Key Stage 1

Curriculum

We have ensured that all skills from the new National Curriculum https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum are interwoven throughout the core subjects, Maths and English, as well as the foundation subjects throughout the year.  One topic might allow for more Art/DT and music to be taught (e.g. Toys) while another topic may cover more history and geography skills (e.g. Transport).  Our curriculum reflects our Academy Values; Positivity, Excellence, Growth. 

Maths

In Years 1-6 we use ‘Maths No Problem’ which allows for depth of understanding in the key concepts of Maths. Maths teaching is enhanced across the school through the use of regular maths meetings, interventions and boosters which allow for rehearsal and consolidation of maths facts.

English

Reading

Children are taught to decode text and read for meaning through a number of opportunities during their day to day life at school.  From Reception to Year 1 all children learn to decode text through phonics.  From Year 1, children are able to hone their comprehension and inference skills through daily skills lessons.  Additionally, children are allocated (and take home) colour banded books of different reading skills levels as they work through the school. We encourage parents to read with children at home from Reception, starting with ten minutes a day increasing to around twenty or thirty minutes a day depending on the child’s age and ability.  Within each band there are a range of fiction and non-fiction books from a wide range of reading schemes and non-scheme books. Children are also encouraged to read for pleasure and can access a wider range of books from their reading areas.

Phonics

Phonics is taught to all children in daily sessions that are tailored to each child’s ability starting in Reception and continuing throughout Year 1 and Year 2. We follow Ruth Miskin’s ‘Read Write Inc’ scheme of phonics.  Children are taught in ability groups across the year groups to enable focused development of their phonics knowledge and application.

For more information go to:   http://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/

Writing

Writing is taught through an adaptive approach where children are immersed in a shared text and then innovate and develop their writing stemming from this.

Handwriting

We teach letter formation in Reception and Year 1, and introduce cursive handwriting from Year 2.  Handwriting is taught discretely and applied during phonics and all other curriculum subjects. 

For more information about the handwriting scheme we follow go to:

www.letter-join.co.uk and www.ruthmiskin.com

PE & Music

It takes 10,000 hours for a child to become and expert at a skill - as such, P.E, Dance and Music are taught by specialist teachers to allow for the children’s skills to be developed. We are also introducing French for children to begin to experience additional languages. 

Religious Education

At Harris Primary Academy Purley Way, we follow the Croydon Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education:

https://www.croydon.gov.uk/sites/default/files/articles/downloads/croydon_re_sylabus.pdf