The Windmill Curriculum | Windmill Primary School

Our curriculum statement (below) aligns with our school vision:

(and is also driven by our mission and underpinned by our values)

We hope reading this statement is reassuring and exciting for you...

...reassuring to know that every pupil accesses the full national curriculum, and more!
...reassuring to know that we have planned the curriculum in a specific sequence to give children the best chance of remembering their new knowledge!
...exciting to know that we are seeking to discover and nurture your child's interests and abilities!
...exciting to see our ambition for your child and our belief they have all the potential within them to have a successful and fulfilling life (and to change the world)!

There are five important things that make The Windmill Curriculum distinctive and successful:

1. Our curriculum is designed around the 'cultural capital' we believe Windmill children should have:

Everything is built on the solid foundation of an enabling Early Years experience
Prioritising the ability to read as the key to unlock life's doors
Full access to the National Curriculum, plus:
- Spiritual, Social, Moral and Cultural education through guaranteed Deep and Diverse experiences
  - Outdoor and adventurous activities
  - Sports competitions and learning to swim
  - Performing, and learning to play a musical instrument
  - Visiting every Ironbridge Gorge Museum
  - Visiting places of worship and meeting religious leaders
  - Learning about Ghana and Kenya
  - Learning hospitality
  - and many more... (including: joining the library, road safety, fire safety, law courts, parliament, residentials)
- Personal, Social, Health, Economic education and Relationships and Sex Education, using Jigsaw
- Religious Education and World Views, following a bespoke Windmill plan in accordance with the Standing Advisory Council for RE's recommendations, incorporating religious and non-religious beliefs and world views.
Every subject is given enough time in our timetable so that our curriculum is well-rounded

2. Our curriculum is 'knowledge-engaged'

We want children's newly learned knowledge to stick, so:
- we are really clear with children what they should be learning and remembering
- we practise new things lots
- we remind the children of their new knowledge by referring back to it with spoken and visual cues
- we check whether children have remembered it in recall sessions
We plan for children to be able to use (engage) their knowledge in different contexts (prototype theory)
- this often means that they apply some knowledge from one subject (horizontal links, e.g. 'invasion' in History links to 'invasion' in certain games in PE and/or 'invasion' in Science - viruses in living things)
- we believe this helps make the curriculum relevant and meaningful to them

3. Our curriculum is delivered using a mastery approach

4. Our curriculum is sequenced so that new learning builds on prior learning

Each subject's progression map is planned so that new learning can relate to knowledge gained earlier in the year, or knowledge from previous years (vertical links)
We help children to spot links between new knowledge in one subject with things they have learned in previous years and in other subjects (diagonal links)
We know that by planning for horizontal, vertical and diagonal links, we are helping children to develop schemata - interconnected webs of knowledge (metacognition)

5. Our curriculum prepares children well for secondary school and for citizenship

We believe the (knowledge) rich get richer and the (knowledge) poor get poorer
- 'The Matthew Effect'
We believe knowledge empowers the least privileged and combats social injustice
We always get great feedback from secondary schools about how well prepared Windmill children are

Windmill Primary School