At Stretton Church of England Academy, we recognise the uniqueness of every member of the Stretton family and the value of each person’s contribution to our school and to our local and wider communities. Our approach to learning is founded on the Christian principles of empathy and challenge: we seek to provide a positive, respectful and inspiring environment in which children are encouraged to be open, honest and kind. We aim to provide a curriculum which respects and validates children’s diverse experiences and broadens their horizons. We support each other to work hard and embrace new opportunities and challenges with confidence so that we can all achieve our best.

Our vision:

We want our children to be well-informed, reflective, and critical thinkers with the self- confidence to form and pursue their own valuable goals in life. They will be equipped to be ambitious, compassionate members of society who have the courage to challenge injustice and become responsible and empathetic leaders in their chosen fields. Our aim is for all our children to believe that there are no limits to what they can achieve and to equip them with the skills, personal qualities and understanding to nurture their own spiritual growth and to make their dreams a reality.

Our vision is underpinned by six Christian values:

We also promote six personal qualities which we believe support children to become ambitious and responsible learners, equipped to lead valuable, fulfilled adult lives:

How does our vision inform our curriculum aims?

In order for our vision for Stretton children to be realised, our curriculum has been designed to support them in the following ways:

• Children will be empowered by the recognition that they are unique and important:

  • they appreciate the value of their home community;

  • they respect individuality and are open to learning about difference;

  • they are aware of their own potential and the significance of their contribution as independent citizens of the modern world.

• Children will be perceptive and curious observers of the world around them:

  • children work hard to develop their knowledge and understanding of the world;

  • they notice change and make connections as they learn;

  • every child is supported to be open to new ideas and interests and to acquire the cultural capital and skills to access them.

• Children learn to be effective communicators:

  • they collect and evaluate information as critical listeners, readers and researchers;

  • they are imaginative and creative in the arts, design, mathematics and science;

  • they express independent ideas using oral, written, visual and digital media.

• Children learn to be confident and resilient:

  • children learn to respond positively to challenge;

  • they embrace new opportunities with enthusiasm;

  • they use meta-cognitive skills to solve problems;

  • Year 6 children are ready to access secondary education confidently and progress beyond school as life-long learners.

• All children have opportunities to develop leadership qualities:

  • they learn to be reflective, compassionate and responsible;

  • they understand what good leadership looks like and can work with others to identify and resolve problems.

  • they will have opportunities to undertake leadership roles in various capacities so that they develop the foundations for future success as imaginative, empathetic and generous adults.

Principles of curriculum design

Our curriculum is informed by the following key principles:

1. Teaching is informed by an appreciation of learning theory to achieve

    the best learning outcomes for our children:

• Learning is efficient if it is delivered in a way that allows children to revisit and embed key knowledge;
• Knowledge is sequenced so that prior knowledge and skills facilitate subsequent learning (building schema (frameworks) that support later learning).

2.  Children are entitled to access a challenging and wide curriculum

     which validates their own experiences and inspires them to understand

     the unfamiliar, form ambitious goals and have the confidence to achieve

     them.

3.  Language, literacy, mathematical and cultural development are

     fundamental foundations. for future learning. An effective primary

     curriculum ensures that children have access to learning opportunities

     that support them to become active, informed and caring citizens

     in a global economy.

4.  To build cultural capital and ensure access to disciplinary domains,

     the curriculum is developed from a secure appreciation of core subject

     knowledge to identify:

• end points that are age-appropriate and ambitious, informed by the national curriculum and by professional subject associations;
• the core concepts (declarative knowledge) and procedural knowledge on which each discipline is built;
• opportunities to revisit and apply earlier learning in similar and different contexts to embed understanding and build flexibility so that children gain the confidence to transfer learning to new contexts confidently and efficiently where appropriate.

The sequencing of learning opportunities has been considered carefully to ensure that prior learning supports subsequent learning and that opportunities to reinforce learning occur frequently, e.g. core vocabulary, place, people and institutions may be introduced in one subject context - in effect pre-teaching elements - to support confident access to new learning in another; understanding of History, Geography, Maths and Science may be used appropriately to inform learning in artistic and applied subjects, allowing revisiting of cultural capital and reinforcement of its value, as well as opportunities to create higher quality creative work founded on wider understanding of the world.

Children will be offered clear opportunities in all subject areas to access diverse cultural contexts, some of which will be unfamiliar. This approach supports children to recognise their role as global citizens, building understanding and tolerance, and supporting their growth as reflective, informed and caring adults.

All subject areas support children to read and develop communication skills at a high level. Subject-specific vocabulary is introduced and explained, and then reinforced using systematic opportunities for retrieval practice and via carefully selected texts. Children will have consistent opportunities to listen, research, question, debate, write essays, create posters and arguments and present their ideas creatively (including using varied technology and media) with growing independence. Children will also have the opportunity to share their learning with families, governors and the wider community.

Curriculum enrichment

We are working to design and develop a rich range of opportunities to support the curriculum and broaden children’s experiences and their pride in their work. These will include educational visits and visitors, active engagement with partnership opportunities (such as those with local secondary schools, Warwick University, the Coventry Museums Service and Coventry Music School and the Ogden Trust (Science)), and promotion of participation in a variety of cultural, sporting, charitable and community events.

We are also working to promote children's understanding of wellbeing and mental health and their capacity for resilient engagement with the unfamiliar. Our developing 'Thrive' programme continues to build on established foundations to support mental health and self-esteem. Introduction of the 'No Outsiders' programme is also enabling children to recognise and celebrate diversity, reinforcing existing work using the Jigsaw scheme in PSHE that is aimed at cultivating openness, respect and a belief in the value of each of us as unique and special individuals.