Curriculum Intent Statement 2023-2024
Hambleton Primary School seeks to provide an all round education for children in a bright, stimulating and fun atmosphere. We have the highest expectations of pupil attainment, teacher performance and parental involvement and we encourage everyone to strive for excellence, in order to achieve potential. We seek challenge and embrace change in order to improve.
At Hambleton we believe that an all-round education is important for development of all our children. As an Academy we are not bound by the National Curriculum, but follow our own broad and balanced, skills based curriculum, which is progressive and challenging.
We seek curriculum themes, which will excite, inspire and motivate learning at all ages. The children are very involved in shaping both the creation and development of themes and we encourage responsibility and independence from a very early age. Whilst we have defined our curriculum “drivers” as diversity, emotional awareness, community and environment, the progression of literacy and numeracy skills across the curriculum are viewed as vitally important and these are developed at all times.
At the heart of our curriculum is ‘knowledge and skills’. All children are exposed to creative, sporting and cultural opportunities, along with a rich diet of extra-curricular activities and class visits. We pride ourselves on offering a challenging and engaging curriculum where children have the opportunity to develop a greater depth of knowledge in Maths and English, but just as importantly we provide a creative and engaging skills-led curriculum, where children are immersed in a world of construction, sports and sciences. Further to this, our Academy provides first class performing arts and music opportunities, as we believe these skills are an integral part of the curriculum as well as providing many additional opportunities within individual lessons. We know our children inside out, and use this knowledge to motivate, encourage and care for them throughout their time at our school.
We also believe that children need to learn from their own experience and this starts from an early age. Primary years at Hambleton are all about discovery, exploration and adventure and our Early Years and Forest School Provision provides ideal opportunities for children to undertake all three.
We want children at Hambleton to achieve academic success but it’s just as vital to us that they remain healthy, happy and emotionally aware young people during their time here and beyond. We promote growth mind-set, reinforcing the belief that any pupil can improve and achieve in any discipline, learn from setbacks, and embrace challenges. We also provide a vast selection of extra-curricular activities that help children to develop practical and social skills. We are also working to place our Academy at the forefront of leading digital literacy, and teaching our children how to navigate the ‘online world’ in a safe and sensible manner.
Pupil attainment is consistently and outstandingly high at the end of both Key Stages and children are tracked throughout their time at our school, to maximise potential and eliminate any under-achievement. Care has been taken to recruit the highest quality staff, as there really is no substitute for excellent teaching!
We are currently developing our extensive grounds and outdoor space to provide the children with a full Forest School entitlement. Research endorses the fact that children and young people are stimulated by the outdoors and typically experience, over time, an increase in their self belief, confidence, learning capacity, enthusiasm, communication and problem-solving skills and emotional well-being. We feel that this style of learning will not only enhance the curriculum we already provide but feed into our chosen ‘drivers.’