Peter Lea Primary School Curriculum 

Peter Lea Primary School

Summary of our curriculum

Jan 2025

At Peter Lea, our curriculum is designed to support our values and ethos, as articulated in our school vision above, and enable pupils to realise the Four Purposes and become

• Ambitious, capable learners, for example, pupils in Years 3 & 4 organise their own Health Suite to share their learning about staying healthy, deciding, planning and organising a range of activities for other pupils to enjoy. 
• Healthy, confident individuals, for example, pupils in Years 1 & 2 collaborate to tidy up, tend and develop our school allotment, planting crops and tending to them as they grow. This is also achieved through our work with children’s mental health charity, Place2Be, and the support provided by our licensed Thrive practitioners who help to meet the emotional and social needs of all our children. 
• Ethical, informed citizens, for example, through our work as a Rights Respecting School whereby pupils learn about their rights under the UNCRC and UNCRPD, and explore situations where others may not be able to access their rights, such as those living in warzones;
• Enterprising, creative contributors, for example, in Years 5 & 6, pupils work with local fair trade supplier, Fair Dos, to host their own Fair Trade Show, selling ethically sourced and sustainable food and gifts;

Learning is organised around 6 Areas of Learning and Experience, namely:

• Expressive Arts;
• Health and Wellbeing;
• Humanities;
• Languages, Literacy and Communication including both English and Welsh;
• Mathematics and Numeracy, and;
• Science and Technology,

and enables progression across all the statements of what matters.

Our school curriculum also enables pupils to develop the cross-curricular skills of literacy, numeracy and digital competence through their application across the breadth of their learning. Furthermore, it enables learners to gain experiences related to work and careers by providing authentic experiences as well as opportunities to learn from a diverse range of role models throughout their time at Peter Lea. Our curriculum employs the Cardiff agreed syllabus for Religion, Values and Ethics as well as Relationships and Sexuality Education across all age phases, for example, by using age appropriate stories to learn about different types of relationships, including friendships, family relationships and different kinds of families.  In using these principles to design our curriculum, we ensure that it is relevant, authentic and engaging for all learners to progress and achieve the highest outcomes.

Curriculum Development

Our school curriculum has been developed using the principles of co-construction by engagement between school leaders, staff, governors, parents and pupils.  We have sought the views of all stakeholders on the knowledge, skills and experiences they feel children at Peter Lea should have by the time they move onto secondary education, which would enable them to develop understanding of the statements of what matters, as well as the habits and values articulated in our school vision.  We have also worked closely alongside colleagues both within and beyond the Cantonian cluster to collaborate and develop shared approaches to curriculum design. For example, through our collaborative work on the Humanities AoLE, we have identified some specific challenges facing humanity which learners examine through the curriculum, such as climate change, and the key concepts which pupils develop when exploring these challenges, such as cause and effect, and change and continuity.  We use the Understanding by Design framework (Wiggins and McTighe)  to design our Learning Expeditions and ensure that the focus remains on the intended learning of pupils.  

Role of Pupil Voice in curriculum planning

Learners play a key role in the development of each Learning Expedition as we seek to stimulate and foster curiosity in the world around them.  As such, we ensure that all pupils have opportunities to participate in engaging and exciting immersion activities, and use these to encourage them to generate and ask questions they would like to explore during the Expedition.  These questions and ideas are embedded into each Expedition ensuring that learning experiences are tailored to the pupils’ interests as well as addressing the key learning identified by staff during the planning process.

Progression and Assessment

Progression in learning is at the centre of our curriculum, which has been designed to enable all learners to progress at an appropriate pace, ensuring they are supported and challenged accordingly.  Curriculum content - what children learn and when - has been chosen with reference to the Descriptions of Learning for each AoLE as well as our current understanding of cognitive science theory and how new learning builds on what has already been learned and understood.  

Our curriculum has also been designed using a shared understanding of the Principles of Progression, as detailed in the guidance, which states that progression in learning may be demonstrated through:

• Increased effectiveness;
• Increased breadth and depth of knowledge;
• A deeper understanding of the ideas and disciplines within the AoLEs;
• A refinement of, and growing sophistication in, the use and application of skills;
• An ability to make connections and transfer learning into new contexts.

In Mathematics and Numeracy, progression is demonstrated through the development of five interdependent proficiencies:

• Conceptual understanding;
• Communication using symbols;
• Fluency;
• Logical reasoning;
• Strategic competence.

The core ideas contained in these principles - that progress in learning is not simply a case of knowing and doing more - have also influenced our choice of content as well as the pedagogical approaches employed by staff.  For example, pupils in Years 5 & 6 demonstrate a growing ability to transfer their learning of the concepts of Rules, Rights and Governance to new contexts by establishing a new School Senedd making decisions about its structure and election process.  In doing so, they met and took advice from their local MS and former First Minister for Wales, Mark Drakeford, examined different types of democratic governance structures and collaborated to design their school Senedd.

We recognise that progression in learning is not linear, nor does it happen at the same pace for every child. As such, our curriculum is designed around a continuum of learning (which continues throughout a child’s entire education), and all pupils are supported to progress along it at a pace appropriate to their individual needs, including those with Additional Learning Needs. 

Concepts Maps

We deliver our curriculum on a 2 year cycle, with key concepts driving Learning Expeditions each term.  All pupils across the school explore these concepts through different lenses and at a depth and pace appropriate to their needs.  This supports pupils to make progress as described in the Principles of Progression.  

Reviewing our school curriculum

At Peter Lea, we acknowledge that developing our school curriculum is never ‘complete’ but rather is an ongoing process of review, reflection and refinement.  As such, school leaders and staff continually reflect on the content and pedagogical approaches employed, and consider how these might need to be adapted to meet the needs of learners now and in the future, and particularly in response to current events.  By placing learners’ needs and progression at the centre of our curriculum, this process will ensure that we are constantly seeking to improve outcomes for all pupils.

Staff self-evaluate Learning Expeditions against intended learning and adapt plans to address any areas for development.  These judgements are also used when staff begin planning Expeditions in future curriculum cycles, continuing the ongoing review and refinement process.  Leaders and key staff undertake monitoring activities in areas of learning across the curriculum, gathering a wide range of first hand evidence to inform the school’s self-evaluation process and identify development priorities. This process includes seeking the views of learners about what and how they learn, and ensuring their views are taken into account when revising our curriculum.  Similarly, the views of parents, governors and the wider community are sought to feed into this process via a parental survey, and on an ad hoc basis, via the our email address support@peterleaprimaryschool.com.  Feedback from all stakeholders is considered when undertaking reviews of our curriculum and inform any refinements made.