Curriculum Overview

The Harlow Green Community Primary School Curriculum

The school community worked together towards ensuring that our curriculum offer supports children to develop the appropriate skills, knowledge and understanding required to be successful in today’s world.

Please take five minutes to watch the video below which shares the journey taken to reach an agreed vision of the drivers which will shape our curriculum so that it supports children to be successful now and in the future.

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Curriculum Structure

The school follows the National Curriculum for Key Stage 1 and 2 but rather than teaching subjects in isolation, we make connections between them to form topics. Each term, the year groups explore a new topic in order to make the learning more relevant for children but also to develop interconnected groups (schemas) of knowledge within and across subjects. The curriculum aims to develop academic knowledge but also the attributes necessary to be confident and successful learners whilst enjoying the love of investigation and exploration.

Learning Outside the Classroom

Although the classroom is a great place to learn, it is not always the most appropriate or effective venue. To support the development of children’s experiences, as well as to provide new and different contexts in which to learn, visits are organised in all year groups. There are simple visits (local walks, swimming pools, secondary school) through to the more developed excursion (museums, outdoor pursuits, theatres, sporting arenas) all of which are used to ignite children’s fascination and provide experiences that would not be as effective in any other way.

Visitors

Children love to learn from different and interesting people and so we ensure that there are opportunities for visitors to come to the school and work with children for various reasons. In fact, there can be many times when the teacher is not the best person to lead learning because of the lack of expertise in a particular area.

Experts in a range of fields will work with groups and classes of children to support lessons and take assemblies so that children understand that there are many people from whom they can learn. These ‘experts’ may be connected with particular agencies or groups but also could be local people from our own community.

The following are examples of visitors that will come and work with our children:

Nurses – teeth brushing, puberty talks
Police – safety talks
Historians – talking about periods of time and sharing artefacts
Animal handlers – supporting children to learn about exotic animals
Religious Leaders – sharing aspects about their religion or festivals

Careers Education

At our school, we believe it’s never too early for children to start discovering the wide world of possibilities that awaits them. Careers education helps pupils learn about different jobs, understand their own strengths, and begin to see how their learning connects to real life. It builds confidence, curiosity, and ambition.

We follow the Gatsby Benchmarks, which guide us in providing high‑quality careers learning. This means we make sure children experience a broad and exciting curriculum, meet a range of inspiring people, learn about different workplaces, and understand the skills they’ll need for the future.

By introducing careers education in primary school, we help our pupils dream big, aim high, and recognise that their talents can take them anywhere. It’s all about opening doors and showing every child that their future is full of potential.

The following are specific ways in which children will be introduced to careers:

Teachers sharing information about jobs related to the area of learning being studied (e.g. graphic designer in IT, journalist in English, banker in money sessions in PSHE)
Visitors will be interviewed about their role and the journey towards it (on visits and in school)
Specific units of work in PSHE focused on jobs

Forest School

Within our school environment, we also implement outdoor learning based upon the Forest School approach. This Scandinavian-styled provision supports children to learn within natural surroundings and to develop their knowledge of the environment as well as a range of practical skills. Within specified sessions, pupils are scheduled to work within our developed grounds and take part in activities such as den-building, bird watching, insect observation, cooking on outdoor fires/ovens, planting and raising hens.

Computing

The world of technology is moving rapidly, and it is now a regular and essential aspect of children’s lives. Children are introduced to technology throughout the school with an essential focus ultimately upon the use of computers and devices such as tablets. Children use computers in a variety of contexts to support learning, and this may happen in small groups in literacy or numeracy within their classroom or in whole class situations within the dedicated Computer Suite. The focus of the curriculum is now on computer science and becoming digitally literate; this will involve computer-programming as well as using IT applications effectively.

Harlow Green Community Primary School

Curriculum Overview

The Harlow Green Community Primary School Curriculum

Curriculum Structure

Learning Outside the Classroom

Visitors

Careers Education

Forest School

Computing

Curriculum Plans

Autumn

Spring

Summer