At Tatworth, we aim to instil in every child a love of learning, teaching them that learning is worthwhile. From Early Years to Year 6, our goal is to inspire them to aim high and engage in a challenging, broad and progressive curriculum. With everyone working to support all our learners to achieve their best, we offer a stimulating and supportive environment.
The fundamental skills and knowledge contained within the 2014 National Curriculum give children an excellent foundation for learning, however our school curriculum goes beyond this to fully impart an appreciation for the world in which they are growing up: we recognise diversity and global citizenship and, where possible, focus on environmental issues. At Tatworth, we make meaningful links between subjects and across learning, using literacy as the driver when appropriate, and build related texts and picture books into all our foundation subjects to support language acquisition and use of specific vocabulary. This is further developed through a proactive oracy focus across all year groups from foundation to year 6. We listen and respond to our pupils’ voice by incorporating the children’s ideas and interests; we allow time for high quality work, depth, and reflection.
We strive for continuous improvement for our children, through high impact teaching and learning: specialist teaching, a focus on physical and mental wellbeing and on outdoor education through forest school, extra sports activities, plus a revised curriculum which enables children to build on the complexities of knowledge they have already learnt. We provide direct learning experiences and enriching experiences, including thoughtfully planned visits and visitors.
We nurture children’s natural curiosity and thirst for learning by developing skills of discussion, debating, questioning and cooperation: working with each other encourages pupils’ independence, responsibility, and self-initiated learning. Children’s voice is very important to us: we have a thriving school council, eco-warrior group, plus arts and sports ambassadors and librarians, who feed into and create initiatives for all learners to get involved in.
We celebrate achievement and raise standards through a whole-school approach to learning behaviours. We expose, value, nurture and enrich children’s talents in academic and non-academic areas: we let them shine. We embrace diversity within our own community and beyond and are firmly committed to the principles of equality for all children, enabling those with difficulties or disabilities by removing barriers to achievement.
We very much want to leave learners coveting further learning, in a world where learning is limitless.
Curriculum Development – ensuring our curriculum is appropriate for the 21st Century
We launched Curriculum 21 in September 2021, and all classes are now following this. We spent time to carefully consider what children need to learn and embed into their long-term memory. We are proud of our new schema and focus areas. In Reception, children make associations and connections with all subjects in the National Curriculum and build on from here.
Curriculum Drivers:
- Our curriculum drivers are what, at Tatworth, we consider important aspects or opportunities that should be developed and offered through our curriculum. They should help us to make decisions about what we include and our focus areas. They should enhance the National Curriculum to support the current needs and personal development of the children at Tatworth Primary and address necessary knowledge, skills and topical issues which we believe will give our children the best attributes to achieve.
A World of Possibilities
- We want our children to be well-informed and exposed to opportunities; we want to encourage our children’s aspirations and nurture their dreams. We want to inspire positive attitudes so that they know anything is possible with dedication and commitment.
Environmental Kindness and Sustainability
- We want our school community to always be aware of the impact of our decisions on the environment and where possible take the greener option. We want our children to have a deepened understanding of global issues on climate change and the impact of humans on all environments, including what we can do locally to be kinder to nature and the wildlife and animals amongst us. We want our children to lead on change and support them to make informed choices.
Community and Global Citizenship
- We want our children to develop an understanding of issues relating to identity and diversity, democracy and human rights, from a range of perspectives. We want our children to learn to form their own opinions, speak out and act on issues important to them. We want our children to understand communal, cultural and historical heritage. We want to develop sustained community links with people, organisations and businesses in Tatworth, Chard and Somerset.
Inclusion
Our offer and curriculum are for all children at Tatworth and we strive to ensure no one is disadvantaged. We actively look for opportunities to embrace inclusion and promote equality. Team work and collaboration are embedded across the school and we aim to celebrate all our children’s individual and collective successes and support where needed.
Please refer to our ‘Home Learning‘ tab for details of how we ensure that our curriculum is accessible to those who are not able to come into school. Please click here to see our 2021/22 curriculum, and here to see our termly year group curriculum newsletters. How children progress in individual subjects may be accessed in the drop down sections below.
Visit:
The National Curriculum Website
Further Information:
Should you require any further information regarding the curriculum please contact the Headteacher.
We are dedicated to ensuring our children have the best possible EYFS provision and the children are given the best possible foundation to become life-long learners.
Our environment and routines are structured to ensure a purposeful blend of teacher led and child-initiated learning, experimentation and exploration. We have a dynamic approach to teaching which enables us to fluidly provide whole class, small group and one to one support in response to the children’s learning needs.
