Our Curriculum

Mission Statement

At Ninelands, we believe in making learning irresistible, meaningful and memorable. We want all our children to thrive in a happy, secure and inclusive environment where they develop enquiring minds, enjoy learning and have high aspirations, every lesson, every day. We challenge our children to be independent and self-motivated with the resilience to continue their lifelong learning journey so they can flourish, contributing positively to society with strength and compassion.

The aims of our school are:

· To develop enquiring minds, an enthusiasm for learning, and ability to co-operate and a desire to achieve.

· To encourage everyone to understand their strengths, creating growth mindsets which embrace challenge.

· To maintain a broad, balanced, exciting and meaningful curriculum which enables every child to experience success and a strong sense of achievement through a wide range of experiences.

· To promote self-discipline so that children become increasingly responsible for their own behaviour, growing themselves as self-reliant and self-motivated learners.

· To foster in all members of the school community, a positive appreciation of the importance of inclusion, diversity and cultural heritage, and of the role we all play in our society.

· For children to be a part of the school and wider town and city community and for them to understand and value how they can actively contribute.

· To establish and maintain positive relationships with parents and carers so their child’s learning journey is a partnership.

· To support, value and empower staff to create an environment that enables our aims and mission.

Curriculum Overview 

Our curriculum is underpinned by the principles and statutory requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and the National Curriculum. While these frameworks provide a robust foundation, we have developed a carefully considered, bespoke curriculum that reflects the unique characteristics of our pupils and school community. It is designed to ensure learning is active, engaging, and relevant, with a strong emphasis on learning in action through real-life experiences and purposeful opportunities. Our curriculum is inclusive and aspirational, providing all children with memorable and meaningful learning that inspires curiosity and supports a lifelong love of learning.

Curriculum Drivers

The Ninelands curriculum is shaped by three key drivers that define our distinctive approach to teaching and learning. These drivers set us apart, reflecting both our educational philosophy and the priorities we believe are most important for our children’s development. They provide a clear focus for the learning experiences we offer, guiding the design of our curriculum and ensuring that it remains purposeful, relevant, and aligned with the needs of our school community.

Establishing our curriculum drivers has not replaced any aspect of the statutory requirements; rather, it has enabled us to prioritise content more effectively and enhance the existing curriculum. This approach ensures that all children benefit from ambitious, well-rounded, and appropriately tailored learning opportunities.

When developing our curriculum drivers, we consulted with all stakeholders and asked them to reflect on the following:

• How we can make the most of our local and regional context
• How we can best promote and embed the culture and values we hold as a school
• The backgrounds, experiences, and starting points our pupils bring to their learning

Together, we identified Respect, Creativity, and Aspiration as our core curriculum drivers. These values are embedded in our teaching and learning and are consistently evident across the school. To further celebrate and reinforce them, we hold three dedicated Driver Days each year, one per term, providing focused opportunities to bring each value to life in meaningful and engaging ways.

A more detailed explanation of what each driver entails can be found in our ‘Curriculum Driver’ document.

Curriculum Entitlement

Alongside our curriculum drivers, we have developed our Curriculum Entitlement Document; a clear statement of our commitment to pupils and their families. It sets out what every child can expect from their learning experience at Ninelands, outlining the range of opportunities and experiences they will encounter as they progress through the school. Designed to be accessible and transparent, this one-page document captures the richness and breadth of our curriculum offer.

STATUTORY OFFER

The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum

Our Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum ensures children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe.  It also gives our children the broad range of knowledge, skills and understanding that provide a solid foundation for future progress through school and later life. 

Four guiding principles steer and shape our practice:

4. Every child in our care is unique and we must consider their individual needs, interests, and development when planning a challenging and enjoyable learning experience for them.
5. Children learn to be strong, self-assured and independent through positive relationships.
6. Children develop and learn well in enabling environments with teaching and support from adults, who strive to meet their needs and respond to any individual interests.  Children also benefit from a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and/or carers.
7. The recognition that children learn and develop at different rates and we must accommodate the needs of all of our children no matter what their starting point. We work hard to make certain that every child makes progress and cannot emphasis enough the importance of learning and development for all.

The curriculum provided for our Early Years pupils is shaped by seven areas of learning and development.  These are divided into three Prime and four Specific areas – however all areas of learning and development are important and inter-connected.

The three Prime areas are particularly important for fuelling imagination, igniting curiosity, forming relationships and developing a love of learning.

