In Art children have opportunities to draw, paint, print, make collages, use fabrics and threads and use clay. They are taught the skills and techniques and then given the opportunity to practise them to produce individual and group pieces of work. Children are encouraged to critically evaluate their own work and that of others in order to learn from their experiences. We are very proud of our art work at St Kew and enjoy presenting our efforts to the local community at shows such as The St Kew Garden Show and at the Wadebridge Bike Lights celebration.

Art, craft and design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity. A high-quality art and design education should engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. As pupils progress, they should be able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design. They should also know how art and design both reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.

National Curriculum for Art

The national curriculum for art and design aims to ensure that all pupils:

• Produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences
• Become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques
• Evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design
• Know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.

 

 

Computing and other IT helps pupils to engage with our digital world and can lead to accelerated progress. We support pupils to develop their skills such as researching, typing, editing and art skills and use these skills in our cross-curricular work.

A high-quality computing education equips pupils to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world. Computing has deep links with mathematics, science, and design and technology, and provides insights into both natural and artificial systems.

The core of computing is computer science, in which pupils are taught the principles of information and computation, how digital systems work, and how to put this knowledge to use through programming. Building on this knowledge and understanding, pupils are equipped to use information technology to create programs, systems and a range of content.

Computing also ensures that pupils become digitally literate – able to use, and express themselves and develop their ideas through, information and communication technology – at a level suitable for the future workplace and as active participants in a digital world.

National curriculum for Computing

Aims

The national curriculum for computing aims to ensure that all pupils:

• Can understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, logic, algorithms and data representation
• Can analyse problems in computational terms, and have repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problems
• Can evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problems
• Are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology.

 

 

Design and Technology is a subject which our pupils are involved in designing and making things from periscopes to fruit smoothies. Children are taught to use tools correctly and safely, even our reception class has a construction area with a well-used wood working bench!

 

Design and technology is an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject. Using creativity and imagination, pupils design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts, considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values. They acquire a broad range of subject knowledge and draw on disciplines such as mathematics, science, engineering, computing and art. Pupils learn how to take risks, becoming resourceful, innovative, enterprising and capable citizens. Through the evaluation of past and present design and technology, they develop a critical understanding of its impact on daily life and the wider world. High-quality design and technology education makes an essential contribution to the creativity, culture, wealth and well-being of the nation.

National curriculum for Design Technology

Aims

The national curriculum for design and technology aims to ensure that all pupils:

• Develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world
• Build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high-quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users
• Critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others
• Understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook.

Cooking and nutrition

As part of their work with food, pupils should be taught how to cook and apply the principles of nutrition and healthy eating. Instilling a love of cooking in pupils will also open a door to one of the great expressions of human creativity. Learning how to cook is a crucial life skill that enables pupils to feed themselves and others affordably and well, now and in later life.

Pupils should be taught to:

Key stage 1

• Use the basic principles of a healthy and varied diet to prepare dishes
• Understand where food comes from.

Key stage 2

• Understand and apply the principles of a healthy and varied diet
• Prepare and cook a variety of predominantly savoury dishes using a range of cooking techniques
• Understand seasonality, and know where and how a variety of ingredients are grown, reared, caught and processed

 

 

 

English has a pre-eminent place in education and in society. A high-quality education in English teaches pupils to listen, speak, read and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others. All the skills of language are essential to participating fully as a member of society. Our curriculum provides complete coverage of all National Curriculum expectations with purposeful application within a wide variety of written outcomes.

Reading

Reading is the key skill for a successful life. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Literature, especially, plays a key role in such development. Reading enables pupils both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know. Teaching children to become excellent readers is a large and exciting part of what we do at St Kew. We have lots of opportunities for reading exciting books and materials, using our Reading Rewards incentive scheme to carefully track progress and practice at home. Each week, parents and volunteers listen to children read in school and we ensure reading books are carefully matched to ability. We teach phonics daily across the EYFS and KS1 and all pupils will normally have an hour and a half of English lessons in the morning. This is a mixture of learning about reading, writing and speaking and listening, which includes a variety of text types and genres.

The programmes of study for reading at key stages 1 and 2 consist of 2 dimensions:

• word reading
• comprehension (both listening and reading)

It is essential that teaching focuses on developing pupils’ competence in both dimensions; different kinds of teaching are needed for each.

Skilled word reading involves both the speedy working out of the pronunciation of unfamiliar printed words (decoding) and the speedy recognition of familiar printed words. Underpinning both is the understanding that the letters on the page represent the sounds in spoken words. This is why phonics should be emphasised in the early teaching of reading to beginners (ie unskilled readers) when they start school.

