Gotherington Primary School

The Lawns, Gotherington, Cheltenham, GL52 9QT

Our School  »  Our Curriculum


 



Our Curriculum - A Guide for Parents
 

'Our school family provide a purposeful curriculum for all which is experiential, creative and memorable. We inspire a life-long love of learning by encouraging our children to be independent, resilient and curious. Success for our children means that they are happy, confident and responsible individuals who aspire to be the best that they can be wherever their journey through life may take them.'
 

Using the National Curriculum, we have spent a great deal of time reviewing our curriculum  -  a clearly sequenced curriculum which is creative, fun and focused upon building children's skills and knowledge so they know more and remember more. 

In every year group throughout the school, teachers plan a series of theme based approaches to learning which are firmly rooted through skills and knowledge that are progressive. Wherever possible, the theme will be used to link together subjects in a meaningful way. This helps children commit learning to their long term memory. 

By linking the separate subjects under the umbrella of a theme we believe learning becomes more exciting and memorable for our children and our teachers. Each theme has a high quality text which is at the very heart of it.

Each year group also plans a hands-on experience to introduce the theme or a really exciting visit to bring their learning to life. This may be in the form of a visit from a subject specialist to bring to life the themes or an educational visit.

The success of our curriculum has led to high standards in both the core and foundation subjects and the development of excitement, curiosity, a growth mindset and above all a life-long love for learning. 

We have developed and refined our assessment approaches to help our children to retain the knowledge and skills they need across the curriculum.

Gotherington ROCKS is used across the school to support children's meta-cognition and to make sure that learning is committed to long term memory.

                                                                

Curriculum Content and structure

We believe that the unique curriculum we deliver at Gotherington is balanced and broadly based. It plays an integral part in that it:

  • promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and of society, and
  • enables all pupils to develop and demonstrate skills and attitudes that will allow them to participate fully and contribute positively to life in modern Britain

Please select a subject at the top of the webpage for further information.

Curriculum Structure
English
Mathematics
Science
Art & Design
Computing
Design and Technology
Geography
History
Languages (KS2 only)
Music
PSHE & RSHE
Physical Education
Religious Education
 
Forest School 

Outdoor learning opportunities are planned across the curriculum for all our children at Gotherington through Forest School – our wonderful site was funded by our FOGS team. Forest School is invaluable in developing and raising children’s self- esteem through child-led activities which support and encourage them to achieve. These activities give children memorable experiences in an outdoor setting that they can then apply in all of their learning across the curriculum. Through small achievable tasks, children begin to build resilience and have the confidence to take risks in a supportive yet challenging environment.

We are extremely fortunate to have such a fantastic outdoor setting. Our own site, within the school grounds has a variety of mature trees as well as a nature area that is used for Forest School throughout your child’s learning journey with us.

All classes access Forest School throughout the year and also have opportunities to visit other outdoor settings such as Overbury Estate and Cranham Woods.

Gotherington Primary School Subject Progression

Here you will find our progression maps for every subject and curriculum overviews for every year groups. Our overviews also highlight the thoughtful and wide-ranging promotion of pupils spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Paper copies of our curriculum are available on request from the school office.