We offer a broad and rich curriculum which fulfils the ‘prime’: personal social and emotional, physical, communication and language; and the ‘specific’: literacy, maths, understanding the world, and art and expressive requirements of the EYFS.
The prime areas are essential for healthy formative development and they underpin our purposeful, everyday routines. This means the children are routinely, for example, practising how to communicate effectively or reflect on their movement or how to manage their feelings and behaviour with increasing independence.
The specific areas relate to the domains of knowledge which provide children with the cultural capital they need to succeed and have meaningful choices in their lives. We teach the children this knowledge through whole class and small group work and then allow the children the opportunity to practise their learning daily through child-initiated sessions. The children know these sessions as ‘choosing our learning time’. In practice this means, for example, that a maths lesson exploring representations of the number four will be followed up with regular opportunities for the children to make and represent four within their self-directed learning time.
The teaching of communication and language is a foundation of our practice and resonates through everything we do. Opportunities for learning how to talk and how to listen are embedded across all areas of our provision – we teach vocabulary, for example, both through planned instruction in a lesson context, through our story telling and reading sessions, through the embedded language of our daily-routines and through high quality adult-child interactions. So that children don’t just learn to play together, they learn to collaborate. We don’t, when needed, just move quickly, but efficiently. We don’t just talk, we communicate. We don’t just learn, we reflect. We don’t just try, we strive to succeed.
Downloads:
Early Years Policy
We offer a very broad curriculum with emphasis on:
• Encouraging cooperation
• Encouraging open discussion in the class
• Encouraging retrieval of knowledge to feed into new learning
• key vocabulary and linked texts
• Outdoor learning
• Focus work and quality arts activities delivered where possible with specialist input
The morning sessions are set aside primarily for English, maths, and phonics. PE can also be taught in the mornings as well as computers. Every morning the children participate in a ‘Daily Run’ or ‘HiiT’. We have some specialist teachers for maths, computing, science, and PE.
All children in school have the opportunity of Forest School from Year 1. Reception children can access Forest School when appropriate.
“A high-quality education in English will teach pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them.”
(Primary National Curriculum, 2014)
At Tatworth, the English curriculum is rich with opportunities for pupils to immerse themselves in high quality texts that ignite and inspire their imaginations. Our pupils draw on their life and learning experiences so far to create written pieces, and spoken performances, which engage and entertain their audience in a variety of different contexts.
The overarching aim for English in the national curriculum is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment. The national curriculum for English aims to ensure that all pupils:
- Read easily, fluently and with good understanding
- Develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
- Acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
- Include and plan for oracy within English and all lessons
- Appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
- Write clearly, accurately, and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes, and audiences
- Use discussion to learn; they should be able to elaborate and clearly explain their understanding and ideas
- Are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others, and participating in debate.
A varied PE curriculum is followed, including gymnastics, games, multi-skills, dance, athletics, swimming, and outdoor education. During sports afternoons hockey, football, tag rugby, cross country, netball, rounders, and cricket are played. The PE department work very hard to arrange a calendar of sports events throughout the year, including regular fixtures, both home and away. If your child represents the school, they will be provided with kit.
KS1 children either do PE or Forest School. Forest School is run by fully trained teachers who lead a small group of children in a wide range of different outdoor activities which includes safe use of tools, making fires, planting, and nature work.
During 2021/22. Year 4, 5 and 6 children will have swimming lessons during the Autumn and Spring Terms.
Please click here to see how children progress whilst taking part in PE.
Music has a strong tradition at Tatworth, we play whole-class noted instruments including ukuleles, ocarinas, steel drums and recorders. If your child wishes to learn another instrument just ask! There is the opportunity to join a band run by our popular ‘Rocksteady’. Or maybe singing is your thing? The choir meet weekly to sing and perform.
We aim to hold termly music assemblies to share our musical learning with parents and carers. The children represent the school at music festivals, in addition to entertaining our local community by carol singing and special performances throughout the year.
Please click here to see how our children progress whilst learning music.
Please click here to see how our children progress whilst learning history.
Please click here to see how our children progress whilst learning science.
The following three main concepts are covered within each DT unit: mastering practical techniques; taking inspiration from design and design, make, evaluate and improve. Planned vocabulary progression is also essential to support all learning to change to long-term memory.
Please click here to see how our children progress whilst learning DT.
Please click here to see how our children progress whilst learning geography.
Please click here to see how our children progress whilst learning art.
Please click here to see how our children progress whilst learning languages.
Please click here to see how our children progress whilst learning about religions.