Curriculum

This section of the website outlines the Athelney curriculum of what is taught, why we teach it and how it is taught to each year group. If you require more information on any parts of the curriculum please firstly contact your child's class teacher or Mr Simms the Deputy Headteacher who oversees curriculum for the school.

Statement of Intent

Success for Today, Prepared for Tomorrow. Nothing is Beyond our Reach

The Curriculum offer at The King Alfred Federation is aspirational and designed to maximise learning opportunities for all pupils.

We value safety and nurture aspirations. Our school offers a safe, secure, consistent and inclusive environment for our families, pupil’s and local community.  Our school is culturally diverse and linguistically rich with a range of faiths. We develop pupil’s characters through a carefully planned, implemented and adaptable curriculum.

Our values underpin our curriculum intent and delivery and support our community’s social cohesion.

Our School Values

1. Resilience

2. Responsibility

3. Respect

4. Community

5. Confidence

6. Collaboration

As a school in an urban setting our broad and balanced curriculum is designed to enable our pupils to achieve at least in line with their peers nationally in all aspects of the curriculum.

We value oracy and our curriculum is designed to enable our pupils to understand the power of language and give them the ability to articulate themselves, both in writing and verbally, highly effectively.

All pupils in our Federation have access to an agreed diet of cultural experiences in order to:

1. Build up pupil’s cultural capital and give them a sophisticated awareness and enjoyment of the arts and culture.
2. Engender pupils with a sense of social confidence in a number of cultural and social settings.
3. Teach pupils the socially appropriate behaviours in a range of settings.
4. Enable pupils to experience learning in a broad range of contexts.
5. Allow pupils to use knowledge acquired in school in different settings.
6. Give pupils opportunities to deepen knowledge and make connections between different parts of learning.

The King Alfred Federation has designed a spiral curriculum to build on pupils prior learning, revisit knowledge and allow transference of knowledge to different aspects of the curriculum. 

All pupils have access and are integrated into the curriculum. We recognise some of our pupils need support to overcome barriers to learning and give them the life skills and support to access learning and make progress. We work with a range of outside professionals in order to meet these differing requirements.

Assessment is used in core subjects to identify and close gaps thus ensuring progress across curriculum. Pupils have ownership of reviewing and evaluating own learning and form an integral part of school evaluation process.

Literacy

We aim to promote a love of writing and reading (modelling of writing, visits to the library, outings, visitors, WOW openers for new topics). Enhance speaking and listening skills by providing a range of activities and opportunities for children to take part in. Give the children the chance to share their ideas and passions with others. Allow the children to identify their own progress. Explore different text types and authors. Share writing of different text types to allow the children to excel in their own areas of interest. Foster the learning relationship between home and school through homework and parent-focused support sessions. Develop handwriting with a clear policy, and time each day to practice this specific skill.  GPS is taught discretely and incorporated into their literacy lessons. Writing is led by Miss McMahon.

Phonics

Phonics is taught throughout EYFS and Key Stage 1. As a school we use Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised which a Government approved Systematic Synthetic Phonics (SSP) programme. We have been working closely with South London Teaching Hub to implement this scheme since September 2021. 

The Little Wandle SSP is designed so there is:

• sufficient support for children in reception and key stage 1 to become fluent readers
• a structured route for most children to meet or exceed the expected standard in the year one phonics screening check
• all national curriculum expectations for word reading through decoding by the end of key stage 1
• Children in EYFS and KS1 will have daily whole class sessions in phonics. Where misconceptions or gaps in learning are identified children will have additional sessions.

In KS2 children who still require phonics support e.g. those who have not passed the Year 2 phonics assessment will receive support either individually or in small groups.

Reading

Developing a love of reading is key and children are encouraged to read for pleasure. Throughout the school reading is taught daily and children regularly read with adults in school. In KS2 we use Destination reader which involves daily sessions incorporating whole class modelling prior to the children applying these skills through partner work and independent reading. Children deepen their understanding of the texts they read through the systematic use of a series of strategies and language stems. 

The approach encompasses the key principles of effective reading provision and fully meets the requirements of the National Curriculum by creating deep understanding of texts, developing oracy around reading and increasing breadth of reading. Destination Reader also helps to build a culture of reading for pleasure and purpose.

We children’s reading level throughout the year and interventions are put in place for any children who have gaps in their reading ability.

Phonics and Reading are led by Mrs Hall.

Maths. 

Maths is taught through a daily maths lesson which follows the programmes of study in the National Curriculum. Our principle focus is to ensure that children develop confidence and mental fluency when dealing with mathematical concepts.

We use Big Maths to support the planning and teaching of maths skills. Children take part in daily mental maths session where they learn key facts, how these are related to each other as well as calculation skills. These sessions are called ‘CLIC’ sessions and are very popular with the children.

