Curriculum – Rawdha Primary

Introduction

The curriculum embraces all that is learned through school, whether in lessons or as part of informal learning within and beyond the school day. It includes not only the legal requirements of the National Curriculum (including the Foundation Stage), but also the wide range of activities that the school provides in order to enrich the experience of the children. What the children learn from the way they are treated and expected to behave is also part of the curriculum.

Aims

The aims of our school curriculum at Rawdhatul Uloom Primary School are:

A high level of academic and Islamic education so that they can achieve the very best that they are capable of achieving
A safe and secure learning environment in which they can develop their educational skills and practice Islam.
A broad and balanced curriculum which enables all students to acquire understanding, knowledge and skills, learning experiences, which challenge, build self esteem and confidence and so enable our pupils to take up their roles and responsibilities as members of the society they live in.
To ensure that each child’s education has continuity and progression.
To enable children to contribute positively within a culturally diverse society.
To enable all children to have respect for themselves and others and work cooperatively with others.
To recognise the crucial role which parents play in their child’s education and make every effort to encourage parental involvement in their educational process;
To enable all children to learn and develop their skills to the best of their ability;
To promote a positive attitude towards learning, so that children enjoy coming to school, and acquire a solid basis for lifelong learning;
To teach children the basic skills of literacy, numeracy and information technology (IT);
To enable children to be creative and to develop their own thinking;
To teach children about their developing world, including how their environment and society have changed over time;
To help children understand Britain’s cultural heritage;
To enable children to be positive citizens in society;
To fulfil all the requirements of the National Curriculum
To teach children to have an awareness of their own spiritual development, and to understand right from wrong;
To help children understand the importance of truth and fairness, so that they grow up committed to equal opportunities for all;
To enable children to have respect for themselves and high self-esteem, and to be able to live and work co-operatively with others.

Curriculum

The curriculum that we teach in the Reception class meets the requirements set out in Early Years Foundation Stage. The curriculum planning focuses on the 7 areas of learning:

Personal, Social and Emotional development,
Physical development,
Communication and Language,
Literacy,
Mathematics,
Understanding the World
Expressive Arts and Design

The EYFS has provided the needs of our younger learners to build their personal, social and emotional skills alongside their skills of playing and exploring, active learning and critical thinking.

Year 1-6 (KS1 and KS2) are taught the following subjects:

Maths, English, Science, History, Geography, Islamic Studies, SEAL, PE, Computing, Art, Arabic and music. The framework is designed to provide the students with the knowledge; skills and understanding that can be tracked, measured and monitored consistently throughout primary school.

KS1 and KS2 children are taught following the 2014 National Curriculum. At Rawdha we have developed our own curriculum plans in line with the National Curriculum to reflect our context and characteristics, as well as our values, aims and priorities. The new National literacy and numeracy strategies have also been incorporated to help us provide the best education for our children.

We give differentiation a lot of importance. We believe children should be taught at their level, and pushed to achieve their potential as individuals. Children are grouped according to their ability allowing teachers to set different ability tasks and provide tools for effective learning to those who require them. Differentiation mainly takes place by setting similar tasks to achieve the learning objectives, but at individual levels. In all lessons, teachers follow the MUST, SHOULD and COULD criteria where the lesson objectives are split into the three categories for the different abilities of children.

Brief subject content

Below is a brief content of what we teach in each subject:

Science

At Rawdhatul Uloom Primary School, the planning and implementation of science is in line with the new National Curriculum statutory requirements. Science is taught twice a week in the afternoon. Each year group has individualised long, medium and short term planning which are adapted where necessary to meet the learners’ needs. Pupils are given opportunities to offer ideas to carryout investigations, set out fair tests, observe, draw conclusions and also develop their research skills. Our science programme incorporates the use of scientific vocabulary and pupils are encouraged to use their scientific knowledge in other areas of the curriculum. Pupils are assessed at the end of each unit through an end of unit test.

During the year we have theme weeks such as science week, which allows children to develop their skills in a more focused way. There are also educational visits, which reinforce classroom learning.

Maths and English

Maths and English are taught as discreet subjects, with dedicated lessons from Monday to Thursday for 1hour in both KS1 and KS2. All staff use the objectives from the New National Curriculum to support their planning for Maths and English The short term plan lists specific learning objectives that are to be covered and the steps to success to support both children and adults in assessing their work. Teaching and learning is differentiated to best match the needs of the class or set and the individuals within it; within the context of the aspect of lesson that is being taught.

We recognize the benefit that these subjects can have in supporting the wider curriculum. Therefore Writing or maths may feature across other subjects in school.

Topic

All students from ks1-ks2 have an hour-long lesson of topic, which consists of geography or history. Teachers use the new national curriculum to select topics and objectives to plan their lessons. List of topics taught can be found on the long term plan.

Computing

We teach computing as a discrete subject and use ICT, where possible, to support learning across the curriculum and other subjects. Children in KS1 and Ks2 are taught discreet computing lessons for 45mins a week. Teachers use the new national curriculum to plan and deliver lessons.

Arabic

At Rawdhatul Uloom we teach children Arabic as a foreign language. Ks1 and ks2 have a one-hour Arabic session per week. See Arabic curriculum for full details of units taught.

Islamic Studies

Islamic Studies is at the core of all our subjects at Rawdhatul Uloom and we try our utmost to incorporate it into all lessons. The school is currently using the Safar Academy syllabus to teach Islamic studies. A detailed overview can be found in the Islamic Studies schemes. With addition to Safar we also teach the Ilm2Amal syllabus to Ks2 which covers the SMSC side of the Islamic studies syllabus.

We have limited sporting facilities but value the benefits that sport brings to health and well-being. Ks1 children have one P.E session per week and KS2 twice a week. All classes have a one-hour P.E session with an external P.E teacher from Fishwick Rangers.

SEAL

Every day the whole school partakes in Social Emotional Aspects of Learning during assembly and then for 15mins in class developing and answering questions on what was covered in assembly with the class teacher. The aims are to develop the underpinning qualities and skills that help promote positive behaviour and effective learning.

Six broad social, religious and emotional aspects of learning are covered over the year:

Self-awareness
Managing feelings
Motivation
Empathy
Social skills
Integrating religion and British Values into everyday life