Curriculum

The curriculum in the Lubavitch Primary Girls;’ School is unique in its philosophy and in its reality. Our approach is to provide a holistic education, highlighting Jewish Studies and also prioritising National Curriculum subjects whilst constantly looking for opportunities to integrate both disciplines where appropriate.

Curriculum

At Lubavitch Primary Girls;’ School a balanced curriculum is studied covering a wide variety of subjects including English and Hebrew literacy, Bible, Jewish Law, Numeracy, Global History, Geography, Science, Music, Art, D&T and PE.

Curriculum Intent

We ensure that all children have a broad, balanced and relevant education which provides continuity and progression and considers the needs of all learners. Our curriculum is exciting and integrated and inspires children to nurture a passion for learning holistically. Our curriculum intent focuses on providing the Kodesh and Chol knowledge and skills to teach our pupils how to grow into educated, positive, responsible people who are aware and proud of their Jewish heritage and traditions and can contribute to society in many ways.

Curriculum Implementation

Our core subjects are literacy (English and Hebrew) and numeracy. Whilst numeracy is taught as a skills to develop as well as knowledge to be learned, literacy is holistically taught as a tool to be learned, honed and developed in every context.

We explore and take advantage of every opportunity to fuse and merge Kodesh and chol learning in the following ways:

Literacy standards must be upheld in every subject including Kodesh
Art and design are fused through Kodesh and chol
PSHE is taught mainly in Kodesh with continuing emphasis throughout the school day
History, Geography and science are taught through a Jewish lens

Every class has “The Link” – a book in which the cross-curricular links are noted, identified and evidenced.

Curriculum Impact

We measure and monitor impact in a number of ways:

Termly NFER tests in KS2
Constant assessment for Learning in KS1
Termly pupil progress meetings
Evidence of cross-curricular in The Link

We also constantly assess and measure our pupils’ character development via daily interactions with staff and pupils.

curriculum Vision

Our curriculum vision has the development of English and Maths at its core, alongside developing the attributes for children to gain the skills to become lifelong learners. To facilitate this, we provide each child with ‘learning opportunities’ which engage and inspire. Topics and themes, which are driven by the pupils’ interests, provide ‘real world’ experiences that are relevant to and enrich their lives. This is particularly relevant with the Foundation Subjects of the National Curriculum.

We tailor learning to provide children with opportunities to develop skills and explore concepts. These allow them to build their knowledge and understanding through topics (incorporating a progression of skills drawn from the National Curriculum) that capture their interest and stimulate their imagination.

Curriculum Aims

Like all schools in England, we follow the National Curriculum; it sets out subjects and content which we must teach. Within this however, there is flexibility (being an academy) so that we can interpret and plan to meet the needs and interests of our children now and for the future.

The key aims for all our teaching and learning are:

To provide opportunities for all pupils to learn, to enjoy and to achieve
To provide a vibrant, happy and safe environment in which all people can share positive experiences and feel valued
We encourage and stimulate the best possible progress and the highest attainment for all our pupils. Our curriculum builds on pupils’ strengths, interests and experiences and develops children’s confidence in their capacity to learn and work independently and collaboratively
To assist everyone in acquiring the skills to learn independently, interdependently and work as a team
We place great importance on the skills of literacy, maths and problem-solving. We promote skills that help our learners to improve their own learning and performance and that help them to work well with others
To help each child adopt healthy lifestyles with a sound knowledge and understanding of the factors that affect their physical and mental health and emotional well-being
We place a high priority on developing pupils’ physical skills, self-esteem and emotional well-being. We encourage them to recognise the importance of pursuing a healthy lifestyle and keeping themselves and others safe both physically and online. We promote happy, effective relationships that are based on respect for themselves and for others
To help each child develop a good understanding of right and wrong, respect and treat each other as equals and become decent and responsible citizens. We do this through teaching knowledge and understanding of the spiritual, moral, social and cultural heritages of Britain’s diverse society and of the local, national, European, Commonwealth and global dimensions of pupils’ lives. We want everyone in our school to understand and appreciate their own and different beliefs and cultures, and how these influence our communities
To encourage confidence and high aspirations so everyone realises their full potential and talents
We provide rich and varied contexts for pupils to acquire, develop and apply a broad range of knowledge, understanding and skills. Doing so enables our pupils to think creatively and critically, to solve problems and to make a difference for the better
We promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and the differences between right and wrong, and that we have rights but also responsibilities. We want everyone in our school to be responsible and caring citizens who make positive contributions to communities

English

A child's ability to communicate is vital to all aspects of their learning, so English learning is embedded in all subjects that we teach across the curriculum. We also plan for literacy focused learning every day in school, in line with the National Curriculum.

