The Curriculum
Our broad and balanced curriculum at Falconhurst is underpinned by 3 Key Drivers – Possibility, Knowledge of the World and Wellbeing. In order for children at Falconhurst to thrive both now and in the future, we intentionally couple the compulsory elements of learning (The National Curriculum) with these drivers – together they combine to form a curriculum which develops children’s knowledge, skills as well as their social, emotional and mental wellbeing.
For more information on our school's curriculum please make contact with our Assistant Headteacher responsible for curriculum (Mrs Emily Creighton) via 01908 679354 or ecreighton@falconhurstschool.co.uk
Within each doorway there are many different pathways and these will all be very different for each year group. As children progress through Falconhurst they will experience a wide range of history pathways, geography pathways, art pathways, DT pathways, music pathways and so on; all of which compliment their Core Learning of English, Maths, Science, PE and Computing.
English, Maths and Science are also regularly brought to life through these doorways, as each theme lends itself well to exciting and creative learning opportunities in these subjects. Using and applying learning in a range of ways is what makes it ‘stick’, so if you enter into a ‘Pathway’ lesson, you are likely to see children taking on the role of detectives, historians, investigators, professors and many more! Pathways for each year group are available on the class pages.
Our ‘Home School Connection’ opportunities are wonderful events where the children’s families are invited into school to share the learning journey with their child at the end of each Doorway – sadly these have been affected by the pandemic; however we continue to include opportunities to share learning and celebrate success with our families on Class Dojo.
Throughout their learning pathway, the impact upon children is continuously evaluated against the Early Years Framework or National Curriculum milestones and objectives. Subject leaders and class teachers across school will talk to children about what progress they believe they have made in securing new knowledge and skills, records of learning in books, Google drives and portfolios are used to evidence knowledge and progression, reflective evaluations and assessments by children will also provide a more formalised assessment of attainment.
Phonics
Our phonics programme within school is Little Wandle. Although this is based on our previous systematic synthetic phonics programme (Letters and Sounds), it has been extensively revised to ensure that teaching meets all expectations of the National Curriculum.
Children begin to hear and experience phonics in our Nursery where songs, books and circle activities are used daily to build up their awareness of sounds within words. Once in Reception, all children move through a series of phonic phases in order to build up their knowledge of sounds as well as practising accurate pronunciation and letter formation. Moving into Key Stage One, children then develop their skill and knowledge further with a focus on more tricky words and links to reading in readiness for their Phonic Screening Check in the summer term and an ability to read fluently and with accuracy thereinafter.
Every child on the Phonics programme has at least one daily phonics session. Eventually, once a child is proficient in their phonics, they will move on to our spelling programme.
The Letters and Sounds programme is separated into Phases - your child's teacher will be able to tell you which Phase your child is currently working on, what their sounds are and how you can help further at home. If you require any further support, please come into school and speak with your child's class teacher or our Phonics Leader, Miss Ryan
For more information and resources for 'Little Wandle’ that children will learn in school please visit https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/.
Falconhurst School