National Curriculum
Overview
- The ‘basic’ school curriculum includes the ‘national curriculum’, as well as religious education (RE) and relationships and sex education (RSE)
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The national curriculum is a set of subjects and standards used by primary and secondary schools so children learn the same things. It covers what subjects are taught and the standards children should reach in each subject.
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Other types of school like academies and private schools don’t have to follow the national curriculum. Academies must teach a broad and balanced curriculum including English, maths and science. They must also teach religious education.
- At Tarleton Holy Trinity CE Primary School, we base our Curriculum on the Lancashire Curriculum, which the local Education Authority published in response to the changes made to the National Curriculum in 2014. We have made some changes to the Lancashire Curriculum so that the topic areas reflect our unique school and the times of the year.
- The Lancashire Red Rose phonics scheme has been published and is being implemented throughout Tarleton Holy Trinity Primary in Reception and Key Stage 1. Some pupils in key stage 2 continue to receive phonics support. Lancashire Red Rose is not one of the programmes approved by DfE.
- Nonetheless, LCC and the school are confident that it is a systematic synthetic programme (SSP) that meets DFE requirements because it provides:
- all that’s essential to teach SSP to children in the reception and key stage 1 years of mainstream primary schools
- sufficient support for children in reception and key stage 1 to become fluent readers
- a structured route for most children to meet or exceed the expected standard in the year one phonics screening check
- all national curriculum expectations for word reading through decoding by the end of key stage 1
- We can also use a wider range of phonically decodable books to support our phonics teaching, rather than ones which would be prescribed by an accredited scheme. Our reading books are largely based on the Oxford Reading Scheme, although we do support our ‘home readers’ with books from other schemes.
- To see our Curriculum Intent statement or our Curriculum Intent Statement for the Early Years Foundation Stage – Please click on the links below.
- The school follows the Religious Education Syllabus devised by Blackburn Diocese and incorporates a wide range of topics centred on Christian teaching. Lessons include many aspects of the Christian faith including increasing the knowledge of the Bible; relating religious teaching to current society and understanding the significance of main events in the church’s calendar. The syllabus also provided opportunities for children to explore Christianity around the world and in other cultures; a multi-faith approach.
- Our reading scheme is largely based around the Oxford Reading Tree scheme, supplemented by a wide range of other books, including some from the Project X Scheme.
- All of our Year Group Overviews and Subject Leader Overviews can be viewed by ‘clicking’ on the links below:
- Curriculum Intent Statement
- Curriculum Intent Statement for Early Years Foundation Stage
Year Group Curriculum Overviews – including Enrichment Activities and relevant Reading Books
Each Class Teacher has created a ‘Knowledge Organiser (KO)’ for each topic within their Year Group. The KO is placed in the pupils books and guides them through the subject, reminding them of what they have already learned, what vocabulary they will be learning and Key Questions which will be answered during the topic. The Key Questions are the ‘End Goals’ and ‘Finishing Points’ of each topic / unit.
Our bespoke Tarleton Holy Trinity Curriculum is at least as ambitious as the National Curriculum in content. It complies with the school’s duties in the Equality Act 2010 and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 about making the curriculum accessible for those with disabilities or special educational needs.
Primary School Key stages
The national curriculum is organised into blocks of years called ‘key stages’ (KS). At the end of each key stage, the teacher will formally assess your child’s performance.
Age | Year | Key stage | Assessment |
3 to 4 | |||
4 to 5 | Reception | Teacher assessments (there’s also a Baseline assessment at the start of the year, which is repeated at the end of the year) | |
5 to 6 | Year 1 | KS1 | Phonics screening check |
7 to 8 | Year 3 | KS2 | |
8 to 9 | Year 4 | KS2 | Multiplication Tables Check |
9 to 10 | Year 5 | KS2 | |
10 to 11 | Year 6 | KS2 | National tests and teacher assessments in English (Reading and GPS) and mathematics, and teacher assessments in writing and science |