Wisdom, Knowledge and Skills
At Kessingland Church of England Primary Academy we believe that the purpose of education is to further social justice and to deliver a curriculum that includes powerful knowledge which takes pupils beyond their everyday experience. Our vision is deeply Christian, with the golden thread of Jesus’ promise of ‘life in all its fullness’. We believe that everyone is a child of God and should be supported to flourish and reach their full potential. We are committed to developing the whole child and have high aspirations for everyone to be the best they can be – this means giving children the best education and allowing all the children to thrive.
Understanding our children, their strengths and their next steps is at the heart of all decisions taken regarding the curriculum. We chose to write our own curriculum for the children in order for them to flourish. We use our vision to drive forward to meet our children’s academic and spiritual needs.
Aspire: We aim to provide experiences which show children the wide range of possibilities available for their future. We want them to be challenged to imagine possibilities beyond their own experience.
Believe: We promote ambition, high aspirations and foster pupils’ capacity to see the possibilities within the world today. Championing a Growth Mindset, pupils believe in the power of ‘yet’.
Challenge: We strive for children to learn skills alongside knowledge, ensuring that all pupils have a secure platform to reach the next step in their learning journey and their full potential – ‘With God, all things are possible’ (Matthew 19:26).
We take joy in watching our children seek wisdom, knowledge, understanding and developing their talents in all areas of life. We celebrate this through our Collective Worship and identifying our ‘Pupil of the Week’ and those who have achieved ‘Community Success’.
Pupil progress is tracked rigorously through our termly pupil progress review meetings and PiXL Action plan meetings; these meetings involve teachers, the SENCO and senior leaders. During this meeting, individual vulnerable groups are discussed such as disadvantaged children. Interventions and support are quickly identified for any children who may need it linked to individual needs. We also ensure that within this meeting we discuss any children who are exceeding expectations and ensure that we have provision in place to challenge and extend these children further.
Our curriculum is carefully planned to combine knowledge and skills, ensuring that every child is empowered through knowing. Pupils are challenged to not only develop their understanding, but to master it. Our knowledge-engaged curriculum is planned progressively so that key concepts and vocabulary are revisited and reinforced, making them unforgettable. Teaching and learning opportunities have been thoughtfully sequenced to ensure pupils revisit, apply and deepen their existing knowledge within and across subject areas. Retrieval practice in an integral part of our teaching. This is also part of our RE learning. Teachers plan retrieval activities to assess children’s knowledge. Learning builds on prior learning and children understand the ‘big picture’ and where each session fits into this ‘big picture’ of RE learning.
We have a strong Student and Family Support Team at Kessingland who play a vital part in supporting those who are more vulnerable and those who have additional learning and emotional needs.
Worship is inclusive for all and members of the community and families have opportunities to join in. Worship includes an opportunity for prayer and for pupils to build their own relationship with God.
We aim to develop pupils’ understanding of the world around them and learning experiences beyond the classroom, such as visits, clubs and visitors enrich our curriculum. By gaining knowledge through purposeful and meaningful experience, pupils develop an enduring understanding that goes beyond retrieval. Our curriculum allows pupils to acquire cultural capital as they move through the school, supporting pupils to develop a deep and connected understanding of where they came from, who they are and what they might become.
Children have opportunities to explore big questions and nurture their curiosity and look at the world with awe and wonder. Pupils can express their own beliefs and find out about the beliefs of others, particularly within our RE and Skills for Life curriculum.
