We provide a curriculum which is broad and balanced, offering a range of experiences, which are relevant to the children’s present and future interests and needs. Education is a life-long process and we aim to help the children to achieve their full potential and to acquire the concepts, knowledge, skills and attitudes that will equip them for life in a fast changing world. The children will be provided with active, enjoyable and stimulating learning experiences in a secure, happy and caring environment where each individual is valued and respected. We aim to provide each child with opportunities to experience success and achievement and to develop a positive self-image. You can find more information on the curriculum our school is following at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum
At Drayton Green Primary School we are committed to providing a high quality Early Year’s education which gives children a secure and confident start to their school life and nurtures a lifelong love of learning. We aim for all our children across Nursery and Reception to be happy, excited and engaged in their learning and encourage this by providing stimulating and challenging learning experiences.
All children begin school with a variety of experiences and learning and it is the privilege of our Early Years staff to build upon that prior learning and experience. We aim to work alongside our children’s parents and carers to ensure children have the best start to their school life and lay the secure foundations to support their academic success.
The EYFS is a very important stage in a child’s life as it helps prepare for school ‘readiness’ as well as preparing them for their future learning and successes. Children’s early years’ experience should be happy, active, exciting, fun and secure; and support their development, care and learning needs. Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their potential. Children develop quickly in the early years and a child’s experiences before the age of five will have a major impact on their future life chances. At Drayton Green Primary School, our EYFS uses the EYFS framework which sets out how and what children will be learning to support their healthy development and provide the foundation children need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up. Whilst at our EYFS setting at Drayton Green, children will learn skills, acquire new knowledge and demonstrate their understanding through 7 areas of learning and development.
Children should mostly develop the 3 prime areas first. These are:
· Communication and language;
· Physical development; and
· Personal, social and emotional development.
These prime areas are those most essential for a child’s healthy development and future learning. As children grow, the prime areas will help them to develop skills in 4 specific areas. These are:
· Literacy;
· Mathematics;
· Understanding the world; and
· Expressive arts and design.
All 7 areas of learning are used to plan children’s learning and activities. The EYFS staff teaching and supporting our children in our setting will make sure that the activities are suited to each of the children’s unique needs.
Children in the EYFS learn by playing and exploring, being active, and through creative and critical thinking which takes place both indoors and outside. It is very important that they develop social skills, such as turn-taking, sharing and independence, which help them greatly in the next stages of their learning. The guiding principles that shape our practice in the Early Years are that children are ready, able and eager to learn!
Our approach is designed to cultivate a deep understanding of mathematical concepts, moving students towards mastery through the seamless integration of concrete, pictorial, and abstract methods. This three-phase approach allows students to explore mathematical ideas in tangible ways, promoting lasting comprehension and engagement.
As part of our commitment to delivering high-quality maths education, we are implementing the White Rose long-term plans. These plans provide a structured framework that ensures consistency and progression across year groups, enabling pupils to build upon their prior knowledge systematically.
In conjunction with this, we will utilise Third Space Learning's short and medium-term planning. This resource is invaluable in supporting differentiated learning, ensuring that all students, regardless of their starting point, can access the curriculum effectively. A key feature of our teaching strategy is the “ping pong” method, where students alternate between guided instruction and independent practice. This interactive approach fosters a collaborative learning environment, enhancing communication and critical thinking skills.
In an exciting development, we will be joining the West London Maths Hub this year. This partnership will provide us with opportunities to share best practices and engage in professional development, further enhancing our teaching methodologies. We are enthusiastic about the potential benefits this collaboration will bring to our students’ learning experiences. Thank you for your continued support as we embark on this exciting journey together.
Reading
At Drayton Green primary school, we aim to instil a lifelong love for reading in all pupils, recognising its fundamental role in academic success and personal development. We aspire to create a stimulating and engaging reading environment that encourages children to explore a diverse range of literary genres, both fiction and non-fiction. Our curriculum is designed to enhance pupils’ comprehension skills, enabling them to infer, deduce, and critically evaluate texts they read. We focus on expanding pupils' vocabulary through diverse exposure to high-quality literature, promoting strong communication skills and academic success. We teach explicit comprehension strategies across all year groups, such as predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarising. These strategies are reinforced through consistent modelling during five whole class reading sessions per week in Key Stage 2 and three reading practice sessions per week in Key Stage 1 and early years. In the early years and Key Stage 1, we deliver a robust phonics program to ensure that all pupils develop secure decoding skills necessary for fluent reading. Regular assessments help us tailor support for those who require additional intervention. We provide differentiated reading opportunities catered to the varying abilities and backgrounds of our pupils, ensuring that all children, regardless of their starting point, progress in their reading journey. We seek to build a strong partnership with parents, encouraging them to engage in their children’s reading practices at home to foster a supportive reading culture.
