Our intent:

We aim to meet the needs and raise attainment of all children through a broad, balanced and exciting curriculum that is underpinned by children’s health and wellbeing.

Our Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum (applies to Nursery and Reception pupils) comprises seven areas of learning; Communication and Language, Physical Development, Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World and Expressive Arts and Design. Throughout EYFS children learn through play, which encourages independent learning. Children are well prepared for their transition into Year 1.

In KS1 and KS2 we follow the statutory National Curriculum 2014, which provides pupils with an introduction to the essential knowledge that they need to be educated citizens.

Our curriculum is topic based. Each year group has a range of topics, lasting up to a full term in length, that are designed to inspire learning.  Ambitious and well-integrated English units form much of the topic content alongside the skills and knowledge from the following national curriculum subjects:

• History
• Geography
• Science
• Art
• Design and Technology

Mathematics, Computing, Health and Well-being, PE, RE, Music and Modern Foreign Languages are taught discretely but linked to the topic when relevant. We make provision for a daily act of collective worship.

Our curriculum will:

• Provide children with knowledge and skills to become confident individuals, independent learners and responsible citizens both locally and globally
• Prepare children for the opportunities and responsibilities and experiences of later life
• Engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement
• Provide real life experiences and contexts
• Celebrate the school’s multi-cultural diversity
• Allow and encourage personalised learning
• Nurture the whole child
• Provide spiritual, moral, social and cultural development

Implementation of our curriculum:

At Avenue Primary Academy we are always reflecting on, reviewing and developing our curriculum to ensure that it best meets the needs of our children.

The curriculum encourages success by providing opportunities for children to develop resilience and experience a sense of achievement through all subjects, including sport, music and the creative arts. We are committed to providing a high quality education where all children have the opportunity to achieve their full potential in a happy, caring and inclusive environment.

Each topic includes a range of enrichment activities to support and enhance the learning. Lessons will use a range of teaching and learning strategies and vary in structure to suit the purpose and encourage independent learning.

Before the start of each topic children create their own ‘Big Questions’ so that teachers can adapt planning to include these lines of enquiry. Each classroom will have a topic working wall display that reflects the learning journey. At the beginning of each topic there will be a ‘hook’ day or activity to engage, entice and excite the children.

Children have access to a wide range of new technologies and safe access to the Internet to develop next generation learning and enhance our innovative curriculum.

Our curriculum is enhanced by educational visits and visitors, authors, artists, musicians, scientists, theatre groups and through themes such as: Book Week, Everybody Writes Day, Multicultural Arts week, Eco Week, Language of the Month, Healthy Schools Week, Science Week and Enterprise Week.

Impact:

Avenue Primary Academy is committed to be a Rights Respecting School, helping to empower young people to be aware of their own rights as children and of the rights of all other children throughout the world. It is led by UNICEF and based on the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child. This is embedded in all areas of school life including the curriculum.

We measure the impact of our curriculum through pupil voice, the engagement and enjoyment of children in lessons, children’s achievement and successes, and our end of year progress and attainment data.

You can find our Curriculum Policy here.

Medium Term Planner:

Each year group has a set of  ‘Medium Term Planners’ for the year. These detail the learning objectives that children will be taught in all foundation subjects for each half term. You will see that much of the learning is linked to the main topic of the half term, though where this is not appropriate, mini themes are evident. Medium Term Planners can be found on Year Group Pages.

Knowledge Organisers

Knowledge Organisers exist for most foundation subjects. They contain key substantive knowledge (facts) children are expected to learn in each foundation subject and are linked to the topics children cover each term. Knowledge organisers are used by teachers to support planning, teaching and assessment and are a fantastic resource to use at home with children to support their learning. Knowledge organisers can be found on Year Group pages. 

Avenue Primary Academy ASD Base Curriculum 

Intent:

Our curriculum is broad and balanced and meets the needs of our children. 

Our Base Curriculum is: 

• Exciting, inspiring, engaging and stimulating. 
• Creative and innovative. 
• Challenging and motivating. 
• Diverse, broad and relevant to our children and today’s society. 
• Flexible to allow children to follow their own lines of enquiry. 
• Enriched and enhanced. 

Our Base Curriculum will:  

• Nurture every child and support their individual needs. 
• Encourage creativity and achievement. 
• Provide exposure to high quality lessons. 
• Provide children with knowledge and skills that prepares them for High School and beyond. 
• Prepare children for the opportunities and responsibilities and experiences of later life. 
• Provide real life experiences in context. 
• Celebrate the school’s multi-cultural diversity. 
• Allow and encourage personalised learning. 
• Provide spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. 

