Our Curriculum 

Our Curriculum Intent

At King’s Hedges Educational Federation we believe it is every child’s right to be successful throughout life. We know all of our children can thrive, however many of them come with a disadvantaged start. We overcome the barriers by giving them a varied educational offer to enable them to be successful and we rise to the challenge that they can. We want all of our pupils to go to secondary school and beyond with the highest quality, all round education. We strive for our children to be the best that they can be. To ensure they do this, we pride ourselves on providing the highest quality learning experiences.

The following are at the heart of what we offer:

• Quality first teaching of reading, writing and maths is at the core of our curriculum as they are key to enabling all to flourish. We teach them as systematically and effectively as possible so that the children can then use these skills to learn about the world around them. We believe that the sooner the children can read effectively, the sooner they will develop a love of reading. The sooner they can write fluently, the sooner they will enjoy expressing their ideas. The sooner they understand fluency and maths skills, the sooner they can enjoy applying it to real life problem solving.
• We provide the children with an ambitious curriculum that enables them to be informed communicators. When our children transition to secondary school, we know they will be interested and knowledgeable because they can have a conversation about real life.
• Social skills and moral values are fully embedded for our children. They are integrated in to everything we do and all staff invest in our approach - that every second really does matter for our children. The children leave us being accepting and tolerant of others' differences, showing equality and diversity.

With this in place, we feel the children will have a strong grounding for their next step in education and future life.

'Curriculum provision is broad, balanced and enriched by many exciting and engaging activities before, during and after school. This contributes strongly to pupils’ thirst for learning and the good progress that most make. Themes and topics, which include trips to places of interest, make learning relevant and provide further interest.'

OFSTED 2019

How it looks at King’s Hedges:

'Kings Hedges Education' (our curriculum) is ambitious and designed to give all pupils the knowledge, skills and cultural capital they need to succeed in life.  The curriculum and its delivery are designed to support pupils to remember long term the content they have been taught and to integrate new knowledge into larger ideas so that they can apply their knowledge and skills with increasing fluency and independence. KHED (King's Hedges Education) is coherently planned and sequenced towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge and skills for future learning and employment.

English, Mathematics and Science are the core areas of our curriculum. We aim to continually improve the quality of our teaching in these key subjects to ensure that our children are reaching the highest standards. We make links between subjects wherever possible, planning 3-4 units of work each term, with a Science, Geography, History or DT theme. We aim to plan and teach in a creative, inspiring cross-curricular way with opportunities for writing in all subjects. Our knowledge rich curriculum is set out in our Knowledge Organisers. These can be found in the year group part of the learning section of the website. 

Information on each subject can be found in the Learning section of the website. If you would like further information, please make an appointment with the Head or one of the Deputies.  

Computing (ICT)

The Computing curriculum focuses on practical programming and with a greater emphasis on computational thinking.

To read a summary of our Computing curriculum, please click here. 

Click here for more on our computing curriculum. 

Geography

The geography curriculum places a greater emphasis on enriching pupils understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and how landscapes and environments are formed. We take a theme based approach, where pupils’ understanding is enriched through enquiry. At least one unit of work each term will be Geography based.

To read a summary of the curriculum for Geography, please click here.

Click here for more on our geography curriculum. 

Design Technology

At King’s Hedges school, we strive to give DT a purpose by making something (product) for someone (user) for some purpose. Pupils are taught that everything has been designed and made by somebody, and so we look at real-life examples of designers, chefs, engineers and technologists to inspire them and give them a reason for their learning and product-making. As much and wherever possible, we try to make cross-curricular links, including ICT, to provide a more rounded and purposeful curriculum. There is one DT-based topic carried out in every year group per term so that pupils can experience and develop range of skills, which are developed year on year.

To read a summary of the curriculum for Design Technology, please click here.

Click here for more information on our Design and Technology curriculum. 

Music

In music, we try to access all the key areas as practically as possible. These areas are broadly speaking; performing, composing, listening, using musical notation and developing an understanding of the history of music. Throughout the school, children spend as much time as possible singing and playing instruments, and our listening and composing work often grow out of these experiences.
The two main changes which have taken place as we have moved to the new curriculum are firstly a greater focus on using musical notation (although we already did this as a school) and secondly gaining an understanding of the history of music.

To read a summary of the curriculum for Music, please click here.

Click here for more on our music curriculum. 