Good comprehension draws from linguistic knowledge (in particular of vocabulary and grammar) and on knowledge of the world. Comprehension skills develop through pupils’ experience of high-quality discussion with the teacher, as well as from reading and discussing a range of stories, poems and non-fiction. All pupils must be encouraged to read widely across both fiction and non-fiction to develop their knowledge of themselves and the world they live in, to establish an appreciation and love of reading, and to gain knowledge across the curriculum. Reading widely and often increases pupils’ vocabulary because they encounter words they would rarely hear or use in everyday speech. Reading also feeds pupils’ imagination and opens up a treasure house of wonder and joy for curious young minds.

It is essential that, by the end of their primary education, all pupils are able to read fluently, and with confidence, in any subject in their forthcoming secondary education.

At St Kew, Rachel Murray is the Reading lead.

 

 

Writing

Writing is an essential part of our curriculum offer and we use lots of wonderful opportunities to inspire our pupils, which makes sure they enjoy writing, and excellent teaching and support to ensure children make excellent progress. In the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) children learn how to hold a pencil properly and begin to form letters, words and sentences. We explicitly teach handwriting to ensure children develop an efficient style to ensure they can be awarded a pen licence when they can prove they can write neatly and consistently across a range of subjects and genres. We teach writing using our Literary Curriculum range of high quality non-fiction and fiction texts, linking the context for writing to our curriculum topics, finding real life reasons for children’s writing to enthuse them with purpose; recent examples include letters to penpals, stories for the younger pupils in the school and performance poetry and speeches.

The programmes of study for writing at key stages 1 and 2 are constructed similarly to those for reading:

• transcription (spelling and handwriting)
• composition (articulating ideas and structuring them in speech and writing)

It is essential that teaching develops pupils’ competence in these 2 dimensions. In addition, pupils are taught how to plan, revise and evaluate their writing. These aspects of writing have been incorporated into the programmes of study for composition.

Writing down ideas fluently depends on effective transcription: that is, on spelling quickly and accurately through knowing the relationship between sounds and letters (phonics) and understanding the morphology (word structure) and orthography (spelling structure) of words. Effective composition involves articulating and communicating ideas, and then organising them coherently for a reader. This requires clarity, awareness of the audience, purpose and context, and an increasingly wide knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. Writing also depends on fluent, legible and, eventually, speedy handwriting.

Spelling, vocabulary, grammar and punctuation

Opportunities for teachers to enhance pupils’ vocabulary arise naturally from their reading and writing. Spelling, vocabulary, grammar and punctuation (SPAG) is also taught explicitly on a daily basis across the year groups. As vocabulary increases, teachers show pupils how to understand the relationships between words, how to understand nuances in meaning, and how to develop their understanding of, and ability to use, figurative language. Teachers also teach pupils how to work out and clarify the meanings of unknown words and words with more than 1 meaning. Extending and enhancing pupils vocabulary is a high priority at St Kew and features in the planning and delivery of all areas of the curriculum on a daily basis. 

Pupils are taught to control their speaking and writing consciously and to use Standard English. They are taught to use the elements of spelling, grammar, punctuation and ‘language about language’ listed as specified in the National Curriculum. 

At St Kew, Steph Taylor is the Writing Lead.

The Literary Curriculum

At St Kew we teach writing in a range of exciting and inspiring ways. We teach and practise handwriting daily alongside our phonics or SPAG sessions depending on the ages and abilities of the children. 

The award-winning Literary Curriculum is a complete, book-based approach designed to help teachers access high quality resources and network through training. The Teach Through a Text approach was created so that there was a consistent, cohesive pedagogy used across a school.

Developed by The Literacy Tree, a group of English specialists who have all been teachers, school leaders and moderators, the Literary Curriculum immerses children in a literary world, creating strong levels of engagement to provide meaningful and authentic contexts for learning.

Children become critical readers and acquire an authorial writing style as they encounter a wide-range of significant authors and a variety of fiction, non-fiction and poetry.

All plans follow a Teach Through a Text pedagogy to ensure engagement, coverage and outcomes and follow a cohesive sequence so that learning makes sense and is rooted in a strong context. Depth is engendered as children revisit key objectives and skills within different texts and contexts, building understanding over time with frequent opportunities to apply their learning across varied writing opportunities. Books are grouped within themes to ensure links and connections are made with the school's termly topics and over arching themes. 

 

Phonics

The foundations for reading and writing at St Kew are taught daily in phonics lessons and in planned opportunities throughout the curriculum, extending phonics teaching and learning beyond ‘dedicated time’. Consequently, learning is applied, reinforced and relevant connections are identified for the children.

 

What is phonics? 

Phonics is designed to help teach children to read and spell by teaching the skills of segmenting and blending, the alphabetic code and an understanding of how this is used in reading and spelling. Simply put, it is sounding out a word and blending the sounds back together to read the whole word. When writing, it is hearing the sounds in a word and writing them down to spell it correctly.

