At Fair Oak Junior School, we have ensured that, not only does our curriculum fulfil the requirements of the national curriculum, but is also ambitious for the children that attend our school. We firmly believe in developing the whole child and giving our children the best opportunities. We are aware of how our school fits into a child’s school life and seek to build on the experiences that have had in infant school whilst preparing them for secondary school and more importantly their lives after school as members of our society. As such, we want children to have arrange of experiences across all of the subjects so they are able to discover where their passions lie and expand their interests. We want our children to leave school as balanced individuals, who know how to be flexible and adapt to different situations in order to solve problems.

Each subject is taught as its own discipline but links are made across the curriculum where they will benefit from doing so or put the knowledge in a helpful context. Within individual subjects, our subject leads have ensured there is a logical and coherent sequence to their curriculum and as a school, we have carefully planned out where individual units will be taught so links can be made across the whole curriculum. For example, our Year 5 children will study the impact of the Saxon and Viking power struggle in Britain as well as the Ancient Maya, who, chronologically, were thriving in the same period; allowing them to make comparisons between the two civilisations. In between these units, the children will have studied rainforests in geography, which will give them some context about how the Maya had to adapt to survive in such harsh conditions.

We have worked hard to identify the component knowledge and vocabulary children will need as well as the skills they will need to apply. To enable this, tasks have been carefully designed and adapted for all children including children who have SEND. Children also have regular retrieval practise to ensure they retain the key knowledge that they will need to access further learning. These things allow for a clear progression across the curriculum for all children ensuring they are ready for their next step when they leave Fair Oak and move on to the next step of their journey.