SIX HALF TERMLY THEMES & LEAD QUESTIONS

We believe that our curriculum must prepare pupils for a life in modern Britain and subsequently become socially responsible local and global citizens.  We want to help our pupils to develop an awareness of themselves and the positive impact they can have.  This is made possible through our curriculum themes and emotional intelligence values. 

Our six themes have been adapted from ‘The 8 Key Concepts of the Global Dimension in Education’. These reflect our aspirations for our pupils to gain the knowledge, skills and understanding of concepts to become informed, active, responsible citizens.

The themes start in Nursery and progress through to year 6.  Each theme repeats annually, therefore having a spiral effect.  During each key phase of learning, the complexity of the theme progresses.  This is developed through key questions that drive learning in each year group.

Learning across the curriculum maintains subject integrity. Where possible, it is also rooted in the context of a theme, providing purposeful connections to support memorable learning.

By making these themes the foundations of all our learning we provide a curriculum that creates aspirational children who understand the world they live in and are equipped with the skills and knowledge to have a positive and meaningful impact on it.

 

 

Cultural Capital - is the essential knowledge that pupils need to be educated citizens, introducing them to the best that has been thought and said, helping to engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement.

Our in school curriculum planning aims to ensure that pupils’ are provided with the cultural capital that they require. To enhance pupils' learning experiences we have planned external trips and visitors throughout their school journey that will inspire, embed and enhance learning: experiencing the best that our city and surrounding areas has to offer from the past to the current day.

 

 

How our RE Curriculum contributes to our whole school curriculum intent.

 

Intention one: Our learners will achieve excellent and sustained academic progress. 

At Manley Park Primary, we offer an RE spiral curriculum. A curriculum that has been designed for pupils to explore key concepts, knowledge and skills  repeatedly throughout the curriculum, but with deepening layers of complexity, or in different applications.

The RE curriculum offers a clear structure for learning. It is structured around the 3 aims:

1. To ensure that all pupils know about and understand a range of religions and world views;
2. Express ideas and insights about the nature, significance and impact of religions and world views;
3. Gain and deploy the skills needed to engage seriously with religions and world views,

and the 3 strands: Believing (Religious beliefs, teachings, sources; questions about meaning, purpose and truth), Expressing (Religious and spiritual forms of expression; questions about identity and diversity) and Living (Religious practices and ways of living; questions about values and commitments). The units of work are based around the three strands of Believing, Expressing, Living. Each strand is broken down into ‘threads’, so that teachers can see what learning has gone before and what is to follow. 

 

Intention two: Our learners will develop effective lifelong learning behaviours.

We believe our pupils will develop positive attitudes:

•  of respect towards other people who hold views and beliefs different from their own,  and;
•  towards living in and contributing to an inclusive and caring community and a society of diverse religions and worldviews. 

 

Intention three: Our learners will be supported to think critically and creatively.  We encourage our pupils to ask questions about the world, to consider some of the fundamental questions of human existence which religions address in different ways and to reflect on their own beliefs, values and experiences.

 

Intention four: Our learners will become well informed and responsible citizens.

We believe that it is vital for all our pupils to learn from and about religion, so that they can understand the world around them and develop positive, respectful attitudes towards people from all religions and world views. Through our RE curriculum, pupils develop their knowledge of the world faiths, and their understanding and awareness of the beliefs, values and traditions of other individuals, societies, communities and cultures. 

We provide a curriculum that develops positive local and global citizens. Pupils become socially responsible citizens of our community and the world.

 

Why we want an excellent RE at Manley Park Primary School / How we will achieve it and how we will know we are being successful 

 

Intent

Our RE curriculum intends to provide the structures and support systems that will enable the teaching of RE in a manner that is coherent, progressive, pedagogically and philosophically sound, and that will promote the cognitive, spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of all learners.

At Manley Park, we develop pupils’ ability to be reflective about their own beliefs (religious or otherwise) and perspective on life and develop knowledge of, and respect for, different people’s faiths, feelings and values. We also want to develop pupils’ ability to recognise, and value, the things we share in common across cultural, religious, ethnic and socio-economic communities. We want our pupils to embrace diversity.

