We are a creative curriculum school and place high value on the inter-relatedness of all learning. Our curriculum is delivered through exciting topics that aim to inspire and enthuse our children. Creative projects give children the opportunity to deepen their knowledge and understanding across all areas of the curriculum.
You can’t imagine a child to become creative without secure art skills. Art helps our children in expressing themselves. Creativity is a significant reason why art is emphasised in our school.
KS1
Year One have been experimenting with drawing by using pencils to create texture and to become familiar with using shape and space within a sketch. They observed photographs of Pirate ships and discussed the art and design features they could see in the photograph, before sketching their own.
They were particularly fantastic at applying pressure to create texture and depth – well done Year One!
Year Two have used a range of materials creatively, to design and create their very own sea creatures! After designing their sea creatures using the art and design techniques; colour, pattern, texture, shape and form, they skillfully used clay to bring their beautiful sea creatures to life.
Well done Year Two!
KS2
Year Three have built on their skills learnt from KS1 and developed their techniques superbly. They have created beautiful sketch books, home to their creative ideas, ready for them to review and revisit their wonderful ideas. Super sketches, Year Three!
Year Four have experimented with their use of materials, with creativity and adding to their knowledge of art, craft and design. Here, they have explored the artist, ___ and used watercolours and chalk, to recreate their own version of the painting. Well done Year 4!
Platinum Jubilee
In 2022, Her Majesty the Queen became the first British Monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee after 70 years of service. One of the ways we celebrated The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, was by taking part in the Queen’s Jubilee fundraising Art competition.
King Charles III’s Coronation
We absolutely loved creating artwork to celebrate King Charles III’s Coronation! Take a look at KS2’s beautiful sketches!
Remembrance Day
Every year, we come together as a school to design and create beautiful artwork, to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in World War One.
We are always incredibly proud of our children for the skills they use to produce their wonderful artwork and it is always so lovely to see the enjoyment of having the freedom to express themselves through a high level of creativity.
We aim to bring music to life in the classroom through inspiring musical projects that are relevant to our children. Understanding art and culture is integrated into our daily life and learning and aspirational people from the world of music play a key role within our music curriculum. We passionately believe in the power of performing art as a platform for self-expression, creativity, exploration, and joy. We strive to give our children every opportunity to immerse themselves in a wide variety of performing arts. Through our curriculum, children see the world through the eyes of performing artists and discover the riches of creative expression.
Here at Peartree Spring Primary School we aim to being Music to life in all aspects of our children’s lives, from listening to music during learning to participating in musical activities.
How does Music look in our school?
Our children throughout their school life take part in a number of projects where they learn about the four key elements of music:
To support the musical development we offer many extra-curricular opportunities from clubs that the children can attend to going to perform in large scale concert venues like the O2 Arena in London.
Young Voices at the O2 Arena:
Our children have the opportunity to participate in the Young Voices Concert at the O2. It is a truly wonderful day that the children very much enjoy being a part of, as do the staff who support them on the musical journey.
Click here for the full document
Click here for the full document
In Key Stage One, we have been looking at the continents and oceans of the world. We have linked this to our Science learning, by researching which animals live on each continent.
In Year One, we took a trip around the world with our Rich English Text ‘Emma Jane’s Aeroplane’. We boarded a plane, travelled to different countries, and learnt about their famous landmarks.
In Year 2, we have completed a comparison of different continents, and linked this to our whole school learning focus on ‘Africa Amazing Africa’ by Atinuke.
In Key Stage Two, we have been building on our previous knowledge of human and physical features. We have been identifying key features of river systems, as well as focusing on the physical characteristics of the poles of the earth.
Geography Role-Play Areas
This is our wonderful Remembrance display for 2022. This year we will be remembering Queen Elizabeth II.
Year 6 have recently visited IWM Duxford as part of their history topic.
