Curriculum Vision

Schools are wonderful places. We will all have memories of our own school experience (some good and some not so good) and it is our mission at Horley Infant School that we ensure children build firm foundations for later life. We may only get to have the children for three years, but we pack an enormous amount in!

Rightfully so, there has been a greater focus on Teaching & Learning within schools and making sure that pedagogy and approaches are rooted in trusted research. The EEF toolkit plays a great role in supporting teachers and school leaders with knowing what some of the best ways are to support positive outcomes for children. As you can see in this article, education in England has a rich and wide-ranging history. However, despite this, our current schooling structure and methods are relatively modern and there is a growing bank of research which is supporting schools in deciding what are effective practices and models for pupil engagement and success and what aren’t. Therefore, we encourage active and open debate around what schools should prioritise and how schools should operate. Ultimately, we are here for the children and, just as much as their world is ever-changing, so are our approaches with securing these great outcomes.

A recent Ofsted focus has been around the narrowing of English school’s curriculums and how other foundation subjects such as Art & Design, Geography and Music have taken less of the limelight due to the heavy focus on the “Three Rs” (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic). We are confident that our school curriculum ensures the minimum requirements of the National Curriculum are met whilst also having a strong focus on the hidden curriculum areas which we know create happy children and lasting memories.

Our Curriculum Rationale links heavily to each of our subject areas of intent. It is ambitious but sets our the rights of our children at school:

“The broad and rich curriculum at Horley Infant School has been developed to meet the needs of all our children. Our curriculum is designed to provide a high quality of education where we ensure the coverage and content of subjects are appropriately matched. Knowledge and skills in every subject are sequenced and progressive throughout the Year Groups so the academic core of knowledge and skills are implemented effectively and securely and are consistently embedded. Assessments are designed to support our teaching; this means our curriculum can be flexible and can be adapted to meet the needs of our local context.

 Whilst our curriculum content has been designed and sequenced to provide a high quality of education, it is not at the cost of our vital school values and the involvement of our whole school and local community. We believe our curriculum provides children with the knowledge, skills and personal qualities they need to be educated citizens, well prepared to take advantage of the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.”

More information about the “Three Is” (Intent, Implementation & Impact) of each of our subjects are available on our individual subject pages. We hope you enjoy finding out more about our school and the curriculum offer here.

A short history of education in England