 

MPPS RE curriculum aims:

To ensure that pupils become religiously literate, in other words, they should be able to hold balanced and well-informed conversations about religion and world views.

 

1. To ensure that learning in RE has a strong focus on deepening pupils’ understanding of the nature, diversity, and impact of religion and belief in the contemporary world. 
2. To ensure that pupils understand that RE is  an important subject that contributes to their personal development and well-being to community cohesion by promoting mutual respect and tolerance in a diverse society (British Values).
3. To ensure that pupils  are able to ask and respond to challenging questions about the ultimate meaning and purpose of life, beliefs about God, the self and the nature of reality, issues of right and wrong, and what it means to be human; to gather, interpret and analyse information; and to draw conclusions and evaluate issues using good reasoning skills. 
4. To ensure that pupils develop a knowledge and understanding of Christianity, of other principal religions, other religious traditions and world views that offer answers to questions about the issues mentioned before.

 

Implementation

We plan our religious education curriculum in accordance with Manchester LEA’s agreed syllabus. The RE curriculum is structured around the 3 aims:

1. To ensure that all pupils know about and understand a range of religions and world views;
2. Express ideas and insights about the nature, significance and impact of religions and world views;
3. Gain and deploy the skills needed to engage seriously with religions and world views

(The threefold aim of RE elaborates the principal aim ‘to engage pupils in systematic enquiry into significant human questions which religion and world views address, so that they can develop the understanding and skills needed to appreciate and appraise varied responses to these questions, as well as develop responses of their own.’) and the 3 strands, Believing (Religious beliefs, teachings, sources; questions about meaning, purpose and truth), Expressing (Religious and spiritual forms of expression; questions about identity and diversity) and Living (Religious practices and ways of living; questions about values and commitments).

We offer opportunities for children of all abilities to develop their skills and knowledge in each unit, and we ensure that the planned progression built into the scheme of work, offers the children an increasing challenge as they move through the school.In our school the RE curriculum follows an enquiry-based approach as the basis for improving pupil’s learning in RE. We carry out the curriculum planning in religious education in three phases: long-term plan, Medium-term plans and the year groups Units of work. 

The RE long-term plan maps the religious education key questions explored each half-term by each year group in every key stage. The RE subject is taught across the Key Stages by different teachers. We make links between the religious education topics and the school half termly themes and EI values. P4C materials and thinking skills strategies are used across all year groups as a tool to develop RE skills such as the ability to ask relevant questions. 

Our year groups medium-term plans give details of each core  RE question explored in each half-term in every year group. The RE subject leader reviews these plans and completes a RE annual/termly monitoring document. 

The year groups units of works are planned and designed by the subject leader and delivered by the class teacher or other teacher responsible for the subject.

 

In the EYFS, RE is embedded into the curriculum, as a part of everyday routine and provision under the specific area ‘Understanding of the World’ under the People, Culture and Communities strand. 

In KS1 and KS2 there is a weekly lesson taught by teachers who use the new RE document as a tool to plan the RE medium and short term plans. Across the school, the RE lessons cover the concepts, the content/knowledge and the skills required to meet the standards of their local agreed syllabus and ensure progression. Within the lessons, there is evidence of the use of pedagogical approaches and strategies that Manley Park have embedded in all the subjects of the curriculum: P4C, Reflective approach, outstanding questioning (Hinge and exit questions) and elements of The Write stuff English CPD such as the vocabulary vault.

British values are also promoted within the RE lessons by creating a safe and respectful learning environment where children are able to articulate their opinions, take into account others' opinions , work in groups , support each other and value diversity.

Engaging experiences (visitors from different faith backgrounds) are planned in the different year groups to develop a better knowledge and understanding of how people live through their faith, express themselves and what impact religions have in their lives. 

Parental engagement through well-organised activities during the year promotes a sense of belonging to a united community, and it also reinforces the school values that are the epicentre of Manley Park inclusion ethos.

Impact 

Pupils will be ready for their stage of education within and across year groups

• Pupil voice, learning walks and book looks will be used to evaluate and enhance curriculum impact 
• Pupils will be assessed individually using the well-developed component skills and knowledge during each unit of work (where children have not reached component parts, ind support will be provided)
• Childrens examples will be provided for each year group to support moderation and understanding of the expected standard.
• End points will be assessed as a cohort and that will be used to support transitions and develop curriculum design.

