Curriculum
At Southwick, our curriculum is carefully designed to meet the needs of all children. We want our pupils to achieve well and develop a life-long love of learning. We strive to equip children with the knowledge, skills and vocabulary needed to progress successfully through their education and become active members of their community in preparation for adulthood.
Our curriculum is based on the National Curriculum and has been carefully structured into our own long-term plans to ensure clear progression across all subjects. It is underpinned by educational research and cognitive principles, supporting pupils to build knowledge over time. Learning is progressive, allowing children to revisit and practise previously taught skills and vocabulary, strengthening understanding and supporting long-term retention.
Our curriculum is designed around key concepts, knowledge and subject-specific vocabulary. These are revisited across year groups, enabling pupils to deepen their understanding over time. Learning is carefully sequenced so that children build on prior knowledge, make meaningful links and develop a rich and precise use of language across all subjects.
A broad range of contexts is used to support learning, ensuring pupils gain rich subject-specific knowledge and vocabulary. This supports pupils in thinking more deeply, making connections and improving their understanding. It also enhances reading comprehension, as pupils with a wider vocabulary and greater background knowledge are better able to interpret and engage with texts.
Pupils are given opportunities to apply their learning in different contexts, enabling them to transfer their knowledge, skills and vocabulary across the curriculum. This approach helps to secure understanding and supports children in becoming confident, independent learners.
Progression is carefully mapped across the school to ensure that pupils develop from basic understanding, to a deeper level of knowledge, and ultimately to being able to apply their learning confidently. Through regular revisiting and application, pupils strengthen their understanding and achieve greater depth of knowledge over time.
Oracy, reading and vocabulary development are central to our curriculum and are embedded throughout all subjects. Pupils are given regular opportunities to speak, listen, discuss and articulate their ideas using increasingly sophisticated vocabulary. High-quality texts are used across the curriculum to support vocabulary acquisition, comprehension and a deeper understanding of subject content.
By the end of Year 6, we aim for all pupils to be confident, fluent readers who can comprehend a wide range of texts, articulate their ideas clearly using appropriate and ambitious vocabulary, and write effectively for a variety of purposes and audiences. In mathematics, pupils will demonstrate secure number fluency, including confidence with the four operations, fractions, decimals and percentages. They will be able to reason mathematically, solve a range of problems with accuracy, and explain their thinking using appropriate mathematical vocabulary. We also have a huge focus on the learning of times tables and related division facts. This ensures increased confidence, speed and accuracy in all areas of maths.
Overall, pupils will have a secure understanding of key knowledge, skills and vocabulary across the curriculum, be able to think critically, make connections in their learning, and demonstrate independence, resilience and readiness for the next stage of their education.
If you require any further information about or curriculum please contact the school on 0191 500 9554 or email info@southwickprimary.co.uk
