Our Curriculum

Please click on any box below to see the individual elements of our Curriculum.

 Teaching and Learning Methodology

The school curriculum is designed to match the Early Years Foundation Stage and National Curriculums and is characterised by “Depth to Enable Breadth".

Our Curriculum has evolved from Brian Males and Ed Hirsch ideas of curriculum development and our drive for depth before breath. The roots of our tree symbolise the key skills and values that will ensure our pupils are stable and have the fundamental skills to turn their dreams into reality. Our trunk symbolises the strength of their character and the experiences that mould them while the leaves and branches are the concepts the pupils learn throughout their life. As our pupils grow and the seasons change, their knowledge grows, their opinions change, and sometimes their ideas are strengthened.

The seed that starts our journey is based on the ‘Talk for Writing’, Busy Ants and ‘Not as you know it’ curriculum. Our approach aims to engage and motivate our pupils using quality text that is studied over several weeks. Cross curricular links are made to support children’s understanding of the text. For example, they could be reading the book ‘Carries war and studying World War II in History.

 

 

Please click here to link to our Curriculum overview.

I Do, We Do, You Do

At Norbury Manor Primary we practice the I Do, We Do, You Do model of Teaching.

The rationale for this approach is that pupils learn best through a gradual release of responsibility. This begins with the teacher providing direct instruction (I Do), followed by guided instruction or practice (We Do), and finally independent practice (You Do).

This stage involves the educator telling pupils what they need to know and showing them how to do the things that they need to be able to do.  This involves teaching strategies such as informing, explaining, modelling, concrete examples, pictorial examples, abstract examples.

 

 

This is the second phase of the model.  It involves doing tasks together.  By working together, you can help our pupils use the steps they need to follow to complete a task such as adding common fractions, writing the letter m, or simplifying an equation.You can also help students to remember facts and understand broader concepts. 

 

The You Do phase of a lesson involves students practising what you have already taught them by themselves. Such practice helps pupils to retain what they have learnt and to become fluent with what they must be able to do.  It also helps you to check their level of understanding and mastery.

 

 

Throughout the process, it is important that educators monitor the pupils understanding and ensure children move to the’ You Do’ stage when they are ready.  This means that some children may start the ‘You Do’ stage after one example of the ‘We Do’ stage while other children continue to work with the educator on the ‘We Do’ stage for two or more examples.

 Blooms Taxonomy

Bloom’s taxonomy is based on the belief that learners must begin by learning basic, foundational knowledge about a given subject before progressing to more complex types of thinking such as analysis and evaluation. Bloom’s framework is often presented in the form of a pyramid – much like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – to show that higher levels of thinking can only be attempted once lower levels have been mastered. Following Bloom’s taxonomy helps educators avoid the trap of asking learners to engage in higher order thinking tasks before mastering less complex levels of thinking such as remembering and understanding. The Blooms framework is part of the NMP Mild, Spicy, Hot, Chilli Challenge process.

Theme

 The year is structured into terms, each focusing on a theme.  The theme gives teachers the opportunity to maximise cross-curricular links and make learning more relevant to the children.

 

Reading

 

 From Nursery until Year 1, we proudly follow 'RWI Phonics.' This scheme includes a wide selection of fully decodable reading books called 'Book Bag Books' for children to take home (or access online via J2Launch), to support their daily Read Write Inc lessons and the sound they are learning. Your child should be able to read most of this book; however they might need a little support, especially with the first read.

All Book Bag Books include notes for parents and carers on how to help their child at home with phonics.

 

Watch the video below to find out more.

Moving on from the the RWI Phonics scheme, your child will then borrow books from their classroom or the school library.  The library and classroom books are graded by difficulty by reading levels known as Book Bands. Each Book Band has its own colour. The children select a book based on their book band colour. The Reading Eggs/Reading Express online assessment is used to assess each child's reading age, which is then converted to a Book Band colour. 

 As well as borrowing a Book Band book, your child will also borrow from their classroom  a  'Reading for Pleasure' book, which is chosen purely for their enjoyment and may be linked to the topic or genre they are looking at. 

Your child can include in their reading diaries books they have read from home or books they have borrowed from our school. These are for you and your child to enjoy together.

 Reading Eggs supports each child’s learning by offering individual, one-on-one lessons. These online lessons allow your child to progress at their own rate.

Reading Eggs is based on solid scientific research and focuses around the five essential keys to reading success – phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, comprehension and fluency. The programme is designed by expert educators with over 30 years of experience.

