At Tudor we are committed to providing a unique curriculum filled with experiences that enthuse, engage and challenge our children. Our children are growing up in a rapidly changing world. Our curriculum aims to provide pupils with core skills which we feel are relevant for the world they are growing up in and the relevant future skills they will need to enable them to grow into successful adults.
Our Success For All curriculum groups pupils for Literacy sessions based on their stage, and not on their age. This ensures that every child receives the bespoke support to develop their reading and comprehension skills. Children are assessed every 6 weeks and make rapid progress across the school. SFA includes intensive professional development, on-going coaching support, and data tools to give teachers feedback on how children are learning and where they need additional teaching or extra help.
At our Academy we follow a mastery approach to mathematics, whilst Reception and Year 1 follow the Maths Mastery programme. This approach ensures our curriculum provides:Fluency in the fundamental skills of maths, opportunities in every lesson for children to apply their knowledge, challenge through depth, high expectations of language and vocabulary.
Children receive daily maths lessons where they work collaboratively and cooperatively with each other in order to succeed. Lessons provide children with the opportunity to learn in practical ways to deepen their understanding.
A core belief for all STEP Academy schools is that every moment of a child’s time in school is precious, and that learning time at primary school is limited. We have designed our curriculum to reflect the fact that there is a finite amount of time to teach, and we want each and every part of the wider curriculum to be meaningful, memorable and to support the broad development of our pupils.
At Tudor Academy, the wider curriculum is taught in discrete subjects, with a clearly mapped out progression of knowledge and skills. This is so pupils extend prior learning in order to deepen their understanding in each subject area. Each half term has an overarching theme or hashtag that enables pupils to contextualise their learning, in order to draw complex learning ideas together in a more meaningful and interconnected way. These half-termly hashtags are reinforced and developed during weekly assemblies, on school displays, in Safeguarding and Philosophy for Children lessons and in the teaching of wider curriculum subjects, where appropriate. This year, our half-termly themes are: Autumn 1 – Equality, Autumn 2 – Sustainability, Spring 1 – Heritage, Spring 2 – Community, Summer 1 – Exploration and Summer 2 -Well Being.
We expect all of our pupils to steadily build up their knowledge and skills in all subjects.
Children have Philosophy lessons where they explore a range of philosophical questions and learn to think critically.
During the Spring Term there are a series of lessons across the school linked to key safeguarding themes such as E-Safety, Road Safety and PANTS.
We are following the SACRE and Croydon Agreed Syllabus for the teaching of RE, which enables us to teach about the most popular faiths in the world. We also have a half-termly focus on a religious festival to raises awareness of the beliefs of others in our community. All RE topics and themes will be reinforced in regular assemblies, whole-school events and displays throughout the academy
During the Summer Term children across the school learn about friendships, relationships and changes to their body as they grow up.
Children have weekly computing lessons with our specialist Mr Spiller. Children have the opportunity to learn key computing and programming skills.
Knowledge of the French language is extended from Nursery to Key Stage 2 where pupils have weekly French lessons with our French teacher, Madame Jacquinot. Over the course of the year, older and younger pupils will add to their French vocabulary, communicate verbally in French, as well as sing French songs to develop their confidence in speaking in a modern foreign language.
It is important that all skills taught in Physical Education are done so with a view to utilising them in a meaningful and memorable way. As well as teaching progressive skills, a variety of sports and specific team games in PE lessons, Tudor Academy is actively involved with widening access to competitive sports for as many pupils as possible. We firmly believe in the importance of promoting sportspersonship, developing resilience and engraining a mentality of keeping winning and losing in perspective. Our pupils are frequently involved with inter-school football, cross-country, cricket, gymnastics, athletics and tag rugby competitions. All Year 3 pupils attend weekly swimming lessons with the intention that they will be able to swim 50 metres unaided by the end of the school year. All Year 4 pupils participate in weekly karate lessons with the aim to have achieved their ‘Red Belt’ from the Kaigaishii Karate School by the end of Year 4. In Year 6, pupils have the opportunity to develop the skills of teamwork and resilience by participating in an Outdoors and Adventurous Activities residential.
Through all of the above the children get to apply their reading skills and read for pleasure. Our newly opened library and Accelerated Reader programme allow the children to explore a range of books.
Children will also have the opportunity to take part in gardening sessions, cooking lessons and taking care of our chickens.