 

 

 

 

How our PSHE Curriculum contributes to our whole school curriculum intent.

 

Intention one: Our learners will achieve excellent and sustained academic progress.

At Manley Park, we use a thematic approach when planning and teaching PSHE, covering three core themes (Relationships; Living in the Wider World and Health & Wellbeing) over the school year, with three topics per term. This spiral approach allows for the progressive building of skills and knowledge as the pupils move through the school. 

Intention two: Our learners will develop effective lifelong learning behaviours.

Teaching PSHE education improves the health and wellbeing of pupils; in turn, pupils with better health and wellbeing can achieve better academically, and enjoy greater success.

Intention three: Our learners will be supported to think critically and creatively.  

P4C pedagogy is regularly used within PSHE education, with many lessons taking the form of a P4C enquiry. 

Intention four: Our learners will become well informed and responsible citizens.

Our PSHE programme is designed to help children prepare for all the opportunities, challenges, life decisions and responsibilities they will face in the future.
 

Why we want an excellent PSHE curriculum at Manley Park Primary School. 

 

Intent

At Manley Park, we teach PSHE education because we believe that it will prepare for all the opportunities, challenges, life decisions and responsibilities they will face in the future. PSHE (personal, social, health and economic) education is a subject in which pupils develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to keep themselves healthy and safe, and prepared for life and work. Through the teaching of  PSHE, we aim to develop skills and attributes such as resilience, self-esteem, risk-management, teamwork and critical thinking in the context of three core themes: relationships, living in the wider world (including economic wellbeing and aspects of careers education) and health and wellbeing. Teaching PSHE education improves the health and wellbeing of pupils; in turn, pupils with better health and wellbeing can achieve better academically, and enjoy greater success.
 

How we will achieve it and how we will know we are being successful. 

 

Implementation

We have devised our PSHE education curriculum using the PSHE Association Programme Builder resource. This ensures that we cover all the statutory requirements from the Department for Education’s statutory guidance on Relationships Education, RSE and Health education whilst also providing our children with wider learning opportunities that encompass drug education, financial education and the importance of physical activity and diet for a healthy lifestyle.

• Each term, every year group has the same overarching theme: Relationships in Autumn, Living in the Wider World in Spring, and Health and Wellbeing in Summer. Each overarching theme is broken down into three smaller units. Relationships is broken down into Family and Friends, Safe Relationships, and Valuing Difference. Living in the Wider World is broken down into Belonging to a Community, Media LIteracy and Digital Communication, and Money and Work. Health and Wellbeing is broken down into Healthy Lifestyles, Growing and CHanging and Keeping Safe. As children revisit these themes year on year, they build on and extend prior knowledge.
• PSHE education is taught for 1 hour a week.
• The units of work have been designed by the subject leader, drawing from the PSHE Association Programme Builder resource and using PSHE Association Quality Mark accredited resources where possible.
• Key subject specific vocabulary is established for each unit of work.
• Key composite (end points)  skills and knowledge established for each year group throughout the school
• Key component (check points) skills and knowledge established for each unit of work
• Subject monitoring completed each term inc pupil voice, book looks and learning walk
• Bespoke support provided to staff, including access to PSHE Association resources

 

Impact 

Our PSHE programme will put in place the key building blocks of healthy, respectful relationships, focusing on family and friendships, in all contexts, including online. Our children will learn how to be healthy and how to care for their mental wellbeing. They will develop knowledge and skills  that  are fundamental to their happiness and sense of self-efficacy. They will learn the value of being kind, generous and honest. The knowledge and attributes gained will support their own, and others’, wellbeing and attainment and help them to become successful and happy adults who make a meaningful contribution to society. 

Our Rationale - why we do what we do and why we have chosen this

 

Teaching PSHE education offers a chance to give every child and young person an equal opportunity to develop the skills and knowledge they need to thrive now and in the future. This includes helping them to deal with critical issues they face every day such as friendships, emotional wellbeing and change. It also gives them a solid foundation for whatever challenging opportunities lie ahead, so they can face a world full of uncertainty with hope.PSHE education helps pupils prepare for all the opportunities, challenges, life decisions and responsibilities they'll face.

