Highcliffe St Mark Primary School

Our Curriculum

At Highcliffe St Mark Primary School, the curriculum is designed to recognise children’s prior learning and provide first hand and real life learning experiences. The ability to learn is underpinned by the teaching of basic skills, knowledge, concepts and values across the curriculum. It will allow the children to develop interpersonal skills, build resilience and become creative, critical thinkers.

Our believe that our curriculum embraces the community in which it is situated, recognising our local history, heritage, geographical and business links and most importantly, the aspirations of all our children. We are close to the coastal path, beaches and the New Forest and want our children to appreciate the rich history and natural resources they provide and to take advantage of them to inspire learning across the curriculum.

We are able to take full advantage of our school grounds and sports facilities to provide a curriculum that places great emphasis on promoting our children’s emotional and physical health and well-being. We place strong emphasis on the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of all our pupils and our school community has identified a clear set of values that underpin expectations for behaviour for all members of our school family. Our core Christian values of Respect, Courage and Compassion form the basis of our school Vision Statement and are reflected in many aspects of our provision including the curriculum.

Whilst we are a larger than average sized primary school we ensure that every child is recognised as a unique individual. We have a very mixed socio economic catchment area and we are an inclusive school that celebrates and welcomes differences within our school community. We also recognise that we need to ensure our children have a good understanding of what it is like to live in a modern diverse Britain through the promotion of an intercultural awareness.

The curriculum offered to our children will also give them a global perspective, encouraging them to think beyond their local community our school will help them to make sense of the world they live in and to become courageous advocates.

In their first year in school our Reception children follow the Early Years Curriculum and develop their knowledge, skills and understanding through a combination of both play-based learning and more focused teacher-led sessions. Pupils learn to share, work independently and play with others.

A mastery approach ensures that our children have a secure understanding of the skills, knowledge and concepts in English and Maths and can make links with their learning. Reading is given a high priority in our curriculum, as it the ability to read and understand which opens up learning for children.

Pupils with special needs are well-supported in school with extra support and/or resources deployed where necessary so that all children make progress from their starting points.

Assessment is used to identify children’s progress and find out areas where they are less confident. These assessments inform teacher’s lesson planning. Assessment is carried out across the curriculum through teacher assessments, questioning and low risk quizzes. At key points in the children’s time at primary school assessment data is recorded and submitted following national standards and guidance. In our school we believe that good progress and attainment should be as a result of high quality teaching and learning throughout their time in our school.

Community involvement is an essential part of our curriculum as we celebrate local traditions, learning new skills to enable the children to take an active role in events throughout the year to showcase their learning. We constantly provide enhancement opportunities to engage learning and believe that childhood should be a happy, investigative and enquiring time in our lives where there are no limits to curiosity and there is a thirst for new experiences and knowledge.

We use a Growth Mindset and Building Learning Power approaches to promote positive attitudes to learning which reflect the values and skills needed to promote responsibility for learning and future success.

For information about our accessibility plan, please follow link below:

https://www.highcliffeprimary.dorset.sch.uk/policies/