR1 0HU

Headteacher: Miss K Penarski

01772 743321

Bursar: Miss Hannah Pye

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