How we teach PSHE at Manley Park Primary School.

 

Discussion takes place in a climate of trust, cooperation and support. A safe learning environment helps pupils share feelings, explore values and attitudes, express opinions and consider those of others without attracting negative feedback; as well as encouraging more open discussion. To be effective, pupils and teachers need to develop ground rules together and then test them in discussion and group activities, amending them as necessary. Examples of ground rules include not asking personal questions, respecting what people say, listening to others and having the right to ‘pass’ if you do not wish to comment. Once established ground rules need to be revisited, maintained and if necessary amended.

It is often helpful to start units or topics with activities that establish what is already believed or known, what misconceptions may be held and those areas where students can draw on real life experience. These baseline activities could include the following:

• Group or class mind-mapping activities
• Draw-and-write activities (in draw-and-write activities, students are asked to respond spontaneously to an open-ended question by drawing a picture about a particular issue and writing notes explaining the drawing. Drawing and writing could be in relation to – for example, health issues, community matters, careers options or financial situations. Ideas can be collected before and after the activity to provide evidence of change in knowledge, views or perceptions.
• Responding to and interpreting different scenarios
• ‘Graffiti’ sheets
• Using  a variety of stimulus materials to promote discussion: picture books, book extracts, pictures, videos
• Pupil-to-pupil interviews
• In the ‘round’ first thoughts (P4C style)

Best practice includes lessons which are interactive, participative and engaging. Some examples of this could be circle time, group/whole class discussions (links to P4C), role-play/scenarios, conscience alley, using photographs, using cameras (to take photographs of real situations/evidence/examples), debates and ‘micro’ debates, storytelling, inviting in visitors and outside organisations. Throughout, PSHE should include assessment for learning and opportunities to enable pupils to reflect on what the learning means for their own lives. 

 

 

 

 

 

Our 6 Key Values Drive our Emotional Intelligence Curriculum:

 

• Respect
• Understanding
• Compassion
• Responsibility
• Patience
• Positivity. 

These values drive the schools vision of developing pupils to become socially responsible citizens of our community and the world.

Emotional Intelligence is delivered throughout our curriculum and is supported by the embedding our school values principles and practices.

Our discrete teaching of Emotional Intelligence takes each week. Week one is via a Phase Assembly and week 2 is completed in class to build on the learning with age specific objectives.

This process is repeated over the half term, with each half term following the same 3 foci areas: Myself, Others and As a Learner.
 

AIMS OF EI AT MPPS

• Improved attitudes about self, others and task
• Positive social behaviours and relationships
• Compassionate classrooms and school climate
• Healthy relationships
• Positive mental health

 

KEY SKILLS

 

 

 

Intention three: Our learners will be supported to think critically and creatively.  

Our P4C pedagogies are used across the curriculum as well as during discrete lessons to develop children that are caring, collaborative, critical and creative thinkers. In P4C the teacher acts as a facilitator, helping the children with their thinking, listening and reasoning skills and supporting them to ask questions and listen to each others’ points of view.  P4C is special because:

• It is meaningful for the pupils – they set the agenda
• It is democratic – everyone’s opinions are valued
• It is collaborative – everyone tries to build and move the thinking forward 

We create a climate founded on enquiry, which builds on embedding reasoning and questioning. The school adopts the 4C Thinking Skills (Caring, Collaborative, Critical and Creative), use of Talk Prompts and consistent learning environments that use P4C pedagogy to deepen children’s understanding of key concepts. These principles enable children to become confident thinking communicators that make links across their learning and experiences.

P4C encourages high engagement across the curriculum as children are able to use their own opinions but also justify their opinions on facts, things they know and have learnt. It encourages them to challenge their own thinking and their peers' thinking, which in turn builds and establishes a community of inquiry. This enables children to critically engage with new learning and make links across the curriculum.

 

 

 

 

Forest School at MPPS

At MPPS, we aim to foster a community of resilient, independent and creative learners who revel in the unique challenges of the outdoors. This is ambitious work! How then do we go about ‘facilitating holistic development through play, risk-taking and nature connection’? The MPPS Forest School Programme is currently accessed by children in Reception, Year 2 and Year 5. The Level 3 qualified Forest School Practitioners’ practice is guided by the six Forest School Principles as set out by the Forest School Association. 

