Primary School

Welcome to the Gosden House Primary Department

Please find below details of our Primary Department Learning Habits and Curriculum information.

 

Primary Learning Habits

The Gosden House School philosophy is centred on developing learners’ skills and knowledge while building self-awareness and responsibility. This can be realised through embracing a ‘Learning Power’ Culture throughout school. Within the Primary school, we have identified 10 Learning Habits, as the language for learning in classrooms. These also provide the basis for our Primary rewards, enable learners to understand and articulate their learning and build the skills necessary for the later challenges, which life will inevitably present.

Below you can find are our Learning Habit Icons:

 

 

 

 

LITERACY AT GOSDEN HOUSE SCHOOL

Introduction

This overview details the purpose, nature and management of Literacy in our school.

Gosden House uses a variety of approaches in supporting the teaching and learning of Literacy. We provide an engaging, multi-sensory approach to promote creative thinking and develop functional Literacy skills. Literacy at Gosden House encompasses the key aspects of: reading, writing, recording, speaking and listening and wider communication skills. Part of our vision as a school is to inspire a love of learning in our pupils.

At Gosden House, we take a systematic approach to the teaching of Phonics and implement this throughout the school. Our knowledgeable and skilled staff use a variety of strategies to support and extend our learners, whilst also developing word recognition. Children are taught to recognise letter sounds, and how to effectively segment and blend words to aid and develop their reading and writing skills.

The implementation of this policy is the responsibility of all teaching staff.

Rationale

Literacy is fundamental in everything that we say, see, hear and do. Mastering the key skills in reading and writing will help to prepare our pupils for their life beyond school, giving them the tools to apply their knowledge to their everyday lives. Our aim is to equip our children with the ability to overcome any Literacy barriers that they may face and instil the confidence to take on new challenges.

Aims

Adapted from the National Curriculum, our Literacy curriculum aims to ensure that:

• Learners are taught the key content, in a creative, cross-curricular way with significant practical activities, allowing children to work at a level appropriate to their ability rather than their age, to improve outcomes and raise standards of achievement.
• Learners develop the flexibility and fluency required for confidence in Literacy, so that learning is functional and contributes to their daily success. Children’s future chances of adult independence rely on their ability to apply their Literacy skills within modern life.
• Learners are encouraged to develop their use of language, using talk and alternative forms of communication to support creative thinking and recognising the importance of dialogue between pupils, their peers and teachers.
• Learners are provided with engaging opportunities to embed their Literacy learning in all aspects of their curriculum.
• Learners have the confidence to discuss and reflect on what they have learnt.
• Learners enjoy their learning and celebrate their progress.

Principles

The principles guiding the teaching and learning of Literacy at Gosden House are:

• Literacy is accessible for all pupils regardless of gender, race, cultural and social background.
• All pupils have the opportunity to succeed through a personalised approach, whatever their individual needs, building the self-belief necessary to achieve in the face of challenge or difficulty.
• Role-play, imagery and conversation are implicit in the learning of Literacy.
• Staff have high expectations and provide opportunities for all pupils to progress.
• Formal and Informal assessments of pupils allow individual targets to be set, ensuring emergent skills are developed.

Strategies for teaching

We use a variety of teaching styles and approaches which ensure:

• Literacy targets are broken down into small achievable steps and reviewed regularly.
• Pupils experience the teaching and their learning in a variety of contexts, whether it is: one to one, pairs, small group or whole class lessons, responding to the needs of the learners and promoting collaboration and group work.
• Teaching and learning activities are differentiated and individualised through the provision of diverse resources, contexts, support and teaching approaches, as required.
• The use of visual resources including Colourful Semantics, Communicate in Print, exchange systems and Makaton support the pupil’s comprehension of language in the classroom.
• The use of ICT to reduce anxieties and support in the development of independence in learning activities.

NUMERACY AT GOSDEN HOUSE SCHOOL

Introduction

This guidance outlines the purpose, nature and management of the mathematics taught and learnt in our school.

Gosden House uses a variety of approaches in supporting the teaching and learning of mathematics, including Numicon. This is a multi-sensory approach to children’s mathematical learning that focuses on three essential elements; doing mathematics, communicating mathematically and exploring relationships to enable generalisation. We aim to facilitate learners’ understanding and enjoyment of mathematics through using visual imagery to support comprehension of abstract number ideas.

Numicon, was introduced as an approach to teaching at Gosden House School, in September 2017, following extensive training for all teachers and support staff. Regular training updates are provided on an on-going basis for new / existing staff and each class has appropriate resources.

Rationale

Mathematics is essential in everything we construct, everything we calculate and almost every problem that we have to solve in our everyday lives.  The early concepts of Mathematics grow out of concrete and practical experience.  As a school, we are aiming for learners to develop the flexibility and fluency required for confidence in mathematical literacy, so that learning is functional and contributes to their daily success. This aim demands learners are enabled to make connections between learning experiences, supporting later problem solving and independence.