Reading Eggspress makes reading real books, improving spelling skills and building reading comprehension highly engaging for kids aged 7 to 13.

The online reading programme is packed with hundreds of interactive reading activities, online children’s books and literacy games

 Watch the video below to find out more about Reading Eggs and Reading Express.

 

The reader

Until they are fluent readers, younger children will benefit from reading aloud to you as often as possible. By the time they are in Years 5 or 6, many children prefer to read silently to themselves. Create quiet opportunities for them to do so, but then talk to them about the book they are reading.

Sharing reading

When sharing a book with your child, try to take opportunities to talk about the book - before, during and after reading.

Before reading: look at the book cover and talk about your child’s expectations. Is the book likely to be fiction or non-fiction? Have you read other books together about these characters or by this author? What does your child think the book is going to be about?

While reading: support your child when unknown words need tackling: you can sound them out, split them into syllables, or identify suffixes and prefixes. Remind your child to listen to the words while reading them, to make sure that they make sense. Have a ‘meaning check’ every now and again to ensure that your child understands the text.

After reading: talk about the book. What was it about? Did it match your child’s expectations? Ask questions beginning with the words how and why to check that your child has been able to read between the lines. Ask whether anything seemed puzzling. Then ask your child to explain what the best and worst bits of the book were, and why.

 To find out more information, please contact the school office and ask for Ms Coombs.

Phonics

Here at Norbury Manor we use the much heralded Read Write Inc (RWI) programme to children off to a flying start with their English. RWI is a method of learning centred around letter sounds and phonics, and we use it to aid children in their reading and writing.

Using RWI, the children learn to read effortlessly so that they can put all their energy into comprehending what they read.  It also allows them to spell effortlessly so that they can put all their energy into composing what they write.

When using RWI to read the children will:

• Learn that sound are represented by written letters
• Learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letter/letter groups using simple picture prompts.
• Learn how to blend sounds
• Learn to read words using Fred Talk
• Read lively stores featuring words they have learned to sound out
• Show that they comprehend the stories by answering questions

When using RWI to write the children will:

• Learn to write the letter/letter groups which represent 44 sounds
• Learn to write words by saying the sounds in Fred Talk
• Write simple sentences

Children are to be encouraged to practice their phonic sounds and High-Frequency Words (HFW) at home every day. 

To support your child further in this area please follow the link to their website by clicking here.

 To find out more information, please contact the school office and ask for Ms Liddell

Writing

 

Writing

We use the ‘Talk for Writing’ approach to teach writing. This approach emphasizes three teaching methods: ‘Imitation’ (where pupils learn texts by heart, so they can discuss and dissect them), ‘Innovation’ (where pupils adapt stories to create their own versions), and ‘Invention’ (where teachers help pupils to create original stories).

At the start of each genre unit the children complete a ‘cold task’. This is when the children attempt the writing genre without teacher input. Teachers and pupils use this task to set writing targets.  Once the teaching sequence is complete, the children complete a ‘hot task’. This is when pupil’s write independently and demonstrate the progress they have made since the start of the unit.

• Cold Task: Pupils have a go at writing in the new genre style

• Imitation/immersion: Pupils retell the example text

 

• Innovation: Pupils substitute/change view point re-using the basic text structure

 

• Innovation/Invention:  HOT TASK                                   

 

All of the grammar teachings are integrated into this structure and linked to each genre.

To find out more, watch the video below.

Spelling

Norbury Manor follows Read Write Inc. Spelling. 

Although the teaching of phoneme-grapheme correspondence underpins this programme, it also develops children’s knowledge of word families, how suffixes impact upon root words and provide mnemonics to remember the trickiest spellings.

The teaching revolves around instruction (with the help of online alien characters), partner and group practice, and competitive group challenges that help children commit new words to memory.

To find out more about RWI Spelling, watch the video below.

To find out more information, please contact the school office and ask for Ms Coombs.

Maths

We follow the ‘Busy Ants Maths’ curriculum. The ‘Maths of the Day’ programme is used alongside Busy Ants to support pupil’s problem-solving skills.

Each of the units in Busy Ant Maths have been designed and written with the assumption that all of the pupils in a particular class are being taught not only the same mathematics topic but also the same National Curriculum Attainment Target at the same time. A philosophy of equal opportunity means that all pupils have access to the same curriculum content.  The lesson plans in Busy Ant Maths have been written with the intention that they are delivered to all of the pupils in a class.