The three Prime areas are:

• Communication and language
• Physical development
• Personal, social and emotional development

Our staff also support children in four Specific areas, through which the three Prime areas are strengthened and applied.

The four Specific areas are:

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the world
• Expressive arts and design

Three characteristics of effective teaching and learning that we incorporate into all that we plan and provide are:

• playing and exploring - children investigate, explore and experience and are encouraged to ‘have a go’
• active learning - children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements
• creating and thinking critically - children have and develop their own ideas, make links and connections and develop strategies to support them in completing activities.

Planned and purposeful play is at the centre of our Nursery and Reception curriculum and children engage in both adult led and child initiated activities.

As children grow older and move into their Reception year, we have a greater focus on teaching the essential knowledge, skills and understanding in the specific areas of learning in preparation for the next stage of their education in Year 1 and in order to benefit fully from the opportunities that lie ahead of them.

The Curriculum for Key Stages 1 and 2

In Key Stage 1 and 2, we deliver the statutory elements of the National Curriculum through a combination of carefully selected schemes and our own bespoke curriculum. Our curriculum provides a coherent, progressive, and sequenced structure that enables children to develop subject-specific knowledge, skills, and understanding in a meaningful and connected way.

This approach allows us to ensure high standards and tailor learning experiences to suit the needs and interests of all our children. We place a strong emphasis on learning in action, creating opportunities for children to apply their learning through real-life contexts, purposeful activities, and engaging experiences that bring the curriculum to life.

 We use the following documents to support our delivery of the curriculum:

To make certain that our Mission Statement is realised within our curriculum we plan, keeping the following principles in mind:

 Making the learning ‘irresistible, meaningful and memorable’

The more real the learning experience, the more likely the children will engage in what is being taught. We plan to make the topic or subject we are teaching real to the children and not too far removed from their own experiences.  For example, when we are teaching about the Vikings in Year 4, we will try to think of the legacy they have left and start with that.  We will launch each topic with a stimuli or starting point (a visit, visitors, artefacts, books, film clips, images, problems to solve, challenges to undertake etc.) using this an opportunity to inject energy into a new learning journey, capture the interest and imagination of our children and create an eagerness to find out more.  Our launch lessons will also be used to frame thinking, focus on the concept at hand, and give learning objectives context.  Moreover, they will make connections between existing knowledge and future learning.

Challenging our children ‘to be independent and self-motivated’

By mapping out the content of our curriculum we ensure educational purpose, but what we teach also needs to be steered by the children in some way.  We prompt and provoke our children into becoming actively involved in both what we have planned for them and related aspects of the learning that they find interesting along the way.  We are not asking children what they would like to learn, as that can be a broad question that they may struggle to answer and can also limit what we offer as they do not know the scope of the topic, or subject, we are teaching them.  Instead, we want them to feel part of the learning process, rather than lead it.  To support this, we create a classroom ethos that is safe, open and welcoming and acknowledge that providing choices, being flexible and establishing positive relationships are the strong foundation on which we build the learning - together.

If we are to provoke lines of enquiry, then children also need space and time to follow them. We allow for this by:

• not planning too tightly which allows for our lessons to be adapted in light of what has been achieved in the previous session.
• giving time for children to explore their chosen lines of enquiry.
• collapsing the timetable at the beginning of a theme.
• hooking the interest of our children and securing their commitment from the start of a topic through our launch days.
• pulling the topic together at the end, enabling the children to reflect upon and demonstrate their learning.
• holding themed mornings, afternoons or days which allow us to either immerse our children in an area of the established curriculum or enrich their education beyond what is statutory.

Wanting all of our children ‘to thrive in a happy, secure and inclusive environment’

The curriculum in our school is designed to be accessed by all children.  We build on the strengths of each and every child, supporting them to reach their full potential.  Some of what we offer will be modified in order to meet the needs of specific individuals and this will be done in consultation with our SENDCo, parents/carers and outside agencies - where necessary. 

Making certain that our children are ‘contributing positively to society with strength and compassion’

 Developing the right attitude and attributes in our children is equal to focusing on their academic ability.  At Ninelands, we recognise the responsibility we have in enabling children to:

• be engaged in decision making and supporting the community and environment.
• build positive relationships and choose not to bully or discriminate.
• develop self-confidence and successfully deal with life changes and challenges.

We know that supporting the children to develop positive learning dispositions and character traits will serve them well both now and in the future.