Aims

Through the Mathematics curriculum, adapted from the National Curriculum, we aim to ensure:

• Learners are taught the key content, in a creative, cross-curricular way with significant practical activity, allowing children to work at a level appropriate to their ability rather than their age, to improve outcomes and raise standards of achievement.
• Learners develop the flexibility and fluency required for confidence in mathematical literacy, so that learning is functional and contributes to their daily success. Children’s future chances of adult independence rely on their ability to use mathematics for modern life.
• Learners are encouraged to develop the use of mathematical language and use talk to support thinking mathematically, recognizing the importance of dialogue, between both pupils and teachers and between peers, in making meaning.
• Learners are provided with opportunities to generalise learning across the curriculum.
• Learners have the opportunity to use concrete images and structured apparatus to help discover patterns and make generalisations, of often-abstract concepts, supporting development of conceptual understanding alongside procedural competence.
• Learners have the confidence and opportunity to discuss and reflect on what they have learned.
• Learners enjoy their learning and celebrate their progress.

Principles

The principles guiding teaching and learning of Mathematics at Gosden House are:

• Mathematics is accessible for all pupils regardless of gender, race, cultural and social background
• All pupils have the opportunity to succeed through a personalised approach, whatever their individual needs, building the self-belief necessary to achieve in the face of challenge or difficulty.
• Action, imagery and conversation are implicit in ‘learning to do mathematics’.
• Staff have high expectations and provide opportunities for all pupils to progress
• Informal and formal assessment of pupils allows individual targets to be set, ensuring emergent skills are developed

Strategies for teaching

A variety of teaching styles and approaches are used which ensure:

• Mathematical targets are broken down into small achievable steps
• Teaching and learning organised in one to one, pairs, small group or whole class lessons, responds to the needs of the learners.
• Teaching and learning activities are differentiated and individualised through the provision of diverse resources, contexts and teaching approaches, as required.
• Use of visual resources and Makaton support comprehension of language in the mathematics classroom.
• Use of ICT supports independent learning activity, of particular importance within the Secondary school.

Development within the Primary school

Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage1

The focus on teaching and learning Mathematics within the Foundation Stage is on giving opportunities for learners to gain an understanding of key mathematical concepts in the first years of school, through play and structured teaching. Brain research suggests that direct action, physical and intellectual engagement with experiences, in addition to problem solving and repetition, ensures that synapses – our brain’s wiring – become stronger (Bruce 2004).

Children will investigate and build learning and understanding of early, crucial concepts, essential to the development of later mathematical competence including;

• Attributes – including size, shape and colour
• Categories – classifying (sorting or grouping) items based on a single or several attributes.
• Sequences and patterns
• Comparisons – understanding comparative concepts, including quantity, size, order and position.
• Learning number words- a list of words that must be kept in the correct order
• Learning numerals- learning to link spoken number words to written numerals

Key Stage 2

In developing early number and calculation skills, learners will encounter teaching and learning activities designed to establish a secure foundation in basic, essential procedures and concepts, including:

• Linking quantities to numbers- learning that number words and numerals represent quantities
• Learning all the stages in developing secure counting skills
• Learning “how many”- that we count to find out how many items we have and that when we count all of the items the last number word we say tells us how many
• Learning the cardinal principle – learning to give a smaller quantity from a bigger set
• Learning ordinality – that each number’s position in the counting sequence is fixed and that each next number is one more equal unit
• Recognising the relative sizes of and relationship between numbers – for example, that 9 is bigger than 5 and that 4 is twice as big as 2
• Learning quantity words and concepts and applying them to numbers – understanding the words used for the comparisons of sets – for example, same/different, more/less, bigger/smaller
• Understanding approaches to calculating and recording addition and subtraction

Specific teaching and learning of additional topics in mathematics will support pupils to develop skills and understanding in a variety of concepts, including:

• Daily routines and time
• Money exchange and the value of coins.
• Awareness of similarities and differences in shape, space and measures

Key Stage 3

Within KS3 learners continue to develop and embed early number and calculation skills. They will encounter teaching and learning activities designed to establish a secure understanding of the value of number, the four basic operations, in addition to measurement, geometry and statistics. KS3 looks at combining number skills and knowledge with life skills and the practical elements needed in day-to-day life. There is a heavy focus on both money and time. The curriculum includes:

• Linking quantities to numbers- learning that number words and numerals represent quantities
• Learning all the stages in developing secure counting skills: forwards, backwards and skip counting
• Using dienes and other resources to understand the value of place value in number
• Recognising the relative value of and relationship between numbers of varying value
• Learning quantity words and concepts and applying them to numbers – understanding the words used for the comparisons of sets – for example, same/different, more/less, bigger/smaller
• Understanding approaches to calculating and recording addition and subtraction
• Learning what the language in questions mean, in relation to which operation, e.g. altogether means the total so you will either add or multiply, less means subtract etc.
• Understanding time and timetables
• Understanding different shapes and how they relate
• Understanding basic statistics and read / create graphs and complete surveys