Watch the video below to find out more.

  Active Maths uses PE and physical activity to raise achievement in maths.  The benefits of active learning in the classroom are widely acknowledged in a variety of areas of the curriculum.

 Written in line with the maths curriculum, the solutions available will help guide school staff to deliver engaging and innovative learning.

 It also allows children to access an alternative learning style which is particularly effective with young people who find more traditional methods challenging. By drawing on their enthusiasm for sport and physical activity, using active maths can help to raise attitudes and increase attainment in maths. 

 

At the start of each unit pupils complete a maths assessment (cold task). Pupils maths targets are set based on the outcomes of the assessment. The pupil’s retake the maths assessment at the end of the unit and the targets are reviewed.

Mathletics

Mathletics empowers teachers to support their students’ mathematics learning. With hundreds of curriculum-aligned lessons and activities, Mathletics is the comprehensive online mathematics learning tool that brings joy to learning.

Mathletics makes it easy for teachers to assign meaningful maths activities to classes, groups of students, or individual learners. Using Mathletics data and targeted task assessments, teachers can deliver the right level of challenge to help your students develop and experience success.

Mathletics was designed with best practice gamification and motivation pedagogy. Blending extrinsic rewards, like points, customisable avatars, and certificates, with the intrinsic reward of success, Mathletics maintains student learning momentum and sense of achievement.

Watch the video below to find out more.

To find out more information, please contact the school office and ask for Ms Jayakumar.

Challenge Week

Throughout the last week of each term all pupils are set age appropriate tasks to produce a piece of work that showcases knowledge and understanding of their studied topic. This is known throughout the school as Challenge Week.

During Challenge Week pupils are expected to work in groups, teams or pairs to present a project based on the theme of the term. Teachers plan outcomes for each subject area. Discrete lessons in phonics and math's continue during this week. PSHE sessions focus on building team skills. Each member of the team is given a role and the pupils keep a learning journey throughout the week. At the end of the week pupils must be given the opportunity to reflect on their participation in challenge week.  Pupils are expected present their project to an audience. Children are also given the opportunity to explore enterprising project that link to specific themes.

The work children produce is undertaken through a range of mediums and is designed to excel the full use of all our RESPECT values.

Presentation mediums include:  

• Exhibitions
• Videos
• Photo log
• Practical Work
• Assemblies
• Displays
• Books
• Art Work

 

Skills Builders framework supports our drive to develop the whole pupil by teaching essential skills to enable lifelong success.  The eight skills, along with pupil’s academic knowledge and understanding, help to prepare our pupils for their life beyond education and to be ready to make the most of the opportunities which life offers them.

Teaching incorporates age-appropriate activities to help all children develop the eight skills which are linked to our school values.  Each half- term the whole school focuses on developing skills linked to our Challenge week focus.  Pupils explore the skills steps and are awarded a stamp against the skill step they have achieved throughout the week.  Staff display the skills steps relevant to the challenge week focus and pupils are given ‘Skills Builder Step sheet’ to record their achievements at the start of each challenge week.  

Norbury Manor Primary School use the expanded framework and record each stage of a step as Mild, Spicy or Hot. Class progress is recorded in the Skills Builders assessment tool.

 

The ability to listen to and understand information.

Initially, the steps concentrate on being able to listen effectively to others- including remembering short instructions, understanding why others are communicating and recording important information.

Individuals then focus on how they demonstrate that they are listening effectively, thinking about body language, open questioning and summarising and rephrasing..

  

The ability to communicate ideas to others

Initially, this skill focuses on being able to speak clearly – first with well-known individuals and small groups and then with those who are not known.

The next stage is about being an effective speaker by making points logically, by thinking about what listeners already know and using appropriate language, tone and gesture.

 

 Developing strategies to approach challenges and situations where the answer is not initially clear.

The first steps focus on being able to follow instructions to complete tasks, seeking help and extra information if needed.  The next stage focusses on being able to explore problems by creating and assessing different potential solutions.  This includes more complex problems, without a simple technical solution.

Beyond this, the focus is on exploring complex solutions – thinking bout causes and effects, generating options, and evaluating those options.  This extends into analysis using logical reasoning and hypotheses.

 Developing the skills to create new ideas

The first few steps focus on the individual’s confidence in imagining different situations and share their ideas.

 The focus is then on generating ideas – using a clear brief, making improvements to something that already exists and combining concepts.

