Our Curriculum

At Westmeads our curriculum is exciting, rich and inclusive driven by carefully selected texts from either the Centre of literacy for primary education or the Literacy tree, to ensure they stir their thinking to create deep and authentic questions to fuel each topic.

We follow our children’s interests in their learning, carefully weaving the national curriculum into stimulating and illuminating learning opportunities. We believe children learn when they are having fun, having purposeful and hands on experiences and when they take a lead in where their learning journey goes. 

It has been exciting to work as a whole staff team to develop our curriculum carefully, considering our every topic and how they sequence together to build a wonderful journey of learning specifically aimed at our children here at Westmeads. We can't wait to share this with you very soon - Watch this space!!!

Information Sessions for Parents/Carers of Westmeads

We follow the National Curriculum in all subjects.

English

Writing

We follow guidelines in terms of teaching a wide range of genres and spelling which progress through the year groups.   Children are inspired in their writing by a wide range of stimuli including links with our themes for example Science Fiction stories linked with our theme on Space, and Persuasive posters linked with the Seaside.   Children begin to check and edit their own work in the infants and they are involved in the next steps in their learning through our learning journeys for writing which each child progresses through at their own pace.

Reading

The children are taught to read using systematic synthetic phonics based on Letters and Sounds.  They are encouraged to also use other cues to decode texts and enjoy learning to read and gain pleasure from reading and sharing books.  Activities are interactive, investigative and fun. 

We have recently added to our range of reading scheme books to encourage children to read a wide variety of texts confidently and with expression.  Children read their reading books 1:1 with adults in school on a regular basis with those children who find reading more difficult receiving additional support and encouragement.  All children in school are also grouped by ability into guided reading groups where they work with their teachers on focused reading activities. 

We place a high value on reading and enthusing the children about books.  All the children spend time in the school library at least once a week and choose books from the library to take home along with their reading book.  We also hold regular reading events such as World Book Day activity days, inviting parents in to read with the children, and visits from authors, poets and storytellers.

Speaking and Listening

We believe that developing good listening skills and the ability to articulate thoughts are vital and children are engaged in plentiful discussions as whole school, classes, groups and in pairs as well as drama activities and outdoor learning activities which give rise to an enormous amount of high quality talk!  Children have weekly assembly and PSHE themes which they discuss and learn the conventions of discussion and asking questions.

Maths

In maths we follow the National Curriculum guidelines and use a wide range of approaches and resources to enhance children's learning and appeal to different learning styles.  We place a high emphasis on the children having a thorough understanding of number and calculation and learning mental maths skills and knowledge that will help them throughout their lives.  Children know their next steps with regard to their targets which they are involved in setting with their class teacher, six times across the year.

Science

Science is taught in a practical way at Westmeads in order to excite the children and engage them in their learning. By the time our pupils leave Westmeads they will have begun to develop a strong understanding of the world around them. Not only will they have gained knowledge of key scientific concepts and be able to use associated technical vocabulary, children will also be able to demonstrate how to answer questions (including those that they have raised themselves) by working scientifically, as opportunities to observe, identify, group and classify, perform simple tests, etc. are incorporated into each topic. Science is taught linked to our themes wherever possible and the children enjoy lots of practical investigations. We make good use of our grounds in studying plants, mini-beasts and habitats as our pond and garden are full of wildlife.

Design Technology (D.T.)

DT should provide children with a real life context for learning. The purpose of teaching DT is to provide children with an opportunity to practically explore their world and to affect it by creating products to improve it. Through our DT curriculum, children should be inspired by engineers, designers, chefs and architects to enable them to create a range of structures, mechanisms, textiles and food products with a real life purpose. Children will learn to appreciate and evaluate products in the world and also those produced by themselves and their peers. Our curriculum will enable the children to develop, apply and embed their skills through linked topic learning, building on what they already know and can do. We have a kitchen for the children to use in school so they have opportunities to cook a savoury and a sweet dish.

Art

We believe that Art is inclusive and encourages creativity and curiosity for all children. We believe that Art should be a stimulating and enjoyable experience for all children, allowing them to express themselves through a piece of artwork, which has been produced individually or collaboratively. At Westmeads, we want our children to have the confidence and freedom to experiment with their own ideas, through different mediums. Children have opportunities to create artwork from natural materials found in our outdoor environment and at the local beach. Through the use of sketchbooks, children will have the opportunity to evaluate, analyse and re-visit their work and develop resilience by making and learning from mistakes. All children should leave our school with: a set of basic skills in drawing and painting, sculpture, textiles, printmaking and ICT; an appreciation of work by a range of artists and an inquisitive nature meaning that they are capable of producing a piece of creative artwork which they and others can be proud of.

Information and Communication Technology

The children learn about communicating and enhancing their learning using computers, Interactive White Boards, programming robots, using tape recorders and digital cameras.  Where possible, our ICT learning is integrated with our themed curriculum and the children have access to computers in the classroom so that they can put into practise the skills they have learnt in small groups in the I.C.T. area.

History and Geography

We study a skills based curriculum in these subjects linked with our themes.  For example, for our Local Area theme we study local history and geography field work skills.   We bring the subjects alive through drama and outdoor learning as well as visitors to school and trips.

P.E.

All children engage in an hour long P.E. lesson twice a week, plus daily Wake Up Shake Up, mindfulness, yoga or Gentle Touch sessions. In P.E. lessons the children are taught games including, but not limited to, tag rugby, tri golf and tennis, as well as gymnastics and dance. We offer all children swimming lessons at the end of Year 1 and again at the beginning of Year 2.

R.E.

We study all major religions in the world following the Kent Agreed syllabus and the children learn about tolerance and diversity as well as about specific customs and practices within different religions and cultures.

Music

We have a specialist music teacher who teaches the children in groups of fifteen.  During their time at Westmeads, the children all learn the violin, recorder and to play a range of percussion instruments. We also enjoy singing together and learning new songs in singing assembly every week.  We stage performances including singing at Christmas and in the summer for parents, carers, grandparents and friends. 

P.S.H.E.

Developing children's social skills and ensuring their emotional well-being is central to our ethos at Westmeads. Each week key themes such as "working together" or "respecting differences" form the basis of our assemblies and our PSHE sessions in class.