At Nightingale Infant & Nursery School, we deliver a broad and balanced curriculum which encourages the children to have enquiring minds and become independent learners. We believe that our curriculum: 

• Develops inquisitive minds, a spirit of curiosity and a passion for learning 
• Equip the children with the skills to fully participate in an ever-changing world 
• Teach children to be respectful and productive members of the community 
• Have high expectations and self- belief to enable them to fulfil their potential 
• Encourage children to reflect on their learning and seek to extend themselves mentally, physically and spiritually 
• Teach children to persevere and learn from their mistakes 
• Encourage an understanding and respect for the environment 
• Celebrates our diverse society and celebrates differences 
• Empower children to have courage and confidence to take calculated risks 

We achieve this by providing a highly inclusive creative curriculum which enables the children to succeed in a happy and safe environment. All staff work together effectively to plan and deliver a curriculum that meets the needs of all children and follows the National Curriculum. Our curriculum is rich, purposeful and challenging for all children. Our learning environments develop creative and independent learners who are motivated, resilient and focused. 

Both our EYFS and KS1 curriculums are planned over a 2 year cycle. This allows for Nursery and Reception to work together and Year 1 and Year 2 to work together. Due to the smaller size of our school, our class and year group numbers can change each year. We have developed our 2 year rolling programs to ensure overage of objectives over 2 years, ensuring children don’t repeat or miss learning during the key stage. 

The curriculum itself covers a wide range of subjects and provides opportunities for academic, technical, creative and sporting excellence. We plan our half termly units/themes using the texts from Power of Reading which are chosen to capture the interests and imaginations of our children. We make sure we know children’s abilities and interests well so that we can help them make as much progress as possible in all areas. Long term plans are made at the start of each year to ensure the requirements of the National Curriculum will be met, but the details may change or develop as topics grow from children’s interests and enthusiasms as well as key events in the wider world. 

We enable the children’s skills and knowledge to be developed by linking subjects such as history, geography, art, design technology and music to the theme being studied, which allows the children to make purposeful connections in their learning. We use every opportunity to involve reading, writing, maths, science and computing. 

While the pandemic was a challenge for all, learning away from the classroom and getting outside is something staff and children embraced and is something we continue. We are 

grateful for our extensive grounds and plan opportunities for all year groups to learn outside as much as possible, whether this is in our gardening area, on the school field, on the playground or in our outdoor classroom. 

Our Values 

Threaded through our curriculum are our core school ‘FLOCK’ values. 

Be Fair 

Listen and Learn 

Be Open and honest 

Care for ourselves, each other, and the world 

Keep trying 

You can find out more about what they mean, how everyone came together to decide on these and what they look like in our school on our Values tab. 

Themed Weeks / Days 

Throughout the year, we plan fun, creative and exciting themed days/weeks which are woven into the curriculum to extend the breadth and balance of opportunities we offer our children. These include weeks such as Health and Wellbeing Week, Sports Week and Art Week. We also have ‘off timetable’ days at the beginning and end of each term to dive into the new topic and share what we have learnt with others, including our families. 

Visits and visitors 

Educational visits and visitors to the school are essential elements of the wider curriculum. They provide memorable experiences and rich opportunities for learning, for wider personal development and well-being. During the Covid-19 restrictions, we needed to limit our visitors into school, however we were still able to enjoy many outdoor sporting events which included tackling a climbing wall and tag rugby as well as enjoying a number of dance workshops. 

We are excited we are beginning to make visits outside of school again, both locally and further afield. We regularly visit the church for celebrations, coverage of the RE curriculum as well as learning in other areas such as art and creative writing. 

Clubs/Extra Curricular Activities 

Clubs can extend and enrich children’s learning but can also engage more reluctant learners. Staff help to run clubs and activities during the year and outside providers are also used to extend opportunities as much as possible. As well as offering wrap-round care after school, which includes a timetable of activities, opportunities from outside providers are also available, which include football, tennis and cricket. 

Home Learning 

We use Weduc for KS1 and Tapestry in EYFS to facilitate a home school link. 

In Key Stage 1 (Year 1 and 2) at the beginning of the term children are sent home a knowledge organiser, which introduces the children and parents to the new Topic being taught in school. You can find these on the Key Stage One Overview page on the Curriculum tab. In addition to this termly home learning projects are set to immerse the children in the new topic being taught. We also provide parents with an overview of the learning objectives being covered each half term.y 

One of our main focuses at Nightingale is reading and promoting a love of reading. Parents/carers, are encouraged to help and support us by giving their children the chance to practice or share reading with them, at home, at least three times a week or as much as possible. 

We are proud of our newly refurbished library and children love spending time there each week, exploring the extensive range of fiction and non-fiction books. All of our children bring home a library book to share with their families alongside their phonic reading book. 

If you would like any further information relating to our curriculum, please speak to your child’s teacher. We also hold subject meetings throughout the year to inform parents/carers how you can support your child at home and share the successes your child has had in their learning and development. 

Further Links 

The National Curriculum for England www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum 

Useful Information for Primary School Parents www.theschoolrun.com/primary-national-curriculum-2014