An Aspirational Curriculum:

We believe that each child at Rickleton has the potential to be successful in any area of curricular or extra-curricular life now and for their future. The curriculum they access must be the driver of this in offering them deep learning and inspirational experiences in a broad range of areas. Working out where their talents lie and the things they enjoy are a huge factor in this and we expect that all children give their all in all lessons.

In September 2023, we introduced our 'aspirational concepts' to support children and staff to understand the key skills and knowledge which they are building when studying a subject and where this could lead them in their future. We want our children to be driven by their future possibilities and see each lesson as a stepping stone towards this.

A Clear and Well planned Curriculum:

Subject leaders have worked hard to ensure that our curriculum fulfills not only national expectations but also the learning necessary to allow a child in Rickleton, in the North East of England, to be successful.

By carefully considering how knowledge and skills progress, ensuring that learning carefully builds on and consolidates prior knowledge, children have the best chance to feel confident and successful in their studies and to retain their learning as they move forward in their education.

The documents below show what we want children to achieve via the subject and how we plan to make this happen (commonly known as Intent, Implementation and Impact). They also show how topics and and skills are planned to give pupils a deep knowledge and hopefully a passion for the subject to support their future aspirations.

Nursery

Nursery have been learning the text ‘Dear Zoo’ and have had great fun unwrapping some parcels that mysteriously appeared in their classroom! They have also enjoyed retelling the story using pictures and props.

Reception

Reception have been learning the text ‘Pumpkin Soup’ and were very excited when some strange objects and footprints appeared in the classroom. The children investigated who the footprints belonged to and what the items could be used for. They have also been using actions to learn the ‘Excellence Model’.

Year 4

In Year 4, the children collected clues about the Beowulf story and then used the iPads to turn their clues and evidence into a Pic Collage. They worked in pairs to collect their clues.

Year 5

For the start of their unit based on the Magic Paintbrush, Year 5 had a series of images that they collected from the excellence model. They had to try and work out what kind of story it might have been.

Year 6

In Year 6, they ate ice cream as this was a Victorian invention. They then read the excellence model which explained how the Victorians made ice-cream.

Published Pieces

As part of our ‘Writing at Rickleton’ process, the pupils create a ‘Published Piece’ at the end of a unit of work. Here are some of our fantastic pieces of writing. Year 4 created a travel brochure and a book of Viking sagas. Year 1 wrote some fantastic monster character descriptions and an advertisement for ‘Sally’s Special Sweets’. Year 5 wrote some amazing quest tales. We have these on display in the school library so that we can all enjoy and celebrate our writing achievements.