Curriculum
Curriculum Intent
At Henham and Ugley, as a starting point we teach from the objectives of the National Curriculum. The curriculum at Henham and Ugley is driven by purposeful learning that ensures that our children’s learning has meaningful reference to themselves and the wider world.
Our curriculum enables our children to explore real life issues, develop a social conscience and contribute towards changing this. This is fundamental to the way the curriculum at Henham has been designed and shaped.
We know that the first stage in learning is motivation, as supported by the field of neuroscience. Our curriculum has therefore been designed to spark children’s natural curiosity and our approach of open ended investigation and discovery is at the very heart of it.
This approach of purposeful exploration and investigation increases children’s creativity and brain plasticity which, in turn, helps them to become open to new ideas and be more creative in their own thinking. Our curriculum approach ensures that all children, including those with disabilities and SEN, can fully access their learning and achieve.
Research and, indeed our own practice, shows us that children who are more confident of their learning have the ability to learn faster and learn better. They concentrate more, think harder and find learning more enjoyable. They do better in their statutory assessments, as our school data shows. Through our approach to learning our children really develop their characters too.
Today’s schools need to be educating, not just for exam results, but for lifelong learning. To thrive in the 21st century children need to have learnt how to be tenacious and resourceful, imaginative and logical, self-disciplined and self-aware, collaborative and inquisitive. Our ‘pioneering’ approach to learning enables us to achieve this.
The National Curriculum – Key Stages
We follow the National Curriculum (2014). Years 1 and 2 follow Key Stage 1 (KS1), and Years 3-6 follow Key Stage 2 (KS2). These comprise of core and foundation subjects. EYFS (Reception) follow the Statutory Framework for Early Years Foundation Stage which was updated in 2020, and Development Matters.
A detailed guide to the new National Curriculum, introduced in in 2014, can be downloaded here
Core subjects:
- English
- Maths
- Science
Foundation subjects:
- Art
- Computing
- Design and Technology
- Geography
- History
- Modern Foreign Languages (French)
- Music
- Personal, Social and Health Education PSHE
- Physical Education PE
- Religious Education