The school aims to make our children confident and enthusiastic speakers, readers and writers. To support this, we provide a broad range of daily activities for children to develop and apply their speaking, listening, reading and writing skills.

From the EYFS pupils are taught phonics following the Read Write Inc scheme. They are then taught to apply these skills through a variety of activities and contexts. We provide opportunities to read for pleasure and engage with texts in guided-reading sessions. RWI was developed by Ruth Miskin and more information on this can be found at https://ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/.

Maths

At Lubavitch, Mathematics is taught every day. We focus not only on teaching the children mathematical processes, concepts and skills, but also the importance of understanding how to ‘work mathematically’. We try to teach Maths in an interesting and enjoyable way using the White Rose Scheme, to develop positive attitudes and resilience. We want our children to become confident, achieve well and love Maths! The curriculum places a large emphasis on becoming fluent in number facts, that is knowing all pairs of numbers that add and subtract within 100 and all times tables to 12 x 12 by the end of Year 4 and the ability to use these facts to solve more complex calculations; Mathematical reasoning, to follow a line of enquiry and justify and explain what they know and to solve problems in lots of different real life and imaginary contexts.

To achieve this, we plan lots of activities for learning through games, problems and practical tasks, using high quality concrete resources when introducing new concepts, at all ages. Together this approach creates real mathematicians, who become independent, resourceful learners, who take risks in their approaches to new learning.

Music Curriculum Intent

At Lubavitch, we know that music promotes positivity, self-confidence and a sense of community. Therefore, we believe that it should be a part of our everyday practice, through davening, singing in class or music lessons. In the annual music week there will be an opportunity for the children to create their own instruments and perform for their peers. On this special week there will also be a performance from the school choir.

At Lubavitch Primary School, it is our intent that we make music an enjoyable learning experience. We encourage children to participate in a music week through which we aim to build up the confidence of all children. Music and signing is also developed through Jewish is learning from the Early Years Foundation Stage straight through to Year 6. At every opportunity music and singing is developed through prayer. Particular attention is given to music through Jewish festivals where the children are taught songs that relate to significant events in the Jewish calendar.

Through singing songs, children learn about the structure and organisation of music. ‘Lubavitch Music Week‘ is where we use Lubavitch nigunnim (songs) to help the children understand about the culture and history of our school.

We teach the children to listen and to appreciate different forms of Lubavitch music from around the world in a creative and child-centred way. Children design and make their own instruments. They compose and perform to develop their understanding of musical composition from within the Jewish community at home and overseas, hence there is an international dimension to music week.

Early Reading Statement in the EYFS and KS1:

What are our aims?

We want to teach every child to read and become confident and enthusiastic reader.

When children start in Reception, we begin teaching them to read.

We follow the teaching sequence set out in Read Write Inc. supported primarily by resources from RUTH MISKIN LITERACY programme.

High quality phonics sessions will be taught daily in Reception and Key Stage 1 classes in small differentiated groups, enhanced by a multi-sensory teaching approach.

We expect children to learn 31 sounds by the end of Reception. In Year 1 children learn the other 13 sounds. During the lessons, children learn sounds for individual letters, diagraphs (two letters representing single sound, such as ea) and trigraph (three letters representing single sound, such as igh). Children learn to blend sounds into words; read exception words; learn correct letters; and learn to spell. We give some children on-to-one support to help them keep up. We give children reading books that help them practise the sounds that they have learned. They read these books at school and take them home to read to their parents. During each week, the classes have story time. Each teacher carefully chooses books to read to the class. This is when children listen to stories that have rich language and they can develop a love of reading.

Progression of Skills

Below are the key skills which we develop at Lubavitch, yet the Foundation Subjects incorporate a broader skills base which is evidenced in our Long Term Planning.

Year Plans

To find out more about the school curriculum please contact the office at admin.primarygirls@lubavitchmat.uk