 

Spoken English uses about 42 sounds (phonemes). These phonemes are represented by letters (graphemes). The alphabet contains only 26 letters, but we use it to make all the graphemes that represent the phonemes of English. In other words, a sound can be represented by a letter (e.g. ‘s’) or a group of letters (e.g. ‘th’ or ‘igh’) Once children begin learning letters, they are used as quickly as possible in reading and spelling words. Children can then see the purpose of learning letters. For this reason, the first six letters taught are ‘s’, ‘a’, ‘t’, ‘p’, ‘i’, ‘n’. These can immediately be used to make a number of words such as ‘sat’, ‘pin’, ‘pat’, ‘tap’, ‘nap’. Following this, children continue learning sounds and the letters that represent them in a particular order. Our Phonic Reader books are organised into the same order, so the children can practise reading the sounds and words they are learning in lessons. 

 

How can I help my child?

As a parent, your involvement in supporting your child’s learning will be a vital factor in determining their success in learning to read. On our class page you will find a weekly update with the focus sounds and/or words for the week that you can play games with. Magnetic letters are a fun multi-sensory way to learn letters and develop reading and spelling skills. Games such as I-Spy (using the letter sound) are also effective.  

Below, are useful links to the Little Wandle website to support understanding of how we teach the children.

How we teach blending

How we teach tricky words

How do I know if my child is saying the sounds correctly?

It is most important that children pronounce the sounds clearly. To help you support your child with this, go to the How to say the sounds page.

How is Phonics assessed?

Phonics is assessed continuously during phonics lessons, when your child reads and through a half-termly assessment. This helps teachers to identify and plan for the children’s next steps to ensure they progress.

What is the Phonics Screening Check?

There is a National Phonics Screening Check in Year 1 (in June) where the children have to read 20 real words and 20 ‘alien’ words (described below) containing sounds from Phase Two to Five. This is conducted in a very child-friendly way by the class teachers. At the end of Year 1, you will be informed if your child has met the threshold score for the check. If they have not met the threshold, they will be given additional support in Year 2 to enable them to meet it.

A quick guide to alien words

 

Learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures. A high-quality languages education should foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world. The teaching should enable pupils to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. It should also provide opportunities for them to communicate for practical purposes, learn new ways of thinking and read great literature in the original language. Language teaching should provide the foundation for learning further languages, equipping pupils to study and work in other countries.

National Curriculum for Languages

The curriculum for languages aims to ensure that all pupils:

• understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources
• speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation
• can write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt
• discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied.

 

Key stage 2: French

The teaching should provide an appropriate balance of spoken and written language and should lay the foundations for further foreign language teaching at key stage 3. It should enable pupils to understand and communicate ideas, facts and feelings in speech and writing, focused on familiar and routine matters, using their knowledge of phonology, grammatical structures and vocabulary.

The focus of study in modern languages will be on practical communication. 

Pupils should be taught to:

• listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding
• explore the patterns and sounds of language through songs and rhymes and link the spelling, sound and meaning of words
• engage in conversations; ask and answer questions; express opinions and respond to those of others; seek clarification and help
• speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary, phrases and basic language structures
• develop accurate pronunciation and intonation so that others understand when they are reading aloud or using familiar words and phrases
• present ideas and information orally to a range of audiences
• read carefully and show understanding of words, phrases and simple writing
• appreciate stories, songs, poems and rhymes in the language
• broaden their vocabulary and develop their ability to understand new words that are introduced into familiar written material, including through using a dictionary
• write phrases from memory, and adapt these to create new sentences, to express ideas clearly
• describe people, places, things and actions orally and in writing.

 

 

 

Geography is a living, breathing subject where pupils are involved in the great adventure of their geographical day. It is a subject that holds the key to the future and is much more than places on a map. Children are taught to understand the complexity of the world, the diversity of cultures, bridging divides and bringing people together.

A high-quality geography education equips pupils to develop their curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.

Children investigate a range of places; both in Britain and abroad to help develop their knowledge and understanding of the Earth’s physical and human processes.

We are committed to providing children with opportunities to investigate and make enquiries about their local area of St Kew and Cornwall so that they can develop a real sense of who they are, their heritage and what makes our local area unique and special.

We also develop the children’s ability to apply geographical skills to enable to confidently communicate their findings and geographical understanding to a range of audiences.

At St Kew, Tracey Watson is our Geography Lead.