Writing
At our Drayton Green primary school, the intent of our English writing curriculum is to foster a love for writing and develop confident, articulate, and enthusiastic young writers. We aim to ensure that every child can express their thoughts and ideas with clarity, creativity, and coherence. We implement our writing curriculum through a structured, cohesive approach that combines whole-class teaching, independent writing opportunities.
Curriculum Design: Our curriculum is sequenced to ensure progression and depth of knowledge across key stages, incorporating the National Curriculum objectives and integrating insights from CLPE power of reading to enhance literacy teaching while also including cross-curricular links to reinforce engagement.
High-Quality Texts: We use a diverse range of high-quality texts, as recommended by CLPE, as a springboard for writing, exposing children to exemplary writing styles and varied vocabulary. This includes classic literature, contemporary fiction, and non-fiction texts that reflect diverse cultures and perspectives.
Explicit Teaching of Writing Skills: We provide explicit instruction on the 8 stages of writing, teaching children to explore ideas, plan their work, draft, revise, share, present, publish, and reflect on their narratives. Daily writing sessions incorporate modelled, shared, and guided writing approaches to reinforce learning and build confidence, supported by CLPE’s pedagogical frameworks.
Collaborative Learning: Children engage in collaborative writing activities and peer review sessions that align with the 8 stages, promoting critical thinking and constructive feedback. This promotes a culture of sharing ideas and learning from one another, rooted in CLPE's collaborative strategies.
Assessment for Learning: We employ regular formative assessments to track progress and identify areas for improvement at each stage of writing. Clear success criteria are shared with students, enabling them to understand their learning journey and set achievable goals.
Support for All Learners: Our approach to adaptive teaching ensures that all children, including those with additional needs, can access the writing curriculum. We provide tailored support and enrichment opportunities, to challenge and engage every learner throughout the 8 stages.
At Drayton Green Primary School, we foster a love for science by tapping into our pupils' natural curiosity about the world around them. Our science curriculum covers the core areas of physics, biology and chemistry, providing exciting, hands-on learning experiences that encourage exploration and discovery.
A key focus is on developing pupils' Working Scientifically skills, as outlined in the National Curriculum. Pupils are taught to observe carefully, ask thoughtful questions, and carry out investigations. They are encouraged to predict what might happen, test their ideas, record their findings and analyse the results to draw informed conclusions. Throughout this process, pupils learn to use precise scientific language to articulate their thoughts and discoveries clearly.
We believe that science is essential to understanding the modern world and we aim to equip our pupils with the skills and knowledge to appreciate its impact in everyday life. By fostering critical thinking and problem-solving skills, we hope to inspire our pupils to pursue science further and perhaps even become scientists of tomorrow!
At Drayton Green Primary School we want History and Geography to spark children’s curiosity about their surroundings, Britain’s past and the wider world and help them develop their thinking and acting as geographers and as historians.
We aim for a high quality History and Geography curriculum to inspire in pupils a curiosity of practical discovery of key knowledge and concepts, as part of their learning process by:
• providing opportunities for children to develop a chronological framework by investigating the past and how it influences the present.
• encouraging children to interrogate evidence (e.g artefacts) and form their own opinions.
• enabling children to communicate their view points in a variety of ways using appropriate vocabulary.
• developing and using their geographical skills and knowledge .
• building enjoyment, empathy and curiosity for finding out about the past and their surroundings.
At Drayton Green Primary School, we believe that Physical Education (PE), experienced in a safe and supportive environment, is essential to ensure children attain optimum physical and emotional development and good health. We intend to deliver high-quality teaching and learning opportunities that inspire all children to succeed in physical education and in developing life skills. Children will be willing to practise skills in a range of different activities and situations, alone, in small groups and in teams, and to apply these skills in chosen activities to achieve exceptionally high levels of performance. We also want to teach children how to cooperate and collaborate with others as part of an effective team, understanding fairness and equity of play to embed life-long values.
Our PE curriculum aims to improve the wellbeing and fitness of all children at Drayton Green Primary School, not only through the sporting skills taught, but through the underpinning values and disciplines PE promotes. We want our children to have a keen interest in PE – a willingness to participate eagerly in every lesson, highly positive attitudes.
