Plaistow Hill Infant and Nursery School

Plaistow Hill Infant and Primary School

Everyday my daughter is very eager to tell me what she has learnt and is always excited to be going to school

Year 2 Parent

  • "Staff are kind, calm and encouraging - Ofsted, April 2022"
  • "Children flourish in an environment of genuine warmth and care - Ofsted, April 2022"
  • "Pupils in Key Stage 1 are confident, listen to each other, share and take turns - Ofsted, April 2022"
  • "Parents and carers praise the work of the school - Ofsted, April 2022"
  • "One parent expressed the view of many with the comment 'the atmosphere and attitude of all the staff is incredible' - Ofsted, April 2022"
  • "The outdoor learning environment is used effectively to help children co-operate with each other and practise their number knowledge and skills - Ofsted, April 2022"
  • "Pupils are happy at Plaistow Hill Infant and Nursery School - Ofsted, April 2022"
Life at Plaistow Hill Infant and Nursery School Life at Plaistow Hill Infant and Nursery School Life at Plaistow Hill Infant and Nursery School Life at Plaistow Hill Infant and Nursery School Life at Plaistow Hill Infant and Nursery School

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Curriculum

At Plaistow Hill the children in the Nursery and Reception classes follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum and in KS1and KS2,  the children follow the National Curriculum.

Our curriculum is designed to give all learners in our community, including the disadvantaged, the opportunity to succeed. It is planned and sequenced to build on prior knowledge and understanding, which is accessible for all children. We feel our curriculum is ambitious and we ensure that children have the opportunity to recap on learning so that they are able to integrate it into their long-term memory.

We have a number of guiding principles which are the 'drivers' for our curriculum to ensure that our curriculum offer is as enriched and personalised for our children. They underpin the work in all aspects of school life and are linked to our themes and learning behaviours (these can be viewed below).

Click here to view our Long Term Topic Map for the whole school for 2022-23

Click here to view our Learning Behaviours

Reading at Plaistow Hill

Reading book and phonics mapping

Reading Progression document

Writing at Plaistow Hill

Literacy Writing map

Writing Progression

Our 'drivers' are:

  • Initiative- We feel that it is vital that we nurture the natural curiosity of our children, enabling them to become independent to imagine, enquire and become increasingly enterprising in their lives
  • Possibilities- Children cannot aspire to things they have never encountered. Therefore we will work to broaden our children's horizons, expand their knowledge of the world by nurturing their interests as well as encouraging excitement of what is new or unknown
  • Adventure- We are passionate about the physical development of our children. We believe confidence is developed through competition and sports. We want our children to know there is more to life than the virtual, digital world and will give them opportunities to manage real risks
  • Community- Children need highly developed emotional literacy in order to experience positive relationships, develop their sense of right and wrong and their ability to empathise. We believe in the power of the school community to change and enhance lives
  • Environment- We believe our children need to know about and understand the world that is beyond their immediate community. They need opportunities to experience the richness of the world's diversity and show they care about its protection for future generations 

 Click to read the curriculum statements for each subject area

Geography   History        Religious Education  Science   PSHE    Music    Art & Design    Computing        Design Technology      Phonics    Physical Education

The  Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum covers seven areas of learning, which are all inter-connected. See our EYFS curriculum statement here. Three of the areas are crucial for developing curiosity, for forming relationships and building a capacity for a love of learning. These are called prime areas and include:

  • Communication and Language
  • Physical Development
  • Personal, Social and Emotional Development

We also support children in four specific areas which also help to strengthen and apply knowledge in the prime areas. These specific areas are:

  • Literacy
  • Mathematics
  • Understanding the World
  • Expressive Arts and Design

At Plaistow Hill activities and experiences for the children in each of the seven areas are as follows.

  • Communication and Language - this is at the heart of young children's learning and includes exposing children to a rich language environment; to develop confidence and skills in expressing themselves; and to promote speaking and listening skills in a range of situations.
  • Physical Development- is about proving opportunities for young children to be active; to improve their skills of co-ordination, control, manipulation and movement. Physical development has two other important aspects: it helps the children gain confidence in what they can do and enables them to feel the positive benefits of being healthy and active. Effective physical activity helps children develop a positive sense of well being.
  • Personal, Social and Emotional Development - this includes helping children to develop a sense of self and to have confidence in their own abilities; to form positive relationships and respect for others; to manage their own feelings and social skills; and to understand appropriate behaviour.
  • Literacy - encourages children to link sounds and letters and begin to read and write; providing opportunities across all learning to read a wide range of resources such as books, signs and posters; and to write using a range of resources and in different forms.
  • Mathematics - we help to develop and improve the children's counting, understanding and using number skills; to understand simple addition and subtraction; and to describe shape, space and measures. 
  • Understanding the World – is about helping children to develop critical knowledge, skills and understanding to help them make sense of the world. We promote first hand experiences that encourage exploration, observation to find out about people, places, technology and the environment.
  • Expressive Arts and Design – the children’s understanding is developed through using a wide range of media and resources; encouragement to share their thoughts and ideas through music, art, dance, role play and design.

Well planned play, both indoors and outdoors, is a key way in which young children learn with enjoyment and challenge. We aim to provide a broad and balanced curriculum, including child initiated and adult directed activities..

The children in Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2) follow the National curriculum. At Plaistow Hill we provide a broad and balanced curriculum with effective learning opportunities for the inclusion of all pupils as we prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life. In September 2015 we introduced a new maths programme called Visual Maths and it was also the first full year of Talk For Writing. More details of these programmes can be found on the parents page.

We use a programme called Read Write Inc for teaching phonics, writing and reading - see the tab on the parents page for more information. In addition to this we use a colour banded reading scheme where the children bring home a book to read at a suitable level, along with a library book for parents/carers to read to their child. Parents are invited to comment on their child's reading and teachers also write comments in the child's personal 'Reading Champion' diary. The Reading Champion book contains advice for supporting reading at home.

OFSTED FEEDBACK

 The curriculum is well adapted to pupils' needs, is interesting and informative and stimulates pupils to work hard.

Read more from Ofsted...

 

We work in partnership with families and the wider community to provide opportunities for all pupils to learn and achieve and develop socially, morally, physically, spiritually and culturally within a climate of equal opportunities.

We aim to provide effective and creative learning environments giving every child the opportunity to experience success in learning and achieve a high a standard as possible. If your child has a special educational needs (SEN) this may make it harder for them to learn than most children of the same age. However, we work closely with you to encourage them and co-ordinate the appropriate support within school and from external agencies.

Key skills are promoted to help pupils improve their learning and performance in education, work and life through communication, application of numbers, information technology, working with others, problem solving and thinking skills.

The Key Stage 1 curriculum builds on the pupils’ prior experiences in the Foundation Stage. Please click on each subject for the progression grids for the whole school. English and Maths also have their own pages under the parent tab.

The curriculum includes:

We also provide a range of opportunities and experiences to help the children develop their personal, social, health and emotional skills as well as more formal teaching of PSHE through the Jigsaw PSHE scheme.  In conjunction with this we have a programme of assemblies which promote our children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and a RE coverage plan, which is broadly Christian, but also focuses on other religions and festivals from around the world

Please see year group pages for more detailed information about our topics.