Curriculum | Winter Gardens Academy

Overview

At Winter Gardens Academy, all pupils are treated as individuals. There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach. Our curriculum is designed to meet the needs of all individuals; giving the children the education they require and deserve. Please see our Curriculum Policy

The Trust Values: Collaboration, Challenge, Perseverance, and Innovation run as a thread throughout our curriculum; giving our pupils the opportunity to develop the skills that we believe are fundamental to achieve in later life. We organise the children’s learning across a well-designed curriculum, that reflects the children’s interests and provides many opportunities for teachers to inspire and stimulate all pupils; helping them to develop life skills and to encourage a lifelong love of learning. We have a thematic approach which focuses not only on Foundational Knowledge but also on the five other significant learning taxonomies (see below), using the Significant Learning Model (L. Dee Fink, PhD). Through this approach, we strive for our children to develop life-long skills across six significant learning taxonomies:

Foundational Knowledge – understanding and remembering information and ideas
Learning to Learn – what children learn about how to learn, how to be good students, how to become a self-directed learner.
The Human Dimension – what students learn about themselves and others.
Application – critical, creative and practical thinking.
Integration – the connections, similarities and interactions that children recognise and make.
Caring – the changes/values that children will adopt e.g. feelings, interests

Please take a look at a visual representation of our curriculum. Curriculum Overview

Aims and delivery of our curriculum

As a school, we have set out the aims of our curriculum using the six taxonomies. Whole school Curriculum Intent

We have designed the curriculum to meet our intentions outlined above. Please click on the links to see how our curriculum is implemented and how we teach the taxonomies throughout the delivery of our curriculum.

Whole school Curriculum Implementation

What we do in our curriculum to support each Taxonomy

We follow the National Curriculum as the children’s Foundational Knowledge, which ensures the curriculum is broad and balanced Parent Guide to the National Curriculum. Learning is active and based on giving children experiences to enhance their learning so they can commit learning to their long term memory. We teach all learners what it means to be a British citizen and the values that this entails: Tolerance of other faiths; Rule of the Law; Respecting Institutions; Combatting discrimination; Individual Liberty and Democracy. These British Values are central to the learning experience we offer and are taught throughout the curriculum, teaching children to make links between their learning and the world in which they live. All pupils are encouraged to have a positive ‘Growth Mindset’ which ensures that they have a willingness to learn from mistakes and are willing to have a go, and they will be able to elaborate this positive attitude to learning.

Curriculum Mapping

To find out the significant learning themes children study throughout their time at Winter Gardens Academy, please click on this link – Curriculum THEMES 2021-22

Click on the links below to see the year group long term plans:

To find out more about how we teach each subject, please click on the curriculum tab where you can locate website pages for each subject. Each subject has its own Intent (what we want to achieve in our teaching, based upon the needs of our children). This is then implemented through the curriculum map as shown above.

To find out more about the curriculum in a specific year group please click on the Year group tab at the top of the website. Furthermore, please feel free to speak to your child’s Class teacher or Miss K Herbert, our Curriculum Lead and Deputy Headteacher.