Year 2 have enjoyed taking part in History off the Page – The Great Fire of London. They spent time learning about life in 1666 and got to have a go at some of the daily tasks the people might have done including candle making, sewing and herbal medicine. In the afternoon, they learnt more about the fire, how and why it spread and the lasting effect the fire had on London.
Hola!
We start learning Spanish in Key Stage 2 but in Key Stage 1 and EYFS we enjoy learning new words and phrases to use in their daily routines.
Here are some of the wonderful Spanish displays we have in every Key Stage 2 classroom.
We use Language Angels in the classroom to support our learning.
We follow the Hertfordshire Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education curriculum in every year group. We also enjoy celebrating a range of festivals and celebrations from many different religions and cultures.
Here are some of our recent favourites:
Chinese New Year 2023 – The Year of the Rabbit
As part of their Home Learning the children in Year 4 were encouraged to find out about Chinese New Year and create some work about what they had learnt.
Harvest Festival
Our whole curriculum aims to help our pupils gain awareness and understanding of the wider world – and their place in it. Through various projects, initiatives and learning opportunities, our pupils are encouraged to take an active role in the community and work with others to make our planet more peaceful, sustainable and fairer. We encourage our pupils to develop the knowledge, skills and values they need to engage with the world and teach them that we can all make a difference. Global citizenship at Peartree is about understanding that we can all work together to make a fairer, safer and happier world for everyone.
Click here for the full document
Click here for the full document
Click here for the full document
Our PE page
Personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education is an important and necessary part of all pupils’ education in our school and includes statutory relationship and sex education (RSE).
In PSHE education, we aim to build, where appropriate, on the statutory content already outlined in the national curriculum: drug education, financial education, sex and relationship education (RSE) and the importance of physical activity and diet for a healthy lifestyle.
Topics include citizenship, rights and responsibilities, rewards and consequences, democracy and dealing with specific issues such as peer pressure, bullying and conflict.
Find out more on our PSHE page
We are lucky to have extensive school grounds and our teachers plan lessons that take the children outdoors at every opportunity. We believe that outdoor learning is enriching and ensures positive, innovative and creative learning experiences for all our pupils.
Click here for the full document
Click here for the full document
Here at Peartree, we ensure that all of our subjects build upon the children’s Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development.
These are the ways that SMSC is incorporated into our Science curriculum.
In every lesson, we work on building our Science subject knowledge as well as developing our working scientifically skills.
Our working scientifically skills progress as the children move up through the year groups. Here are the skills that the children learn within their Science lessons:
Every year, we dedicate a whole week to our Science learning.
Last year our theme was Bubbles and later this year, we are going to be focusing on sustainability and how we can help the world we live in. We will having our own Earthshot prize too!
Here are some of the exciting things that we got up to last year.
At Peartree, we believe that it’s important to keep in touch with the world around us.
Our wildlife photographer of the year competition creates an opportunity for our children to get outdoors and explore our wonderful world.
Last year we had over 100 incredible entries!
Take a look at some of the winning photographs below.
Science role play areas
Science is embedded throughout our curriculum and can be seen in our wonderful role play areas.
Computing
Computing is an innovative curriculum which provides our children with the opportunity to use a wide range of technology. In our Foundation Stage we give the children a great foundation in the basics of computing, offering them opportunities to explore technology, how technology is used in the world and starting their journey into understanding how we keep safe online.
Throughout Key Stage 1 and 2 we follow the Teach Computing Scheme, created by The National Centre for Computing Education giving the children the opportunity to explore the curriculum using a range of different technologies.
In Key Stage 1, children are taught the basics of how computers work; from how to open a program to how to save a file. Children begin to learn what algorithms are and their role within the world that we live in. Through the use of technology such as Bee Bots or applications like Scratch Jnr, the children are involved in practically creating algorithms to make objects move.
In Key Stage 2, children continue to develop their understanding of programming through using Scratch to create their own projects. Children begin to explore coding through more in depth technology such as Micro:bits.
At Peartree Spring Primary School we recognise and understand the importance of internet safety and the children are regularly taught how to keep themselves safe when working online.
