Curriculum Intent Statement
At Newnham Croft our intent is to provide a meaningful education that ignites and stimulates children’s minds, challenges them to think critically and promotes a lifelong love of learning. It is designed to help them to discover their talents, passions and curiosity; and prepare them for enjoying fulfilling and successful lives in the wider modern world. We will always focus on the whole-child’s development rather than purely their academic achievement, and it’s just as important to us that they develop healthy lifestyles, positive attitudes, thoughtful dispositions, global values as well as ways of thinking that will promote their sense of well-being, self-belief, empathy and happiness. The uniqueness of every child is recognised and valued and our curriculum embraces the Newnham community, recognising and celebrating the diverse backgrounds of our children. Our curriculum also enables children to know their rights and responsibilities, in school, in our community and in a global society. We want the children to understand how diverse our world is and to be respectful of everyone, no matter their background or circumstances.
Our curriculum encompasses not only the statutory requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and the National Curriculum, but also a rich variety of learning intentions that engage the children in thinking and learning beyond our statutory obligation. We aim to inspire children to keep engaged in further learning beyond the classroom walls and the end of the school day. Our curriculum has the ambition of developing all children’s potential and fostering a growth mindset (there are no limits in our minds to what they can achieve). The impact of our curriculum can be seen in the standards reached in attainment and progress by the children, as well as in their attitudes to learning; their curiosity, resilience and risk-taking; their willingness to make mistakes and challenge themselves. The emphasis is on the learning journey rather than the destination and on the core values of our Newnham Code.
Implementation of our curriculum is through half termly and termly topics or through shorter whole school topics. Each topic consists of sequences of learning within the core and foundation subjects which builds on prior learning. Where possible we will utilise opportunities for cross-curricular learning; however some subjects may be taught in discrete blocks if that is more appropriate. Our whole school curriculum is taught through practical and first-hand experience; visitors, educational visits, learning outside the classroom, assemblies, projects, events, extra curriculum opportunities and home learning are all utilised to keep the learning exciting and involve the whole school community.
We regularly review, evaluate and monitor our curriculum to ensure it has maximum impact on the children’s learning (standards, personal development and learning for life). Monitoring activities include curriculum assessment, data analysis, children’s feedback via the school council and class learning forums, staff feedback, parent/carer feedback through our annual survey, pupil progress meetings, subject leader evaluations and governor monitoring visits.
Please see the subject intent statements for detail about the drive behind each subject and the topic overviews as a guide to the curriculum plan. The curriculum letters, topic details and timetables provide current curriculum information for each year group. If you would like paper copies of any of these please contact the school office at office@newnhamcroft.cambs.sch.uk.