Intent, Implementation and Impact
We are very proud of our curriculum. It is constantly evolving and adapting to the ever changing needs of our pupils and the ever changing world around us. The foundation stones of our curriculum are defined by how children learn. Our curriculum can be defined by its Intent, Implementation and Impact and this page will explain and expand on these definitions. For information you can not find on this website, please contact the school.
What is meant by ‘Intent’?
Essentially, this is the school’s curriculum and sets out the knowledge and skills our pupils will gain as they progress through the school in preparation for the next stage in their life.
What is our Intent?
We teach the national Primary Curriculum for Years 1-6 and the Early Years statutory framework for our nursery and reception class aged pupils. We have designed our ambitious curriculum to match the needs and interests of our pupils. The key components are:
- Each subject has a sequenced progression of knowledge and skills that builds on and revisits what is taught and learnt to secure children’s long term memory. Please click on a subject to understand how intent is constructed for that subject: Art & DT, Computing, French, Geography, History, Maths, Music, PE, RE, Reading, Science, Values and Writing
- The development of critical thinking and learning and personal characteristics
- Breadth of opportunity and enjoyment with a strong emphasis on creative arts, outdoor learning and the local community, including North Devon’s lack of diversity and geographical isolation
- High quality first classroom teaching for all children based on research derived principles and staff professional knowledge and expertise
- Purposeful writers, passionate readers and fluent mathematicians
- Remote learning inextricably linked to classroom experiences
For a brief overview of what is typically taught in each year group each half term, please see here
What is meant by ‘Implementation’?
In a nutshell, this is how our Intent is delivered (taught and assessed) to support pupils to build their knowledge and skills.
What is our Implementation?
The key components of how we deliver our Intent are:
- Subject Toolkits for each subject providing consistency of teaching and assessment in all year groups across the curriculum
- Clear, shared and implemented understanding of effective, high quality first teaching to raise achievement with a sharp focus on disadvantaged and pupils with SEND
- Carefully designed and purposefully delivered assessment strategies that promote deep learning and long term memory of key concepts, knowledge and skills
- Pupils become a skilled ‘Explorer’, ‘Gatherer’, ‘Explainer’ and ‘Evaluator’ in the development of critical thinking and enquiry and these skills are in each objective in our progression document
- Personal development and character building, British Values and protected characteristics are embedded in our Values Curriculum and the wider curriculum. Extracurricular activities and responsibilities within the school and wider community further enhance.
- Our art studio, outside classroom, specialist teachers and regular engagement with outdoor learning initiatives and curriculum specialists in the delivery of a broad curriculum
- We believe every child can learn to read. Phonics is making connections between the sounds of our spoken words and the letters that are used to write them down. It opens up the potential of reading and so much other learning, too. Children are at an advantage if they are taught phonics efficiently and as early as possible in their learning journey. Our school has chosen Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised as our systematic, synthetic phonics programme (SSP) to teach early reading and spelling. Parents are invited to attend a phonics evening for EYFS and Y1 in the Autumn Term. To find out how our phonics teaching is delivered, our phonics progression and information on how to support your child at home with phonics please click here.
- To support children in KS2 with their reading and book choices the school employs a dedicated Reading Champion. Because we believe strongly in the power of reading to children we have a framework to ensure pupils in every class experience a wide range of quality texts and genre that interest and meet statutory curriculum requirements.
- For the core subjects our maths is based on White Rose Maths and our writing in literacy is based on Devon CC/Babcock Teaching Sequences and use a variety of rich texts. Our progression for writing and reading in in the Intent section above. For spelling we use the No Nonsense Spelling and Grammar programmes.
- CPD for staff aligned with whole school strategic direction and/or individual need.
- How we comply with the Equality Act and the Special Education Needs and Disability Regulations is detailed in relevant school policies and for information relating to the right of withdrawal from RE is available here
What is meant by ‘Impact’?
Ultimately, Impact is the extent to which our Implementation achieves our Intent.
What is our Impact?
Pupil outcomes are captured in a variety of ways to measure our Impact.
Capturing and measuring Impact includes:
- A range of strategies to assess pupils’ achievement of key objectives for each subject, sequential across year groups, that define meeting the expected standard and exceeding the expected standard. Underpinning these broader objectives is the ‘sticky knowledge’ attributable to each unit of learning. All these objectives are in the individual subject documents in the Intent section above.
- Subject leaders undertaking aspects of ‘Deep Dive’ evaluation and reporting in their Impact Statements enable them to talk knowledgeably about how well pupils meet the expectations of standards set on in the curriculum and their impact as a subject leader on teaching and learning
- An annual timetable of Subject Governor activities to support, challenge and hold Subject Leaders to account
- Young people with knowledge, skills and personal attributes who, even when out of Appledore School uniform, are recognisable as having followed the Appledore School curriculum and experience and are ready and confident for their next stage
- Our most recent Ofsted inspection
- Outcomes of our pupils in national tests, including Early Years, Year 1 Phonics Test, Year 4 Times Tables Check and Year 1 and Year 6 SATs
We also have Intent, Implementation and Impact relating specifically to our Early Years and their long term planning can be found here
Due to the evolving and flexible nature of our curriculum, please be aware that linked documents are an example for illustrative purposes and may not always be the most recent version.