National Curriculum for Geography

Aims

The national curriculum for geography aims to ensure that all pupils:

• Develop contextual knowledge of the location of globally significant places – both terrestrial and marine – including their defining physical and human characteristics and how these provide a geographical context for understanding the actions of processes
• Understand the processes that give rise to key physical and human geographical features of the world, how these are interdependent and how they bring about spatial variation and change over time
• Are competent in the geographical skills needed to: - collect, analyse and communicate with a range of data gathered through experiences of fieldwork that deepen their understanding of geographical processes  and interpret a range of sources of geographical information, including maps, diagrams, globes, aerial photographs and Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
• Communicate geographical information in a variety of ways, including through maps, numerical and quantitative skills and writing at length.

 

 

 

 

 

In History our pupils learn more about the past to prepare them better for the future.  Children learn about their and others' past history, origin and culture to understand who they are and why they are the way they are. To be sympathetic and understanding of the different times gone by as they will become the history of the future. 

A high-quality history education will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. It should inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past. History education should equip pupils to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. History helps pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.

 

National Curriculum for History

 The curriculum for History aims to ensure that all pupils:

• know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world
• know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind 
• gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’ 
• understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses 
• understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed
• gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.

 

 

 

 

Our mathematics curriculum covers everything from cooking with weights and measures all the way through to long division and algebra. New mathematical ideas are introduced with lots of hands-on experience at St Kew which gives our pupils an opportunity to learn the maths concept in great depth. Our pupils work in small groups with clear models and images to help their understanding. Their teachers facilitate the learning and children are challenged with regular reasoning and problem solving opportunities. Our weekly mental maths tests alongside reasoning and problem solving investigations develop children’s conceptual understanding enabling them to apply their skills to different problems. We explicitly teach strategies for calculation with a focus on mental methods, jottings and formal written methods.

Mathematics is a creative and highly interconnected discipline that has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems. It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. A high-quality mathematics education therefore provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.

National Curriculum for Maths

Upper key stage 2 - years 5 and 6

The principal focus of mathematics teaching in upper key stage 2 is to ensure that pupils extend their understanding of the number system and place value to include larger integers. This should develop the connections that pupils make between multiplication and division with fractions, decimals, percentages and ratio.

At this stage, pupils should develop their ability to solve a wider range of problems, including increasingly complex properties of numbers and arithmetic, and problems demanding efficient written and mental methods of calculation. With this foundation in arithmetic, pupils are introduced to the language of algebra as a means for solving a variety of problems. Teaching in geometry and measures should consolidate and extend knowledge developed in number. Teaching should also ensure that pupils classify shapes with increasingly complex geometric properties and that they learn the vocabulary they need to describe them.

By the end of year 6, pupils should be fluent in written methods for all 4 operations, including long multiplication and division, and in working with fractions, decimals and percentages.

Pupils should read, spell and pronounce mathematical vocabulary correctly.

 

 

 

 

 

Modern Foreign Languages are enjoyed by all children in Years 2 to 6 with class teachers providing language learning.  We have a French-speaking member of staff at St Kew who provides CPD for other non-specialist members.

Music and drama is a key part of our curriculum offer. We currently have Cornwall Music Service visiting school each week to teach children to play a variety of instruments including the keyboard, guitar and drums, with all children having the opportunity to take part. Performing and visual arts also play a significant part within our curriculum with a Christmas Nativity for the EYFS and Year 1 pupils and a Christmas musical production every year, with all children from Year 2 to Year 6 having a role.

Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. A high-quality music education should engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. As pupils progress, they should develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon.
 

National Curriculum for Music

The national curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils:

• Perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians Learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence
• Understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.

 

 

Physical Education at St Kew promotes physical activity and healthy lifestyles. Children are taught to observe the conventions of fair play, honest competition and good sporting behaviour as individual participants, team members and spectators.

Children take part in games, gymnastic movement, dance and athletic activities using indoor and outdoor environments where appropriate. Curriculum physical education is further supported by our membership of the PEPA (Physical Education Premium Agreement) with 7 local schools.  This agreement allows our children to participate in regular inter-school festivals and competitions and benefits the staff by providing valuable high-quality CPD.

Children can take part in after school clubs and have the opportunity to compete against other schools. In KS2, children can attend a residential with a focus on outdoor activities.

Children have swimming lessons in Years 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, ensuring that all children meet at least the 25m expectation by the end of their primary schooling years.  

Physical Education is key to developing healthy lifestyles and at St Kew we provide a wide array of opportunities to develop this and sporting skills, both during and outside of the normal curriculum time. The Daily Mile and Wake and Shake encourage children to be as physically active as possible throughout the normal school day.  Our annual Healthy Week is used to provide children with experience of ‘different’ physical activities that they could explore further in their leisure time.

Recent opportunities have included surfing, dance and archery. Extra-Curricular Clubs are very popular, and there are a variety of clubs available for the EYFS, KS1 and KS2 pupils. These include football, book, seasonal sports, recorder, maths and many more. Playtimes are an important part of our pupils being happy, healthy and ready to learn. We have a large playground, sports field and an Outdoor Area specifically for the EYFS children. Our Year 5 and 6 children can choose to become Play Leaders to support the younger children and to lead activities throughout playtimes. 

