Curriculum

The provision at Hogsthorpe Primary Academy takes account of every aspect of a child’s development.

The curriculum gives children the opportunity to achieve the highest possible standards of numeracy and literacy whilst ensuring they can become confident in physical, artistic, practical and social skills.

We provide a broad and balanced education allowing for the individual needs of each child to be met within well-planned learning experiences.

We are a growth mindset school and both children and staff are encouraged to challenge themselves. We provide a safe, supportive, learning environment that allows children to take risks and be challenged without feeling threatened. Our children understand that from every mistake comes a learning opportunity. We promote resilience through methods of working. Children are encouraged to think, discuss, share, persevere and respect others. They work individually, in pairs, in small groups, within year groups, as class groups, and occasionally as a whole school, depending on the learning activity being undertaken. Classroom based activities are supported by a range of educational visits.

Excluding the daily act of worship, registration and breaks all children are taught for 23 hours and 45 minutes a week.

Children in Reception follow the ‘Foundation Stage’ Curriculum which contains Early Learning Goals. It is closely aligned to the National Curriculum which is delivered to all children from Year 1 to Year 6.

Religious Education is taught through the ‘Lincolnshire Agreed Syllabus for RE’.

Areas of Learning include:

English
Mathematics
Science
History
Geography
Art
Music
Physical Education
Design and Technology
Computing
Religious Education
Modern Foreign Languages

Parents and the curriculum

Support and help from parents is an essential ingredient in a child’s education.

The delivery of the planned curriculum involves parents helping/encouraging children at home with such things as reading, number work, consolidation of acquired skills, etc.

We also welcome parental help in school time for such things as educational visits, swimming, transport to sporting events, assisting children with their work etc. It is our intention to maximise the use of all available facilities and resources including staff/parent expertise.

Reading at Hogsthorpe

Subject leader – Mr Clarke

At Hogsthorpe Primary Academy, we believe reading is the bedrock of success in education and wider society. We aim for children to become lifelong readers, who read for pleasure and to learn. To teach early reading we use Read, Write, Inc Phonics which a synthetic programme.

We also use Talk for Reading as a methodology and is featured in 'Transforming Learning Across the Curriculum'.

It is powerful because it is based on the principles of how individuals learn. It is a fully inclusive method of teaching reading with the movement from introduction to investigation to independent application, which can be adapted to suit the needs of learners of any stage. Reading for pleasure is a key driver at our school and all teachers at Hogsthorpe Primary Academy are responsible for promoting this.

All children at Hogsthorpe Primary Academy have a reading book and a reading record to take home.

In Key Stage 1, the reading books are phonetically decodable and link to the Read Write Inc. scheme. With such high expectations, we recommend pupils read at least five times a week at home and that reading records are completed by parents and guardians so that progress can be monitored and there is a positive home-school link.

A love of reading is developed through the experience of high-quality texts from a variety of authors during the Talk for Reading sessions and through use of our reading for pleasure books and our class stories. All children, from our early readers to those who are fluent, have a rich and varied reading diet, promoting both reading pleasure and an experience and appreciation for a range of texts.

By the end of Key Stage 2 we expect children to be competent and confident readers who can read a wide range of texts and show an understanding through proficient comprehension skills. RWI Book Bag Books (office.com)

Maths at Hogsthorpe

Subject leader - Miss Message

Maths plays a central role within the curriculum at Hogsthorpe and is fundamental to our mission of creating an aspirational, knowledge-rich curriculum for our pupils. We provide a high-quality, tailored mathematics education which will provide a foundation for understanding the world, to develop an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.

Maths at Hogsthorpe is underpinned by methodical, coherent, curriculum design created by Effective Maths and supported by carefully crafted lessons and resources to foster deep conceptual understanding and procedural knowledge. The curriculum design enables children to build on their previous learning in each new step in their learning journey. As a result of the of the accumulation of essential knowledge and skills our pupils will leave our school as confident, resilient mathematicians, demonstrating conceptual and procedural fluency, with the ability to reason mathematically and efficiently solve problems.

We use a Teaching for Mastery approach to support learning of mathematics. Mastery in mathematics is underpinned by the following key principles: it is achievable for all; learning is deep and sustainable; learning builds on something that has already been sufficiently mastered; reasoning about concepts and making connections; developing conceptual and procedural fluency.

Children from years 2 – 6 have access to Times Tables Rockstars in order to further embed multiplication and division facts and practise procedural fluency.

English at Hogsthorpe

Subject leader - Mr Clarke

The Talk for Writing is a powerful approach as it is based on the research of how children learn. It enables children to read and write independently for a variety of audiences and purposes within different subjects. A key feature is that children internalise the language structures needed to write through ‘talking the text.’ The approach moves from dependence towards independence, with the teacher using shared and guided teaching to develop the ability in children to write creatively and powerfully.

At Hogsthorpe Primary we underpin our English work through our established core reading spine of quality fiction, poetry and non-fiction that all children experience and draw upon. Imaginative units of work are developed to create a whole-school plan that is refined over the years, is well-resourced and documented so that the teachers at Hogsthorpe can prioritised and focus on adapting their teaching for children’s learning.

The key phases of the Talk for Writing process (imitation, innovation and independent) enables children to imitate orally the language they need for a particular topic and learning vocabulary and grammar in the context of a model text, before reading and analysing it, and then writing their own independent pieces of writing.

Art at Hogsthorpe

Subject leader - Miss Harland

At Hogsthorpe, Art is a subject which is highly valued as we believe it is an integral part of our pupils’ education. It engages and challenges all our pupils and embodies some of the highest forms of human creativity. We believe that art unlocks our pupil’s full potential, allowing them to express their creativity and supporting their mental health, which are key to our school ethos. We feel that art gives our pupils their own voice, a sense of escapism and provides them with the opportunity to see the world around them in a different light. To tap into our pupils’ creativity and truly unlock their potential, we strive to provide outstanding opportunities and to reflect our schools’ culture and community through the artists we choose.

