The Curriculum at Cutcombe First School

We intend to promote the development of children intellectually, socially, physically and morally to provide children with the basic skills they need for life.

‍Curriculum Vision

‘Live, Love and Learn’

Our Christian ethos underpins how and what we deliver in the school’s curriculum as all children are created in the image of God and are therefore entitled to the very best of everything.  Within the Moorland Federation, we give our children ‘roots and wings’.

We believe in personalised, holistic education:

• We aim to develop and educate the whole child, academically, morally, socially, spiritually, culturally and physically in order that they become a happy and fulfilled member of society.
• The curriculum is tailored to suit the abilities and needs of each individual child.

We are committed to developing young people as life-long learners:

• Every child is given the opportunity to develop their learning skills such as critical thinking and problem solving, in order to support a life-long love of learning and give them the confidence to ‘try’.

We have high expectations of everyone, pupils and adults:

• Every child is challenged and supported to exceed expectations in all they do. They are encouraged to think about their futures and have high aspirations.
• We have a relentless determination to raise standards.

We value kindness:

• Excellent relationships between adults and pupils support pupils’ academic progress through the trust and encouragement that these relationships develop.

We want every child to find the place where they can flourish:

• We are committed to providing a curriculum that is exciting and provides unique opportunities in which children can learn and develop their God-given talents and abilities.

We work in partnership with others:

• We work closely with the other first schools in our federation, and other local schools, the local community, our founding trust and our church.

The school curriculum

• We offer a broad and balanced curriculum promoting the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of all pupils.
• As a Voluntary Aided Church of England School, we have collective worship every day.
• Religious education (RE) is included in the curriculum for all pupils.
• The school curriculum includes the national curriculum and is published on the school website.
• Personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) is included in our curriculum for all pupils.
• In line with the national curriculum our curriculum provides pupils with the foundations and introduction to the essential knowledge that they need to be educated citizens. It introduces pupils to the best that has been thought and said; and helps engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement.
• We use the national curriculum to provide an outline of core knowledge upon which, alongside our broader curriculum offer, we build pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills.
• We include in our curriculum, all statutory subjects within the national curriculum.
• Our curriculum is inclusive and tailored to suit the requirements of all individual pupils.

Two Year Rolling Programme

We are following the 2014 National Curriculum on a Two Year rolling programme.  It may be necessary to adapt the rolling programme during the year.

Reading and Phonics Programme -Read Write Inc. (RWI)

At Cutcombe CofE First School we use Read Write Inc Phonics (RWI) to give your child the best possible start with their literacy. We have put together a guide to how the RWI programme works together with some useful links.

Once the class teacher is happy with a pupil’s reading and comprehension of books within a stage they will progress to the next step.  Teacher judgement is supported by RWI assessments and comprehension (verbal and/or written) assessments.

Read Write Inc (RWI) is a validated and highly successful phonics programme which helps all children learn to read fluently and at speed so they can focus on developing their skills in comprehension, vocabulary and spelling.  The programme is designed for children aged 4-7. However, we continue teaching RWI to children beyond the age of 7 if they still need support in their reading.

RWI was developed by Ruth Miskin and more information on this can be found here.‍

How will RWI be taught?

All children are assessed regularly by our RWI lead teacher so they work with children at the same level. This allows complete participation in lessons.

Reception

In Reception all children will learn how to ‘read’ the sounds in words and how those sounds can be written down.

Reading

The children:

• learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letters/letter groups using simple picture prompts – see below
• learn to read words using Fred talk and sound blending
• read from a range of storybooks and non-fictions books matched to their phonic knowledge
• work well with partners
• develop comprehension skills in stories by answering 'Find It' and 'Prove It' discussion questions

Writing

The children:

• learn to write and form the letters/letter groups which represent the 44 sounds with the help of fun phrases
• learn to write words by using Fred Talk
• learn to build sentences by practising sentences out loud before they write

Talking

The children

• They work in pairs so that they:
• answer every question
• practise every activity with their partner
• take turns in talking and reading to each other
• develop ambitious vocabulary

Religious Education

We follow the Jigsaw RE scheme for our Religious Education curriculum which comprehensively covers Somerset’s Awareness Mystery and Value syllabus and Understanding Christianity, published by RE Today. These resources guide our exploration of religious topics, promoting understanding and respect for diverse faiths.

Parents and carers have the right to withdrawal their child from all or parts of the RE curriculum. If you would like to exercise this right for your child please contact your child's class teacher or their Head of School.

‍For further information about any of our curriculum areas please contact the school office with your enquiry.