At Northill CE Academy we implement a curriculum which is dedicated to supporting our pupils to flourish and 'Shine... Like Stars'

The intent behind our curriculum

We are a small, community orientated, passionate school where all pupils are given the tools and opportunities needed to succeed and develop a life-long love of learning. 

It is our intention to implement a curriculum that is rooted in strong Christian values; that is aspirational, challenging and diverse, allowing our pupils to flourish with independent learning skills, resilience and autonomy while broadening their language skills and understanding of key concepts as well as reflecting and engaging with our local community.

Long Term Plans

Click on the class planet to read about the curriculum for each class and to view their long term plans. 

Our Approach to the Curriculum

At Northill CE Academy, we have worked hard to create an engaging, progressive and effective curriculum which nurtures a love of learning and offers challenge to our learners. 

We are using a two year cycle of planning in KS1 and KS2. The topics will be covered within the two years that the children are in each class to ensure they have full coverage of the national curriculum. The lessons are designed so that the children remember more and can do more. 

Each lesson will teach substantive knowledge and disciplinary knowledge. 

Substantive knowledge is the established facts, concepts, laws, theories, and models that make up the content of a subject e.g. Who the roman emperors were? What is a carnivore, omnivore and herbivore? This learning will be shared across the two year groups. 

Disciplinary knowledge is the knowledge of how the substantive knowledge was established, how it is revised, and how it is used in practice. For example, in science, disciplinary knowledge might include learning about the different types of scientific inquiry and how to use evidence to work scientifically. We differentiate our teaching by having established expectations for the disciplinary knowledge that children should have in different year groups and the children will complete tasks that require more disciplinary knowledge for the second year within a class. 

This approach allows for full coverage of the topics of the curriculum whilst ensuring progression through the children's understanding the key skills for each subject.