 Individuals then apply creativity in the context of their work and their wider life.  They can build off this to develop ideas using tools like mind mapping, questioning, and considering different perspectives.

 

Teaching pupils how to deal with setbacks and to be willing to take calculated risks with their learning.

The early steps focus on identifying emotions – particularly feeling positive or negative. Building off that is the ability to keep trying- and then staying calm, thinking about what went wrong =, and trying to cheer up and encourage others.

The focus then turns to identifying new opportunities in difficult situations, sharing those, and adapting or creating plans accordingly. 

  

Being able to be aspirational for themselves and learning how to turn these ideas into achievable plans.

This skill is about being able to plan effectively – both to achieve organisational goals, and also to set their own personal development targets.  Initially, this is bout knowing when something is too difficult, and having a sense of what doing well looks like for an individual.

 The focus is then about working with care and attention, taking pride in success and having  positive approach to new challenges.  Building on this, individuals set goals for themselves, informed by an understanding of what is needed, and then be able to order and prioritise tasks, secure resources and involve others effectively. 

Learning to lead others

At the earliest stages, the focus is on basis empathy – understanding their own feelings, being able to share them, and recognising the feelings of other.  The focus is on managing-dividing up task, managing time and sharing resources, managing group discussions and dealing with disagreements.

Beond this, individuals build their awareness of their own strengths and weaknesses, and those of their teams.  This allows them to allocate task effectively.  They then build techniques to mentor, coach and motivate others. 

Helping pupils to develop the confidence and ability to work in a team

This skill applies to working within both formal and informal teams, and also with customers, clients or other stakeholders.  Initially, this is about individuals fulfilling expectations around being positive, behaving appropriately, being timely and reliable and taking responsibility.  This extends to understanding and respecting diversity of other’ cultures, beliefs and backgrounds.

The next steps focus on making a contribution to a team through group decision making recognising the value of others’ ideas and encourage others to contribute too. 

 To find out more information, please contact the school office and ask for Ms Potter.

Science and Foundation Subjects

 

The national curriculum for science aims to ensure that all pupils:

· develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry, and physics

· develop an understanding of the nature, processes, and methods of science through different types of science enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them

· are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future

Norbury Manor Primary school follow the ‘Switched on Science’ programme. This programme explores science concepts through hands-on experiments and creative investigations

To see the whole school curriculum click here.

 To find out more about 'Switched on Science',  watch the video below

 

 To find out more information, please contact the school office and ask for Ms Chaudhary

Norbury Manor primary school follow the Language Angels Spanish scheme of work in year 3 – year 6. EYFS and KS1 explore Spanish through songs.

Our Spanish curriculum aims to ensure that pupils are taught to:

· Listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding.

· Explore the patterns and sound of language through songs and rhymes and link the spelling, sound and meaning of words.

· Engage in conversations; ask and answer questions; express opinions and respond to those of others; seek clarification and help.

· Speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary, phrases, and basic language structures.

· Develop accurate pronunciation and intonation so that others understand when they are reading aloud or using familiar words and phrases.

· Present ideas and information orally to a range of audiences.

· Read carefully and show understanding of words, phrases, and simple writing

· Appreciate stories, songs, poems, and rhymes in the language.

· Broaden their vocabulary and develop their ability to understand new words that are introduced into the familiar written material.

· Write phrases from memory, and adapt these to create new sentences to express ideas clearly.

· Describe people, places, things, and actions orally and in writing.

· Understand basic grammar appropriate to Spanish.

To see the whole school curriculum click here

 To find out more about 'Language Angels', watch the video below.

 

To find out more information, please contact the school office and ask for  Ms Adamska-Zdanowicz

 

At Norbury Manor primary we aim to inspire our pupils' curiosity to know more about the past. We equip pupils to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence and develop perspective and judgement. Through Rising Stars history scheme of work, pupils develop an understanding of the complexity of people’s lives, the diversity of societies as well as their own identity and challenges of their time.

 To see the whole school curriculum click here

 To find out more information, please contact the school office and ask for Mr Rester.

 

 

The Rising Stars  Geography curriculum inspires in pupils a fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. 

To see the whole school curriculum click here

To find out more information, please contact the school office and ask for Ms Yusuff.

