High Hazels Academy has developed a bespoke, knowledge -based curriculum. The subjects are planned to allow pupils to build powerful, transferable and sequenced knowledge from across a range of subject matter. We deliver units of study across the full national curriculum: English, Mathematics, Science, History, Geography, Art, Design Technology, Religious Education, Music, PE and computing are accessed by all pupils. In addition KS2 children are taught a modern foreign language. We have chosen French. PHSCE is a strong feature of our work and is used to nurture confident, tolerant, responsible and considerate British Citizens.
Learning is at the heart of everything we do at this school. We expect our children to work hard, enjoy their studies and achieve highly. We strive to develop positive attitudes to learning and the implementation of our curriculum is designed to build the fluency of childrens’ working memory. We are dedicated to providing a creative and innovative learning environment for our pupils.
The High Hazels curriculum is planned by our teaching team and delivered thematically in coherent units of work designed to deepen individual subject knowledge. Subjects are carefully planned to ensure that the content is accessible to all. The themes are also enriched with high quality texts, visits and visitors. Each theme begins with a 'hook' or an immersion week.
To meet the needs of our pupils, the curriculum is rich in opportunities for them to develop their language skills and vocabulary. The curriculum is planned to develop subject specific and academic language structures, ideas and concepts in logical progression. Our aspiration is that all children become confident and articulate young people, make excellent progress and leave the academy skilled in reading, writing and mathematical fluency. These core skills will help children excel in their future learning at secondary school and beyond.
Assessment underpins planning for good teaching and so we make full use of formative and summative assessments of the core subjects to help us to find out what the children know. If we find that there are gaps in learning, we carefully plan to fill them with additional teaching opportunities.
This year we are working to develop our assessment of the foundation subjects. Research has told us that regular, low –stakes assessment helps to build long term memory so we are enriching our curriculum with quizzes and short tests to help children to rehearse and build up their new learning across the foundation subjects.
Our long term curriculum map outline can be found by clicking here
English
English is comprised of speaking and listening, reading and writing. It is taught daily.
Speaking and Listening: We expect our children to become confident and articulate speakers so our curriculum is full of opportunities for speaking and listening. Our children debate and discuss, use drama, contribute to presentations and work collaboratively to develop their mastery of the spoken word. They listen to stories and learn to listen to the teacher and one another carefully.
Reading: Good learners read well . They read widely and often . This means that there is a heavy emphasis in our curriculum on the development of reading. Our children are taught reading daily. They also read as part of most lessons. All EYFS and KS1 children receive a daily phonics lesson. We use synthetic phonics to teach early decoding, reading and spelling skills. The core literacy scheme at KS1 is Read Write Inc . Children make rapid progress in reading and we expect the majority to be reading away from schemes by the middle of year 2. At High Hazels we have implemented research-based methods of teaching reading through whole class focus on high quality fiction and non-fiction texts. We are focusing on questioning, comprehension and vocabulary in order to develop inference. Parents please click here for our Bug Club infomation and Guide for Parents
Writing: Children are encouraged to ‘write’ from the very start of their time in school. Text led lessons allow opportunities for children to write purposefully for a range of audiences and experience writing in a range of genre. In EYFS and KS1 the ‘Talk for writing’ strategy, developed by Pie Corbett, is used to build fluency authorial language. Secretarial skills of Handwriting, spelling, punctuation and grammar are taught discretely and the accurate application of these skills is expected across the curriculum. Children often publish their writing- creating newspaper articles, contributing to class anthologies, creating their own stories and making use of technology to blog, tweet and email.
Mathematics
Our Approach
At High Hazels Academy, we follow a mastery approach to teaching maths. We believe our approach gives children the best chance of acquiring a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of mathematics. This evidence-based approach is underpinned by five key ideas: coherence, representation and structure, mathematical thinking, fluency and variation.
Coherence: lessons are taught in small steps enabling children to build on what they already know.
Representations and structure: children are shown different concrete and pictorial representations of new concepts which reveal the structure of the maths, enabling children to notice patterns and relationships.
Mathematical thinking: through discussion in the lesson and opportunities to reason, children are able to make sense of what they are learning and develop their ideas.
Fluency: children need rapid recall of facts as well as procedural fluency in order to apply their knowledge to a range of contexts.
Variation: though different representations and activities, children are able to deepen their conceptual understanding.
