Templars Curriculum Intent

We want our children to know how it feels to belong.

 We want them to belong to Templars Primary School, to belong to their community and belong to the wider world of opportunity. The Templars’ Tailored Curriculum has been carefully crafted to make our school a place of belonging - complementary to our commitments to rigorous safeguarding, restorative behaviour practices and to our core values of care, respect and honesty.

Welcomed into our place of learning, our pupils can feel confident that they will belong, fit in and are safe in their identity.  Our curriculum takes every opportunity to relate firstly to their immediate locality of Tile Hill and Coventry. Every child, every day will be given every chance to ask, “How does what, and who I am learning about, relate to me and where I belong?”  Through subject disciplines children learn that they are part of wider communities – of authors, geographers, historians and engineers, of mathematicians, linguists and scientists - selected to provide the diversity to inspire every child. As each child makes progress though the curriculum the geographical lens widens to explore the wider world of boundless promise and opportunity.

Carefully selected teaching pedagogy ensures that all children, regardless of their differences, know that Templars is the place where they can contribute, where they can be heard, where they belong; every child, every day, every chance.

Our school aims and the aims of The Templars’ Tailored Curriculum are one and the same:

• We want our children…to think and to wonder

We aim to provide a curriculum that has been especially created for our own children. It will be relevant, progressive, cohesive and exciting. We support this aim by providing a rich variety of curricular and extra-curricular activities, which provide both breadth of experience and opportunities for personal/social development.

Our staff plan learning with care and precision. They have the highest aspirations for pupils and the children will be encouraged to work to the fullest extent of their capabilities in all aspects of the enriched curriculum.

• We want our children…to be able to enjoy being with different kinds of people

We aim to promote equal opportunities for all children.

We will achieve this by valuing difference. We recognise each child as an individual enabling them to develop. personal, spiritual and moral values, an understanding of different religions and beliefs, a tolerance for others and their ways of life.

• We want our children…to be kinder, fairer, braver and better people

We aim to encourage self-discipline, self-esteem and self-motivation so that our pupils can grow to become valuable members of society

An important emphasis will be placed upon the child’s personal development and developing a love of learning. High expectations of behaviour, manners and respect are the foundation of our relentless routines.

• We want our children…to be healthy, happy and safe at school

We aim to provide a safe, warm and friendly atmosphere for all who learn and work within it and for visitors. We will work to provide an environment in which children and adults will feel both safe, secure and happy, enabling them to develop effectively and reach their potential. In support of this the school and its governors are strongly committed to ensuring the physical and mental health of all pupils and staff and will encourage pupils to maintain a healthy lifestyle, and staff to take care of their mental and physical wellbeing.

Templars Curriculum Implementation

It is our mission to harness the innate talents of our children, take them beyond their everyday experiences and give them the empowering knowledge that unlocks doors, providing a foundation for future success, reaching deep understanding and creativity.  The Templars Tailored Curriculum is a knowledge- rich curriculum; we plan carefully what we want our children to know and how we ensure they remember it.

Knowledge through teaching

Themes are taught through subject lessons and each lesson locates the learning within the subject discipline.

Lessons have three main teaching purposes and involve a blend of teaching pedagogy, appropriate to each subject:

• Knowledge: The need for a strong knowledge base; the cultural capital that we accrue from vertical transmission; the things that we all must know to function in the modern world. (Call and response, quizzing, deliberate practice)
• Fluency: The need to question, debate and discuss ideas; to form our own opinions and to have authentic experiences; to value the processes by which we learn for the way they can help build our character. (Interleaving, deliberate and spaced learning)
• Depth: The need to be able to communicate our ideas and knowledge in a variety of forms; to create and perform with confidence and flair.

Curriculum Intent Documents for each subject have been collaboratively created by subject co-ordinators, informed teachers and SLT who regularly review a list of knowledge, the memorising of which will provide a foundation for grasping a subject.

Knowledge organisers in most subject areas are a useful tool to support children and parents with the bare minimum of facts and vocabulary for a theme.

