Reading for Pleasure
At Whitgreave, we think reading should be fun! We promote this in a range of ways, including having events throughout the year such as World Book Day and a range of competitions for children to take part in.
We have a wonderful school library full of amazing children’s books and children have opportunities to visit this and select a book to read for pleasure – these books may not be matched to their current reading level but can be used to read together at home. You will also notice our love of reading throughout school as we have so many amazing book corners in our classrooms and lots of bookcases in our corridors showcasing some fabulous stories or non-fiction.
Writing
The programmes of study for Writing at Key Stages 1 and 2 consist of transcription (spelling and handwriting) and composition (articulating ideas and structuring them in speech and writing).
Writing has a well-developed profile at Whitgreave Primary School: we believe children’s ability to do this clearly and with confidence is the key to success in all areas of the curriculum, as well as their future life. In order to make good progression in writing, children need to:
- Enjoy writing and recognise its value;
- Write with confidence, clarity and imagination;
- Write grammatically correct sentences that are punctuated accurately;
- Understand the features of and how to write in a range of genres and non-fiction texts;
- Plan, draft, revise and edit their own writing;
- Develop an adventurous and broad vocabulary;
- Know their next steps and how they can make their writing better;
- Use phonological knowledge and spelling rules to spell accurately.
In Key Stage 1 and 2, all units of work in English follow a learning journey, starting with reading and analysing texts and ending with a quality, published piece of writing which is displayed in quality books or showcased on display in the classroom.
Useful Resources
Year 1 English Curriculum Map
Year 2 English Curriculum Map
Year 3 English Curriculum Map
Year 4 English Curriculum Map
Year 5 English Curriculum Map
Year 6 English Curriculum Map
Below are some useful websites to support your child in English.
http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/literacy/index.htm
https://grammarsaurus.co.uk/portal/free-materials/
https://vocabularyninja.co.uk/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zt3rkqt
Science
Science at Whitgreave:
Science is a core subject and, as such, has a very high profile in school. There’s a real enthusiasm for Science throughout the school, with the children always speaking very highly of the engaging and exciting lessons that are taught. We are very proud of the fact that we have been awarded the Primary Science Quality Mark three times, and have received several Science grants – which just goes to show how dedicated we are to Science here at Whitgreave!
The Science Curriculum:
The National Curriculum is followed for Science, which – in Years 1-6 – takes approximately five half terms to complete each year. The remaining half term is given over to the children, who can make the decision to investigate something that they have already learnt about, but take it further; or go in a completely different direction and try something totally unrelated to anything they’ve previously studied!
Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS):
In EYFS, Science is included in the “Understanding the World” strand. Within this strand, children learn about aspects of science through the following areas:
The world: children know about similarities and differences in relation to places, objects, materials and living things. They talk about the features of their own immediate environment and how environments might vary from one another. They make observations of animals and plants and explain why some things occur, and talk about changes.
Technology: children recognise that a range of technology is used in places such as homes and schools. They select and use technology for particular purposes.
Key Stage 1 programme of study:
Year 1:
- Plants – studying common plants and trees,
- Animals, including Humans – identifying fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, and understanding carnivores, herbivores and omnivores,
- Everyday Materials – identifying and naming materials including wood, plastic, glass, metal, water and rock, and learning about their properties,
- Seasonal Changes – learning about the changes across the four seasons, including the weather and day length.
Year 2:
- Living Things and their Habitats – looking at how animals are suited to where they live, exploring food sources through food chains,
- Plants – observing how bulbs and seeds grow, understanding what plants need to stay healthy,
- Animals, including Humans – finding out about the basic needs of humans, understanding about exercise, food and hygiene,
- Uses of Everyday Materials – learning about the suitability of materials for particular uses, understanding how some materials can change shape.
Key Stage 2 programme of study:
Year 3:
- Plants – learning about the different parts of a plant, how water is transported and the life cycle of a flowering plant,
- Animals including Humans – looking at nutrition and the role of skeletons and muscles,
- Rocks – comparing rocks, understanding fossil formation and understanding what soil is made from,
- Light – learning about reflection and shadows,
- Forces and Magnets – observing how magnets can attract and repel, comparing how things move on different surfaces.