 

The purpose of attending Forest School is to give children time and space for their holistic development through healthy engagement with risk, problem-solving and self-discovery, all through hands-on experiences within a natural environment and facilitated by skilled practitioners.

A great number of activities enjoyed as part of a Forest School programme can be linked to academic curriculum learning. Where there are clear links within the MPPS Forest School Programme to either the Early Years Foundation Stage or National Curriculum, these are highlighted in green in the MPPS Forest School Programme Overview below. This should also be read in conjunction with the relevant MPPS Curriculum Documents for those specific academic areas, which are shown in red.
 

Forest School is unique. 

As just one branch of the outdoor learning tree, it must be stressed that Forest School is an ethos, not a curriculum. It is important to understand this difference. 

 Forest School is different to the EYFS / National Curriculum subjects which have Early Learning Goals or specific learning objectives. That is not to say that Forest School cannot be a powerful, practical way to introduce and/or consolidate the knowledge and skills gained through the academic curriculum; it certainly is and, facilitated well, the two can go hand-in-hand.   

In 2011, The Forest School Association’s members recognised the need for some guiding principles for the Forest School ethos and agreed upon these six ‘Principles of good practice’:

Principle 1: Forest School is a long-term process of frequent and regular sessions in a woodland or natural environment, rather than a one-off visit. Planning, adaptation, observations and reviewing are integral elements of Forest School.

Principle 2: Forest School takes place in a woodland or natural wooded environment to support the development of a relationship between the learner and the natural world.

Principle 3: Forest School aims to promote the holistic development of all those involved, fostering resilient, confident, independent and creative learners.

Principle 4: Forest School offers learners the opportunity to take supported risks appropriate to the environment and to themselves.

Principle 5: Forest School is run by qualified Forest School practitioners who continuously maintain and develop their professional practice.

Principle 6: Forest School uses a range of learner-centred processes to create a community for development and learning.

 

 

Accordion content

The Equality Act gives us a framework to help us to:

•  value diversity
•  tackle discrimination
•  promote equality.

 This fosters good relationships between people.

The Equality Act 2010 protects people from discrimination on the basis of protected characteristics. The protected characteristics are:

• Age
• Gender reassignment
• Being married or in a civil partnership
• Being pregnant or on maternity leave
• Disability
• Race including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin
• Religion or belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation

In order to ensure that all pupils are protected from discrimination, the school collects information on protected characteristics to support monitoring and development.

Our approach to equality is based on the following key principles:

 

We are all equally valued in our community

We have the highest expectations of each other

We recognise, respect and celebrate difference

We foster positive attitudes and relationships

We have a shared sense of belonging

We observe good inclusion practice in staff recruitment, retention and development

We identify, reduce and remove inequalities and barriers that already exist

 

We aim to:

 

inspire all our children to have ambition for themselves and their community

close the gaps in attainment and achievement between all groups of pupils

make sure that our curriculum progressively represents the protected characteristics

make sure that we celebrate the achievements of people who reflect the diversity of our community in

our school

eradicate the use of discriminative language

attract, use and keep diverse people on our staff team

promote our values and commitment to equality

ensure our recruitment is inclusive

provide an ethos that gives all families a voice and sense of equity in the school

 

SEND

We want to inspire all learners to achieve academic success. We aim to provide all of our children with an education and environment which supports and enriches their lives. We want to enable them to be the best that they can be. We strive to nurture all individuals on their unique journeys. We do this by providing a welcoming, safe and stimulating learning environment. Our school aims to treat all its pupils fairly and with respect. We will provide access and opportunities for all pupils without any discrimination.

The school’s six values influence everything that we do. Our values are; RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, PATIENCE, UNDERSTANDING, COMPASSION and POSITIVITY.

A social model for SEND runs through the heart of the school.

 

 

 

 

Schools should promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty,  and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.  Actively promoting the values means challenging opinions or behaviours in school that are contrary to fundamental British values.

