Lower School (Year 3 to Year 7) Curriculum Overview
Carew Academy offers all of its Lower School students a core suite of curriculum subjects that provide a solid foundation of learning and experiences that are meaningful and relevant in 21st century Britain. In addition, through our Enrichment program, we offer a range of additional curriculum subjects and experiences that contextualise classroom concepts in the real world, deepen understanding and improves students’ self-esteem by supporting them to develop into a rounded individual. This ensures that pupils move through Carew as confident young people who define themselves by their strengths rather than their weaknesses.
| Subject |
Lessons per week |
| English |
4 |
| Maths |
4 |
| Literacy |
3 |
| Science |
2 |
| Food Studies (Year 7 in a block, not weekly) |
2 |
| PSHE (Personal, Social & Health Education, including Relationships & Sex Education) |
2 |
| Art |
1 |
| Drama |
1 |
| Music |
1 |
| PE/Archery |
1 |
| Enrichment |
8 |
| Assembly |
1 |
Enrichment Offer Overview
| Handwriting |
Tae Kwon Do |
Cycling |
Sensory |
| Dance |
Swimming |
Travel Training |
Animal Care |
| Signing |
Games Review |
Netball |
Football |
| Sign, Sequence, Speak |
Boys Group |
Science |
Rock Climbing |
| Lego & Construction |
Horse Riding |
Film Club (Speech & Language) |
Climbing & Moving (OT) |
| Fitness |
Craft |
|
Speech and Language and Occupational Therapy
This model also provides an opportunity for our therapy teams to work with groups of pupils with similar areas of need from across the department on larger, more meaningful projects to better support their needs. |
While the core curriculum aims to provide students with a solid foundation and a flavour of different subjects, Enrichment sessions are focused on supporting students to identify areas of strength and interest, and use this as a vehicle to develop their academic, social and independent skills. Enrichment runs from 1:30pm to 2:45pm on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and 10:00am – 11:45am on Wednesdays. Pupils take part in a different session each day and have either a communication or skills based target for each one, depending on the activity. These sessions aim to take full advantage of all available learning opportunities which can range from changing into PE kit independently, communicating requests and planning journeys on public transport. Pupils are supported by staff to review and reflect upon their targets at the end of each session. This supports pupils to take ownership of their learning, begin to dictate the direction of their learning and build a series of achievements from a diverse field. This will help to ensure that at the end of year seven when students transition into the Middle School, they have a clear sense of what they enjoy and of their areas of strength, allowing them to make more informed decisions about their futures.
PSHE and RSE
Across the Lower School students receive two PSHE lessons a week. One session follows a scheme of work based upon Jigsaw. Jigsaw PSHE brings together Personal, Social, Health and Economic education, emotional literacy, social skills and spiritual development in a lesson-a-week program. The second session provides class teachers with an opportunity to focus on one of three areas:
– development of personal care skills including, dressing, handwashing/showering and dental hygiene
– specific circle times to focus on class issues
– to cover one of the Lower School RSE units.
It is now widely recognised that Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) is a vital tool to help young people develop healthy, positive friendships / relationships both at school and later in their adult lives. We share this view and have included two RSE sessions in the Enrichment offer: Girls group and Boys group. Class teachers will identify pupils who they feel would benefit from additional support in a particular area. These pupils will be grouped from across the Lower School. This ensures that pupils are receiving RSE at a level appropriate to them within a peer group they can relate to. The Lower School RSE units include, but are not limited to:
– My body, my business
– Friends, acquaintances and people I know
– E-safety
– Puberty
– Relationships
The overarching emphasis in these lessons will be supporting pupils to deepen their understanding of how to keep themselves safe, develop more meaningful friendships with each other and learn how to identify risky situations and how best to react to them.
Theme Days
We hold whole-school ‘Theme Days’ approximately every term linked to an aspect of the Humanities subjects (Religious Education, History and Geography). These have a strong focus on practical, hands-on activities and experiences. This enables us to provide high quality learning in those important subject areas, delivered through memorable and fun learning experiences.
Summary
The Lower School curriculum has been carefully structured to enable pupils to grow and achieve as individuals who define themselves by their strengths and achievements. It will provide them with the confidence and resilience to apply what they learn in the classroom in the real world and as a result, provide a strong platform from which pupils can make informed decisions about their future into the Middle School and later life.