 

National Curriculum for PE

Aims

The national curriculum for physical education aims to ensure that all pupils:

• Develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities
• Are physically active for sustained periods of time
• Engage in competitive sports and activities lead healthy, active lives.

 

 

 

Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE)

The RSHE programme of study has three strands— health and well being, relationships and living in the wider world. Schools are expected to cover all three but it will be mandatory for all schools to deliver health education and relationships and sex education from September 2020.

‘Today’s children and young people are growing up in an increasingly complex world and living their lives seamlessly on and offline. This presents many positive and exciting opportunities, but also challenges and risks. In this environment, children and young people need to know how to be safe and healthy, and how to manage their academic, personal and social lives in a positive way.’ (Secretary of State Forward from Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education guidance 2019)

As a school, we have incorporated our existing PSHE curriculum with the new compulsory RSE aspects, using a modern scheme to ensure all the objectives are covered clearly: becoming the newly founded RSHE lessons.

 

 

Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE)

What is PSHE Education?

PSHE Education (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education) is a planned programme of learning through which children and young people acquire the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to successfully manage their lives – now and in the future. As part of a whole-school approach, PSHE Education develops the qualities and attributes pupils need to thrive as individuals, family members and members of society.
What do schools have to teach in PSHE Education?
According to the National Curriculum, every school needs to have a broad and balanced curriculum that:
• promotes the spiritual, moral, social, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school;
• prepares pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life;
• promotes British values.
From September 2020, primary schools in England also need to teach Relationships and Health Education as compulsory subjects and the Department for Education strongly recommends this should also include age-appropriate Sex Education.
Schools also have statutory responsibilities to safeguard their pupils (Keeping Children Safe in Education, DfE, 2020) and to uphold the Equality Act (2010).
The Jigsaw Programme supports this.

 

What is Jigsaw, the mindful approach to PSHE, and how does it work?

We have introduced a whole school PSHE scheme called Jigsaw. Jigsaw combines PSHE, emotional literacy, mindfulness, social skills and spiritual development.

Jigsaw is designed as a whole school approach, with all year groups working on the same theme (Puzzle) at the same time. This enables each Puzzle to start with an introductory assembly, generating a whole school focus for adults and children alike.

Jigsaw aims to help children know and value who they really are and how they relate to other people in this ever-changing world.

There are six Puzzles (half-term units of work) each with six Pieces (lessons). Every year group studies the same Puzzle at the same time (sequentially ordered from September to July), allowing for whole school themes and the end of Puzzle product, for example, a display or exhibition (like the Garden of Dreams and Goals) to be shared and celebrated by the whole school. Each year group is taught one lesson per week and all lessons are delivered in an age- and stage-appropriate way so that they meet children’s needs.

The different puzzle pieces are:

Term	Puzzle (unit)	Content
Autumn 1	Being Me in My World	Includes understanding my own identity and how I fit well in class, school and global community. Jigsaw Charter established
Autumn 2	Celebrating Difference	Includes anti-bullying (cyber and homophobic bullying included) and understanding
Spring 1	Dreams and Goals	Includes goal-setting, aspirations, who do I want to become and what would I like to do for work and to contribute to society
Sprig 2	Healthy Me	Includes drugs and alcohol education, self-esteem and confidence as well as healthy lifestyle choices, sleep, nutrition, rest and exercise.
Summer 1	Relationships	Includes understanding friendships, family and other relationships, conflict resolution and communication skills, bereavement and loss.
Summer 2	Changing Me	Includes Relationships and Sex Education in the context of coping positively with change.

 

Relationships & Sex Education

An important part of the Jigsaw PSHE programme is delivered through the ‘Relationships’ and ‘Changing Me’ puzzle pieces which are covered in the summer term.

There are four main aims of teaching RSE:

• To enable children to understand and respect their bodies
  • To help children develop positive and healthy relationships appropriate to their age and development
  • To support children to have positive self-esteem and body image
  • To empower them to be safe and safeguarded.

Each year group will be taught appropriate to their age and developmental stage. At no point will a child be taught something that is inappropriate; and if a question from a child arises and the teacher feels it would be inappropriate to answer, (for example, because of its mature or explicit nature), this information with be shared with you by your child’s class teacher. The question will not be answered to the child or class if it is outside the remit of that year group’s programme.

