At Head Start Primary we offer a broad and balanced curriculum which follows the new Early Years Framework and the National Curriculum. We tackle all concepts in a creative way to enthuse and engage the children. We want them to be curious thinkers who challenge themselves at every opportunity, developing resilience and determination to build on cultural capital for their future. We encourage children to question the world around them and in doing so this provides them with a deeper level of understanding about what they are learning. Language and literacy are at the heart of our curriculum. Research continually shows that language and literacy provide children with the building blocks not just for academic success, but for fulfilling careers and rewarding lives. 

Children at Head Start Primary will be provided with a curriculum that is progressive and secures knowledge and skills through a model that narrows gaps and ensures children acquire fundamental basics for them to achieve and progress. All of our primary staff have jointly planned the curriculum to ensure it is logically sequenced to support the children’s development of knowledge. Subjects have strong curricular links that reinforce new skills the children receive in different parts of the curriculum.  Curriculum content is planned to meet the children’s interests and needs. There is a logical progression that builds systematically on prior learning. It is explained effectively and builds necessary foundations.

Staff and children work together in groups according to their class abilities. They meet regularly to discuss and plan engaging and exciting topics that provide as much curriculum coverage as possible. Curriculum areas that cannot be covered in this way are taught discretely. Topics are decided upon based on children’s interests and National Curriculum objectives.

“Children strengthen their understanding of the world they live in if it is ‘joined up’ and ‘connected’.” 

“Children learn from repeated activities that are cross curricular. Repetition is effective for improving long term memory.”
(Bradley Busch – Registered Psychologist).

Opportunities for Speaking and Listening are optimised and basic skills, including scientific enquiry are delivered through this holistic approach to teaching.

The curriculum is coherently planned and sequenced to provide challenge for every child to enable them to develop and succeed both academically and socially and prepare them for re-integration back into mainstream or specialised provision. We are aspirational about the children in our setting and strive to achieve the best possible outcomes for them as individuals. We strive to equip children with a love of learning and a natural curiosity through a stimulating environment which will allow them to become lifelong learners, providing foundations for an ambitious body of procedural and semantic knowledge.

We ensure that all basic skills within literacy and numeracy are targeted as these are often areas in learning that need developing before others can be addressed.

At the heart of our Reception / KS1 curriculum is language, all children should be given the opportunity to flourish in a language rich environment where they can communicate effectively with those around them. We use a wide range of literature to inspire our children and this is used to drive and inspire our curriculum. We believe reading and exposure to literature is key to future success, developing a wide-ranging vocabulary and imaginative, creative children. We teach pupils how to read through a systematic and synthetic phonic programme that gives them the basic skills of decoding and comprehending text. Head Start staff are trained in a range of phonics programs such as Read Write Inc and can therefore ensure the continuation of the phonics program children are taught in their own school when they attend Head Start Primary.