About our Curriculum

The Curriculum Intent

At Stewart Headlam we are dedicated to providing the best education opportunities possible for our children. We believe that a 21st Century curriculum, which is broad, balanced and takes into account children’s views and preferences, is fundamental in ensuring that children leave Stewart Headlam:

as lifelong learners
curious about the world
as analytical thinkers
as problem solvers.
as active members of society who contribute to the wider world
ready to take on challenges of the day with dedication
with a drive to change the world for the better.

Our intent is to strategically plan and deliver a curriculum which gives the children the skills, knowledge, understanding and practical application of what they learn throughout the years. We believe that a curriculum which meets the National Curriculum expectations, is fun, engaging and progressive through the years, will enable our children to flourish and build upon their learning, using schema to maintain their learning and give them better opportunities past the primary education stage.

Our main driver for the curriculum is Oracy. We use this to establish good oracy skills and increase pupil vocabulary across the curriculum which will in turn enable children to access learning, engage with learning, contribute to the wider learning, articulate their thoughts, feelings and knowledge and develop communication and presentation skills.

Through raising standards in oracy, our children will have better access to the curriculum and be able to engage in depth with the learning of new skills, knowledge and understanding that is required.

Our curriculum reinforces our school values, the UN Rights of the Child and British Values so that children develop a sense of moral purpose, fairness, tolerance and respect for themselves and others.

The Curriculum Implementation

Our Curriculum is organised in half termly history or geography themed topics matched with year group themed knowledge organisers. These topics have been carefully chosen to meet the EYFS framework and National Curriculum requirements as well as providing exciting, creative, engaging learning that makes links to their local environment, area and the significance of living in London. We aim to utilise the opportunities for offsite learning offered by our location as well as inviting specialists into school to bring the learning to life. The learning builds upon this by giving children the opportunities to learn about the wider world, starting with the UK and our neighbours in Europe, to Brazil, China and other places globally. Other subjects are linked to these themes through cross curricular links such as texts in English matching the theme of each half term where possible and Art projects inspired by the learning in History or Geography. Where subjects have content that does not link, then stand-alone units of learning are taught to ensure a broad and balanced curriculum.

Once a year, Stewart Headlam chooses a whole school topic which is taught across the school. Exciting topics such as pirates dinosaurs, the Olympics, Climate Change and most recently, Japan encourage cross year group learning, families learning together at home, and outcomes that show progression of learning and thinking throughout the school.

Maths and English writing, reading and phonics are taught on a daily basis at Stewart Headlam. Throughout the week, children also have sessions in: