Curriculum Subjects

The school curriculum is based on a variety of schemes adapted to suit the needs of our children and our community.

Any attempt to raise standards in our schools must be focused on learning in the classroom and the wider environment. Continued and sustained improvement is dependent upon improving the quality of teaching and learning that is taking place on a daily basis.

At Gainsborough the expectation is that all pupils are provided with high quality learning experiences that lead to consistently high levels of pupil achievement. By adopting a whole school approach to teaching and learning across our partnership, we aim:

• to provide consistency of teaching and learning across all our schools.
• to enable teachers to teach as effectively as possible.
• to enable children to learn as efficiently as possible.
• to give children the skills they require to become effective lifelong learners.
• to provide an inclusive education for all children.
• to learn from each other, through the adoption of a collaborative, enquiry based approach to teaching and learning, where good practice is shared.

For more information on the National Curriculum, please see the government website.

Assessment

The school carefully monitors the progress of each pupil; children’s work is assessed formally and informally at appropriate stages throughout their academic careers and clear targets are set for improvements which are shared with the children.

Teachers and support staff are continuously monitoring and evaluating children’s progress through their detailed marking and general observations.

We use a document called the Fundamentals to track the progress of children in each year group.

Children are encouraged to play an active part in assessing their own progress and setting individual targets. We use these assessments to set appropriate work and to provide additional support if necessary.

SATs

SATs is the acronym for Statutory Assessment Tests. These tests are taken at the end of both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.

The Key Stage 1 SATs are taken towards the end of Year 2. These tests are usually administered throughout May each year.

In Key Stage 2, these tests are taken by Year 6 pupils in May each year. In addition summative testing is also used across the school to give teachers a clearer view of children’s progress at different stages of the year.

Why are the SATs important?

The Year 6 SATs are mainly used by the school to check on progress. However, they are also used to assess the child’s attainment before they move onto secondary school where they are sometimes used by the school’s to determine which sets they will enter in year 7. So, these are not something to take lightly.

What do the SATs involve?

2014 saw a complete overhaul on the old curriculum which many teachers had become familiar and comfortable with. The government introduced a new curriculum which will see our current year 6′s (May 2016) sitting the first SATs test which are based on the new standards set by the new curriculum. These tests will be marked by external examiners and the results will be used to measure our school’s performance. These results are reported to Ofsted and are used in the published league tables which are readily available for all to see.

The Year 6 SATs consist of the following items:

• English: Reading (comprehension) paper (1 hour)
• English: Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling paper (45 minutes + 15 minutes spelling test)
• Mathematics 1: arithmetic (30 minutes)
• Mathematics 2 and 3: reasoning (40 minutes each)

Some, not all, schools have been selected to take part in Science Sampling tests. These consist of:

• Biology (25 minute, 22 mark paper)
• Chemistry (25 minute, 22 mark paper)
• Physics (25 minute, 22 mark paper)