Why this is leading practice
Alien's landing in the school yard, birds of prey flying above the field, chickens hatching in classrooms and ice sculptures are just some of the exciting curriculum themes at Hylton Red House Primary. We believe curriculum needs to be relevant to the lives and interests of our pupils. It's more than teachers thinking up what to teach. The pupil planning group have control of whole school themed topics running twice each term for up to six weeks. The pupil involvement is significant raising standards and making it a dynamic learning community for all.
Impact to date
Childen are at the heart of the curriculum reform in the school .They have a voice and structures to ensure their vioces are heard . They are closely involved in the chioces made in terms of the themes and subjects investigated as whole school projects . At the same time curriculum breadth balance and pupil progress and attainment is carefuly monitored to ensure differentation and attention to pupils special need's. Staff and pupils work together to plan the content of the curriculum while teachers ensure the necessary National curriculum coverage and progress is monitored.Pupils personal and socials skills have seen a marked improvement.
Rationale / Start Point
The school has been subject to Special Measures since summer 2008 and is ready to emerge in June 2010 with good judgements in all areas. One priority for improvement was to develop the curriculum to meet the needs of pupils. We have:
- included all pupils in planning their own curriculum and investigating themes that interest
- developed whole school planning taking account of early introduction of the new National Curriculum
- collected pupil/parent views on the success of curriculum and further development activity.
Our curriculum is focused on thinking skills and meta-cognition rather than specific content.
Key Strategies
The curriculum reform has at its heart the pupil curriculum reform group and the staff monitoring structures and the celebration of progress for every child . The school operates a cross curricular curriculum that idendifies key skills and
the necessary progress for individual pupils while providing clear systems for monitoring the full national curriculum coverage. The pupils are actively engaged as they are closely involved in their learning choices about what and how they learn. They understand and take an part in the evalution structures operating at all key stages.
Sustainability and Further Development
As the school has been in special measures, curriculum reform has been a priority, the staff/ pupils intend to work closely with the wider community to share their progress and encourage more active involvement . They also intend to share the curriculum reform strategies with their network of schools in the LA