Curriculum

Curriculum Intent

Our whole school, local and hidden curriculum has two simple phrases at its core:

• Reading, Relevance, Resilience – For All
• The Charles Darwin Way – Be Safe, Be Ready, Be Respectful.

The curriculum at Charles Darwin Community Primary School firmly underpins the school Vision and Aims. It is the totality of the children’s learning experiences.

We believe that all children have the right to a broad, balanced, challenging and relevant curriculum, which provides continuity and progression and takes individual needs into account.  At Charles Darwin we believe that this can only be achieved through an unremitting focus on the acquisition of speaking and listening and reading skills and the development of reading confidence; this is the gateway to all learning and is our absolute priority.
We aim to give all of our children, regardless of starting point, the academic and personal skills to enable them to become confident, resilient, independent learners and young people. Prioritising reading in all forms as well as the basic skills of writing and maths through a broad, balanced, relevant and fun approach ensures our children meet the needs of the EYFS & National Curriculum. They also benefit from a local curriculum which reflects the schools’ individual nature and community and includes a large number of “off timetable” initiatives and events and a hidden curriculum which emphasises, promotes and reinforces the values and experiences we wish our children to acquire.

Curriculum Implementation

The taught curriculum is designed to meet the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum and the National Curriculum whilst being tailored to the needs of our school community. This means a strong emphasis on speaking and listening and reading from a child’s very first days in Reception right through to their participation in the Y6 leavers’ assembly.  Alongside this we place a strong emphasis on providing opportunities to enhance personal and social growth, citizenship skills and the development of children’s cultural capital.

At Charles Darwin we believe in providing children with a relevant, real life curriculum, designed to build upon their prior learning and to enable them to make links across subjects.  This integrated approach to the curriculum ensures our children gain a rounded and joined up understanding of each area of learning.

As a school we have agreed that children at Charles Darwin will

• Get to spend time with and look after our school dog Dexter and our other animals
• Learn to swim
• Get the chance to do all sorts of free after school clubs
• Represent the school in a range of sporting and non-sporting events
• Explore Marshall’s Arm Nature Reserve and Delamere Forest
• Enjoy a whole school sleepover
• Have a snowman building competition and a snowball fight
• Learn Spanish
• Be buddied and be a buddy
• Go to the High schools for different lessons
• Learn to play a musical instrument
• Build a den
• Enjoy lots of different themed weeks
• Explore our local area
• Be given responsibility for something
• Visit local places of worship
• Help our local community
• Go on residential visits
• Go on a train
• Visit museums, theatres and art galleries
• Have their achievements celebrated in assembly
• Learn about the sort of jobs you could do when you leave school
• Enjoy baking and cooking
• Attend lots of Friends of the School functions
• Perform in assemblies, nativities and productions
• Take pride in doing things “The Charles Darwin Way”

Curriculum Impact

The impact of both our whole school, local and the hidden curriculum is evident in the consistently strong outcomes our children enjoy both personally and academically.

Results, books, displays and, most importantly Charles Darwin children themselves, are evidence of the school’s success.  

By the end of EYFS pupils consistently achieve well.

         - 2017 GLD 80% / 2018 GLD 81% / 2019 GLD 82%.

The proportion of pupils meeting the expected standard in the phonics check in Y1 is good.

         - 2017 88% / 2018 97% / 2019 84%.

Key Stage 1 Attainment is consistently strong.

• Reading 2017 75% EXS, 34% GDS / 2018 88% EXS, 32% GDS / 2019 84% EXS, 30% GDS
• Writing 2017 69% EXS, 19% GDS / 2018 77% EXS, 17% GDS / 2019 77% EXS, 16% GDS
• Maths 2017 68% EXS, 29% GDS / 2018 85% EXS, 25% GDS / 2019 82% EXS, 30% GDS

Key stage 2 attainment is consistently strong.

• Progress in each of Reading, Writing and Maths was average in 2018’19 from high KS1 attainment.
• Three year average pupils achieving EXS & GDS in R, Wr & Ma combined is better than LA and National.
• 2019 Combined R, Wr & Ma 79% is significantly above national and top 20% of all schools.
• Reading 2017 73%, EXS, 27% GDS / 2018 84% EXS, 31% GDS / 2019 83% EXS, 30% GDS
• Writing 2017 82%, EXS, 27% GDS / 2018 89% EXS, 16% GDS / 2019 89% EXS, 17% GDS
• Maths 2017 92%, EXS, 33% GDS / 2018 89% EXS, 47% GDS / 2019 79% EXS, 34% GDS

Charles Darwin children consistently demonstrate good personal attitudes and attributes; they are empathetic, inclusive, confident and resilient in all they do. They follow “The Charles Darwin Way”.

Children at Charles Darwin have a strong sense of community; they tell us they are proud of their school. They tell us that in addition to great lessons and brilliant teachers and teaching assistants what follows is what makes Charles Darwin Community Primary School different to other schools and so special to them:

• We have Dexter the dog and Gus the bearded dragon as well as rabbits, guinea pigs and chickens.
• We do millions of after school clubs; I know other schools don’t do that!
• We all get to go swimming; that’s fantastic!
• We love our trips and residentials; we go on loads.
• Juniors get to learn Spanish, recorders and ukulele.
• We play and learn outside a lot, including splashing in puddles and playing in the snow.
• We do brilliant shows at Christmas and in the summer.
• Our infants do Christmas and Easter craft days and we do the Easter bonnet parade.
• Our mums, dads and grandparents get to join in.
• We do loads of sport including competitions, tournaments and trying new activities. Everyone gets involved and we celebrate what we’ve done in assembly.
• We do special days and weeks like Around the World Week, environmental, science, geography, art and sports weeks plus loads more.
• We do special events and things for our local community and for charities.
• We try hard to be resilient; it’s Mr Croft’s favourite word!
• There are No Outsiders at Charles Darwin: we are all different and we are all special.
• We do things ‘The Charles Darwin Way’.

For more information about your child's curriculum please contact the class teacher via the year group email or the school office.

For information about how we ensure our curriculum is accessible to those with disabilities or special educational needs please see our Accessibility Plan.