Curriculum

At Malmesbury Park Primary School, we have developed the curriculum to deliver the requirements of the National Curriculum. This means we have designed an approach which covers all the programmes of study from each subject in the national curriculum. Across each academic year we ensure all subjects are covered enabling children to learn in meaningful contexts. We teach maths and English every day and the foundation subjects have their own discrete, allocated time slot

Our Curriculum

History, Geography and Science are taught using the Ark Curriculum+ mastery curriculum. The projects are designed to cover the National Curriculum and provide key knowledge, skills, and content for each project for each year group across the whole year.

Art and Design and Design Technology are taught discretely in each term. Where appropriate, the DMA (Design and Make Assignment) in DT are linked to a foundation project. In Art and Design, the children develop a range of Art skills and study a range of artists as well as immersing themselves in the world of Music, Art and Dance during our annual MAD week. We follow the JIGSAW scheme of work as the basis for our RSHE teaching, supplemented with work from the Anti Bullying Alliance, Safer Schools team and NSPCC. Throughout their school career, children study Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Islam through their Discovery RE work.

Our Curriculum offers a broad range of memorable and engaging experiences. Educational visits use our locality as well as offering the opportunity to travel further afield.

Malmesbury Park Primary School offers a residential trip in Y6 with children during which they undertake a range of outdoor activities, develop team building skills and enjoy time together, having fun. Visitors with a range of experiences and expertise are invited into school to share their knowledge and skills and to inspire our children; whilst opportunities to work, play and make use of our school grounds all enable our children to benefit from the first-hand experiences that make up our rich curriculum.

• Curriculum Information
• Curriculum Design
• Curriculum Statement 2025

SMSC

SMSC stands for spiritual, moral, social and cultural. All schools in England must show how well their pupils develop in SMSC. Pupils are marked on ability and willing.

Pupils’ spiritual development is shown by their:

• Ability to be reflective about their own beliefs, religious or otherwise, that inform their perspective on life and their interest in and respect for different people’s faiths, feelings and values
• Sense of enjoyment and fascination in learning about themselves, others and the world around them
• Use of imagination and creativity in their learning
• Willingness to reflect on their experiences.

Pupils’ moral development is shown by their:

• The ability to recognise the difference between right and wrong, readily apply this understanding in their own lives and, in so doing, respect the civil and criminal law of England
• Understanding of the consequences of their behaviour and actions
• Interest in investigating and offering reasoned views about moral and ethical issues, and being able to understand and appreciate the viewpoints of others on these issues. Pupils’ social development is shown by their:
• Use of a range of social skills in different contexts, including working and socialising with pupils from different religious, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.
• Willingness to participate in a variety of communities and social settings, including by volunteering, cooperating well with others and being able to resolve conflicts effectively
• Acceptance and engagement with the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs; the pupils develop and demonstrate skills and attitudes that will allow them to participate fully in and contribute positively to life in modern Britain. Pupils’ cultural development is shown by their:
• Understanding and appreciation of the wide range of cultural influences that have shaped their own heritage and that of others
• Understanding and appreciation of the range of different cultures within school and further afield as an essential element of their preparation for life in modern Britain.
• Knowledge of Britain's democratic parliamentary system and its central role in shaping our history and values, and in continuing to develop Britain
• Willingness to participate in and respond positively to artistic, sporting and cultural opportunities
• Interest in exploring, improving understanding of and showing respect for different faiths and cultural diversity, and the extent to which they understand, accept, respect and celebrate diversity, as shown by their tolerance and attitudes towards different religious, ethnic and socio-economic groups in the local, national and global communities.

What cultural education should a child receive?

    By the time a child is seven years old, they should have:

• Regularly take part in different cultural activities, such as reading books and story-telling, arts and crafts, making short animations, singing, music-making and dance.
• Been given the opportunity to visit age-appropriate events and venues, such as a theatre, cinema, concert hall, museum, gallery, library or heritage site.

     By the time a child is eleven years old, they should have enjoyed a high-quality curriculum offer      which includes:

• The opportunity to gain knowledge about Cultural Education subjects and also to explore their own creativity.
• The chance to create, to design, to devise, to compose and to choreograph their own work in collaboration with their classmates.
• The experience of creating a work by themselves, such as writing a story, poem or play text.
• Presenting, displaying and performing to a range of audiences.
• Using arts-specific vocabulary to respond to, evaluate, explain, analyse, question and critique their own other people's artistic works.
• Learning about the application of the latest technology to help them access culture.

     In addition, they will have:

• Been encouraged to be adventurous in their choices of cultural activities, by learning about literature, films, visual arts, crafts, heritage, music and dance that is beyond the scope of their normal everyday engagement.
• Learnt about the people who have created or are creating art forms. They will also have gained knowledge about the historical development of those art forms.
• Had the chance to learn a musical instrument.
• Regularly taken part in singing.
• Taken part in dramatic performances.
• Taken part in workshops with professional artists, craftspeople, architects, musicians, archivists, curators, dancers, film-makers, poets, authors or actors.
• Been on visits at each Key Stage to cultural institutions and venues, which might include a museum, a theatre, a gallery, a heritage site and a cinema.
• Become a regular user of the library.
• Regularly read books for pleasure, rather than only as part of their schoolwork.
• Been encouraged to use digital technology as a means of accessing and gaining a deeper understanding of a great culture.
• Received the support necessary to take an interest or passion further.
• Been made aware of the other activities and resources available to them in their local area.
• Been able to join a lunchtime or after-school club to continue their interests.

Assessment

In 2016, the Government introduced new national curriculum tests (commonly called SATs) to reflect the revised national curriculum launched in 2014. Test results are no longer reported as levels. Scaled scores are used instead to help calculate the new progress measures for school.

What has changed?

The way we measure primary school performance at the end of key stage 2 (KS2) has changed. Instead of measuring progress for individual pupils, the new measures look at progress at a school level. Progress measures provide parents with information to help them understand how their school is performing and to inform school choices.

In order to calculate the school level progress measures, pupils’ results (at KS2) are compared to the achievements of other pupils across the country who had a similar starting point (prior attainment). Prior attainment is based on teacher assessment judgements at key stage 1 (KS1). Schools have progress measures published for 3 subjects: reading, writing and maths.

There are 2 main advantages to the new progress measures:

• They are fairer to schools because we can compare pupils with similar starting points to each other.
• They recognise the progress schools make with all their pupils, highlighting the best schools whose pupils go furthest, whatever their starting point.

What progress measures mean:

Most schools will have progress scores between -5 and +5.

If a school has a progress score of 0, this means that, on average, their pupils achieved similar results at the end of KS2 (end of Y6) to pupils in other schools with similar results at the end of KS1 (end of year 2).

If a school has a positive progress score, this means that on average their pupils made more progress than pupils in other schools with similar results at the end of KS1.

For example: a score of +3 in reading would mean that, on average, pupils at the school got 3 scaled score points more in the KS2 English reading test, compared to other pupils nationally with similar results at the end of KS1.

A negative score does not mean a school has failed or pupils have made no progress. It just means that, on average, their pupils have made less progress than pupils in other schools with similar results at the end of KS1.

Reporting to parents.

We will provide an annual report to parents in July of each academic year for all children across the school. We hold parent consultation meetings in November, March and July. At the start of each academic term, we send home a parent forecast so that you know what your child will be covering in their learning. Further detailed information about the curriculum for your child can also be found on the website. You are always welcome to contact the school to make an appointment to see your child’s class teacher at any time.