Learning to Learn Weeks

Four weeks per year, following the Autumn half terms and the first Spring and Summer terms, are dedicated to Learning to Learn.  During these weeks, teachers address the needs of Templars pupils by:

• Creating a calm, collaborative classroom environment
• Teaching children to safeguard themselves through Protective Behaviour work
• Promoting Templars reading culture
• Setting the culture and boundaries of class circle time
• Teaching the Templars Language of Learning
• Teaching, through practice, whole-school Templar’s Relentless Routines
• Setting expectations for presentation in books including handwriting
• Conducting a range of AFL activities to inform planning of topics in response to need and interests of class
• Teaching of some Maths objectives to allow for effective retrieval practice throughout the year

Curriculum Relentless Routines

Each theme is implemented through a set of Curriculum Relentless Routines which are outlined below:

• A ‘Knowledge Harvest’ to inform planning and ignite prior learning.
• A ‘Spark Day” – time taken off timetable to be involved in something special and different that will enthuse learners at the beginning of the theme. These can include, for example, dressing up as a famous person, visits to the Sea Life Centre, tasting foods from around the world, or recreating the Amazon rainforest in the classroom! 
• A relevant trip, visitor or experience to enhance learning and to relate learning to future employment opportunities wherever possible.
• A ‘Boost Day’ following a half term to reignite enthusiasm and gather ideas, questions and lines of enquiry, allowing students the capacity and freedom to become architects of their own intentional curriculum choices
• A ‘Be Our Guest Event’ to involve the rest of the school, parents and carers and, once a year, the wider community in learning and showcase the knowledge, skills and understanding gained
• A reflection event/day to review the learning at the end of a theme

Extra-Curricular Clubs

We offer an extensive range of free clubs including a comprehensive range of sporting activities – football, cricket, tennis, swimming, rugby, netball, rounders, athletics, dance. We also offer Musical Theatre, Coding, Cookery, STEM, Young Engineers, Nature Study, Crafts, Art, Chess, Polish and many more. Children are canvassed to ensure that the school provides an appealing choice of clubs. We want all children to have had the experience of belonging to a club.

Personal, Social and Health Education, Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural Development and British Values are both subjects and an ethos, reflected in our school motto ‘Every Child, Every Day, Every Chance and in our school values of respect, care and honesty.  Children are growing up in a world that is constantly changing and it is crucial that we teach them how to navigate through life safely, happily and healthily. We feel this is the duty of all the staff at school in partnership with the parents. We teach children about relationships, emotions, reproduction and health, as well as transferable skills to help with life. We consistently promote British values; Democracy, Rule of Law, Individual Liberty, Mutual Respect and Tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs. Templars teaches personal development in a wide range of ways throughout the children’s school lives. For example:

• It is taught both in discrete lessons and intertwined with other subjects, such as PE and English
• Staff members consistently model how to be a good citizen who uphold the school values
• Assemblies provide an opportunity for the children to belong together to discuss and learn about issues such as ‘No Outsiders’, World Faiths, current events and the wider world. (Please refer to our Assembly Rota.)
• Specialist staff working with individuals or groups
• E-Safety lessons in computing and assembly
• Anti-Bullying Ambassadors
• Celebrating positive learning attributes with weekly certificates
• Well thought through transitions throughout the school and beyond
• Focussing on mental and physical health
• School council
• Junior Leadership Team, Play leaders, Lunchtime Assistants, Sports leaders and other opportunities to lead.
• Learning about different countries, cultures and religions

Inclusion

Teachers set high expectations for all pupils. Appropriate assessment informs ambitious targets and the planning of challenging work for all groups. A range of teaching pedagogy has been specifically selected and training provided so that teachers plan lessons to support pupils with SEN and/or disabilities study every National Curriculum subject, wherever possible, and that there are no barriers to every pupil achieving. Teachers also take account of the needs of pupils whose first language is not English and/or speech and language deficits. Lessons are planned so that teaching opportunities help pupils to develop their English, and to support pupils to take part in all subjects.

Please see our curriculum policy, subject pages and year group pages for further information.