Year 4:
- Living Things and their Habitats – using classification keys and understanding environmental changes,
- Animals including Humans – understanding the digestive system, functions of teeth and constructing food chains,
- States of Matter – comparing and grouping solids, liquids and gases, heating and cooling, condensation and evaporation,
- Sound – identifying how sounds are made, learning about pitch and volume,
- Electricity – constructing simple circuits, identifying insulators and conductors.
Year 5:
- Living Things and their Habitats – life cycles of mammals, amphibians, insects and birds, reproduction in some animals and plants,
- Animals including Humans – describing the changes as humans develop to old age,
- Properties and Changes of Materials – comparing and grouping everyday materials, dissolving and mixing, separating materials, reversible and irreversible changes,
- Earth and Space – describing the movement of the Earth, Moon and other planets, understanding day and night,
- Forces – understanding gravity, air and water resistance, using levers, pulleys and gears.
Year 6:
- Living Things and their Habitats – classifying living things, including micro-organisms,
- Animals including Humans – understanding the circulatory and digestive systems, recognising the impact of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on the function of the human body,
- Evolution and Inheritance – identifying how plants and animals are adapted to suit their environment, understanding how characteristics are passed from parents to their offspring,
- Light – understanding how light travels and how we see things, researching shadow shapes,
- Electricity – investigating brightness of lamps and volume of buzzers, representing simple circuits in diagrams.
As you can see, some programmes of study are taught solely in one year group, while others appear in multiple year groups. However, when this occurs, the National Curriculum is structured in such a way as to avoid repetition and provide extension and challenge.
Science lessons:
At Whitgreave we place a lot of emphasis on Working Scientifically, where the children take the lead and investigate for themselves. To ensure that the elements of investigation (asking questions, making predictions, observing and measuring, recording results, writing conclusions, evaluating) are embedded, only one is focused on during a lesson, with the other elements begin completed as a whole class. We also ensure that the 5 strands of Scientific Enquiry are threaded through the children’s Science lessons, which are: Identifying and Classifying, Pattern Seeking, Comparative and Fair Testing, Observing over Time and Research using Secondary Sources.
As part of our Primary Science Quality Mark (PSQM) Award, staff and pupils created a Science Vision and Principles document. They are referred to during lessons and displayed on each class’s Science Working Wall.
Vision and Principles
Teachers can track the children’s progress using our Science Milestones, which feature the required elements of subject knowledge for each Year Group, plus the appropriate Working Scientifically objectives.
Science Ambassadors:
Every class in the school elects a Science Ambassador and Deputy Science Ambassador at the start of the new school year. They have a very important role within Science lessons, and proudly wear a lab coat and ID badge! They support other children in lessons and help the teacher with equipment. In the Autumn Term, they are given a clipboard filled with Science stickers, which they can give out to children who do excellent work in their Science lessons. In the Spring Term, certificates are added to the clipboard to further reward children’s contributions and postcards, which can be sent home to tell parents of their child’s achievements! Finally, in the Summer Term, a camera is given to them – so that they can take photos of the learning. Science Ambassadors report back to the Science Lead to discuss the learning that has been taking place. They also help out with planning any special Science events that take place during the school year, and tidying the Science Cupboard!
Other Science opportunities:
A Science Club takes place in the Summer Term every year. Children are invited to take part, including our Gifted and Talented Scientists, and they have a great time doing a wide variety of fun, messy and sometimes loud experiments!
The children also have the opportunity to go on visits. A couple of more recent examples are the Think Tank in Birmingham, and Gifted and Talented workshops at the Black Country Living Museum). These visits support, enhance and extend the learning that takes places in the classroom. We also have visitors in school, or virtually (recent events include a Magic Science workshop, a STEM workshop, a Space VR experience and a visit from ‘The Animal Man’), to lead assemblies, demonstrate experiments and host lessons. The children’s learning is enhanced further during British Science Week – which falls in March each year – where afternoons are devoted to Science activities outside of the National Curriculum areas of study.
If you want to explore Science at home, you can look out for Family Science activity letters, which are sent out each term, as well as other opportunities like Science poster competitions and Science Fair events. Here are just a few of the many websites out there that you might find interesting and/or fun!
