Breadth (experiences that the curriculum provides for our children)

Our curriculum is planned with our intent at the forefront of all decisions. Stunning Starts and Fabulous Finishes such as trips to Mountfitchet Castle, Whipsnade Zoo, Hazard Alley, Marston Mortaine Forest Centre and visitors in such as the Fire Brigade, birds of prey, clay workshops for Viking masks, Police, Olympic athletes,  Flitwick Town Mayor and many more give our children a wealth of experiences to support their learning and inspire their aspirations.

Opportunities to build resilience are woven through our curriculum with challenge days such as ‘No Pen Day’ and our ‘Outdoor Classroom Day’. Recently we have been developing our Forest Area and are currently training a teacher as a Forest School Lead so that we can offer all of our pupil’s access to Forest School opportunities.  We also offered our first residential to our Key Stage Two children in 2019, to Boughton Woods.  This was a survival type residential where children built their own dens and then could sleep in them over night, prepared and cooked their own food and built their own camp fires.  We will be offering an opportunity this year to any children that don’t sign up for the residential to camp in the school in the school grounds over-night.

We have an open door policy and encourage parents into class regularly to see their child’s achievements.  We also invite parents in to work with their children, for example during our Bottoms, Burps and Bile topic; parents were invited in to explore the digestive system alongside their child.

We also take children out into the community through our participation in the Flitwick Town Carnival, singing carols in care homes, trips to the local park and shops and through our link with Redborne Upper School (Sports Partnership). We strive to further this community approach to learning by continuing to identify further opportunities.

Children also have the opportunity to perform in front of an audience at least once a year through their class assemblies which are linked to our school Values. Performances also take place for reception and KS2 at Christmas with KS1 reciting Christmas poems and singing carols.

Balanced (academic development, core subjects and foundation, personal development, physical and mental well-being)

Pupil progress is monitored closely in core subjects to ensure that all pupils meet age related expectations (ARE) throughout the year.  Monitoring by subject leaders and senior leaders through: lesson observations, book scrutiny and pupil interviews take place every half term.  Team planning opportunities take place every week and staff meetings are held each term to look at new developments and Pedagogy clinics are held to support colleagues with any challenges they may be facing with teaching.

We follow a creative, knowledge based curriculum to make links across subjects linked to topics carefully selected to meet the needs and interests of our pupils. Every afternoon is timetabled for Science and Foundation subjects.  We have a Science week once a year; when every afternoon is devoted to investigations. We are currently developing a Cognitive Learning Theory approach to teaching and learning to ensure that pupil’s long term memory is enhanced, which in turn leads to Greater Depth and Mastery.

Reception children are taught tennis skills though a Teddy Tennis coach once a week and are taught Dance and Gymnastics by their class teacher.

We currently fund a sports coach to teach two afternoons a week in KS1 and KS2. They also have the opportunity to attend festivals through the school’s link with Redborne School Sports Partnership. We ensure that every child has the opportunity to attend one of these by the time they leave us so that they experience what it is like to work as a team, to have fun taking part in a sporting event and to feel the sense of achievement that it brings when they have competed. We are lucky to have a cricket coach work with us in the summer term to develop pupil’s skills and love of cricket.  The coach has also delivered high quality training to the staff.

Music plays a big part in the life of Kingsmoor.  We invest in the Music Service SLA and have choir practice each week led by the head of the Music Service.  Children learn to play ukulele in KS2 and learnt percussion last year.  Our Year Four pupils take part in Sing Out at the Bedford Corn Exchange every year and have been selected for the last two years to perform their instruments as well.  KS1 teachers plan their own Music lessons, linking them to the topics wherever possible that they are covering.  Reception children have the opportunity to explore a wide range of percussion instruments, sing daily and attend a weekly singing assembly with the whole school.

We follow the Jigsaw scheme for PSHE, which covers all requirements for PSHE in our age range. We have also planned at least one health and well-being day for our pupils across the school with opportunities for mindfulness, strategies for managing feelings and fun activities for children to learn about themselves. We have strong links with our local church who helped deliver the mindfulness day.  They also come into school once a month to deliver a fun and engaging assembly, usually with children joining them as actors.

We also employ a Pastoral Worker who runs a nurture room three days a week.  Her main role is mentoring pupils that are identified by key adults in the child’s life.  Groups of children are also worked with to develop relationships or support with transition for example.