ArundelThe 3 'i' s at ACE
What is the intent of our curriculum?
Our Curriculum has been designed to ensure each and every child can 'live life in all its fullness' by offering stimulating and awe-inspiring learning experiences with our three Christian values at its heart.
It is bespoke to the needs of the pupils at Arundel Church of England Primary School (ACE), not only by focussing on appropriate subject specific knowledge, skills and understanding as set out in the National Curriculum, but by developing individual and collaborative learning experiences, a positive growth mindset, a sense of responsibility, and the emergence of encouraging children to see beyond their own horizon, in the same way as Plato describes in his allegory of the cave (Republic, 514a – 519c).
At ACE our curriculum is constantly evolving, responding to the needs of learners and their interests by enhancing learning experiences and raising awareness from the local area to national and global arenas. We use our local area to drive hands-on learning and allow the children to make connections between local history and national history. Thus, we develop outward looking pupils who are able to engage in learning about themselves, their European and global neighbours and have an understanding of the wider world and its complex cultures.
How have we implemented our curriculum?
Through quality teaching of knowledge, skills and vocabulary across core and foundation subjects, all children are challenged to be inquisitive, compassionate, courageous and creative learners. Opportunities are planned to influence their own learning through age-appropriate and progressive themes and topics. Interdisciplinary work enables the teaching of concepts and skills in one or more disciplines (subjects).
Effective learning characteristics include resilience, ambition, reflection and imagination. These characteristics will drive teaching and learning at our school, developing the dynamic spiral curriculum.
How do we measure the impact of our curriculum?
Our children have a confident set of skills, rich knowledge, well embedded learning behaviours and Christian values which can be used to get ahead in education and life more generally.
This enables them to be ready for their next stage in education and to become lifelong learners.
The curriculum enhances breadth of learning, depth of enjoyment and recall and emotional capacity for spiritual, social and emotional engagement.
Our formal assessment tests include: Star Maths, Star Reader and GAPS (Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling). These are used to monitor children's progress for each term. These tests produce a ‘standardised score’ which is converted to show whether a child is Below, Working Towards, at Expected, or at Greater Depth than their age related expectation (ARE). Our aim is for all children to score 100 or more. Children's writing is teacher-assessed.