Our Curriculum

Mission Statement

At Ninelands, we believe in making learning irresistible, meaningful and memorable. We want all our children to thrive in a happy, secure and inclusive environment where they develop enquiring minds, enjoy learning and have high aspirations, every lesson, every day. We challenge our children to be independent and self-motivated with the resilience to continue their lifelong learning journey so they can flourish, contributing positively to society with strength and compassion.

The aims of our school are:

· To develop enquiring minds, an enthusiasm for learning, and ability to co-operate and a desire to achieve.

· To encourage everyone to understand their strengths, creating growth mindsets which embrace challenge.

· To maintain a broad, balanced, exciting and meaningful curriculum which enables every child to experience success and a strong sense of achievement through a wide range of experiences.

· To promote self-discipline so that children become increasingly responsible for their own behaviour, growing themselves as self-reliant and self-motivated learners.

· To foster in all members of the school community, a positive appreciation of the importance of inclusion, diversity and cultural heritage, and of the role we all play in our society.

· For children to be a part of the school and wider town and city community and for them to understand and value how they can actively contribute.

· To establish and maintain positive relationships with parents and carers so their child’s learning journey is a partnership.

· To support, value and empower staff to create an environment that enables our aims and mission.

Curriculum Overview 

Our curriculum is underpinned by the principles and statutory requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and the National Curriculum. While these frameworks provide a robust foundation, we have developed a carefully considered, bespoke curriculum that reflects the unique characteristics of our pupils and school community. It is designed to ensure learning is active, engaging, and relevant, with a strong emphasis on learning in action through real-life experiences and purposeful opportunities. Our curriculum is inclusive and aspirational, providing all children with memorable and meaningful learning that inspires curiosity and supports a lifelong love of learning.

 Curriculum Drivers

The Ninelands curriculum is shaped by three key drivers that define our distinctive approach to teaching and learning. These drivers set us apart, reflecting both our educational philosophy and the priorities we believe are most important for our children’s development. They provide a clear focus for the learning experiences we offer, guiding the design of our curriculum and ensuring that it remains purposeful, relevant, and aligned with the needs of our school community.

Establishing our curriculum drivers has not replaced any aspect of the statutory requirements; rather, it has enabled us to prioritise content more effectively and enhance the existing curriculum. This approach ensures that all children benefit from ambitious, well-rounded, and appropriately tailored learning opportunities.

When developing our curriculum drivers, we consulted with all stakeholders and asked them to reflect on the following:

• How we can make the most of our local and regional context
• How we can best promote and embed the culture and values we hold as a school
• The backgrounds, experiences, and starting points our pupils bring to their learning

Together, we identified Respect, Creativity, and Aspiration as our core curriculum drivers. These values are embedded in our teaching and learning and are consistently evident across the school. To further celebrate and reinforce them, we hold three dedicated Driver Days each year, one per term, providing focused opportunities to bring each value to life in meaningful and engaging ways.

A more detailed explanation of what each driver entails can be found in our ‘Curriculum Driver’ document.

Curriculum Entitlement

Alongside our curriculum drivers, we have developed our Curriculum Entitlement Document; a clear statement of our commitment to pupils and their families. It sets out what every child can expect from their learning experience at Ninelands, outlining the range of opportunities and experiences they will encounter as they progress through the school. Designed to be accessible and transparent, this one-page document captures the richness and breadth of our curriculum offer.

 STATUTORY OFFER

The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum

Our Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum ensures children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe.  It also gives our children the broad range of knowledge, skills and understanding that provide a solid foundation for future progress through school and later life. 

Four guiding principles steer and shape our practice: Every child in our care is unique and we must consider their individual needs, interests, and development when planning a challenging and enjoyable learning experience for them.

• Children learn to be strong, self-assured and independent through positive relationships.
• Children develop and learn well in enabling environments with teaching and support from adults, who strive to meet their needs and respond to any individual interests.  Children also benefit from a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and/or carers.
• The recognition that children learn and develop at different rates and we must accommodate the needs of all of our children no matter what their starting point. We work hard to make certain that every child makes progress and cannot emphasis enough the importance of learning and development for all.

