CURRICULUM OVERVIEW
My Place in the World
Our curriculum aims to nurture in our pupil’s a curiosity about the world around them – to ignite within them a real passion for learning. We strongly believe in bringing learning to life and offering all the children at Camp a curriculum that is exciting, purposeful and relevant for the world that they live in. It will enable them to grow, both in the knowledge and understanding they have, but also into the responsible citizens they need to be in the future, to take up their place in the world.
PSHE is at the core of what we do and enables our children to become independent, confident, healthy and responsible members of our society. Through our bespoke whole school approach, we support the children to develop intellectually, socially, morally and spiritually. In an ever changing society, we provide our children with a strong understanding of the diverse world around them and support them in playing a positive role in contributing to the school and the wider community.
Weaving through the heart of our curriculum are our three curriculum drivers: Global and Local Community; Spiritual and Moral; Environment. We use the drivers to underpin the learning and experiences we provide at Camp, in each term and in every year group, and our curriculum offer is enriched by these consistent foci. They drive our intention to develop in all our pupils their understanding of “My place in the world”.
Global and Local Community
We want children at Camp to be aware of the wider world and have a sense of their role as a global citizen. Children will participate and contribute to our school and local community as well as recognising that they are part of a wider global community. We want children to be explicitly taught how their actions can have a positive impact on the world. They will respect and value diversity, learn about social justice, challenge stereotypes and be willing to act to make the world a more equitable place to be.
Spiritual and Moral
We want the children at Camp to demonstrate a deep respect for different people’s faiths, feelings and values. We believe that by establishing a strong moral code and a focus on individual well being, it will have a positive impact on the way children view the religious and cultural diversity in other people’s lives.
Environment
We want children to learn in our beautiful school outdoor environment and make use of our extensive grounds and allotments to connect with nature. We want them to care about environmental issues that affect them and the world around them. Our children need to be equipped with the skills and knowledge to make decisions that will impact on the local environment and the planet as a whole. A think global, act local approach is built into our curriculum at Camp and through our commitment to being an Eco school.
Our curriculum is broad and balanced in terms of subject coverage, ambitious in its aim for all pupils to access the content and make progress through it and is underpinned by current research. We have worked in consultation with our school stakeholders to develop a curriculum that is shared and understood by all and responds to the needs of our pupils in our learning community.
The impact of our curriculum will be seen through every child achieving academically to reach their full potential. The children will leave us as socially and emotional literate individuals with an enhanced cultural awareness. They will be lifelong learners ready and equipped to make a contribution to society and to take up their place in the world.
Early Years Foundation Stage
Our Nursery and Reception class follows the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework which sets the standards that school and childcare providers must meet for the learning, development and care of children from birth to 5.
The framework sets the standards that all early years providers must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well, ensures children are kept healthy and safe ensures that children have the knowledge and skills they need to start school.
At Camp in the Early Years learn children learn through play and through the positive relationships and stimulating environment they are immersed in. They are encouraged to learn from their mistakes, take risks and are supported to feel confident to do this within our setting. We recognise that children develop quickly in the Early Years and believe a child’s experiences, early on, will have a major impact and shape their future life chances.
The children are taught through a mixture of Adult directed activities and child initiated learning opportunities and are questioned and supported by our team of dedicated staff who ensure the children are happy and excited to learn and are ready and prepared for the next stage of their development.
If you would like to view the Statutory Framework EYFS, please click here.
STEPS TO SUCCESS IN THE EARLY YEARS AT CAMP
| By the end of Early Years at Camp I will know | What we will put in place to achieve this |
|---|---|
| My place in the world | |
| To have a sense of belonging To have respect for self, others and the environment showing kindness To understand similarities and differences. To understand they have choices and are not defined by gender, culture, ethnicity, religion | Small group time spent sharing about our families, our lives, our interests. Enable children to follow their interests Activities to enable sharing, turn taking, kindness to take place Teach PSED and PBs from plans Encourage decision making |
| How to communicate my needs | |
| To listen actively To respond appropriately To communicate effectively through a variety of ways-speech, signs, gestures To mark make To write a sentence | Use open ended questions to encourage conversations Support and extend children's speaking during CIL Use of Welcomm for assessment Teaching sign language-Makaton signs Use and explicity teach rich vocabulary Phase 2-4 phonics |
| How to be independent | |
| To be able to make decisions To make informed choices To feel confident in their ability do things for themselves and help others | Create an environment where children can select resources and tidy them away knowing where they belong Help children to understand it is okay to make mistakes and try again Teach our golden rules Opportunities to model and explore healthy lifestyles |
| How to love stories and be excited about books | |
| Choose to engage with stories Use books for a purpose Recall familiar stories and rhymes To identify sounds and read words | High quality books Adults excited about reading Use of puppets and props in story telling Phase 1 phonics Phase 2-4 phonics Visit our library and understand how to care for books |
| How to be curious and will have developed an active imagination | |
| To have an appetite for learning To express themselves and follow their own investigation To be able to express themselves freely To have a can do attitude to problem solving To have an interest in number and an ability to subitise | Provide experiences to listen to a wide variety of music, explore the sounds of instruments, move to music Share celebrations Staff to challenge sterotypes and help children to open their minds Resources to give children opportunities to create, paint, make Opportunities to count, collect, arrange, group, sort and categorise |
| About our natural world and will have a love of the outdoors | |
| To be able to identify features of their outdoor environment To take a risk To understand the need for appropriate clothes in all weathers | Daily opportunities to enjoy being outside Provide a stimulating, exciting outside area where children want to be Talk about the weather and an understanding of seasons. Therefore enabling children to make their own decisions about the clothing they wear outside |
| How to move purposefully | |
| To move around the environment with ease and control To feel confident to manipulate a range of tools and resources | Expose them to a range of gross motor experiences Encouraging them to engage their hands by providing a variety of fine motor opportunities |
Our Early Years Environment
Our Nursery and Reception are set across two large classrooms. The classrooms are spacious and bright, and have access to our outdoor learning environment. This is being developed into defined areas and includes a canopy area which enables children to play outside in all weathers, a climbing area with stepping stones, a bridge and wooden boat, a mud kitchen, a construction area, water play, a large art wall, an investigation, sensory and bug hotel area, a brand new giant sand pit and a great range of interactive play equipment.
SUBJECT CURRICULUMS
The curriculum for each of our subject areas can be accessed using the buttons below.
English
Maths
SCIENCE
COMPUTING
HISTORY
GEOGRAPHY
MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGE
FOREST SCHOOLS
FOCUS WEEKS
ENRICHMENT
British Values
To find out more about our Termly Overviews, please click here.
To find out how we make our curriculum accessible to those with disabilities or SEND, please click here.
If after looking at our website you would like more information about our curriculum, please email admin@camp.herts.sch.uk and your enquiry will be directed to the appropriate subject leader.