Our Staff will: 

• Encourage participation, creativity, reflection and independence. 
• Value all pupils work and/or effort. 
• Develop communication skills, flexibility of thought, social skills and emotional regulation. 
• Enable mainstream practitioners to draw upon specialist resources provided by base teachers.  
• Encourage maximum integration opportunities, whilst ensuring those remaining within the base provision, are receiving high quality, adapted lessons that meet their additional needs. 

Implementation:

The Base curriculum follows the EYFS and National Curriculum; pupils progress through the curriculum at their own pace and the implementation allows for their engagement and progress.  The curriculum is therefore modified to allow for embedded therapy approaches and additional focuses on prime areas of need such as emotional regulation.   MFL is part of the core curriculum for pupils in Trailblazers. In some classes, support for social and communicative curriculum is allotted a dedicated time but overall, the curriculum is designed to support an embedded approach to this area of need.  

Minimum Entitlement  

We ensure our children receive a broad and balanced curriculum that is based on EYFS and /or National Curriculum objectives from all subject areas and enhanced by interventions which target their individual needs (as laid out in EHCPs, with respect to Autism Pathways and including OT, SLT, Life Skills and sensory experiences). Base teachers carefully select learning objectives from each key stage to provide essential building blocks for future learning, whilst remaining accessible and engaging. 

In addition, we offer continuous provision for all children accessing learning within EYFS, and where appropriate, in KS1 and KS2, in line with the Engagement Model. 

Organisation of the curriculum 

The curriculum mirrors mainstream, though it is taught over a shorter school day.

SALT, OT, sensory opportunities and Life Skills are embedded throughout the curriculum, and children receive specific interventions based on their EHCPs and teacher assessment. In addition, KS2 have 1 hour a week dedicated to explicit teaching of Life Skills, promoting independence, and ensuring that they are secondary ready. 

Discreet mathematics is taught daily in all phases within our base classrooms. Lessons are matched to our mainstream classes. This allows children to integrate into the mainstream classrooms where appropriate. Lesson tasks are layered to allow for children to access objectives at the appropriate level and to challenge children to use skills in a range of contexts.

Phonics (EYFS and KS1) and GPS (KS2) are taught daily. KS2 use this teaching time to work on comprehension skills as well. Where KS2 children are not successful in the screening, or where children are not confident in phonics, specific Phonics lessons or phonics interventions are used to target gaps in learning. 

Many of the foundation subjects and English are based around themes of learning or topics. Ambitious and well-integrated English units form much of the topic content alongside the skills and knowledge from the following national curriculum subjects; History, Geography, Science, Art, Design and Technology. We dedicate 5 lessons a week to our topic learning. 

RE is taught based around the religious festivals represented within our school and local community. 

PE is taught discreetly for 2 hours a week. It is matched to our mainstream curriculum, though adapted with the support of the PE lead to ensure it is suitable. 

Health and Well-being is taught discreetly each week. Where appropriate, mainstream H&W planning is used and then supplemented with additional lessons based on the CASEL framework, to teach discrete social and emotional learning practices, as well as embedding language into the ethos of the school. This can include interventions such as Zones of Regulation, Size of the Problem, Understanding Complex Emotions and Friendship Terrace.  

Discreet Computing, Music and Modern Foreign Languages (KS2 only) are taught weekly. Classes can block these lessons throughout the term.  

Each day, time is also allocated to regulation for the children and specific intervention (where all adults work with children in small groups or individually on specific targets). Regulation time includes fine and gross motor activities (OT), social time (SALT - small group play focusing on communication, turn taking, winning and losing), reflecting on feelings and emotions and what may have triggered those feelings, choosing strategies to help us to feel calm and ready to learn, and include working on individualised SALT and OT activities to meet EHCP targets. 

Planning the curriculum 

Yearly cycles are planned for as follows:  

• 1 year cycle in EYFS classes (based on EYFS)  
• 2 year cycle KS1 classes (based on mainstream Y1,2) 
• 2 year cycle in LKS2 classes (based on mainstream Y3,4)  
• 2 year cycle in UKS2 classes (based on mainstream Y5,6)

Base teachers work in collaboration with mainstream teachers. A learning journey (KS1 and KS2) / Medium Term Plan (EYFS) is produced for mainstream, with carefully sequenced lessons that allow children to build upon prior knowledge. Base teachers select objectives to teach from this and adapt lessons so that children can access and engage with the learning.

Planning in this way ensures that children interact with a range of topics throughout their time at Avenue, are appropriately challenged, have their individual needs met and can integrate where appropriate.

Time allocations for each subject vary across the Key Stages. Details can be found on timetable templates.  

Impact:

Our base curriculum ensures children at Avenue Academy are:  

• Having regular opportunities to practice flexibility of thought, communication, social interaction and regulation.  
• Gaining skills to become independent learners. 
• Aware they have a part to play in the life of the school and society. 
• Given opportunities to discover their passions. 
• Prepared for their next steps in education and beyond.

Base class overviews will be coming soon.