At The Federation of Thomas Wall Nursery and Robin Hood Infants we follow a creative curriculum in both the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1. Children enjoy learning through an exciting and engaging curriculum that is enriched through school trips, extra-curricular activities, themed weeks and special days.

Our curriculum is based on three drivers:

The first is to develop WHAT the children learn- our focus here is to develop the children’s speech and language skills to enable them to access the curriculum and to help children articulate their feelings, to enable the children to be physically healthy and active, to develop their physical skills and emotional health and ensure that all learning is accessible. 

The second driver is to develop the learning character of our children (HOW our children learn), to teach the children our Learning Powers (resilience, risk taking, communicator, positive relationships, curiosity and a love of learning), promote them in all contexts and enable the children to have lasting memories.  We strive for the children to develop their critical thinking and their creativity so that they are resilient and emotionally mature and to increase their learning by having a positive response to making fabulous mistakes.

The third driver is enabling the children to understand their role in the community and wider world, deepening a respect for other cultures and religions in a diverse and ever changing world and to be the well-rounded and kind individuals the world needs. (WHO our children are)

At The Federation of Thomas wall Nursery and Robin Hood Infants school we want our children to become responsible, active citizens who participate in democracy and public life with respect for diversity. Through our curriculum, where Personal, Social, Health and Citizenship Education is at the heart of our school, we provide opportunities for our children to learn about and celebrate diversity and equality. Pupils are taught the understanding and knowledge of British Values through a variety of ways. We have complied a list of the values the DFE expect and how we inform and educate pupils in these values at our schools.

How to find our more about the curriculum we are following

The information below is intended to give you an overview of the curriculum. To find out more, there are workshops on offer throughout the year and curriculum maps are given out each half term. 

The Early Years Foundation Stage

Children in our Nursery and Reception classes follow the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum. The EYFS curriculum consists of 7 areas of learning.

A love for learning is developed through an exciting play based curriculum that children access through both independent play and focus activities with adults.

Children are encouraged to make connections in their learning through a creative topic based approach led by the children’s interests. Children are able to engage with their learning through an imaginatively resourced free -flow learning environment that enables exploratory and child-initiated play both indoors and outdoors.

The three prime areas are:

Personal Social and Emotional Development

Physical Development

Communication and Language

The four specific areas are:

Literacy

Mathematics

Understanding the World

Expressive Arts and Design

Key Stage 1

We believe it is important that children develop as lively, independent and inquisitive thinkers. Children learn through a topic based creative curriculum that encourages independent learning, critical thinking skills and a healthy lifestyle.

Children are taught a rich, broad and balanced curriculum following the National Curriculum in Key Stage 1. Each class follows a structured timetable that ensures the core subjects of Maths and English are taught on a daily basis and Science is taught weekly. The remaining foundation subjects: Art and Design; Computing; Geography; History; PSHE (Relationship Health Education); RE; Physical Education and Music are taught throughout the week.

Teachers consistently observe and assess children’s learning to ensure all children make progress across the curriculum.

We develop children’s skills, knowledge and understanding through four stages of learning that are integral to all the topics of ‘Engage, Develop, Innovate, Express’.

Engage

At the ‘Engage’ stage, children:

• gain memorable first-hand experiences, such as going on a visit or inviting a special visitor into school
• enjoy ‘WOW’ experiences
• get an exciting introduction to a topic or theme
• begin researching and setting enquiry questions
• get lots of opportunities to make observations
• develop spoken language skills
• take part in sensory activities
• have lots of fun to fully 'engage' with their new topic.

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Develop

At the ‘Develop’ stage, children:

• improve their knowledge and understanding of the topic
• develop and practise their new skills
• compose, make, do, build, investigate, explore, write for different purposes and read across the curriculum
• research their own questions and those set by others
• follow new pathways of enquiry based on their interests
• complete homework activities that support their learning. 

Innovate

At the ‘Innovate’ stage, children:

• apply skills, knowledge and understanding in real-life contexts
• solve real or imagined problems using everything they’ve learnt
• get inspired by imaginative and creative opportunities
• re-visit anything not fully grasped at the ‘Develop’ stage.

Express

At the ‘Express’ stage, children:

• become the performers, experts and informers
• share their achievements with parents, classmates and the community
• evaluate finished products and processes
• link what they have learnt to where they started
• celebrate their achievement

Year One Topic Map