The focus of our arts curriculum is to develop proficiencies in drawing, painting, colour theory, shade and sculpture, therefore equipping pupils with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. Alongside these skills, we will develop children’s knowledge of a range of artists and designers, their critical awareness and ability to criticize their own work and that of others. Pupils will learn about how art and design reflect and shape our history and contribute to our nation's culture, creativity and wealth. The artists chosen provide pupils with positive role models that they can aspire to emulate, as well as developing their understanding of their own and others’ cultural heritages.

We teach a knowledge rich, skills-based curriculum which is taught in blocks on a termly basis and focus on studying a particular element of art and use a specific artist or art movement as inspiration.

Music at Hogsthorpe

Subject leader - Miss Harland

Music plays a significant role within the curriculum at Hogsthorpe. Pupils will perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of great composers and musicians. Pupils will also learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and progress to the next level of musical excellence. Furthermore, pupils understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the interrelated dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notation.

In addition, all pupils can develop their musicianship through the wide range of opportunities that we offer at Hogsthorpe. Every day, each class takes part in five minutes of music, further instilling musical knowledge and skills by consolidation previous learning. We offer the chance to sing in choirs, take part in musical after school clubs, play instrumental ensembles (djembe and toot) and join local (and national) musical groups. The school’s Music Lead (Miss Harland), guided by a DRET Primary Music Specialist, will direct these children to such ensembles.

Science at Hogsthorpe

Subject leader - Mr Clarke

Our science curriculum enables our pupils to develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the three disciplines of biology, chemistry, and physics.

At Hogsthorpe Primary Academy, we provide a creative, inclusive and stimulating science curriculum which provides the foundations for understanding the world. Science lessons are designed with working scientifically at the core to encourage pupils to plan, observe, predict, investigate and analyse. We aim for all children to develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena.

“I like that we do experiments with different materials” TKH

“I really like learning about electricity – it fascinates me and makes me want to learn more about how things work” AKH

“I think that it is very interesting and there are lots of new things to learn.” FA

Physical Education at Hogsthorpe

PE lead - Mr Green, supported by Miss Sykes.

We actively encourage physical activity to aid the growth and development of our pupils at Hogsthorpe Primary Academy and we feel the PE and school sport offer reflects this at the school.

We follow the Horizon PE Curriculum in EYFS and KS1, which develops stability and locomotion skills, alongside other object manipulation activities such as throwing and catching and dribbling and striking. In KS2 we focus on a games-based curriculum covering the main sports of football, netball, basketball, athletics and rugby, alongside introducing our pupils to gymnastics, dance, outdoor adventures activities (OAA), tennis and cricket.

Pupils in KS2 also have the chance to swim, with our aim first and foremost being to develop water confidence, while we also aspire to have all our Yr6 pupils swimming 25m by the time they leave the academy.

We run various sports clubs across the year, allowing pupils to pursue their sporting interests and develop their skills further away from the PE curriculum.

Locally we participate in the School Games (Coastal School Sports Partnership), which allows us to take part in many different competitions and sporting festivals with other schools in and around Skegness. We feel this helps our pupils to understand the healthy participation thread of sport further, giving pupils the chance to participate in an environment with new children.

Alongside local competitions, our Trust (David Ross Education Trust) hold Primary and Summer Cup events during the academic year. This gives children broader sporting experiences to train and participate regionally and nationally against other Trust primary academies.

We are always actively looking for sporting experiences to enhance our pupils learning and success, and in the past, we’ve had some amazing elite athlete visits from the likes of Mark Lewis Francis MBE (Olympic Gold Medal Winning Sprinter) and Kristian Thomas (2012 Olympic Medal Winning Gymnast).

We adopt a smaller but mighty approach to PE & Sport, encouraging all our pupils to be the best that they can be.

PSHE at Hogsthorpe

Subject lead - Mr Clarke

PSHE helps pupils to develop knowledge, skills and attributes they need to keep themselves healthy and safe. We use our Jigsaw programme to implement our curriculum and it is designed to have an impact both academically and non-academically for our pupils.

Hogsthorpe Primary is part of strong community and the staff have an unwavering dedication to the health, safety and well-being of all pupils and the families of these pupils. PSHE at Hogsthorpe is taught comprehensively and progressively ensuring coverage of key concepts takes place through the Jigsaw Scheme of Work. This gives pupils relevant learning experiences to help them navigate their world and to develop positive relationships with themselves and others. Our PSHE curriculum aims to help children know and value who they really are and how they relate to other people in this ever-changing world.

At Hogsthorpe, we also teach our children about Protected Characteristics; helping to protect our pupils and help them understand about discrimination or harassment. We do this through whole-school assemblies, our curriculum (specific PSHE lessons) and during class discussions.

Click the link to find out how Protected Characteristics are taught through our PSHE scheme: Protected Characteristics and Jigsaw

In addition to the nine characteristics protected under the Equality Act, our children across Key Stage 2 have come up with their own additional ones.

David Ross Education Trust and British Values

The Trust is very supportive of the ethos of promoting British Values, and preparing our pupils for success in a modern Britain.

A heavy reliance is placed upon broadening horizons for each and every child and this includes developing the core skills of tolerance, respect, teamwork, resilience and building self-esteem. These are all values and qualities that we feel are relevant in order to play a full and meaningful role in society, and are promoted via our extensive house system that lends itself to cultural and sporting competition, democratic principles, social mixing, the development of greater pastoral care and enhanced PSHE.

Click here to find out more about British Values at our academy

Hogsthorpe Primary Academy