Every child who attends our school is important and unique and the most important part of our role is to ensure they reach their full potential.  Every child who is educated at our school will be equipped with the skills and qualities to become resilient, independent, life-long learners, no matter what their starting point.  Through education, our children will stand proud in society and able to improve their own lives and the lives of those around them.

Intent – Why and what do we offer children?
Our curriculum is driven by the need to prepare our children to be resilient, independent, lifelong learners. At Ab Kettleby Primary School, we work in partnership with parents, carers, and other external professionals to provide the best possible experience, ensuring each individual reaches their full potential from their various starting points.  We offer a rich and exciting curriculum which is ambitious for all learners allowing them all to achieve their full potential.  Our curriculum is designed to help develop knowledge, skills and understanding of each subject progressively as they move through the school from EYFS to Year 6.  We cover, not only the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum but also give our children wider opportunities to help enrich their learning experience and prepare them to be educated citizens of the future.  Our curriculum is underpinned by our values, where we provide learning experiences to promote curiosity, creativity, courage and aspiration.  The love of reading and developing a rich and varied vocabulary underpins every aspect of our curriculum intent.

Implementation – How do we offer it?

As we have mixed classes, we work on a two-year cycle for our topics, and a three-year cycle for our Y456 class:

For the 2024/2025 academic year, Ab Kettleby Primary School will follow Cycle A. Both Y456 classes at Ab Kettleby and Somerby Primary School will follow the same topics, and our Y2/Y3 classes will follow 3 shared topics, to enable us to share resources, planning and consider trips together.  Please click here to see our Whole School Topic Grid 2024/2025.

Our subject leaders work collaboratively with our teaching staff and subject specialists at John Ferneley and Iveshead Secondary Schools in our Trust, to ensure our curriculum enables children to build upon existing knowledge and skills within each subject and make links with their learning in other subject areas.  

We teach children various strategies to improve their long-term memory and therefore improve their fluency.  We include regular recaps of subject content using quizzes and recall activities which are closely monitored and give all children an opportunity to deepen their understanding where possible.  

Each subject leader has linked learning to our local community to bring the subject to life and make it more relevant to their lives.  Parents, subject specific visitors, local businesses as well as carefully planned trips, including residential trips are used to broaden the children’s experiences and inspire children’s curiosity of the world around them.  We work collaboratively with local primary schools and secondary schools to give our children a wide range of other experiences such as sport and the arts.

At the heart of our curriculum is reading, carefully choosing books with rich vocabulary to share.  Teaching children to read and have a love of reading, opens a world of possibilities for them and opens their minds to the diverse world we live in.

For more information about the topics we teach in each year group, please click on the following links:

Autumn 1 Term Topics:
 Bumble Bee  (YrR/Y1)  Superheroes Honey Bee (Y2/Y3)  Let's Explore
The Hive (Y4/Y5/Y6) The Invaders & Settlers ..... Season One

Autumn 2 Term Topics:
 Bumble Bee  (YrR/Y1)  Once Upon a Time  Honey Bee (Y2/Y3)  Mummy Mahem
The Hive (Y4/Y5/Y6) The Invaders & Settlers ..... Season Two

Impact – How do we know the children have learnt more and remembered more?
Our curriculum places our pupils at the centre of learning and allows them to make connections in their knowledge, skills and understanding that are vital across all subjects.  At Ab Kettleby we strive to ensure that our children’s attainment in core and foundation subjects is in line with or exceeds age-related expectations.  We use a wide range of strategies to assess children’s learning and adjust our teaching as a result, in order to bridge any gaps using strategies such as, interventions, pre-teaching or re-teach.  We aspire for our children to be fully prepared for their next stage of education and we work collaboratively with secondary schools in the area to ensure smooth transitions for all.

Our learning is underpinned by our values, where we teach children to be respectful and kind, self-regulated and resourceful, inclusive and understanding, creative and inquisitive, courageous and proud and aspirational and motivated.  We want our children to have the character traits, knowledge and skills to make a positive impact on the society they live in and those around them.

Mental Health and Wellbeing
Good mental health is vital, to enable children to think clearly, develop socially and learn new skills.  At Ab Kettleby Primary School we work hard every day to encourage and develop positive mental health and wellbeing.  In addition to this, encouraging words from the adults in school are as important to help develop children’s confidence and self-esteem.

Our learning is underpinned by the five areas of Mental Health:

Connect
We encourage children daily to talk and connect to children across the school, whether in class or during playtimes and lunchtimes.  We encourage conversations using sentence starters, to give those less confident children an opportunity to start a conversation.

Keep Learning
We do this all the time at school!  Learning new things is the best way to keep a healthy mind.

Be Active
At Ab Kettleby Primary school we love keeping active.  We take part in a variety of sporting events and activities to keep us active and healthy every day.

Take Notice
We are keen to get children to put down their devices and notice what is around them.  What can they hear? What shapes are the clouds making?  What changes do the seasons bring?  What does our breathing sound like?

Give
We encourage the act of giving throughout school with focus events eg “Act of Kindness Week” where you can make someone’s day by carrying out a kind act.