Curriculum Overview 2023-2024
Our Curriculum Offer
At Hillside Junior School we have redesigned our curriculum in order to bring a skill and knowledge- based approach to teaching and learning. We teach subjects independently and make reference to the connected curriculum to enhance or consolidate learning where relevant.
We have a broad and balanced curriculum, and children have access to all of these subjects, which are taught in ways appropriate to pupils’ ages and abilities. The differentiated quality first teaching allows all children to succeed across the whole curriculum and become engaged, active and lifelong learners.
Our curriculum offer reflects the National Curriculum and Hillingdon Religious Education Syllabus and is detailed in our curriculum overview. Our whole school curriculum overview has been developed to provide opportunities to revisit and build on prior learning and is reviewed annually. This overview informs lesson plans. We plan our lessons with clear learning objectives. Our differentiated lesson plans provide information about the relevant vocabulary, tasks set, the resources needed, the learning outcomes and success criteria.
Curriculum Intent – what our curriculum is trying to achieve:
- Every child will develop a love of learning and be inspired to achieve their full potential.
- Ensure our children experience a wide breadth of study and develop a long term memory of an ambitious body of skills and knowledge.
- Develop children’s knowledge, understanding and skills sequentially through a progressive curriculum model. This will enable them to learn to apply their understanding and learning to new situations and develop their initiative and resourcefulness.
- Reflect our local context broadening our children’s experience and understanding.
- Provide opportunities for our children to develop a wide knowledge and awareness of the wider community and the diverse world in which we live.
- Encourage children to seek opportunities and experiences, to aspire to succeed in learning, thus preparing them for their next stage of education and their adult lives.
- Recognise the rich cultural background of our community and embed language opportunities across the curriculum so that our children are fluent in Standard English.
Everything we do, including the curriculum is underpinned by the school's values (respect, resilience, resourcefulness, reflection, responsibility and relationships), British Values, Spiritual Moral Social and Cultural (SMSC) and our drive to deliver a high quality education for all of our pupils.
Curriculum Implementation – what we do in order to deliver our intent:
We focus the curriculum on excellence and enjoyment at the same time as fulfilling the government National Curriculum requirements. Our curriculum is delivered using a variety of approaches and resources depending on the nature of the subject being taught and the needs of the children. We believe that learning is achieved in each lesson and over time. Consequently, we deliver a curriculum with opportunities for spaced repetition building on prior learning. We enable children to make links within and across subjects to achieve a greater depth of understanding.
We aim to make learning creative, fun, challenging and purposeful with realistic and meaningful contexts for the children, through the use of enrichment activities. Pupils will sometimes work individually, as part of a group or within a whole class setting, depending upon the nature of the activity and the particular learning outcomes the teacher intends.
We engage in a continuous cycle of monitoring, evaluation and improvement, focussing on different areas of the curriculum dependent on need.
Please click on the links below to view our Curriculum Overviews for 2023-24. If you require further information, please speak to your child's class teacher.