Curriculum Overview

Our curriculum: 

The curriculum at Wilberforce Primary aims to prepare children in understanding the world around them and prepare them for the next stage of their education. We want our pupils to be both interesting and interested. 

The design of our wider curriculum is based on the research findings of cognitive science. By the time learners have left Wilberforce Primary, they will have mastered a range of both procedural knowledge (skills) and factual knowledge through repeated low stakes quizzing; opportunities to deliberately practise and careful planning for progression and depth. Our curriculum is customised to meet the local needs of our learners.  

How we teach our curriculum:

Teachers plan the learning for each term based on our carefully sequenced curriculum. As part of this planning process, teachers need to plan the following: 

• A knowledge organiser which outlines knowledge (including vocabulary) all children must master; 
• A cycle of lessons for each subject, which carefully plans for progression and depth; 
• A low stakes quiz which is tested regularly to support learners’ ability to block learning and increase space in the working memory; 
• A ‘thinking square’, which outlines key concepts/ideas in the learning journey to provide a baseline of current understanding and misconceptions; 
• Conceptual questions for pupils to apply their learning in a philosophical/open manner; 
• Trips and visiting experts who will enhance the learning experience;  
• A curriculum booklet for parents and carers so learners can be supported at home.  

Outcomes of our curriculum:

We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods: 

• A reflection on standards achieved against the planned outcomes; 
• A celebration of learning for each term which demonstrates progression across the school; 
• Repetition of the ‘thinking square’ at the end of each learning cycle to demonstrate new learning or existing misconceptions to address; 
• Tracking of gains in each quiz; 
• Review pupil response for the highest achieving pupils in relation to the philosophical/open question provided; 
• Pupil discussions about their learning; 
• A sample of pupils’ learning across the school demonstrating mastery and greater depth of understanding; 
• The annual tracking of standards across the curriculum. 

For each topic, we send home a curriculum booklet to provide information about the learning ahead.