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/
http://easyscienceforkids.com/
http://www.exploratorium.edu/science_explorer/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/z6svr82
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/z2pfb9q
http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/science/index.html
https://www.scienceforkidsclub.com/
https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/
Computing
At Whitgreave Primary School, our aim is to enable all staff and pupils to be confident, creative, competent, and independent users of ICT. Our Computing curriculum is designed to equip children to actively participate in a rapidly and ever changing environment, where work and leisure activities are increasingly influenced by technology. Our Computing curriculum is based on Teach Computing, however, it has been adapted and personalised especially for the children at Whitgreave, often drawing on cross-curricular themes and topics.
We are continually adapting to the needs of our children and we strive to give them the best that we can. Throughout our school, all classrooms and learning areas are fully equipped with a range of equipment, including: wireless computers, interactive Smartboards, projection and sound facilities. A further range of equipment and facilities are available, including laptops, a computing suite, blue bots and iPads to enhance teaching and learning.
The Curriculum
We have a progressive curriculum which covers Digital Literacy and Communication, Coding and E-safety.In EYFS, the children have access to a range of IT equipment during continuous provision to enhance and extend their learning. The children participate in E-safety lessons to help them understand Internet safety and the dangers they may come across as they explore the world around them.
In KS1 and 2 we follow the Teach Computing scheme of work for Computing and Project Evolve for E-safety.
In Key Stage 1, the children will learn to understand what algorithms are; how they are implemented as programs on digital devices; and, that programs execute by following precise and unambiguous instructions. They will be taught to create and debug simple programs and use logical reasoning to predict the behaviour of simple programs. They will be shown how to use a range of technology purposefully to create, organise, store, manipulate and retrieve digital content as well as recognise common uses of information technology beyond school. They will be taught to use technology safely and respectfully, keeping personal information private; identify where to go for help and support when they have concerns about content or contact on the Internet or other online technologies. Each of these skills will be taught through exciting half termly units.
In Key Stage 2 the children will design, write and debug programs that accomplish specific goals, including controlling or simulating physical systems; solving problems by decomposing them into smaller parts. They will use sequence, selection, and repetition in programs, use logical reasoning to explain how some simple algorithms work and correct errors in algorithms and programs. Children will be taught to understand computer networks, including the Internet, and the opportunities they offer for communication and collaboration. They will use search technologies effectively, learn to appreciate how results are selected and ranked, and be discerning in evaluating digital content. Children will be taught to select, use and combine a variety of software (including Internet services) on a range of digital devices to create a range of programs, systems and content that accomplish given goals. They will use technology safely, respectfully and responsibly, recognise acceptable/unacceptable behaviour and identify a range of ways to report concerns about content and contact.
Our children are taught a progressive E-Safety curriculum from EYFS to Y6, covering Self Image and Identity, Online Relationships, Online Reputation, Online Bullying, Managing Online Information, Health, Well-being and Lifestyle, Copyright and Ownership and Privacy and Security. Reception to Year 6 are taught these topics in half termly E-safety lessons, within the Personal Development curriculum and through cross curricular links. The whole school takes part in Safer Internet Day yearly and E-safety assemblies are also delivered throughout the year.
E-safety
At Whitgreave Primary School, we use a wide range of resources, including web-based and mobile technologies to deliver our curriculum. All staff have a responsibility to educate our children on E-safety issues; teaching them appropriate behaviours and critical thinking skills to enable them to remain safe when using the Internet and related technologies, in and beyond the context of the classroom.
Whitgreave Primary School’s E-safety Policy and Acceptable Use Policy (for all staff, governors, visitors, parents and pupils) are inclusive of fixed and mobile Internet technologies provided by the school (such as PCs, laptops, iPads, webcams, interactive whiteboards, digital cameras and video equipment) and technologies owned by the children and staff that are brought onto school premises (such as mobile phones, camera phones and portable media players). In school we have a comprehensive firewall, which blocks access to inappropriate or offensive sites. Our Internet use is also monitored across school. Our staff also take part in annual E-Safety training and receive regular E-safety updates throughout the year on current policy and dangers.