Specific teaching and learning of additional topics in mathematics will support pupils to develop skills and understanding of a variety of concepts, including:

• Daily and weekly routines, times, reading different timetables etc
• Money exchange and the value of coins, notes and calculating change
• Awareness of similarities and differences in shape, space and measures
• Understanding and purpose of graphs and tables

Key Stage 4

Key Stage 4 follows the Edexcel Functional Skills curriculum, predominantly at the Entry Level stages, however some pupils work up to Level 1. We focus teaching around skills that will benefit our Gosden Graduates, in all aspects of life. The curriculum focuses on functional application of skills and understanding, with all pupils given the opportunity to take exams in both Year 10 and Year 11. Students have the opportunity to leave us with both recognised maths qualifications at their appropriate level, in addition to the relevant life skills to use maths in their day-to-day life.

The curriculum includes:

• Practical applications of number including fractions, rounding, money, percentages and number facts.
• Handling data including surveys, tally charts, graphs, spreadsheets, organising by category and reading different information sources such as prices in a holiday brochure or on a menu.
• Measure and geometry including weight, money, time and space.

The Primary Curriculum Overviews

All primary curriculum areas are organised within our Primary Toolkit.  We feel that this supports meaningful and relevant learning opportunities for our pupils.  The Toolkit includes the following headings:

 

 

You can find some of the overviews relevant to your child's class  in the link below:

View Primary Curriculum Overview

Personal Development Journeys at Gosden House School

The curriculum at Gosden House including PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education) is built around key ‘life tools’ that we believe our pupils need in their ‘Toolboxes’ to prepare them to lead fulfilling and productive lives now and in the future. The PSHE curriculum is built around the following key ‘life tools’ that we feel are essential for our pupils’ personal development and are embedded into our PSHE curriculum.

                                                                   

 

 

The school’s PSHE curriculum is also guided by the PSHE Association’s Programme of Study (PoS). This policy is to be read in conjunction with the school’s RSE, SMSC and Relational Support Policy, Careers & Qualifications Guidance and the Primary & Secondary Toolkit (which are available on the school website).

At Gosden House School PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education) is a planned programme of learning where our learners acquire the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to keep themselves healthy and safe. It provides our learners with essential building blocks in order for them to develop healthy, respectful relationships, focusing on family and friendships, in all contexts, including online.

As part of our whole school approach, our bespoke PSHE curriculum provides the building blocks to develop the qualities, skills and attributes that our learners need to manage opportunities, challenges and responsibilities as they grow up, enabling them to thrive as individuals, family members and members of society. We feel passionately that our PSHE curriculum needs to teach our pupils to stay safe and healthy and build self-esteem, resilience and empathy now and for in the future.

PSHE is delivered through a Spiral Curriculum approach which gradually introduces new and more challenging learning within our three core themes, whilst building on what has gone before, which reflect and meets the personal developmental needs of our learners.

The spiral approach to delivering our PSHE spiral curriculum has three key principles. The three principles are:

1. Cyclical: Pupils should return to the same topic a number of times throughout their learning journey whilst at Gosden House.
2. Increasing Depth: Each time a pupils returns to the topic it should be revisited, reinforced and extended in age and stage appropriate contexts.
3. Prior Knowledge: A pupil’s prior knowledge should be used when a topic is returned to so that they build from their foundations rather than starting anew.

We believe at Gosden House that PSHE is an essential core subject. Learning time in individual classrooms that is allocated specifically to PSHE is very flexible based around the needs of the learners but is never less than 60 minutes of discrete PSHE time per week.

Pupil progress in PSHE is monitored rigorously both through the recognised assessment tool ‘B squared’ and our EVISENSE system that records and celebrate students ongoing personal development journeys. The PSHE curriculum is planned and assessed by teachers through three overlapping and linked Core Themes: ‘Health, Lifestyle & Wellbeing, My World and the Wider World’ (which incorporates Citizenship and R.E); ‘Keeping Safe’; and ‘Me and My Relationships (including careers).

Pupil self-assessment opportunities in PSHE is being developed further this academic year (20-21) including the use of before and after mind maps, Happy & Healthy pupils’ journals, and pupil voice and self-reflection on EVISENSE.

Pupils are also involved in helping the school evaluate, mould and develop the PSHE education programme each year through the ‘Healthy School’ Questionnaire.

The planned PSHE curriculum is enriched daily through wider learning opportunities and filters learners’ developing skills throughout many aspects of school life. It is also enriched with targeted interventions to meet the specific social & emotional needs of individuals, including the setting of IEP targets linked to outcomes in EHCPS, the use of Zones of Regulation, Thrive interventions, and students working towards and tracking their personal progress by  collecting Key ‘Life Tools’ as part of rewarding and recognising personal achievements.

A Yearly Curriculum Overview is sent at the beginning of each academic year to inform parents about what pupils are learning about in PSHE and is also available on the website.

You can find some of the overviews relevant to your child's class  in the link below:

View Primary Curriculum Overview

Our Primary Team and Class Groups