Year 3 to Year 6 (Grade 2 to Grade 5)

Music

The primary school is divided into two Key Stages, Key Stage 1 includes Year 1 and 2 (American grades Kindergarten and Grade 1) and Key Stage 2 includes Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 (American grades 2, 3, 4 and 5). The core curriculum consists of English, Mathematics, Science, Design and Technology, Information and Communication Technology, History, Geography, Art and Design, Music, Physical Education, Citizenship, and Foreign languages.

Literacy
Numeracy
Science
History
Geography
Design Technology
ICT (Information and Communication Technology)
Art and Design
Music
Physical Education
PACE (Personal and Citizenship Education)
Foreign Language

Topic Based Learning

The International Primary Curriculum (IPC) and the UK National Curriculum provide the framework for educating students in Years 1 to 6 (ages 5 to 11), equivalent to American grades Kindergarten through Grade 5. The IPC is a cross-curricular teaching program integrating History, Geography, Science, Art, Information and Communication Technology and Design Technology into thematic units and provides links to National Curriculum guidelines for literacy, numeracy, music and physical education.

Children spend three to six weeks on units of work which are based around interdisciplinary themes of real interest to children so they are engaged and enthusiastic. This extended period of study allows students to approach topics from multiple perspectives and to make connections between subjects. Focusing on three standards – academic, personal development and international mindedness – the topic based approach provides a creative system that prepares children, wherever they may live in the future, for the world of tomorrow.

Fundamental to the topic based approach to learning is a clear progression in skill development. This even applies to the personal learning goals which emphasize adaptability, resilience, thoughtfulness, cooperation and respect and which, as a result of progressive skill development, help children to become able, confident and inspired learners. Internationalism is embedded into every topic based unit to ensure our children grow up with a very clear global understanding.

Literacy

During Key Stage 2 your child will learn to change the way they speak and write to suit different situations, purposes and audiences. He/she will read a range of texts and respond to different layers of meaning. He/she will also explore the use of language in literary and nonliterary texts to learn how language works. Our teachers will support your child’s ability to read challenging and lengthy texts independently, as well as teach the conventions of written English to improve his/her work.

Numeracy

During Key Stage 2 your child will use the number system more confidently, and will move from counting reliably to calculating fluently with all four number operations. He/she will be encouraged to try and tackle a problem with mental methods before using another approach, and will learn to develop his/her measuring skills in a range of contexts. Your child will be taught the skills and knowledge of integers, fractions, decimals, estimations and measurements, as well as learn to explore and draw inferences from practical activities involving data and computers.

Science

During Key Stage 2 your child will learn about a wider range of living things, materials and phenomena, and will also begin to make links between ideas to explain things using simple models and theories. He/she will apply the knowledge gained to the understanding of everyday things and personal health. Teachers will promote discussion on the positive and negative effects of scientific and technological developments on the environment and in other contexts. Your child will carry out more systematic investigations while using a range of reference sources in his/her work, and then communicate ideas using scientific language, conventional diagrams, charts and graphs.

History

During Key Stage 2 your child will learn about change and continuity in our area and in other parts of the world. He/she will look at history in a variety of ways; for example, political, economic, technological, social, religious, cultural and aesthetic perspectives. Different sources of information will be used to help him/her investigate the past both in depth and in overview, using dates and historical vocabulary to describe events, people and developments. Your child will also learn that the past can be represented and interpreted in many different ways.

Geography

During Key Stage 2 your child will continue to investigate a variety of people, places and environments on different scales, and start to make links between different places in the world. He/she will learn how people affected the environment and how they are affect by it. Teachers will encourage geographical enquiry with the use of resources such as maps, atlases, aerial photographs and computer technology.

Design and Technology

During Key Stage 2 your child will work independently and as part of a team on a range of designing and building activities. He/she will think about the use of products and the needs of the people who use them. Your child will create a plan and identify things working well and others that could use improvement by drawing on his/her knowledge and understanding from other areas of the curriculum and the use of computers.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

During Key Stage 2 your child will use a wider range of ICT tools and information sources to support their work in other subjects. He/she will develop his/her research skills and decide what information is appropriate for the subject. Our teachers will encourage your child to begin to question the plausibility and quality of information and also learn how to amend work and present it in a way suitable for the target audience.

Art and Design

During Key Stage 2 your child will develop his/her creativity and imagination through more complex activities. These will help to build on his/her skills and improve upon control, tools and techniques. Your child will increase his/her critical awareness of the roles and purposes of art, craft and design in different times and cultures, and will become more confident in using visual and tactile elements and materials to communicate what he/she sees, feels or thinks.

Music

During Key Stage 2 your child will sing songs and play instruments with increasing confidence, skill, expression and awareness of his/her own contribution to a group or class performance. He/she will improvise and develop their musical compositions, in response to a variety of different stimuli with increasing personal involvement, independence and creativity. Students will explore their thoughts and feelings through responding physically, intellectually and emotionally to a variety of music from different times and cultures.

Physical Education

In Key Stage 2, Physical Education continues to be an active subject encouraging students to use their creativity and imagination through physical activity. Students learn new skills, find out how to use them in different ways, and link them to make actions, phrases and sequences of movement. Through games for understanding, students continue to develop communication skills as well as collaborating and competing with each other. Your child will develop an understanding of how to succeed in different activities and learn how to evaluate and recognize his/her own success.

Students acquire and develop new skills and abilities, attempting to link them in a series or in combination and then plan how they can improve them in an attempt to develop more complex sequences, games strategies and compositional principles. Students are encouraged to describe what they see being performed and to make simple evaluations of theirs and others performances. Your child will then use this information to improve the quality of his/her work in games for understanding.

Students also begin to understand why exercise makes them hot or out of breath and start to develop an understanding of why activity might be good for them and how important it is to their general health and wellbeing.

PACE (Personal and Citizenship Education)/ SEAL (stands for what?)

All National Curriculum subjects provide opportunities to promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Explicit opportunities to promote pupil’s development in these areas are provided in a framework for personal, social and health education (PACE). A significant contribution is also made to areas by the school’s ethos, relationships and other curriculum activities.

During Key Stage 2 students will become more mature, independent and self-confident while learning about the wider world and the interdependence of communities within it. They will develop their sense of social justice and moral responsibility and begin to understand that their own choices and behavior can affect local, national and global issues, as well as political and social institutions. As a valuable member of the school and community students will learn to take part more fully in activities, and learn how to make more confident and informed choices about their health and environment. As they begin to develop into young adults, students will face the changes of puberty and movement into the high school with support and encouragement.

Foreign Languages: French and Spanish

During Key Stage 2 your child will continue to learn French and Spanish. Students begin to deepen their vocabulary range and are able to express themselves confidently using vocabulary relating to key topics. Students learn how to justify their opinions and can apply simple grammar rules to their work. All French and Spanish language lessons are taught by specialists.*

*Other subjects taught by specialists in Key Stage 2 include Music, Physical Education and Science.