These five key ideas are evident in our teaching approach.
What does a week look like?
At High Hazels Academy, children have four hours of new learning in maths each week. As well as this, children have a weekly review lesson which gives them time to consolidate and review previous learning as well as build their fluency in key skills such as times tables and mental arithmetic.
What does a lesson look like?
Each lesson begins with a review of the key learning that children will need to be able to access the lesson. Children are then introduced to a new concept in small steps to ensure understanding. With each small step, children are given the opportunity to practise the skill bein,g taught with teacher guidance, so no one is left behind. Additionally, we use concrete and pictorial representations to help children to notice patterns and connections, deepening their understanding of mathematical ideas. At this stage, there is lots of talk and discussion which helps children to actively think about the new learning. Finally, when we are confident that children have understood the new learning, they are asked to complete independent work that challenges them through varied questions and problmem solving.
Impact
This approach is designed to give children a secure understanding of key concepts, laying the foundation for future learning in maths and STEM objects. The time dedicated to reviewing key knowledge and basic skills improves children's fluency, freeing up cognitive resources for new learning and depth of understanding. Finally, the use of variation and problem solving creates resilient learners, unafraid of challenge.
Maths Home Learning
Compulsory Homework
Year 1 and 2
In year 1 and 2, children are asked to practise their addition facts at home. Teachers will introduce the children to the addition facts they need to learn along with helpful strategies to remember them.
Year 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6
From year 2, learning times tables at home is a priority. If children do not have instant recall of multiplication and division facts, they will find many other areas of maths tricky. Children must practise the times tables set at least once a week, but we recommend children practise them for a short time each day using times table rock stars (TTRS). TTRS is a fun way to improve their times tables: children can compete against their friends, get a ‘rock status’, earn coins to spend on their avatar and play different kinds of games. It can be accessed online using the login details given by your child’s class teacher. If you have difficulty accessing TTRS online, please speak to your child’s teacher as they can be given paper copies to practice with instead.
Website: https://play.ttrockstars.com/
Year 6
In preparation for secondary school, children will be given extra maths homework on Hegarty Maths. Children are expected to watch videos online, which explain their homework, and then answer related questions. If they get stuck, there are additional video tutorials to help them, or the option to message their teacher. It is a great way to revise what they have been learning in class and work independently ready for Y7!
Website: https://hegartymaths.com/
Additional Homework
For each year group, there is a list of basic skills that children should be able to do by the end of the year. Children need to be fluent with these skills in order to progress easily with the maths curriculum. At High Hazels Academy, these are tracked using the Numeracy Passport below. Although these skills are taught and practised within the school week, parents and careers could help their children to practise these skills at home to help them make progress.
(numeracy passport pic)
If you would like your child to do additional homework, you will find resources on your child’s year group page.
Please click on progression sheet and calculation policy to view
Science
Children are taught science discretely. We follow an agreed syllabus developed by United Learning. This ensures that children deepen their knowledge and understanding by working scientifically across a wide range of scientific themes. Children usually study 6 themes over the course of a year.
RE
At High Hazels Religious Education is taught in a weekly lesson. We follow the locally agreed SACRE syllabus. The main religions taught are the monotheistic religions; Christianity and Islam, however over the course of their time with us, children will learn something about all the faiths currently represented in the UK. Children will learn about religious festivals, religious leaders and teachers, and ways of life. They may visit places of worship and respectfully learn about the different faiths represented in our school community. Please click here to view the Sheffield overview for RE curriculum
PE
PE is taught by specialist staff . All children enjoy 2 hours of PE a week. The children also go swimming as part of the physical education curriculum. All children are required to learn to swim. Blocks of swimming lessons take place in Y2, Y3 and Y4.
please see our 2017/18 swimming results and 2018/19 swimming results
Modern Foreign Language
Children in KS2 receive a weekly French lesson. This year we are working with a specialist French teacher from Park Academy who is helping to enrich our language provision. The aim of MFL at High Hazels is to build an oral foundation into a modern european language. The majority of our children have English as an additional language and so many are proficient at learning a new tongue!