Below is a summary of RSE coverage within the Jigsaw scheme for each year group:

• Foundation - Growing up: how we have changed since we were babies
• Year 1 - Boys’ and girls’ bodies; naming body parts
• Year 2 - Boys’ and girls’ bodies; body parts and respecting privacy (which parts of the body are private and why this is)
• Year 3 – How babies grow and how boys’ and girls’ bodies change as they grow older
• Year 4 – Internal and external reproductive body parts, body changes in girls and menstruation
• Year 5 – Puberty for boys and girls, and conception
• Year 6 – Puberty for boys and girls and understanding conception to birth of a baby

 

 

Religious Education at St Kew is based on the agreed Cornwall syllabus. It is an entitlement for all children and the school plans lessons to link with the termly topics. Religious Education does not seek to push religious beliefs on children or to compromise the integrity of their own beliefs by promoting one religion over another. Parents have the right to withdraw their child from Religious Education and suitable alternative provision will be made.

The principal aim of religious education is to explore what people believe and what difference this makes to how they live, so that pupils can gain the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to handle questions raised by religion and belief, reflecting on their own ideas and ways of living.

The curriculum for RE aims to ensure that all pupils:

1. Make sense of a range of religious and non-religious beliefs, so that they can:
• identify, describe, explain and analyse beliefs and concepts in the context of living religions, using appropriate vocabulary
• explain how and why these beliefs are understood in different ways, by individuals and within communities
• recognise how and why sources of authority (e.g. texts, teachings, traditions, leaders) are used, expressed and interpreted in different ways, developing skills of interpretation

2. Understand the impact and significance of religious and non-religious beliefs, so that they can:
• examine and explain how and why people express their beliefs in diverse ways
• recognise and account for ways in which people put their beliefs into action in diverse ways, in their everyday lives, within their communities and in the wider world
• appreciate and appraise the significance of different ways of life and ways of expressing meaning

3. Make connections between religious and non-religious beliefs, concepts, practices and ideas studied, so that they can:
• evaluate, reflect on and enquire into key concepts and questions studied, responding thoughtfully and creatively, giving good reasons for their responses
• challenge the ideas studied, and allow the ideas studied to challenge their own thinking,  articulating beliefs, values and commitments clearly in response
• discern possible connections between the ideas studied and their own ways of understanding the world, expressing their critical responses and personal reflections with increasing clarity and understanding.

 

We follow the locally agreed syllabus, the Cornwall Agreed Syllabus 2020-2025. This syllabus meets the requirements, set out in section 375(3) of the Education Act 1996 and paragraph (5) of Schedule 19 to the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, in that a syllabus must ‘reflect the fact that the religious traditions in Great Britain are, in the main, Christian while taking account of the teaching and practices of the other principal religions represented in Great Britain’.

 

A high-quality science education provides the foundations for understanding the world through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. Science has changed our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity, and all pupils should be taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science. Through building up a body of key foundational knowledge and concepts, pupils should be encouraged to recognise the power of rational explanation and develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. They should be encouraged to understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave, and analyse causes.

The national curriculum for science aims to ensure that all pupils:

• develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics
• develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science through different types of science enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them
• are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future

Key stage 1

The principal focus of science teaching in key stage 1 is to enable pupils to experience and observe phenomena, looking more closely at the natural and humanly-constructed world around them. They should be encouraged to be curious and ask questions about what they notice. They should be helped to develop their understanding of scientific ideas by using different types of scientific enquiry to answer their own questions, including observing changes over a period of time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out simple comparative tests, and finding things out using secondary sources of information. They should begin to use simple scientific language to talk about what they have found out and communicate their ideas to a range of audiences in a variety of ways. Most of the learning about science should be done through the use of first-hand practical experiences, but there should also be some use of appropriate secondary sources, such as books, photographs and videos. ‘Working scientifically’ is described separately in the programme of study, but must always be taught through and clearly related to the teaching of substantive science content in the programme of study. 

Working Scientifically in KS1

During years 1 and 2, pupils should be taught to use the following practical scientific methods, processes and skills through the teaching of the programme of study content: 

• asking simple questions and recognising that they can be answered in different ways
• observing closely, using simple equipment 
• performing simple tests 
• identifying and classifying
• using their observations and ideas to suggest answers to questions 
• gathering and recording data to help in answering questions.

Plants

Pupils should be taught to:

• identify and name a variety of common wild and garden plants, including deciduous and evergreen trees 
• identify and describe the basic structure of a variety of common flowering plants, including trees. 
• observe and describe how seeds and bulbs grow into mature plants 
• find out and describe how plants need water, light and a suitable temperature to grow and stay healthy.

Animals including humans

Pupils should be taught to:

• identify and name a variety of common animals including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals
• identify and name a variety of common animals that are carnivores, herbivores and omnivores
• notice that animals, including humans, have offspring which grow into adults 
• find out about and describe the basic needs of animals, including humans, for survival (water, food and air) 
• describe the importance for humans of exercise, eating the right amounts of different types of food, and hygiene.

