At The Churchill School we are passionate about creating a successful curriculum for our children which is built on inspirational learning activities and high-quality teaching. It’s about creating a classroom environment that allows children to learn in a way that motivates and interests them all.

To support us with this we use the Cornerstone Curriculum, which has more than 70 'Imaginative Learning Projects' that help teachers teach and children learn.  They are designed to give our teachers the chance to plan and structure lessons around our children, this allows us to create a curriculum that is unique to our school.

There are four key areas that teachers plan around for each topic – Engage –Develop – Innovate – Express.

At the ‘Engage’ stage, children:

• gain memorable first-hand experiences, such as going on a visit or

inviting a special visitor into school

• enjoy ‘WOW’ experiences
• get an exciting introduction to a topic or theme
• begin researching and setting enquiry questions
• get lots of opportunities to make observations
• develop spoken language skills
• take part in sensory activities
• have lots of fun to fully 'engage' with their new topic.

At the ‘Develop’ stage, children:

• improve their knowledge and understanding of the topic
• develop and practice their new skills
• compose, make, do, build, investigate, explore, write for different

purposes and read across the curriculum

• research their own questions and those set by others
• follow new pathways of enquiry based on their interests
• complete homework activities that support their learning.

At the ‘Innovate’ stage, children:

• apply skills, knowledge and understanding in real-life contexts
• solve real or imagined problems using everything they’ve learnt
• get inspired by imaginative and creative opportunities
• revisit anything not fully grasped at the ‘Develop’ stage.

At the ‘Express’ stage, children:

• become the performers, experts and informers
• share their achievements with parents, classmates

and the community

• evaluate finished products and processes
• link what they have learnt to where they started
• celebrate their achievements!

We are excited about the changes we have introduced to assessment. These move away from a conveyor-belt approach to levelling with the target of rapid progress onto the next stage. Instead the marriage between curriculum and assessment allows us to help children make the next steps and for us to track this progress in an environment that aims to ensure that children master curriculum concepts. Teachers will now be able to more accurately describe the strengths of your children in any given subject, whilst deepening and broadening their knowledge and skills.

If you have any questions about our curriculum and the work we do please contact the office and arrange to speak with your child's teacher or a member of the Senior Leadership Team.