Foundation Subjects
Within the National Curriculum the following subjects are classed as Foundation Subjects: Art and Design, PSHE, Computing, Design and Technology, Modern Foreign Languages, Geography, History, Music and P.E. These subjects introduce children to a wide range of knowledge and skills which extend their understanding of the world around them. Our curriculum enables children to learn about a range of cultures and reflects the diversity of our school community.
Below you will find more detailed outlines of what is covered over the course of the academic year.
Personal, Social, Health, Economic (PSHE) Education & Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education (RSHE)
Our personal, social and health education (PSHE) programme aims to prepare children for life in modern Britain, helping them to develop into confident, informed and responsible citizens. In PSHE lessons children gain an understanding of the wider world around them, including British values, citizenship, economic wellbeing/money management, and saftey online. We aim to promote positive choices now and in later life, ensuring children thrive both as individuals and members of society. PSHE also helps children to learn aspects such as how to develop good relationships with others, how to look after themselves and how to stay healthy. We ensure children understand the importance of being honest about how they are feeling and know who to talk to if they need help. These topics are outlined further in our RSHE curriculum (see RHE section of our website).
RSHE forms a key part of our wider PSHE curriculum at St Alfege’s. Through Relationship and Sex Education and Health Education, we equip children with the skills and knowledge to recognise and form positive and healthy relationships, how to keep themselves safe both on and offline. Part of Health Education also includes preparing children for the changes that adolescence brings, such as puberty and the menstrual cycle.
In the Summer Term of Year 6, we teach two aspects of Sex Education. This provides children with an age-appropriate understanding of human reproduction and conception. Parents have the right to withdraw their child from these two lessons. The Kapow progression of knowledge and skills outlines those units of learning.
You can read more detailed information about Relationship and Sex Education and Health Education by visiting the RSHE page.
We use the Kapow scheme of work to support learning in this subject.
Kapow PSHE and RHE Curriculum Overview
| Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 | Spring 1 | Spring 2 | Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Family and Relationships | Health and wellbeing |
Safety and the changing body |
Citizenship | Economic wellbeing | |
Computing
We understand how important technology is in everyday life and children develop this understanding from very early on. In the Early Years children get to know that technology is all around them as they develop their knowledge and understanding of the world. As they move through the school, learning is developed so that children understand the intricacies of control modelling, develop their word processing and multi-media skills and learn how to safely interact with others whilst using a range of online applications. Children develop the foundational skills which can then be built upon when they move up to secondary school.
We use the Teach Computing scheme of work to support learning in this subject.
Physical Education (including dance)
PE at St Alfege School incorporates and promotes a wide range of health and fitness skills. In KS1, we focus on ensuring that children learn and have the ability to develop their ‘fundamentals’ skills; this includes balance, agility, coordination and the introduction of competitive games. In KS2, children develop and build on the skills from the previous stage. Competitive games and leadership skills are enhanced, which ensures that the children at St Alfege have the necessary skills to take part in a range of sporting activities.
To ensure that the children at St Alfege are exposed to a range of sports, we teach games from different categories. Children at our school take part in football, rugby, tennis, cricket, hockey and basketball. They also learn a range of games that involve minimal equipment; this is to ensure that teamwork, attacking, defending and leadership skills are continually developed.
At St Alfege School children will develop their knowledge and understanding of a range of dance styles. Children will work independently and collaboratively to choreograph short routines and sequences to perform.
We use the Get Set for PE scheme of work to support learning in this subject.
Modern Foreign Language - French
Our aim, which is at the heart of the programme of study for KS2, is to develop an enthusiastic and positive attitude to other languages and language learning. We hope to encourage a life-long learning of languages among our pupils in order to enhance their understanding of the world and their future economic well-being. As well as giving them the opportunity to learn a second language, an increasingly important skill in our globalised society, it also helps to promote and develop a broader intercultural understanding.
During their time with us children will learn French and Spanish. This enables them to broaden their language skills and have a greater appreciation of languages when they move up to secondary school.
We use the Language Angels scheme of work to support learning in this subject.
Music
Our music curriculum inspires creativity and self-expression while encouraging children on their musical journeys. By exposing children to a diverse variety of musical genres and experiences, we aim to foster a lifelong love of music and ignite a passion for music. Listening and responding to different musical styles, finding their voices as singers and building their skills as composers and performers, will enable the children to become confident, reflective musicians.
We use the Charanga scheme of work to support learning in this subject.
Through our partnership with Trinity Laban Conservatoire and The Greenwich Music Service children have the opportunity to engage in music tuition in instruments such as the cello, drums and trumpet.
St Alfege Music Development Plan
The History, Geography, Art and Design and Design and Technology curriculums have been carefully developed by subject leaders to ensure learning is relevant and engaging for our children, whilst ensuring full coverage of the National Curriculum.
History
Through the study of History children will make sense of the world and their place in it. They will develop their understanding of time and chronology studying significant people, places, events and period of history. Children will learn about and from the past and be inspired to consider how their actions now can have an impact on future generations. Children will be given opportunity to develop their critical thinking skills, enabling them to consider the actions of historical people and to question how and why history is recorded in particular ways. Children at St Alfege will learn about the history of Greenwich and its surrounding areas and the impact individuals from the local area have had on the country and the world.
History Curriculum Overview
Geography
Through the study of Geography, pupils with gain a solid understanding of their physical place in the world and how they are part of a global community. It will encourage pupils in their curiosity of the world around them both near and far. Children will also explore how our actions can and have had a positive or negative impact on our world.
Geography Curriculum Overview
Art and Design
Our art and design curriculum develops creativity, free thinking and expression through a range of media, materials and inspirational starting points. Children learn the skills and processes of drawing, painting, printing, collage, textiles, sculpture and digital art, while exploring and evaluating different creative styles. Inspired by the works of cultural, age, gender and ability diverse artists, children are encouraged to be creatively independent, reflective risk takers and to raise their own aspirations as artists.
Art Curriculum Overview
Design and Technology
Through our Design and Technology curriculum children develop an understanding of cooking and nutrition, textiles, structures, mechanisms and electrical systems. Within these topics, children have the opportunity to research and explore products of the past and present. Using their knowledge, imagination and creativity, children design their own products and then use a range of familiar and unfamiliar materials, ingredients, tools and techniques to make their final products. Finally, Children test out their ideas and the products they have made in order to critique and evaluate their own work and develop their technical knowledge enabling them to develop their design and technology skills as they progress through their school years.
