Curriculum Intent

At Lakeside Primary School Academy, our curriculum is ambitious, exciting and enriching, but above all else, it enables children to believe in themselves and gives them lifelong skills and attitudes to achieve their dreams. A primary focus of our curriculum is to raise aspirations, build intrinsic motivation, develop a sense of personal pride in achievement, and provide a purpose and relevance for learning. Our shared vision is to create a happy, stimulating learning environment for the children and the community in which they live. We believe that Lakeside is a caring school where children feel safe, valued and can achieve their personal best. We encourage all children, regardless of their starting points, to play a full part in the life of our school.

When children leave our school at the end of Year 6, they should be equipped with a full repertoire of skills, characteristics and habits to enable them to be successful in the future, and able to apply their knowledge and skills in unknown and evolving circumstances. For this, they will need a broad range of skills, including:

• Cognitive and meta-cognitive skills (e.g. critical thinking, creative thinking, learning to learn and self regulation);
• Social and emotional skills (e.g. empathy, self-efficacy and collaboration); and
• Practical and physical skills (e.g. using new information and communication technology devices).

Our school is friendly and welcoming, with a determined, talented and supportive team. We set very high expectations, regardless of personal context, and are aspirational for all our young learners. Our well-matched curriculum is designed to promote personal development, social equity and lively enquiring minds. We firmly believe that all learners are entitled to a purposeful curriculum that deepens and widens knowledge, skills and understanding, and promotes intellectual, artistic and physical nourishment, through a well-taught and well-resourced provision.

We provide a tailored curriculum that is motivating and accessible to all children in our community. It is designed to recognise children’s prior learning; provide rich, first-hand experiences; allow children to develop interpersonal skills; build resilience and become creative, critical thinkers who will be ready for the next stage of their lives and education beyond Lakeside Primary. This is in addition to ensuring the acquisition of skills, knowledge and vocabulary in Reading, Writing and Mathematics, and other curriculum areas, to make connections between learning and positively prepare them for their exciting futures, and make sense and order of the world around us. We shape the curriculum to meet the needs of our pupils.

We recognise that children entering the school require memorable experiences, access to high quality speaking and listening teaching, opportunities for reading in all subjects, Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural, digital literacy and well thought out opportunities for mathematics and writing. There is a high focus on language development and vocabulary, alongside developing children’s long-term memory, retrieval skills, and fluency in reading and mathematics, with a strong focus on applying these newly-learnt strategies across all subjects. 

Our goal is to prepare all children well for secondary education and adult life. We understand that the curriculum is a continuum, from pre-school, to primary, to secondary and beyond. We recognise that meeting the needs of each specific cohort is paramount, and we reflect upon and modify our curriculum, taking into account the National Curriculum 2014, to offer varied and stimulating experiences. In doing so, we make bold and courageous decisions for what is best for our children, best for employment, and right for the future workforce. Wherever possible, we cultivate children’s identity and sense of place within our unique locality. We recognise the opportunities and challenges our locality offers and we aim to develop our children’s awareness and understanding of a globally diverse population.

The Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development of our children is threaded throughout the curriculum. We prepare our children for life in modern Britain, enabling them to become happy, active and responsible citizens in society, understanding and respecting British values and international cultures. We raise awareness of global issues, teach children to take an active role in looking after the environment, and embed the principles of sustainability with an eye on the future by making links between knowledge and the major issues of our time. Children are taught to respond to these issues with empathy for our planet, and help other people; be responsible for their own actions; make good choices and take calculated risks, as they become increasingly independent and confident learners.