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The Curriculum

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At Porters Grange, our aim is to provide every child with a broad and balanced curriculum which fosters growing knowledge and understanding whilst developing skills. We aspire to have a curriculum that actively engages learners and enables good or better progress. Throughout our curriculum we look carefully to support our children with their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Please click here for more information about SMSC.

 

As a school, we teach history, geography, art and design technology (DT) through our 'Connected Curriculum'. Other subjects such as PSHE, RE, French, Music and PE are taught separately although connections are made with these subjects when it will really enrich learning opportunities. We believe that this combined approach allows children to make links between the skills that they use in each subject and to consolidate their learning in different areas. English, maths and computing skills are also taught within the Connected Curriculum. Each term has a different ‘topic’ as its focus, and through this the content of the National Curriculum is delivered. We have planned opportunities for children to develop their skills in each subject and grow to become confident, independent learners.

Laid out below are useful documents relating to our Connected Curriculum and Science. 

 

Year 1 teachers use in-the-moment planning to provide meaningful learning opportunities for their children.

English
 

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All pupils participate in a daily English lesson which focuses on the development of the key skills of spelling, vocabulary, grammar and punctuation. All children are encouraged to write independently, often using well known stories as a stimulus. In addition to the daily English lesson, Phonics is taught in KS1 and spelling and handwriting are taught throughout the school. 

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Phonics

At Porters Grange we teach 'Synthetic Phonics' using the Letters and Sounds programme. The children are introduced to Phase 1 of the programme in our Nursery. During the Foundation Stage children learn that words are broken up into small units of sound, called phonemes. During years 1 and 2 the children will learn all 44 phonemes (or sounds) in the English language.

Phase One of Letters and Sounds concentrates on developing children's speaking and listening skills and lays the foundations for the phonic work which starts in Phase 2. The emphasis during Phase 1 is for children to recognise the sounds around them and prepare them to develop oral blending and segmenting skills.
Phase 1 is divided into seven aspects. Each aspect contains three strands:

*         Tuning in to sounds (auditory discrimination)

*         Listening and remembering sounds (auditory memory and sequencing)

*         Talking about sounds (developing vocabulary and language comprehension)

The children then progress through Phases 2 to 6 during Key Stage 1. They learn how to read and spell words using their phonic knowledge. We use a wide range of teaching techniques and resources in our daily phonics sessions. For example in Year 1, children will be asked to read words during letters and sounds teaching sessions. Some of the words are real words and the others are pseudo words (or alien words). 


The teaching of phonics continues throughout Key Stage 2 to support and develop reading and spelling skills.

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Reading Books

At first, our children are introduced to a range of books which can be decoded. These help to introduce our children to different phonic letter sounds. We also have a wide variety of both fiction and non-fiction reading books to enable children to develop reading skills and broaden their experience of a variety of texts. Reading is taught through independent, guided and whole class (layered) reading. Children are expected to read regularly at home to develop their word recognition, fluency and enjoyment of reading.

Book Bands

All our reading books are organised into 'book bands', which is a way of grouping books according to their level of difficulty. The children will move through the book bands as their reading skills develop. The children are guided in their choice of book by their teacher to ensure they can access the text and understand the content. The children are encouraged to select books which cover a range of fiction and non-fiction genres.

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Library Books
Children at our school borrow books from our wonderful library which has a vast range of fiction and non-fiction texts. The children visit the library each week with their class and are encouraged to choose up to 3 books of their choice. These books can be taken home to share with their family and friends. 

We encourage reading for pleasure and there are various events during the year designed to encourage this such as Book Week, Poetry Week, book fairs and visiting authors. 

Early Years

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Lilac

Blue

Purple

Brown

KS2 Blue

KS2 Red

Pink

Green

Gold

Grey

Red

Orange

White

Year 6

Yellow

Turquoise

Lime

Free reading

Our Approach to Maths
 

At Porters Grange Primary and Nursery School we believe that mathematics is a tool for everyday life. It is a whole network of concepts and relationships which provide a way of viewing and making sense of the world. It is used to analyse and communicate information and ideas and to tackle a range of practical tasks and real life problems.

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It is our aim to develop mathematicians with:

  • a positive attitude towards mathematics and an awareness of the fascination of mathematics;

  • competence and confidence in mathematical fluency, concepts and skills;

  • an ability to solve problems, to reason, to think logically and to work systematically and accurately;

  • initiative and an ability to work both independently and in cooperation with others;

  • an ability to communicate mathematics;

  • an ability to use and apply mathematics across the curriculum and in real life situations;

  • an understanding of mathematics through a process of enquiry and experiment.

 

We aim for parents:

  • to be involved in the learning of their children through supporting the calculation methods used at the school and ensuring homework is completed to the best of their children’s abilities.

 

Curriculum:

In Years 1 to 6 we use Maths No Problem.  Maths No Problem is a program built around the Singapore method of teaching mathematics and is delivered in mixed ability groups.  We also believe that mathematical skills should be developed and referred to across the curriculum with teachers making links explicit to the children as they arise.

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Please click here for our Maths Calculations Stages.

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PSHE & RSE

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Our intent is to provide a broad and inclusive PSHE curriculum that empowers children with the knowledge, skills and attributes to keep themselves healthy and safe whilst preparing for work and life in our local community and modern Britain.  Our curriculum has a strong emphasis on emotional literacy, building resilience and nurturing mental and physical health so that children are enabled to reach their full potential and contribute positively to the diverse society in which we live. We embed the protected characteristics of race, sexual orientation, faith & beliefs, gender, disability, gender identity, marriage & civil partnership, pregnancy & maternity and age throughout our curriculum.

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Our curriculum is inspired and guided by the PSHE association, allowing our children to explore three core themes: Health and Wellbeing, Living in the wider world and Relationships. The children are given the opportunity to explore each of these themes twice throughout the academic year. Through the teaching of PSHE and RSE, we support our children to safeguard themselves, expect respect and have the ability to say ‘no’ through the teaching of consent. Our PSHE overviews further allow flexibility in the curriculum to explore subjects that are relevant within the school life and our community at that time.

 

In Early Years the children are supported to manage emotions, develop a positive sense of self, set themselves simple goals and have confidence in their own abilities.

In Key Stage 1 and 2 an initial topic assessment is incorporated within our overview to allow adaptation to meet individual and group needs. Our weekly lessons are then planned to enable progression in knowledge, skills and vocabulary. However, we also have the capacity to explore PSHE and RSE on a weekly basis through discussion and cross curricular activities.

 

Throughout our curriculum we continue to provide enrichment opportunities for our children which support our teaching.

If you have any further questions about the curriculum please feel free to contact the school office and somebody will be more than happy to help.

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