Our curriculum is driven by a desire to ensure that all children make excellent progress and leave school with a really positive attitude to learning in all its fullness.

This is encapsulated in our school vision, which was written by parents, children and staff.

“At Holy Trinity we welcome you to an exciting world of learning, discovery and friendship. We are passionate about nurturing every child, helping them to find and develop their own talents and be the best that they possibly can. Children learn within a Christian community, surrounded by support, kindness, respect and fun; and will leave with memories to cherish forever.”

To make this happen we ensure a really broad curriculum that includes a wide range of extra curricular clubs, for example; art, Spanish, French, choir, percussion, Music Makers, recorders, football, rugby, basketball, computers, Eco Club, and many more.

We teach Spanish throughout the school. Children start their first Spanish lesson in Reception class. We have the silver level of the International School Award and are twinned with schools in Spain and Chile. Holy Trinity works very closely with St Mary’s University College Twickenham and Kingston University, and so has a number of visiting Spanish trainee teachers who work with our children as well as a designated Spanish teacher.

The school is divided into three learning phases, each of which is managed by a member of the senior leadership team. The three learning phases are:

• Foundation Stage  (Nursery and Reception) led by Mrs Sue Fitzpatrick
• Key Stage One  (Year 1 and Year 2) led by  Miss Natalie D’Cruz
• Lower Juniors  (Years 3 and 4 ) led by Miss Ashby
• Upper Juniors (Years 5 and 6 ) led by Mrs Lascaris

The school’s curriculum is based on the National Curriculum. This ensures that there is continuity and progression in the skills, concepts and knowledge being taught. Each year group is clear about the expectations for their children.

We have a themed approach and each term each year group explores a different theme. All the National Curriculum skills are then taught through the theme. This allows for an integrated curriculum that means the children can explore areas in real detail and also pursue their own interests. A theme would run through literacy, maths, art, design technology, science, etc., each term and from Year 1 upwards the children are set a homework topic, in addition to their weekly maths and English, that encourages them and their families to research an area in-depth.

Examples of these themes are; toys, famous people, London, World War 2, environments, and the Tudors – all are rich seams for study.

We have a curriculum committee that monitors and reviews the effectiveness of our curriculum. Each term assessments are carried out in ALL national curriculum subjects to ensure progress, there is also a parent /teacher meeting so that you can find out how your child is doing and discuss their progress. At the end of the year a full report is shared with parents.

A class newsletter goes home from every class each fortnight to keep parents up-to-date with the learning in their child's class. At the beginning of every term a curriculum overview is sent home. Once a term the children share their learning with their parents and the whole school through their class assembly.

Foundation Stage Curriculum

We follow the national guidelines for the Early Years Foundation Stage in our Reception and Nursery classes. The key features of our Foundation Stage practice include the following:

• A curriculum which is relevant to very young pupils
• A curriculum that is led by the children’s interests
• Stimulation and challenge for every child at their own level of readiness
• First hand experiences
• Learning using the senses and movement
• Learning through play
• Opportunities to use and apply literacy and numeracy skills in independent activities
• Learning inside and outside the classroom
• Opportunities for working at length and at depth
• Organisation which allows independence and creativity
• Partnership with families and carers
• ‘Observation-led’ assessment
• Opportunities to celebrate the children’s uniqueness
• A rich and varied set of resources to stimulate and support learning
• Opportunities for children to develop their moral and spiritual values

We use the Jolly Phonics scheme for teaching letter sounds. We chose this scheme because it has a multi-sensory approach including actions, songs and DVDs that appeal to the broadest range of children. Each week parents are kept informed of which “sound” is the current focus.

Our reading books are all banded according to difficulty. We have books from a full range of publishers to give the children the broadest literary experience.

Key Stage One and TwoCurriculum

The National Curriculum begins in Year One. The children will make the transition to more whole class teaching and learning.

Parents can support their children’s development in these key years by helping with the following:

• daily reading practice and reading signs and numbers when out about
• practising mental maths and written calculations (using the “Mathletics” online programme to help)  
• learning to spell tricky words and to use their phonic knowledge with increasing accuracy 
• using basic sentence punctuation

The key features of the two key stages are that they include the following;

• Application of number
• Use of information technology
• Working with others
• Problem-solving
• Thinking skills
• Information processing skills
• Reasoning skills
• Enquiry skills
• Creative thinking skills
• Evaluation skills
• Communication
• Expressing one’s self effectively through the writing, speech and drama
• Opportunities to explore moral and spiritual issues

The children are encouraged to develop positive attitudes to learning, to become adaptable and flexible learners who can take risks and are able to persevere. This is achieved through the delivery of an exciting curriculum which involves the children in learning through a variety of ways, indoors and outdoors, in school and on educational visits.

By the time they leave us to attend secondary school we are aiming for every child to be:

• Able to express themselves effectively in writing and speech
• A capable mathematician
• A reflective learner
• A confident collaborator
• A positive contributor
• A resourceful self-manager

If you would like further information on the curriculum at Holy Trinity, please feel free to contact Penny Cox, the Head Teacher . Other useful sources of information are our Curriculum, Homework and Assessment policies, all of which can be found on our website or at the school office.