Children complete weekly timed challenges where they compete against themselves to see if they can complete questions faster and more accurately week on week. These are called 'Learn its' and children take these home so that parents can support their learning. 

The application of practical maths and reasoning is very important and children use maths in real life situations and to solve many problems throughout their learning during the week.

Our Maths Leader is Ms Townsend.

Science

Science in our schools gives children the opportunity to be inquisitive, to explore and find out about the world around them.  As they progress through the school, the children carry out practical investigations with greater independence and have the opportunity to research information and use a variety of equipment and resources to test out their ideas. Year on year building on their scientific knowledge and skills. In their work children develop a variety of strategies to analyse what they have found out and are encouraged to record their findings accordingly.

Our Science Leader is Mrs McNally

Art and Design

Children have the opportunity to work with a wide range of media and materials to develop their skills and techniques in Art and Design.  These include the use of paint, pastel, charcoal, textile and clay.  They are encouraged to express themselves creatively in both 2D and 3D, indoors and outdoors.  Often, children study the work of another artist, considering how a piece was made and how it made them feel.  They discuss and evaluate their own work and that of their peers.  Children’s art work is valued and displayed prominently throughout the school.

Our Art and DT Leader is Mrs Rhys-Davies.

Computing

This is taught as a discrete subject, as well as being used to support cross-curricular learning. Pupils are taught a range of knowledge and skills. They use word-processing, multimedia, graphics, data handling and modelling software. Children have good access to computers, laptop banks, digital cameras and programmable toys.

Since September 2014 the core content of computing taught in primary schools is computer science. Pupils are taught the principles of information and computation, how digital systems work, how to put this knowledge to use through creating programmes.

Our teaching is enriched by the supervision and expert tuition of Mr Black, a teacher from our IT support company.

Our Computing Lead is Mrs Tejero Penco

Design Technology (DT)

Children are encouraged to develop their skills in D.T. through practical tasks and projects.  They are invited to find solutions to a range of problems.  Children are engaged in their own designing and planning, testing of ideas, and product creations.  They discuss, evaluate and amend their solutions/ products throughout the project, and support each other to improve upon original ideas. 

History and Geography

We strive to make children curious about the past and to ask questions about people’s lives through history. Children study key historical figures, thinking about the impact that these people have had on our lives today.  Children also study key moments in the history of Britain and the world, including looking at the history of our local area.  Living in London, we are surrounded by a rich history and trips to different places of significance are encouraged.

We aim to create a culture of curiosity and fascination with the world around us. Children study the local area, looking at the human and physical features around them. They also study a range of other countries, comparing where they live to the other places in the world.

Children develop geographical skills such as map work and data collection through their topic work.

We believe that Humanities need to be ‘experienced’ and organise a number of events to ensure this happen.    

History and Geography at Athelney is led by Mrs George

MFL

At Athelney we teach Spanish to children across the school. Children are introduced to the language through songs and games lower down the school and as their skills develop they undertake more challenging work.

MFL is led by Mrs Williams

Music

We provide the children with a wealth of musical experiences and opportunities to develop their skills and understanding of how music is made. The content of the music curriculum includes using sounds and music to make responses, singing in parts as well as unison, playing a whole array of percussion and other instruments; composition and music appreciation. Music appreciation is very important and children are exposed to a wide range of music from different countries and eras. Our Music Lead is Mrs Hall.

We have opportunities for children to do music tuition sessions with musicians from Rock Steady, an external company. These sessions can be booked via the school office and incur a membership fee. Please contact Mrs Williams in the school office for more information. 

Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) and Citizenship

Personal, Social and Health Education encourages children to take responsibility for their own health and well-being. PSHE will enable children to develop important life skills, such as how to react in difficult situations, and to learn about rights and responsibilities for themselves and others. In doing this, it is anticipated that self-confidence and esteem will be promoted.

The federation curriculum is designed so that children leave us with the knowledge and skills to become responsible citizens in today’s world. 

Our PSHE Leader is Mrs McFarlane.

Physical Education (PE)

Physical Education is an essential part of school life at the federation and children have the opportunity to develop a variety of skills, confidence and self-esteem through a wide range of sporting activities. We have sports coaches who teach high quality lessons and provide training to class teachers.

The PE curriculum extends beyond the school day and a varied selection of extra-curricular clubs are offered during the school week. We are lucky to have a small swimming pool at Athelney and children from Nursery ( aged 4 and above ) up to Year 2 have weekly swimming lessons. Year 3 children have swimming lessons at Downham Leisure Centre.

The schools participate in many local competitions and have enjoyed some success over the years.

Our PE Leader is Miss Hedington and has recently worked hard to obtain the Healthy Early Years London Gold Award.

Religious Education (RE)

We follow the Lewisham Agreed syllabus for RE.  Children study key parts of the world’s six major religions, including key celebrations, special foods and dress.  Children also visit a range of places of worship throughout their time at our schools.

Our RE Leader is Miss Parsons