Foundation Curriculum
Our foundation curriculum offer is fully compliant with the National Curriculum and develops subject knowledge through engaging and exciting themes. History, geography, computing, art and design are taught thematically. The curriculum is further enriched with visits and visitors. Children develop knowledge of their local area and take advantage of the opportunities for learning within and beyond Sheffield. Children will study at least two units of each foundation subject within the year.Full details of these are shown in our planning documents at the foot of this page. Click here for link to milestones and performance indicators for the foundation curriculum for KS1 & KS2
Music
All pupils receive instruction in singing. In addition there are opportunities for children to listen to and play musical instruments. Sheffield music hub visits and supports the school . The school has received support for EYFS music through our engagement with 'Jabadao' . There is an active choir, samba band club and 'Glee' club. Children enjoy performing and 'High Hazels got Talent' is a popular event in our school year.
The further development of our music curriculum is a key focus for 2018-19.
PHSCE
Personal, health, social and citizenship education is taught to allow children to develop greater knowledge and understanding of the wider world, their rights and responsibilities as British citizens. We also use it to teach life –skills in order to keep the children safe as they grow. Topics such as bullying, peer- on- peer issues, friendships, e-safety, road-safety, drugs and health education are all included in PHSCE lesson.
We use Philosophy for children (P4C) as a strategy to get children to debate, question and discuss real issues. Last year we achieved the SAPERE Silver award for P4C and we are now working to get Gold! Sex and relationships education (SRE) is taught according to agreed policy.
Parents who wish to see the SRE policy click here
The early years curriculum at High Hazels
Early years education is delivered in 'The Oaks' nursery provision (for 2,3 and 4 year olds) and three, mainstream reception classes (4 and 5 year olds). We follow the Early Years guidance and have designed a bespoke curriculum. The importance of ensuring the best start for our children is emphasised by our decision to use fully qualified, specialist early years teachers and nursery nurses to deliver the curriculum within our EYFS provision.
Curriculum drivers for EYFS
We believe that all children have the right to access a well designed and appropriate early years curriculum. Our bespoke offer is based upon the presenting needs of pupils who come into the provision. Children are therefore assessed to baseline their competencies across a range of subjects within the first few weeks of starting school. This is then used to help our staff to plan for future learning.
Curriculum Intent (what do we want our curriculum to achieve?)
We want our children to be curious learners, fascinated by the world and the people around them. In partnership with our families, our teaching strategies will enable the youngest children to develop skills, behaviours and attitudes to learning that will help them transition to main school with confidence. We believe that the development of language; speaking and listening is paramount and should underpin every moment in our setting. Our provision aims to developing social and emotional literacy to enable our children to regulate their behaviours and become independent learners .We want our children to have a happy and settled time in school right from the very start. By investing in the highest quality teaching and providing a nurturing environment parents can be confident that ‘The Oaks’ and our EYFS classes offer the best start!
Curriculum Implementation(how have we designed this?):
Analysis of our baseline data has shown that many of our pupils enter the setting with a limited receptive and expressive language, very little knowledge and understanding of the world and immature personal, social and emotional development. In addition a number of children have English as an additional language and some speak little or no English.
Opportunities to engage families with toddlers through regular toddler groups, family learning (with crèche facilities) and 2 year FEL provision are planned in order to build trusting relationships with our families at the earliest opportunity, assist with separation from carer , and smooth the early transition into school. The presenting needs of our pupils call for a curriculum rich in awe and wonder moments together with structured opportunities for children to develop their language and communication in purposeful contexts. Nurture based provision will enable staff and pupils to develop purposeful relationships and emotional maturity. Our children will become self-directed learners and so they will be encouraged to take a lead in developing their learning within the environments provided, alongside staff. In order for our children to develop their knowledge and understanding of the world, this year we intend to further maximise opportunities to work outside, engage with ‘forest schools’, venture out into our local environment, engage in visits and receive visitors.
Curriculum Impact:
We aim to see confident and capable young learners, well prepared to enter KS 1 from reception or main school(reception) from our nursery school classes. For this reason we manage effective transitions . As a result, children settle quickly in September, are able to listen and respond appropriately in a range of contexts, to each other and the teachers. Our overall impact is measured in the number (%) of children entering F2 at broadly age related expectations, with the characteristics of effective learning at 40-60moths and those who complete their EYFS with at least a good standard of development.
At High Hazels we are creating responsible, tolerant and increasingly skilled learners, ready for the next chapter in their educational future.
Click here for Complete Guide for Parents
Parents/carers or members of the public can view detailed information of our curriculum in the form of long and medium term curriculum plans, which may be found below.