 

At Norbury Manor Primary School we alternate teaching Art and Design and Design Technology so that the children will experience each subject for half a term. This is so that in Design and Technology the children can go through the design process from understanding design brief to evaluating the product. In Art they will learn about a skill or an artist, produce an idea for their final piece, create it and then evaluate it. This means that the children are fully immersed in the subject for a whole half a term.

Cooking and Nutrition is taught alongside Design Technology when the children have to design and make a food product for a client.

We follow the Twinkl Planit programme for Art and Design Technology. Lesson's have been created by a dedicated team of teachers and designers, in accordance with the national curriculum guidelines.

 To see the whole school curriculum click here

 To find out more information, please contact the school office and ask for Ms Tabiri for Art and Design and Ms Moniz for Design and Technology.

 

 

Through the musical programme from PPA Cover, the children develop their understanding, make musical judgements, apply their new learning, develop their aural memory, express themselves physically, emotionally and through discussion and create their own musical ideas. All music lessons are taught by a music teacher. 

Performing vocally and with instruments is central to the programme. Children are also given the opportunity to perform during class assemblies, productions, challenge week and the school choir.

The choir perform in assemblies, at school functions and other events in the local area. 

To see the whole school curriculum click here

 

 

 To find out more information, please contact the school office and ask for Mr Storey.

 

Our computing curriculum has been developed to support children to become proficient users of technology so that they develop the knowledge and skills to thrive in the ever-changing technological world. It is in-line with National Curriculum guidelines and includes coding.

Norbury Manor follow the ‘Switched on Computing’ programme.

To see the whole school curriculum click here

 

 To find out more about 'Switched on Computing', watch the video below.

 

To find out more information, please contact the school office and ask for Mr Lawrence.

All children will participate in the daily physical activity. Each class will have two formal P.E. lessons per week, and these will be held at Norbury Manor Primary School. Parents/carers are asked to ensure their children come to school with their full P.E. uniform on their given day. This year pupils in years 3 and 4 will have swimming lessons.

 Norbury Manor Primary school follow the real PE programme.

 What is real PE?

real PE is a unique, child-centred approach that transforms how we teach PE to engage and challenge EVERY child in primary school.

It provides fun and simple to follow Primary PE Schemes of Work and support for Early Years Foundation Stage, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 practitioners that give them the confidence and skills to deliver outstanding PE. It is fully aligned to the National Curriculum and focuses on the development of agility, balance and coordination, healthy competition, and cooperative learning through a unique and market leading approach to teaching and learning in PE.

What makes real PE unique?

real PE is, primarily, a philosophy and approach which aims to transform how we teach PE in order to include, challenge and support EVERY child. It supports teachers and other delivers to make small changes that will have a significant impact on their learners.

To find out more, watch the video below.

.

To find out more information, please contact the school office and ask for Ms Marriot.

 

PSHE education is a planned programme of learning through which children and young people acquire the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to manage their lives.

(The PSHE Association, 2014)

Norbury Manor Primary school follow the ‘You, Me, PSHE’ scheme of work by Islington Council.

PSHE education supports the development of personal, social and life skills: the identification of and dealing with emotions and feelings, exploring health-related issues, understanding about oneself, relationships with others and one’s place in the world, learning about managing finances, the world of work and planning for the future. It supports pupils to lead healthy, safe, fulfilled, and responsible lives.

Citizenship education prepares pupils for the social and moral responsibilities of community involvement: the understanding of democracy and justice, rights and responsibilities and exploring identities and diversity. It helps them develop political literacy and to become informed, critical, active citizens who have the skills, confidence and conviction to advocate, act and try to make a difference in their local, national, and global communities.

The topics included are:

• Careers
• Drug, alcohol, and tobacco education
• Financial capability and economic wellbeing
• Identity, society, and equality
• Keeping safe and managing risk
• Mental health and emotional wellbeing
• Physical health and wellbeing
• Sex and relationship education

 To find out more information, please contact the school office and ask for Ms Lordan.

Religious Education

Non-denominational Religious Education is provided for all children as part of the curriculum and is by the locally agreed Religious Education syllabus and Twinkl Planit scheme of work. Assembly is an important part of the school day when we meet as a community. It is a time when we emphasize the development of values and attitudes towards each other and the world around us. Assemblies are non-denominational and although they are of a broadly Christian nature consideration is given to the multicultural society in which we live.

The scheme of work explores  places of worship, caring for others. The children will have the opportunity to explore the different ways that people celebrate their faith.

To find out more information please contact the school office and ask for Ms Lund.

 

Save

Save

Save

Save