Learning and curriculum

We believe that learning has no limits.

At Eastrop, the children enjoy learning through themes and topics. Sometimes their theme is based around a high-quality book or piece of art and sometimes it may be based upon a festival, event or special occasion. We know that it’s important to get to know the children really well so that we can use their interests to stimulate and facilitate learning.

Leaders and staff are ambitious for what pupils can achieve.

Leaders prioritise reading. From the moment children start in Nursery, there is an emphasis on developing their language skills and introducing early letter and sound recognition . Children encounter songs, rhymes and stories that widen and support their vocabulary development. Phonics teaching continues when children enter Reception.

Careful assessment of what pupils know and remember ensures appropriate additional support is provided for those who need to is provided for those who need to catch up.

Ofsted, July2022

Curriculum Intent

At Eastrop, we want to encourage children's curiosity and interests, equipping them with the knowledge and skills they need to become citizens in our digital world.

Our curriculum:

• Builds learning upon a foundation of high-quality talk
• Enriches learning using quality literature and vocabulary
• Encourages outdoor learning and the smart use of technology to inspire and nurture learning
• Promotes craftsmanship to encourage children to practice, refine, publish and present their learning
• Provides children with opportunities to learn about equality and acceptance in the world they live; locally and globally

Curriculum Implementation

Our broad and balanced curriculum means that subjects are woven together to build a tapestry approach to learning. To achieve this, we ensure:

• Termly curriculum themes are skillfully designed by all subject leaders to ensure there is clear progression of skills across the year groups
• Teachers build upon children's prior or existing knowledge and selectively choose key questions to answer to deepen children's knowledge
• Lesson design is carefully crafted to teach and model; children have time to practice, refine and apply the skills independently
• Timetabling of learning is flexible and enables teachers to plan a personalised approach to teach the curriculum, an approach which is personalised and designed for their class
• Quality literature, outdoor learning, technology and wider opportunities are used expertly to craft skills of all children
• Subject leaders continually support, monitor, enhance and update subjects to ensure learning is relevant and progressive
• Outcomes for each term are chosen based on audience and purpose. They may differ to meet the needs of all children

Curriculum Impact

At Eastrop we expect all groups of learners to make good progress from their starting points academically, emotionally, creatively, socially and physically.

Our carefully crafted curriculum uses quality assessment for learning to raise standards and enables all children to reach their potential. This is used in conjunction with informal testing, tailored to each year group, and subject leader monitoring.

Subject leaders have regular release time to monitor subjects. They strive to improve standards through team teaching, modelling, collaborative planning and coaching.

Our children leave school with:

• Pride and motivation to work hard
• Strong and confident communications skills
• Aspirations to try new challenges
• Emotional resilience and perseverance

Subject Progression Maps

We have a creative curriculum which has been carefully considered and skillfully planned to ensure it meets the needs of all our pupils at Eastrop. Our subject leaders have created subject progression maps to ensure that we revisit and build upon prior learning when introducing new skills and knowledge.

We have worked closely with our local Junior school, Southfield, to ensure that the progression from Key Stage 1 to 2 is seamless.

Please click on a subject below to view its progression map. These are also available on our subject pages.