Curriculum Rationale
Whittle Curriculum – Introduction:
Our bespoke curriculum is tailor-made for children living in Coventry and Warwickshire. It provides contextualised learning of key knowledge and skills, alongside opportunities to develop life skills, across a broad and balanced range of subjects.
Our curriculum is designed to be:
and, above all:
Exciting – Engaging, motivating learning experiences for all our children.
Ambitious – Challenging and aspirational across all curriculum areas.
Relevant – An ‘up-to-date’ curriculum that has relevance locally, nationally and globally.
Memorable – So children remember important knowledge and skills ready for their next stage in life.
At the forefront of our approach is our strong belief that primary-age children should have real breadth and balance within their learning. All children should have the opportunity to experience a range of subjects and activities, so that all can find their talent, passion and success.
Principles of the Whittle Curriculum:
- Develops children’s knowledge and skills across a broad and balanced range of subjects/
- Builds knowledge and skills coherently both within and across well-sequenced lessons, units, themes and years.
- Identifies and explicitly teaches key vocabulary in context.
- Includes every opportunity for reading and oracy development across curriculum areas.
- Builds challenge across years through a combination of new and applied knowledge and skills.
- Provides regular knowledge checks to activate prior learning and create connections.
Curriculum Organisation:
Characteristics of Effective Learning at Whittle:
Throughout all areas of the curriculum, in EYFS and Years 1-6, we develop characteristics of effective learning within provision and practice:
- Playing and exploring – our children investigate and experience things and ‘have a go’
- Active learning – our children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties and enjoy achievements
- Creating and thinking critically – our children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things
Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development at Whittle:
The Whittle Curriculum provides daily opportunities for children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural education. These are incorporated within planned lesson, assemblies and wider opportunities within the school day. Provision includes:
Spiritual Development Opportunities:
- reflecting on faiths, beliefs, feelings and values
- learning about themselves, others and the world around them
- using imagination and creativity in their learning
Moral Development Opportunities:
- understanding the consequences of behaviour in actions
- recognising the difference between right and wrong
- appreciating the viewpoints of others
Social Development Opportunities:
- using a range of social skills in differing real-life contexts
- co-operating with others
- engaging with British Values
Cultural Development Opportunities:
- understanding and appreciating their own heritage and that of others
- understanding and respecting the range of different cultures locally, nationally and globally
- participating in artistic, musical, sporting and cultural events