Art and Design

All children have a wide range of creative abilities. We believe that success in one area of the curriculum can encourage success in others. Therefore we aim to develop the unique creative capacities of all children and adults who are stake holders in our school. Through developing young peoples’ capacities for critical and creative thinking and action, we recognise their potential for creative achievement in all aspects of school life and beyond.

To read a summary of the curriculum for Art and Design/Creativity, please click here.

Click here for more information on our Design and Technology curriculum. 

Religious Education (RE)

At King’s Hedges School children acquire and develop knowledge of Christianity and other principle religions in the UK. We look at beliefs, values and traditions from our own communities and other cultures. We aim to develop positive attitudes of respect towards other people who hold beliefs different from our own. No changes have been made to the legal requirements for RE. We will continue to use and follow the Cambridgeshire Agreed Syllabus up to 2018.

To read a summary of the curriculum for Religious Education, please click here.

Click here for more on our RE curriculum.

Physical Education (PE)

PE and school sport play a vital role in the life of students at King’s Hedges Educational Federation. Through our curricular and extra-curricular provision we are dedicated to ensuring that every young person has the opportunity and confidence to participate, lead and perform in PE and Sport.

The national curriculum for physical education aims, and our vision here is for all pupils to access and develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities, and to engage in competitive sports and activities throughout their time at King’s Hedges.

In the new curriculum the emphasis is on all pupils being physically active for sustained periods of time and all pupils leading active, healthy lives and this will be a big part of all PE lessons and out of school sports clubs.

To read a summary of the curriculum for Physical Education, please click here.

Click here for more on our PE curriculum.

Modern Foreign Languages (MFL)

At King's Hedges pupils learn French in Key Stage Two. Using the engaging and stimulating software, Rigolo, class teachers are now teaching weekly French lessons. Our main focus is on conversational confidence. Children are encouraged to explore the new language collaboratively through games, songs and rhymes and to demonstrate what they have learnt through simple conversations and role-play. Language teaching at King’s Hedges aims to provide the foundation for learning further languages and to foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world around them.

To read a summary of our Modern Foreign Languages curriculum, please click here. 

Click here for more on our MFL curriculum. 

Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) and Relationships and Sex Education (RSE)

PSHE underpins most of what we do at King’s Hedges School. It includes all we do to promote our pupils’ good health and well being. PSHE provides opportunities for children to develop knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviour which will enable them to become motivated, independent and successful learners, and effective citizens both within and beyond school. It teaches them how to stay safe, look after themselves and their relationships; make good food choices; see the importance of leisure activities and exercise; recognize some money matter; think about careers and also giving strategies to develop emotional well being.

Citizenship is also embedded in PSHE and we encourage children to understand that every person matters and that respect for people, communities and our environment are important and have many positive outcomes.

We believe Relationships Education (RSE) is learning about emotional, social and physical aspects of our lives, about ourselves and our relationships. It enables pupils to develop essential life skills for building and maintaining positive, enjoyable, respectful and non-exploitative relationships. It equips pupils with information and skills they need to understand about themselves, their peers and people they meet in the wider community. It explores risks, choices, rights, responsibilities and attitudes. It will help pupils to develop skills to keep themselves and others safer, physically and emotionally, both on and off line. Relationships Education enables pupils to explore their own attitudes and those of others respectfully.

To read a summary of our PSHE curriculum, please click here. 

Click here for more on our PSHE, RSE and philosophy curriculum. 

Click here for more about our Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development.

'The work to support pupils' personal development and welfare is outstanding.'

OFSTED 2019

Philosophy

Philosophy is designed to improve thinking skills in children of all ages, which in turn will help them to grow in their understanding of themselves, others and their world. Sessions are fun and usually begin with a warm up game and then a stimulus is introduced which leads to a question being chosen by the children and discussed. Final thoughts let the children reflect on what has been shared and think about how their own view point might have been expanded or even changed.

Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural We are always trying to provide opportunities to promote the SMSC development of pupils. This will happen in everyday lessons and as we work and play as part of a community. We love to hear about achievements and reflections pupils have made; celebrations or traditions they have been involved with. Explicit opportunities, such as assemblies, outside visits, special occasions, guests, as well as links with other schools, countries and continents are welcomed.

To read a summary of our P4C curriculum, please click here. 

Assessment arrangements

• Teachers track pupils' progress with termly assessments, which are reported to parents on a regular basis.  
• Statutory national curriculum tests are taken at key stages 1 and 2. 
• Year one take a phonics test at the end of the year.