Curriculum Intent Statement

 At Millbrook Primary School we believe deeply in the importance of helping our pupils develop as a whole person – happy and ready to take the next steps into their education and lives beyond Primary School. To achieve this we teach the curriculum in a dynamic and fun way that means every child can unlock vital skills that will drive their creativity. We believe every child should be given the opportunity to create, compose, perform, visit, experience, participate, know, understand and review as part of a cultural and creative curriculum.

Our curriculum is organised to allow for an accumulation of deep learning with fewer things taught in greater depth. We see our curriculum as a jigsaw with overarching concepts and themes that allows the children’s knowledge and understanding to deepen and strengthen with time. All children are encouraged to work together to solve problems, to think critically so they understand different points of view and are expected to care about their learning.

We expect the children to take pride in their efforts and believe all children are capable of producing ‘beautiful work’. We use Philosophy, Forest Schools and the Arts to enrich the curriculum – teaching positive risk taking and creativity that helps pupils progress in all their subjects and on a personal level.

We place Oracy at the heart of our offer and believe a curriculum that provides the children with repeated access to a rich vocabulary and storytelling approach strengthens the children’s long-term memory. Our daily Assessment for Learning and timely feedback means that teachers and pupils always know exactly how much progress they are making and where they may need more help. All staff understand the best methods to support pupils in ‘Making Learning Stick’. See Feedback Policy for more detailed information.

Our curriculum is holistic and concept based, utilising the child’ head, heart and hands, and is rich with thematic learning – we provide many theme days, educational visits and visitors that really bring our subjects to life.

Our curriculum is concept driven to ensure the children have multiple opportunities to revisit. The head, hands and heart curriculum is a 3 way balanced curriculum. Head (academics)– This is the knowledge section of our curriculum. We believe the application of knowledge is power. When we provide the children knowledge, we teach them how to apply it through concepts. We aim for the children to think like a mathematician, historian, philosopher etc. Hands (problem, solving and creativity)– This is a crucial and balanced with the head and heart. The hands are the ‘do’ part of the curriculum, where children get to practise their craftmanship. This is where application of the knowledge and use of skills allow children to create like a historian, philosopher etc. Heart (character) –

The heart is what we want our children to be able to do, understand and be by the time they leave Millbrook Primary School. It is the aim of our curriculum to create educated citizens with a sense of values.