Fundamental British Values underpin what it is to be a citizen in a modern and diverse Great Britain valuing  our community and celebrating diversity of the UK:

• Democracy  
• Rule of Law   
• Individual Liberty  
• Respect & Tolerance

 

 

Collective Worship DfE

All maintained schools must provide religious education and daily collective worship for all registered pupils and promote their spiritual, moral and cultural development.

Collective worship in schools should aim to provide the opportunity for pupils to worship God, to consider spiritual and moral issues and to explore their own beliefs; to encourage participation and response, whether through active involvement in the presentation of worship or through listening to and joining in the worship offered; and to develop community spirit, promote a common ethos and shared values, and reinforce positive attitudes.

Collective worship in county schools and equivalent grant-maintained schools must be wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character, though not distinctive of any particular Christian denomination.

 

CHRISTIAN CHARACTER AND MANLEY PARK

Christian character can be categorised by the ‘Fruits of the Spirit’ (Galatians 5:22-23).  Our school values which are embedded within our curriculum and daily practice align within the fruits of the spirit.  Our values enable all pupils to consider spiritual and moral issues and the opportunity to explore their own beliefs, in line with their own religious and non religious views.  It is our core school values that ensure we have community spirit, a common ethos, shared values and positive attitudes.

MANLEY PARK SCHOOL VALUES: RESPECTFUL, UNDERSTANDING, COMPASSIONATE, RESPONSIBLE, PATIENT, POSITIVE

 

FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT: LOVE |  JOY | PEACE | PATIENCE | KINDNESS | GENEROSITY | FAITHFULNESS | GENTLENESS | SELF-CONTROL

 

MANLEY PARK VALUES ALIGNED WITH THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT:

RESPECTFUL - peace | love | kindness

UNDERSTANDING - generosity | patient

COMPASSIONATE - love | kindness | gentleness |generosity

RESPONSIBLE - self-control | faithfulness

PATIENT - patient | gentleness

POSITIVE - joy | kindness | generosity 

 

 

Manley Park Primary School is fully committed to all of our pupils having a positive school experience which promotes personal growth and a passion for learning. We ensure high quality curriculum delivery, focusing on the quality of teaching and learning and the curriculum’s ability to promote meaningful participation and experiences.  We develop an understanding of the wider world, our pupils’ place in it, and their ability to influence this positively. Our high quality, wider opportunities are aimed at developing a strong sense of self (alongside experiences to test and shape this, building flexibility and resilience). 

Our pastoral map details the school’s provision to ensure the physical and emotional welfare of pupils so that they are safe, happy, positively involved and successful. Our pedagogy and pastoral work promotes security in the knowledge that, as valued members of the community, pupils can participate in giving and receiving encouragement, guidance and support.

We know that staff well being is an important factor in the success of the school and the ability to effectively support our pupils. We actively promote and monitor staff wellbeing and have policies and practices in place to support all adults. Adults have positive and respectful relationships with pupils which are supported by the school’s organisational structures. Our ethos encourages pupils, staff and families to recognise how much they can contribute to a positive, safe and supportive school culture.

Pastoral concerns are reported by adults, pupils and families. These follow a planned communication route, depending on the nature of the concern and are logged on CPOMS. We review student wellbeing outcomes collaboratively to evaluate their effectiveness and to consider next steps.

Our pastoral map includes proactive, preventative pastoral care; developmental pastoral teaching and learning; with reactive casework being delivered by external experts.

Personalised and specialist provision is targeted according to the level of need. Children may access a range of support. Should additional support be necessary, it is determined by the teacher and SENDco in collaboration with families. Children will then access a relevant timed intervention.

 

 

Manley Park is delighted to be able to offer a wide range of extracurricular activities to help our pupils develop their talents and interests, providing them with new skills and abilities. We know that participation in clubs boosts confidence and extends social networks.

Our childrens’ social lives are as important to their development as their academic lives, and we know that pupils who participate in activities learn how to relate better to each other and form a sense of commitment to whatever they are involved in - as well as having great fun! We hope that introducing our children to new sports, hobbies and experiences will help to ignite a passion that will continue into their adult lives whilst learning the skills of teamwork, negotiation, caring for our environment and problem solving.

We are committed to providing a wide range of clubs to meet the interests of our pupils, utilising our staff, parent and wider community talents and strengths.