Everyday Materials

Pupils should be taught to: 

• distinguish between an object and the material from which it is made 
• identify and name a variety of everyday materials, including wood, plastic, glass, metal, water, and rock 
• describe the simple physical properties of a variety of everyday materials 
• compare and group together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of their simple physical properties. identify and compare the suitability of a variety of everyday materials, including wood, metal, plastic, glass, brick, rock, paper and cardboard for particular uses 
• find out how the shapes of solid objects made from some materials can be changed by squashing, bending, twisting and stretching.

Seasonal Changes

Pupils should be taught to:

• observe changes across the four seasons
• observe and describe weather associated with the seasons and how day length varies

Living Things and their Habitats

Pupils should be taught to: 

• explore and compare the differences between things that are living, dead, and things that have never been alive 
• identify that most living things live in habitats to which they are suited and describe how different habitats provide for the basic needs of different kinds of animals and plants, and how they depend on each other 
• identify and name a variety of plants and animals in their habitats, including microhabitats
• describe how animals obtain their food from plants and other animals, using the idea of a simple food chain, and identify and name different sources of food.

Key Stage 2

The principal focus of science teaching in lower key stage 2 is to enable pupils to broaden their scientific view of the world around them. They should do this through exploring, talking about, testing and developing ideas about everyday phenomena and the relationships between living things and familiar environments, and by beginning to develop their ideas about functions, relationships and interactions. They should ask their own questions about what they observe and make some decisions about which types of scientific enquiry are likely to be the best ways of answering them, including observing changes over time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out simple comparative and fair tests and finding things out using secondary sources of information. They should draw simple conclusions and use some scientific language, first, to talk about and, later, to write about what they have found out.

 

The principal focus of science teaching in upper key stage 2 is to enable pupils to develop a deeper understanding of a wide range of scientific ideas. They should do this through exploring and talking about their ideas; asking their own questions about scientific phenomena; and analysing functions, relationships and interactions more systematically. At upper key stage 2, they should encounter more abstract ideas and begin to recognise how these ideas help them to understand and predict how the world operates. They should also begin to recognise that scientific ideas change and develop over time. They should select the most appropriate ways to answer science questions using different types of scientific enquiry, including observing changes over different periods of time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out comparative and fair tests and finding things out using a wide range of secondary sources of information. Pupils should draw conclusions based on their data and observations, use evidence to justify their ideas, and use their scientific knowledge and understanding to explain their findings.

 

Working Scientifically in KS2

 

Lower KS2

Pupils should be taught to: 

• asking relevant questions and using different types of scientific enquiries to answer them
• setting up simple practical enquiries, comparative and fair tests
• making systematic and careful observations and, where appropriate, taking accurate measurements using standard units, using a range of equipment, including thermometers and data loggers
• gathering, recording, classifying and presenting data in a variety of ways to help in answering questions 
• recording findings using simple scientific language, drawings, labelled diagrams, keys, bar charts, and tables
• reporting on findings from enquiries, including oral and written explanations, displays or presentations of results and conclusions
• using results to draw simple conclusions, make predictions for new values, suggest improvements and raise further questions
• identifying differences, similarities or changes related to simple scientific ideas and processes
• using straightforward scientific evidence to answer questions or to support their findings.

 

Upper KS2

Pupils should be taught to: 

• planning different types of scientific enquiries to answer questions, including recognising and controlling variables where necessary
• taking measurements, using a range of scientific equipment, with increasing accuracy and precision, taking repeat readings when appropriate
• recording data and results of increasing complexity using scientific diagrams and labels, classification keys, tables, scatter graphs, bar and line graphs
• using test results to make predictions to set up further comparative and fair tests
• reporting and presenting findings from enquiries, including conclusions, causal relationships and explanations of and degree of trust in results, in oral and written forms such as displays and other presentations
• identifying scientific evidence that has been used to support or refute ideas or arguments.

 

 

KS2 Programme of Study

Plants

Pupils should be taught to:

• identify and describe the functions of different parts of flowering plants: roots, stem/trunk, leaves and flowers
• explore the requirements of plants for life and growth (air, light, water, nutrients from soil, and room to grow) and how they vary from plant to plant
• investigate the way in which water is transported within plants
• explore the part that flowers play in the life cycle of flowering plants, including pollination, seed formation and seed dispersal.

Animals including humans

Pupils should be taught to:

• identify that animals, including humans, need the right types and amount of nutrition, and that they cannot make their own food; they get nutrition from what they eat
• identify that humans and some other animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement
• describe the simple functions of the basic parts of the digestive system in humans
• identify the different types of teeth in humans and their simple functions 
• construct and interpret a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and prey
• describe the changes as humans develop to old age. identify and name the main parts of the human circulatory system, and describe the functions of the heart, blood vessels and blood
• recognise the impact of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on the way their bodies function
• describe the ways in which nutrients and water are transported within animals, including humans.

