Curriculum Intent, Implementation and Impact
Intent
In our ever-changing, complex world, the children of today need to develop the knowledge, skills and strength of character to empower them to create their own bright future. We believe that the purpose of education, and therefore the intent of our curriculum, is based on developing social justice as well as teaching values and character education. At the Knaphill Federation of Schools, we provide every child with the powerful knowledge they need to build a strong foundation for learning. Reading is given high priority as this enables access to the full curriculum.
Our selected subject content supports children to develop their knowledge of complex issues, giving them an informed voice in a changing world. Our curriculum empowers children to live our values and to be the voice of a better future for our community, our nation, and our world.
For more information about the curriculum visions for Knaphill Lower School and Knaphill Junior School, please visit the assigned pages.
Principles of Curriculum Design Process
As informed by research, such as the findings of the Ambition Institute, the curriculum at both schools is designed using a set of agree principles, which are understood and used by subject leaders:
Review and refine – the curriculum is continuously reviewed and refined based on the context of our children and the ever-changing world. This is a collaborative process, which involves all stakeholders.
Powerful knowledge– subject knowledge is selected based on it being the most important knowledge that children need to know.
Focus– Knowledge is built over time in small steps. Powerful knowledge is continually retrieved, and key concepts are threaded through the whole curriculum.
Progression and small steps– curriculum content is built over time to avoid cognitive overload. Complexity builds in small steps to allow a secure understanding of the power knowledge.
Coherence – the curriculum is designed to build schema by providing opportunities for meaningful connections in learning, both within and across subjects. Subjects are taught discretely with subject specific pedagogical approaches, but some identified knowledge is made transferable to aid the development of schema.
Implementation
Impact
The impact of our curriculum is measured in terms of the extent to which pupils have developed their knowledge and understanding and that children can recall and use this fluently.
This will be measured by:
- Using pupil voice, quality of work, and lesson outcomes to assess the knowledge that children have built over time
- Understanding if children are able to recall and retrieve key knowledge
- Outcomes in KS1 and KS2 tests
- In school attainment tracking
- Behaviour Logs – with a focus on the expected values linked behaviours
- Attendance data
- Engagement in enrichment activities
- Pupil voice – questionnaires, pupil parliament meetings, SLT meetings with children
- Subject Leader monitoring – lesson visits, scrutiny of books, assessment, pupil interviews and questionnaires
- Governor monitoring
