Our vision for the curriculum at Swiss Gardens
At Swiss Gardens Primary School we live by our school vision
We will be curious, have big dreams and be prepared for an exciting future
and our values of Friendship, Respect, Excellence and Enjoyment run through everything we do.
We are committed to providing a welcoming, safe and stimulating environment in which we can nurture the achievements of every child. We provide an exciting curriculum, where children are encouraged to explore, discover and question through an enriching learning experience. We recognise and celebrate the talents of each child, enabling them to grow in confidence and excel in both their educational and personal goals.
Naomi Welsh
Headteacher
our curriculum intent
At Swiss Gardens Primary school we aim to deliver an interesting, inspiring curriculum. One that engages the children, fosters a love of reading and an excitement for learning. Our curriculum builds the skills for life. We ensure the children are equipped with the knowledge, skills and understanding that will set them up to be independent and achieve their dreams.
Our curriculum builds on the experiences that children bring and ensures that they have first-hand experiences, visits and visitors that will encourage and inspire them. Our approach is topic based and we ensure that there is a core text central to their topic learning which motivates and encourages reading and writing as well as giving them a pathway into other subjects.
At Swiss Gardens we believe children learn best when they feel safe and secure and free from worry. Our view is that resilience, growth mindset and mental wellbeing is essential for life. This has been an important aspect of our approach since before 2020 but is even more important to our children in the uncertain times they find themselves in and will continue to inform our approach to learning into the future.
Our curriculum starting point is the National Curriculum. We have adapted and developed our learning journeys from the expectations set out. We aim to ensure that skills build over time and that children reflect on their learning and develop the precise language used in each curriculum subject.
In each class children have a clear learning journey that shows them how their learning will progress over the term ahead, how it builds on prior knowledge and what they will achieve over time.
We are situated in the heart of Shoreham by Sea. It is a beautiful coastal town, on the edge of The Downs and we use the wonderful locality to set our learning in context. From visits to the River Adur, watching the seasons change at a local park to beach visits for sculpture in art; from arriving in the town centre for a flashmob to camping at Truleigh Hill; from learning about the smuggling history of the town to The Victorian Pleasure Gardens that once stood on the current site of our school, our locality is part of who we are.
OUR CURRICULUM STATEMENTS
Please browse our subject folders for more detail on how we teach and our approach to the curriculum. Below are our curriculum statements for each subject.
Our curriculum overview
Please find below our topic overview from Early Years Foundation Stage through to Year Six . These overviews give a sense of the topics we teach and the key themes for each term. They also show the core texts that go with each topic and the basic curriculum content. Curriculum progressions are also available below.
For more detail about our approach to individual subjects, images of the school at work and content covered, please go to the subject pages on the drop down menu. On the year group pages there is more information about the currciculum for each year group.
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NATIONAL CURRICULUM PROGRESSIONS FOR EACH SUBJECT
Within our topic based approach we cover the core knowledge and skills from the National curriculum.
We use the progressions in our planning to ensure coverage and we extend and enhance through real life experiences. Where links can be made across the subjects, we do so.
END OF YEAR EXPECTATIONS
Please find below the end of year expectations for each year group. The EYFS one gives an overview of the curriculum as a whole and the other year groups give an overview of English and Maths. They will give you an idea of what is expected at the end of each year as your child develops and builds skills over time. It is worth looking at the previous year group expectations if you want to help consolidate your child's learning.