Rocks

Pupils should be taught to:

• compare and group together different kinds of rocks on the basis of their appearance and simple physical properties
• describe in simple terms how fossils are formed when things that have lived are trapped within rock
• recognise that soils are made from rocks and organic matter

Light 

Pupils should be taught to:

• recognise that they need light in order to see things and that dark is the absence of light
• notice that light is reflected from surfaces
• recognise that light from the sun can be dangerous and that there are ways to protect their eyes
• recognise that shadows are formed when the light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object
• find patterns in the way that the size of shadows change
• recognise that light appears to travel in straight lines
• use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain that objects are seen because they give out or reflect light into the eye
• explain that we see things because light travels from light sources to our eyes or from light sources to objects and then to our eyes
• use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain why shadows have the same shape as the objects that cast them.

Forces and Magnets

Pupils should be taught to:

• compare how things move on different surfaces
• notice that some forces need contact between two objects, but magnetic forces can act at a distance
• observe how magnets attract or repel each other and attract some materials and not others
• compare and group together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of whether they are attracted to a magnet, and identify some magnetic materials
• describe magnets as having two poles 
• predict whether two magnets will attract or repel each other, depending on which poles are facing
• explain that unsupported objects fall towards the Earth because of the force of gravity acting between the Earth and the falling object
• identify the effects of air resistance, water resistance and friction, that act between moving surfaces
• recognise that some mechanisms, including levers, pulleys and gears, allow a smaller force to have a greater effect.

 Living Things and their Habitats

Pupils should be taught to:

• recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways
• explore and use classification keys to help group, identify and name a variety of living things in their local and wider environment 
• recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things
• describe the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird 
• describe the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals. describe how living things are classified into broad groups according to common observable characteristics and based on similarities and differences, including microorganisms, plants and animals 
• give reasons for classifying plants and animals based on specific characteristics.

States of Matter

Pupils should be taught to:

• compare and group materials together, according to whether they are solids, liquids or gases
• observe that some materials change state when they are heated or cooled, and measure or research the temperature at which this happens in degrees Celsius (°C)
• identify the part played by evaporation and condensation in the water cycle and associate the rate of evaporation with temperature.

Sound

Pupils should be taught to:

• identify how sounds are made, associating some of them with something vibrating
• recognise that vibrations from sounds travel through a medium to the ear
• find patterns between the pitch of a sound and features of the object that produced it
• find patterns between the volume of a sound and the strength of the vibrations that produced it
• recognise that sounds get fainter as the distance from the sound source increases.

Electricity

Pupils should be taught to:

• identify common appliances that run on electricity 
• construct a simple series electrical circuit, identifying and naming its basic parts, including cells, wires, bulbs, switches and buzzers 
• identify whether or not a lamp will light in a simple series circuit, based on whether or not the lamp is part of a complete loop with a battery
• recognise that a switch opens and closes a circuit and associate this with whether or not a lamp lights in a simple series circuit
• recognise some common conductors and insulators, and associate metals with being good conductors. associate the brightness of a lamp or the volume of a buzzer with the number and voltage of cells used in the circuit
• compare and give reasons for variations in how components function, including the brightness of bulbs, the loudness of buzzers and the on/off position of switches
• use recognised symbols when representing a simple circuit in a diagram.

Properties and changes of materials

Pupils should be taught to:

• compare and group together everyday materials on the basis of their properties, including their hardness, solubility, transparency, conductivity (electrical and thermal), and response to magnets
• know that some materials will dissolve in liquid to form a solution, and describe how to recover a substance from a solution 
• use knowledge of solids, liquids and gases to decide how mixtures might be separated, including through filtering, sieving and evaporating
• give reasons, based on evidence from comparative and fair tests, for the particular uses of everyday materials, including metals, wood and plastic 
• demonstrate that dissolving, mixing and changes of state are reversible changes 
• explain that some changes result in the formation of new materials, and that this kind of change is not usually reversible, including changes associated with burning and the action of acid on bicarbonate of soda.

Earth and Space 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• describe the movement of the Earth, and other planets, relative to the Sun in the solar system
• describe the movement of the Moon relative to the Earth 
• describe the Sun, Earth and Moon as approximately spherical bodies
• use the idea of the Earth’s rotation to explain day and night and the apparent movement of the sun across the sky.

Evolution and Inheritance

Pupils should be taught to:

• recognise that living things have changed over time and that fossils provide information about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago 
• recognise that living things produce offspring of the same kind, but normally offspring vary and are not identical to their parents 
• identify how animals and plants are adapted to suit their environment in different ways and that adaptation may lead to evolution