Locking Stumps Community Primary School

Please see our School Facebook Account to see some up to date action shots - click the link in the bottom right corner. 

Our Curriculum Vision

At Locking Stumps Community Primary School, we strive to provide a safe, happy and nurturing environment where every child can thrive academically, socially and emotionally.

At the heart of our curriculum are our school values, which encourage children to be respectful, aspirational and responsible members of their community. We place great importance on children's personal development, recognising that happy, confident and engaged learners are more likely to achieve success both in school and beyond.

Our curriculum has been designed in partnership with staff, pupils, parents and governors and reflects the needs of our school community. It provides a broad, balanced and ambitious education that develops knowledge, skills and understanding across all subjects, while also promoting curiosity, creativity and a lifelong love of learning.

Where appropriate, learning is enriched through carefully planned, topic-based approaches that help children make meaningful connections between subjects. These topics are often driven by History, Geography, Science, PSHE and high-quality literature, enabling learning to be exciting, memorable and relevant.

We are committed to ensuring that every child leaves Locking Stumps as a confident learner, an effective communicator and a positive citizen, fully prepared for the next stage of their education and life in the wider world.

Click here to visit our EYFS page and learn more about our Early Years Curriculum

These booklets are provided to our parents every year and at parents' evening. They show an overview of core learning for these subjects. 

At Locking Stumps, we follow a mastery approach to the teaching and learning of Mathematics. This approach enables children to develop a deep and secure understanding through:

• Exploring a range of mathematical concepts
• Applying mathematics in a variety of contexts
• Using an array of representations
• Working with practical resources and equipment to support understanding
• Engaging in mathematical discussion using precise mathematical vocabulary
• Working collaboratively and independently
• Sharing ideas, reasoning, and solving problems together

This approach ensures that children develop a wide range of mathematical skills while deepening their knowledge and understanding within each unit of learning.

We use White Rose Maths materials to support planning and the small-step progression of learning throughout each year group. Below is an example of the planning documents used from Year 1 to Year 6. The full set of planning documents can be downloaded from the White Rose website using the link below.

These documents also demonstrate how our Mathematics curriculum builds progressively, ensuring that knowledge and skills are developed systematically as children move through the school.

  The White Rose Website and Resources section (click the link).  

English is taught through a combination of spellings,reading, writing, speaking and listening. It is an integral part of our curriculum. 

Reading

At Locking Stumps, reading for pleasure is a high priority. We are committed to providing all children with a rich and varied reading diet that fosters a lifelong love of books and literature.

Teachers place a high value on reading by creating engaging classroom environments where books are celebrated and readily available. Children read independently, listen to adults reading aloud and benefit from high-quality modelling from teachers and teaching assistants. Staff encourage children to access increasingly challenging texts, provide opportunities for individual reading, and carefully select high-quality literature to stimulate discussion, reading and writing.

We further promote reading through a range of enrichment activities, including annual book days, book fairs, after-school clubs, reading buddies, author visits, library visits (inlcuding our own), sponsored reading events and the use of the Education Library Service to enhance our topic resources and class reading collections. We also celebrate World Book Day each year through engaging activities that promote a love of reading across the school.

The importance of reading is communicated regularly to parents and prospective parents through meetings, presentations, newsletters and ongoing correspondence.

Early Reading and Phonics

A systematic programme of phonics is taught daily throughout EYFS and Key Stage 1. Phonics teaching takes place through discrete lessons and is reinforced across the wider curriculum through whole-class teaching and guided reading sessions.

Children are assessed regularly, grouped according to their needs, and provided with targeted support where necessary. Additional interventions are used to accelerate progress and ensure that all children develop the skills needed to become confident readers.

Reading in Key Stage 2

In Key Stage 2, reading is primarily taught through whole-class reading sessions, although reading opportunities are embedded throughout the curriculum. We believe that teaching reading as a whole class enables teachers to develop a shared love of reading, raise expectations, broaden children's reading experiences, and support all pupils in achieving age-related expectations.