Our pupils have two PE lessons a week, one hour with our PE Teacher and one hour with their Class Teacher.
Pupils in Year 4 and ARP G class go swimming every Friday. They are taught swimming by ASA qualified swimming instructors and Mr Leks who is also ASA qualified swimming instructor and Swimming Coach.
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In our French lessons, we aim to develop pupils’ speaking skills for use in everyday situations. We begin with simple greetings and progress through the year groups to include: making basic conversation by asking and answering questions; buying an ice-cream; ordering a meal in a café and telling a doctor where it hurts.
We use a wide variety of resources including songs, games, short films and interactive activities to make learning French as engaging an experience as possible. In addition to whole class learning, children work in pairs and groups on different language tasks.
Pupils also develop their ability to write in French. To this end, some lessons look at how common French sounds are represented by particular letters or letter combinations. We also compare the structure of English and French which helps to increase understanding of grammatical terms. From recording single words and short phrases already familiar to them in spoken form, pupils move on to writing simple sentences and then to producing scripted conversations which they rehearse and perform for their peers.
At Drayton Green Primary School, we use a wide range of media and materials to develop an excellent, enjoyable and empowering Art and DT curriculum. We encourage our pupils to critically reflect on the work they create, evaluate and refine as they progress through their work. The pupil’s Art and DT topics are inline with their English, Geography and History topics. Pupils develop their ability to critically appraise and evaluate the work of a wide range of artists and designers that are culturally diverse. We encourage our pupils to articulate a personal response to the artist or designer they have learned about.
Within the curriculum there are opportunities for the pupils to develop the language of aesthetics and to comprehend the nature and function of art forms within the context of their own work, within an historical context and within the context of their own environment and culture.
Pupil’s learn perceptual skills by viewing art and design forms from different contexts, they also develop technical skills involved in the use and manipulation of materials. We believe it is important to develop our pupil’s ability to appreciate The Arts and enjoy images, products and artefacts in form a wide range of places.
At Drayton Green Primary School, we are committed to fostering a comprehensive understanding of diverse human experiences, encompassing both faith and non-religious belief systems.
Through the exploration of three key dimension 'Believing, Behaving, and Belonging.' Our approach encourages pupils to engage thoughtfully with these concepts across different settings, including home, places of worship, and the wider community, nurturing a sense of respect and belonging within society.
In today's rapidly evolving world, technology is profoundly transforming the lives of everyone, from the way we communicate to how we work and play. At our school, we understand that teaching Computing is vital for equipping children with the necessary skills to navigate this fast-paced environment. Our curriculum is designed to prepare pupils for a future in which both personal and professional activities are increasingly influenced by technology.
Our primary objective is to enable children to find, explore, analyse, exchange, and present information effectively. We focus on developing their capacity to use information critically and discriminately, fostering a deep understanding of Computing principles that will ensure they leave primary school computer literate. Our intent is for children to know more, remember more, and understand more, as these skills are essential for their lifelong learning journey.
Furthermore, Computing skills play a pivotal role in nurturing confident, creative, and independent learners. By integrating practical experiences with theoretical knowledge, we ensure that children have every opportunity to excel and embrace the challenges of the digital age. The national curriculum for computing aims to cultivate a comprehensive understanding of fundamental principles of computer science, including abstraction, logic, algorithms, and data representation. Pupils will gain hands-on experience in analysing problems computationally, as well as writing computer programmes that effectively address various challenges.
In addition, our curriculum emphasises the importance of evaluating and applying information technology—enabling pupils to explore new and unfamiliar technologies with analytical thinking to solve problems creatively and efficiently. Our goal is to nurture responsible, competent, confident, and innovative users of information and communication technology.
To facilitate this, our curriculum is meticulously planned in alignment with the National Curriculum guidelines. We utilise the 3BM scheme of works, which provides comprehensive planning and resources to support our teaching across the key areas of information technology, computer science, and digital literacy. E-safety is integral to all units of work, emphasising the significance of keeping personal information secure and learning how to discern whom and what to trust online.
We implement e-safety resources from ThinkUKnow, the education programme developed by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre. This programme is specifically designed for young people and encourages safe Internet use based on three essential themes: how to have fun online responsibly, how to stay in control of their digital experiences, and how to report any problems they may encounter. By instilling these principles, we strive to cultivate a generation of informed, safe, and responsible digital citizens.