Some useful website are:
ThinkUKnow:
https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/
NSPCC:
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/
Childnet:
https://www.childnet.com/parents-and-carers
Here at Peartree Spring, Design and Technology is embedded throughout our rich curriculum.
In reception, children learn a variety of skills through each area of development, including physical development and understanding the world. Children learn vital skills, such as how to use tools and equipment safely. This might include how to use and carry scissors or how to build safely using construction blocks.
As the children move through the school, they continue to deepen their knowledge of Design Technology through 4 key areas:
Design
Make
Evaluate
Technical knowledge
In Key Stage 1 and 2, all children also focus on cooking and nutrition. Learning where our food comes from and how to apply the principles of a healthy diet.
In Year 2, children learn about different mechanisms. Here is an example of a slider that the children created, based on their shark topic.
In Year 3, the children learnt how to safely prepare food whilst learning about Harvest in different countries.
Here they are, creating some chocolate apples:
Click here for the full document
Click here for the full document
Curriculum
As a school, we use White Rose Maths to ensure learning progression builds year on year for the children to be successful mathematicians from EYFS to Year 6. We provide challenge throughout lessons and specific interventions are used to support children where needed.
At Peartree Spring we use the Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract approach and encourage the use of manipulatives throughout the school.
How to help your child at home
There are lots of different ways you can help your child in Maths through everyday daily activities. This could include: spotting shapes and patterns, counting, singing songs counting forwards and backwards, using money in shops, baking together or measuring.
These are links to online games that you may find helpful and fun for your child.
Our scheme of learning: White Rose
CBeebies EYFS/Key Stage 1
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/topics/numeracy
BBC Bitesize Key Stage 2
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/z826n39
Education City for homework
Times Table Rockstars
At Peartree Spring, we use the Times Table Rockstars Programme to engage children in learning their multiplication times tables and division facts as well as improving their recall at speed. These programme begins in Key Stage 2 (Year 3-6), although some keen children do start in Key Stage 1!
The statutory Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) taken place at the end of Year 4 in June. This is to check that children are achieving age related expectations in their recall of these facts. Core mathematical learning in Year 5 and 6 relies on these skills.
In Year 2 children are expected to know the 2, 5 and 10 times table.
In Year 3 children are expected to know the 3, 4 and 8 times tables.
In Year 4 children are expected to know all the multiplication facts up to 12 x 12.
Click on the relevant year group to download their yearly Maths overview.
We passionately believe that it is our responsibility to teach our children to speak, read and write fluently so that they can effectively communicate their thoughts, feelings, ideas and learning about the world around them. Through daily exposure to rich texts, we aim to excite our children about the wealth of knowledge they can find inside the pages of a book and inspire them to seek out even more. It is our ambition to instil a love for reading within all our children so that they become lifelong readers with the skills to express themselves creatively, articulate their thoughts clearly and engage confidently within society.
Phonics and Spelling
Monster Phonics is the fun way to teach Systematic Synthetic Phonics. Its advanced multisensory approach uses 10 Monster characters to create interest and engagement for children. Studies show a 38% increase in spelling accuracy in 5 weeks and a 23-month improvement in reading age over a 5-month period.
Monster Phonics uses grapheme-phoneme correspondence as the first and foremost approach. Teaching is supported by using colour and monster sound cues to make the grapheme-phoneme correspondence explicit and easier to learn. Directly linking each grapheme and sounds within words makes learning easier and fun. Once a grapheme has been taught, the colour is removed. Not only does this accelerates the learning of phonics, high-frequency words, including common exception words, are also easier to learn.
In Early Years and Key Stage 1 children will engage in:
Our English faculty work closely with Monster Phonics to deliver bespoke training for our staff to ensure we give your children the very best exposure to phonics whilst at Peartree Spring.
You can find more information about Monster Phonics by clicking the following link:
Peartree Spring Primary School
Hydean Way
Stevenage
Herts
SG2 9GG
© 2021 Peartree Spring Primary School