Some children may also receive additional intervention beyond whole-class sessions to help them make accelerated progress.

Reading Skills and Comprehension

Throughout the school, children are taught and regularly revisit key reading skills and strategies, including:

• Decoding
• Retrieval
• Inference
• Deduction
• Summarising

Teachers do not limit the teaching of reading strategies to class texts alone. A variety of approaches are used, including partner reading, choral reading, visual stimuli, short films, mystery objects and scenarios, investigative activities, and engaging ‘hook’ experiences that encourage discussion and deeper thinking.

Home Reading

All children are provided with a home reading book that is carefully matched to their reading ability. Reading books are regularly reviewed to ensure that children are accessing progressively more challenging and stimulating texts.

A range of assessment tools, including benchmarking systems, is used to determine appropriate reading levels. Children who are not reading regularly at home are identified and supported through additional school and home interventions.

Spelling and Vocabulary

Across the school, children receive spelling homework linked to the phonics, spelling patterns, and rules they are learning in class. In EYFS and Key Stage 1, key words are also sent home for practice and are reviewed regularly.

Vocabulary and language development are central to our curriculum. Every class uses a range of strategies to introduce, revisit, and embed new vocabulary encountered through reading and across the wider curriculum.

Staff Expertise

Teachers and teaching assistants have a clear understanding of how children learn to read and receive regular professional development to ensure that reading is taught effectively and consistently throughout the school.

At Locking Stumps, we aim to develop confident, creative and skilled writers who can communicate effectively for a range of purposes and audiences.

Writing is taught using the Lancashire English Planning Scheme, which provides a structured, text-based approach to teaching writing from Year 1 to Year 6. Through high-quality fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts, children are exposed to rich vocabulary, inspiring ideas and a wide range of writing experiences.

Children follow a clear writing process that moves from reading and exploring a text, to gathering ideas and practising key skills, before planning, drafting, editing and publishing their own writing. This approach helps children to develop independence, creativity and pride in their work.

From the Early Years through to Year 6, children build the vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, spelling and handwriting skills needed to write fluently and accurately. We want every child to leave Locking Stumps with a love of writing and the confidence to express themselves clearly in school and beyond.

At Locking Stumps, we believe that being able to speak confidently, listen carefully and communicate effectively is an essential part of children’s learning and development.

Oracy is not taught as a separate subject. Instead, it is woven throughout our entire curriculum and developed in every subject, from EYFS through to Year 6. Children are given regular opportunities to talk about their learning, explain their ideas, ask questions, use subject-specific vocabulary, reason, discuss and work collaboratively with others.

Our teachers model high-quality spoken language and create purposeful opportunities for children to develop their confidence and communication skills. This includes partner and group discussions, whole-class conversations, storytelling, drama, role play, debates, presentations and speaking to different audiences.

We want every child to develop the confidence to express their ideas clearly, listen respectfully to others, build on different viewpoints and adapt how they communicate for different situations.

Through our whole-school approach to oracy, we aim for our children to leave Locking Stumps as confident, articulate and respectful communicators, ready for the next stage of their education and beyond.

Oracy is embedded across the curriculum from EYFS to Year 6 through a carefully sequenced progression of skills - see below:

Below you will find an overview of the curriculum topics and medium-term plans for each year group, showing how learning develops throughout the school.

Modern Foreign Languages are taught by our class teachers or our language teacher, supported by the class teacher.

Music education is delivered by our class teachers and in house music teacher who is highly skilled - it is enhanced by additional music specialists.  

Physical Education is delivered by class teachers, with additional support from experienced staff to ensure high-quality provision.

Our curriculum is regularly reviewed and may be adapted to reflect the needs, interests and experiences of our children, while ensuring that all National Curriculum requirements are met.

Please see our curriculum overview below.