Curriculum Intent and Rationale

Introduction 

White Mere Community Primary School is located in a residential area in Gateshead in the North East of England. The school building is modern with spacious grounds which include playing fields and an orchard. We are a one-form entry school catering for approximately 140 children from Nursery to Year 6.  We are very proud of our family atmosphere which provides our pupils with a safe, happy and caring place for learning. 

Intent 

It is our intention that the curriculum of White Mere Community Primary School is relevant and meaningful to our pupils.  We want all pupils to understand how they can apply the knowledge and skills they are learning to life beyond the classroom.  We want it to open our pupils’ minds and encourage them to be inquisitive and question the world we live in, creating a desire to want to learn more.  

Our curriculum with a focus on human flourishing is designed to be aspirational, meaningful and creative and to challenge children to be reflective and resilient in their learning. 

Rationale for Implementation

We use Dimensions ‘Learning Means the World’ Curriculum as the main vehicle for achieving our outlined intent. 

This curriculum is underpinned by four highly relevant world issues, known as the four Cs: 

Culture 
Communication 
Conflict 
Conservation

Communication 

At White Mere Community Primary School we recognise the importance of effective communication within the learning process. We believe our pupils should be able to communicate confidently and appropriately to a range of audiences and in a variety of contexts. Our curriculum builds opportunities to develop this within the themes and is rich in language development. We recognise that means of communication are constantly evolving and through the effective use of digital resources, our pupils will be better prepared for future challenges. We want them to be confident in choosing different ways to communicate,  

Communication is also the key to pupils successfully building relationships both now and in the future. We want our pupils to recognise the importance of listening to appreciate different points of view. 

Conflict 

As a school, we focus on restorative justice therefore it is important for our pupils to be able to communicate their thoughts and feelings. We understand that it is inevitable that children will disagree with each other, and this can lead to conflict.  

With our guidance and through our curriculum, we want them to understand how these conflicts can arise and what part they can play in conflicts being resolved positively. Pupils, will explore how and why conflicts occur and who or what can be done to resolve them. We will help them understand that resilience is important when dealing with conflict and also knowing who to ask for help and when.  

As our pupils progress through school we want them to be able to form a balanced view. They will explore and learn more about wider conflicts within society, past and present. 

Conservation 

The pupils at White Mere Community Primary School are curious and concerned about the world. They enjoy outdoor learning and are enthusiastic to participate in conservation events and activities. We aim to build on this by providing further learning opportunities linked to our growing areas and the Forest School. We want our pupils to realise that their daily actions have an impact locally and globally. Through our curriculum, we aim to bring these issues to life so that they understand sustainability and are able to form their own opinions and plans for action. We want our pupils to think and develop as leaders and we aim to provide opportunities for pupils to become role models. We believe our pupils should be provided with the knowledge and skills so that they are informed and have the confidence to take positive action. 

Culture 

Being located in a predominantly white British community we recognise that there are limited opportunities for our pupils to experience diversity within society. We understand that for many of our pupils their only access to the wider world is through a digital window. To address this our curriculum has been devised to help our pupils see beyond the immediate. We want them to identify, respect, understand and celebrate the differences within society. We also want our pupils to have a strong sense of their own culture, valuing themselves and their beliefs as individuals. Through a range of experiences, reflecting our values,  we aim to inspire them to develop a deeper global curiosity and discover the many different cultures, traditions and ethnicities within our society. 

Our curriculum narrative begins with Communication at White Mere Community Primary School as we believe effective communication to be the foundation of all school life. We recognise it is the core thread that underpins learning and will continue to be developed throughout the year. Our second theme is Conflict in recognition that our pupils have a major role to play in establishing the behaviour expectations for the year. We want them to take responsibility for their actions and realise other pupils’ opinions are just as important therefore we want them to be able to share their opinions sensitively as equal members of our school community. In the spring term, we focus on Culture as we recognise the importance of opening our pupil’s minds to recognise and appreciate the diversity of the world in which we live both locally and globally.  As the summer term arrives, we will focus on Conservation. We provide opportunities to embed a deeper understanding of the meaning of conservation and develop our pupils’ understanding of sustainability and how their actions can directly impact this. 

Aligned with this we also encourage our pupils to have high aspirations by teaching them about human creativity and achievement through additional Competency Units about famous figures and groups of people that focus on Creativity, Commitment, Courage and Community. 

Curriculum Organisation

At White Mere Primary School, using Dimensions – Learning Means the World curriculum, we have developed a thematic approach to learning, that not only addresses all aspects of the National Curriculum, but engages and interests our children. Some subjects are taught as part of this thematic sequence of learning, but some subjects are taught discretely. The timetable has been carefully considered to ensure that our children experience a broad range of subjects and knowledge.

The following subjects are taught thematically:

• Art
• Computing
• Design Technology
• Geography
• History
• PSHE
• Science 

The following subjects are taught discretely:

• English
• Maths
• Religious Education
• Physical Education
• Modern Foreign Languages (Spanish from Year 3) 
• Music
• PSHE: Key Year Group Relationships Education (RSE known as Safe Zone)
• Computing: knowledge and skills and e-safety