Our Curriculum
Children get just one childhood: it should be a magical and happy time and their primary education should leave a host of positive and meaningful memories that last for the rest of their life.
We have can define our approach to designing our curriculum using the six key words below:
Values Driven
Whole Child
Integrated
Irresistible
Learning-Centered
Thinking-Led
At Rownhams, we are passionate about delivering a curriculum that develops the whole child. We raise aspirations and make learning irresistible for all children, enabling each individual to gain the skills, knowledge and understanding so that they can thrive as happy, confident and healthy individuals.
Download our Curriculum Vision...
Our integrated curriculum makes it possible for us to be purposeful, relevant and adaptable in our teaching: following lines of enquiry; keeping up with worldly affairs; developing pupil voice and stimulating deeper thinking. We ignite curiosity and creativity through the use of inspirational hooks and meaningful outcomes which foster a sense of awe, wonder and self-worth. Real life experiences, the use of technology and trips enhance the learning for all children which offers fulfilment at all levels.
Our Curriculum is based on the Essentials Curriculum, which can be found here...
At the heart of our Rownhams curriculum, you will find our core values and our learning behaviours. These encourage children to be conscientious learners and thoughtful young people – developing healthy attitudes and habits that support them in a rapidly changing world.
Read about how we develop learning behaviours...
Our Learning Buttons
We have 6 Learning Buttons that help us to define the types of learning behaviours that we are aiming to develop. In the classes you will be able to hear the children talking about which Learning Button they are pushing today and which ones they need to work on. We have developed a Learning Button progression which you can download below.
Reflective Learner
We know that mistakes can make us better. We are not afraid to get it wrong – it just means we are trying. We are reflective in our learning, always looking for ways to do things better. We listen and take on feedback from others and are resilient in the face of difficulties.
Risk Taker
We take calculated risks and can express ourselves in many ways. We look for new ideas and try something different every day. We create, design and make.
Team Builder
We listen to the ideas of others and communicate clearly with each other. We share responsibility and work fairly, taking on a role when working in a team.
Effort Maker
We do our best 100% of the time, we persevere with our learning and take pride in all of our work.
Go Getter
We can work independently. We plan a way forward even when things get tough. We are resourceful, making use of what we have to hand. We are solution finders not excuse makers.
Problem Solver
We have a go and use our initiative. We can be logical and systematic and can make connections between ideas. We are curious and ask questions about the world around us. We use our imagination and think creatively.
Our Homework Policy was created in consultation with parents in September 2014 and the feedback from our recent Ofsted indicates that our approach to homework continues to be seen a positive light by parents (ParentView, February 2018) and pupils. It is also important to note the government guidance regarding homework was withdrawn in 2012.
You will be able to find your child’s latest Home Learning activities in the projects section of this page.
Our daily Collective Worship is an important part of our daily routine and an essential ingredient in our curriculum offer. At its simplest we create this time and space so we can come closer to God and God can come closer to us. We also share and learn about our core Christian Values of love, joy and responsibility.
At Rownhams we offer a nurture provision called Sunshine. We recognise that many of children benefit from quality time with trained adults to help re-build missing blocks from earlier in their childhood. Often this focus is on learning how to interact in social situations. The children who attend enjoy the range of activities that are designed to suit their specific needs.
Technology and the internet are incredible resources that used appropriately offer huge benefits in the way we can work and learn. However, with such rapid growth and change it’s important to stay up-to-date so that we can all stay safe when we are online.
Computing is a core part of curriculum and E-Safety and digital awareness are threaded through all of our lessons.
The following websites offer great support and advice to help you keep in the know:
Learning to read at Rownhams
We believe reading is the single most important skill to learn. Learning to read will will help children to thrive in all of the other subjects – and this starts with the enjoyment of reading. Reading should be fun and we encourage our parents to share a book just for fun everyday.
We also find that when children practise reading everyday they improve and reading becomes easier. The easier they find reading the more they enjoy reading. Being able to read well will open up doors to many opportunities.
We use the Read, Write Inc approach when learning to read so we have collated a list of helpful videos below as we know that this area is often very daunting to parents and carers.