Our Curriculum
Please find our curriculum policy below:
This section of our website is focused on our Curriculum and provides an overview of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Framework and the Curriculum offer for children in Years 1 to 6.
The Curriculum is all the planned activities that the school organises in order to promote learning, personal growth and development. It includes not only the formal requirements of the National Curriculum, but also the range of additional opportunities that the school organises in order to enrich the experiences of our children. This includes an ever growing range of extracurricular opportunities available to our children across all year groups.
The National Curriculum includes English, mathematics, science, geography, history, music, art & design, computing, design & technology, languages (French in KS2), PSHE and physical education. We also teach Religious Education which is based on the Tameside Agreed Syllabus.
Our Aims
Ashton West End Primary Academy aims to teach children how to grow into positive, responsible people, who can work and co-operate with others whilst developing knowledge and skills, so that they achieve all that they can. Our vision at the academy is, ‘Today I am proud of my school. Tomorrow my school will be proud of me.’ The pupils leave the school in year 6 with the values, attitudes and skills to be honest, hardworking and pro-active citizens with high aspirations for the future. We prepare our children for their learning journey through life, ensuring that they have fun, achieve well, learn how to keep safe and have excellent experiences that they will always remember.
Ashton West End Primary Academy aims to maximise social and academic potential for every pupil. Please view our Whole School Overview here:
Half Termly Planning
Each half term, the teachers plan using half termly planning templates. This is an overview of what they intend to teach. We use the National Curriculum, EYFS Framework and our schemes of work to support us with this.
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
All pupils follow the National Curriculum at a level and a pace that is appropriate to their abilities. Our SEND philosophy places SEND children at the heart of personalised learning and our curriculum is tailored to meet individual pupils needs. At times and when it is felt appropriate, modifications to the curriculum may be implemented. To successfully match pupil ability to the curriculum, Ashton West End Primary Academy remains committed to:
- A range of teaching and learning styles
- Differentiated learning materials
- Access to ICT and technology
- Additional in class support
- Additional out of class support
- Targeted interventions
- Flexible groupings – including small group support work
- Innovative and supportive curriculum
- The appropriate use of rewards and sanctions
- A broad range of extra-curricular activities, including booster sessions, homework club, social and communication groups and fundamental movement skills
- Assessment procedures that emphasise pupils’ strengths and achievements
- Applications during national testing at Key Stage 2 to obtain access arrangements as appropriate.
For more information regarding SEND provision, please look at Our Local Offer and our SEND Policy which can be located in the ‘Information’ section on this website. If you would like any more information regarding SEND provision, please contact the SENCo in our school.
If you have any questions about our curriculum or the work we do in school, please speak to your child’s class teacher or alternatively, please contact the school and speak to one of our assistant head teachers or the head teacher.
Assessment Overview
Teachers carry out assessments of the children as part of every day teaching and at the end of a unit of work to check learning. Both types of assessment help teachers to plan the next steps and they also help the teacher to monitor children’s progress and provide reports for parents and carers. Verbal reports will be given at parent/teacher consultation evenings which are held once a term. There will also be an annual written report towards the end of each school year.
On entry to Reception pupils will take part in a Baseline Assessment to assess skills in all areas. Foundation Stage (Nursery and Reception) staff record children’s progress using the Foundation Stage Profile. Teachers and Teaching Assistants observe and assess children whilst they are engaging in a variety of activities. The assessments cover all the areas taught in the Foundation Stage including the child’s emotional and social adjustment to school. The staff use the information they gather to plan appropriate work for all the children in their care. A copy is given to the parents at the end of the school year, and termly updates are sent out.
Pupils in Year 1 will undertake a national phonics assessment in June and the results will be shared with Parents/Carers at the end of the year.
As well as ongoing assessments in all subjects, the children are tested termly, in all years during assessment weeks to see how they are progressing in Maths, Reading, Writing, Spelling and Grammar & Punctuation.
Pupils in Year 2 and 6 are also assessed as required by the National Curriculum, using teacher assessments and standardised tests and tasks known as Key Stage 1 and 2 SAT (Statutory Assessment Tests). Teacher Assessment takes place throughout the year and the tasks and tests are carried out between May and June. Separate reports on end of Key Stage 1 and 2 SAT results are given to parents of Year 2 and Year 6 pupils. Parents of Year 2 students will also be given Teacher Assessment Results in Reading, Writing and Maths.
We use a system called Target Tracker to monitor the progress of the pupils in Ashton West End. There are six different steps in each year group band: b, b+, w, w+, s and s+. Children working at the expected standard or greater depth will be assessed as s or s+ when they leave their class in July. Subject leaders from other areas of the curriculum such as science, computing and history can also monitor the progress of pupils in their subject areas using Target Tracker.