To help families to keep up with the technology that their children are using online and give guidance on how to deal with current issues, we provide parents with information, through the website, safeguarding newsletters and booklets. In lessons, we teach children the skills to recognise and know what to do if they see or read anything that may not be appropriate- an important skill both in and outside school.
PSHE
At Whitgreave, PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education) is taught under an umbrella that teachers and children call ‘Personal Development’. We labelled it this so that staff and children were really clear about how PSHE, RE, SMSC, BV and our Pupil Power Passports all align to support the personal development of the pupils. In these lessons, we look at life in our community, we learn how to be effective, responsible children. We challenge stereotypes and work together to be a cohesive team that cares for one another.
Humanities
Humanities at Whitgreave consists of History, Geography, Religious Education (RE) and Modern Foreign Languages (MFL).
MFL
MFL at Whitgreave is taught to provide an opening to other cultures, foster curiosity in children and deepen their understanding of the world. We aim to enable children to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to speakers, both in speech and in writing, wherever possible.
Every year, children from EYFS to Year 6 are immersed in the French language and culture, for our whole school French Day. All children participate in a range of activities in class, including locating French speaking countries using globes and atlases, creating pieces of art inspired by French artists, researching famous French people and playing games to help with vocabulary learning. Children dress in the colours of the French flag, ‘le tricolore’, and enjoyed tasting some typical French breakfast food. This is a very popular themed-day in school, which both children and teachers enjoy!
Geography
At Whitgreave, Geography aims to spark curiosity about the natural and human worlds and to encourage pupils to ask and answer meaningful questions from different perspectives. Through the study of places and environments across the globe, children develop strong map skills, geographical knowledge, and a deeper understanding of how people and places are interconnected.
Geography plays a vital role in helping pupils explore issues such as sustainability, environmental change, and global responsibility. By encountering diverse societies and cultures, children are inspired to reflect on their own place in the world, their values, and their responsibilities to others and the environment.
Fieldwork is an important part of our approach, giving pupils opportunities to observe, investigate, and record the features of their local area and beyond. These experiences bring geography to life, allowing children to apply their skills in real-world contexts.
Each lesson is rooted in Whitgreave’s bespoke Geography Knowledge and Skills framework, ensuring pupils build the key skills required of a geographer. To further embed learning, every classroom displays a World Map used across the curriculum to identify significant places and make meaningful connections to ongoing topics.
History
During History lessons, children are taught to think like a historian and utilise the skills needed to develop a good understanding of the past. This is supported by our ‘History Knowledge and Skills’ which underpin all of our lessons. They are taught how to use primary and secondary sources to find clues to build their own theory about what life was like in past societies and how these influence the present. We encourage our children to be curious learners and to ask questions to develop their knowledge of the past both in Britain and the wider world.
Throughout the curriculum, we carefully plan in opportunities to bring history to life – for example, this can be through a visitor coming into school, providing opportunities for children to visit historical sites or handling artefacts. Not only this, each unit begins with our ‘History Mystery’! This involves children using their problem solving skills to uncover the context of their new History topic.
In order to develop their understanding of chronology, children work together as a class to develop a timeline of significant events and people. This is then displayed in our classrooms and follows the children through school. We not only utilise this in History lessons, but across the curriculum.
When designing our curriculum, we wanted to ensure it allowed children to better understand the diverse world around them. One way we do this is by ensuring that children are taught about significant individuals, including women and those from minority groups. We also discuss how the roles and treatment of individuals has changed over time.
An understanding of their local community is also important, therefore children learn about how this has changed over time and even complete a study of the Whitgreave family to discover who the school is named after!
RE
RE at Whitgreave focuses on helping children to reflect upon the experiences and mysteries of life and the contribution of religion to our daily lives. At Whitgreave, we endeavour to make RE stimulating, with real life experiences and a forum where prejudice and stereotyping can be challenged and discussed in a safe way. The school curriculum aims to promote spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development and prepare all children for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life. There is a strong like between our RE, PSHE, SMSC and British Values teaching across the school. We aim to provide opportunities for all pupils to visit the place of worship for the religion they are learning about to enhance their learning and understanding.