The curriculum provided for our Early Years pupils is shaped by seven areas of learning and development.  These are divided into three Prime and four Specific areas – however, all areas of learning and development are important and inter-connected.

The three Prime areas are particularly important for fuelling imagination, igniting curiosity, forming relationships and developing a love of learning.

The three Prime areas are:

• Communication and language
• Physical development
• Personal, social and emotional development

Our staff also support children in four Specific areas, through which the three Prime areas are strengthened and applied.

The four Specific areas are:

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the world
• Expressive arts and design

Three characteristics of effective teaching and learning that we incorporate into all that we plan and provide are:

• playing and exploring - children investigate, explore and experience and are encouraged to ‘have a go’
• active learning - children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements
• creating and thinking critically - children have and develop their own ideas, make links and connections and develop strategies to support them in completing activities.

Planned and purposeful play is at the center of our Nursery and Reception curriculum, and children engage in both adult-led and child-initiated activities.

As children grow older and move into Reception, we focus more on teaching the essential knowledge, skills and understanding in the specific areas of learning, preparing them for the next stage of their education in Year 1 and helping them benefit fully from the opportunities ahead.

The Curriculum for Key Stages 1 and 2

In Key Stages 1 and 2, we deliver the statutory elements of the National Curriculum through a combination of carefully selected schemes and our own bespoke curriculum. Our curriculum provides a coherent, progressive, and sequenced structure that helps children develop subject-specific knowledge, skills, and understanding in a meaningful, connected way.

This approach helps us maintain high standards and tailor learning experiences to the needs and interests of all our children. We place a strong emphasis on learning in action, creating opportunities for children to apply their learning through real-life contexts, purposeful activities, and engaging experiences that bring the curriculum to life.

 We use the following documents to support our delivery of the curriculum:

To make certain that our Mission Statement is realised within our curriculum, we plan, keeping the following principles in mind:

 Making the learning ‘irresistible, meaningful and memorable’

The more meaningful and relevant a learning experience is, the more likely children are to engage with it and remember what they have learned. We enrich our curriculum by creating opportunities for children to learn beyond the classroom and make connections between their learning and the wider world. Visits, visitors, artefacts, high-quality texts, film, images, practical experiences, problems and challenges are carefully woven through the curriculum where they add value to learning. These experiences bring subjects to life, spark curiosity and provide meaningful contexts in which children can develop and apply their knowledge. They also help children to make connections between what they already know, what they are learning now and where their learning may take them next.

Challenging our children ‘to be independent and self-motivated’

By mapping out the content of our curriculum, we ensure educational purpose, but what we teach also needs to be steered by the children in some way.  We prompt and provoke our children to become actively involved in both what we have planned for them and the related aspects of learning they find interesting along the way.  We do not ask children what they would like to learn, as that can be too broad a question for them to answer and can also limit what we offer, since they do not yet know the scope of the topic or subject we are teaching.  Instead, we want them to feel part of the learning process, rather than lead it.  To support this, we create a classroom ethos that is safe, open and welcoming and acknowledge that providing choices, being flexible and establishing positive relationships are the strong foundation on which we build the learning - together.

Wanting all of our children ‘to thrive in a happy, secure and inclusive environment’

Our curriculum is designed so that every child can participate, achieve and thrive. We recognise and build upon the individual strengths, needs and starting points of every learner, ensuring that all children are supported and challenged.  We are committed to removing barriers to learning and providing an inclusive curriculum in which every child feels valued and experiences success. Where appropriate, we adapt learning, provision, and experiences to meet individual needs, working in partnership with our SENDCo, parents and carers, and external professionals where necessary. 

Making certain that our children are ‘contributing positively to society with strength and compassion’

At Ninelands, we believe that developing who our children are is just as important as developing what they know. Our curriculum helps children become confident, compassionate, and responsible individuals who understand they can make a positive difference to the lives of others and the world around them.

Throughout their time at Ninelands, children are supported to develop the attitudes, values and personal qualities that will enable them to:

• have a voice, make thoughtful decisions and contribute positively to their school, community and wider world;
• build respectful and positive relationships, showing kindness, empathy and respect for others;
• understand and celebrate difference, and challenge discrimination and unkindness;
• develop confidence, independence and resilience when faced with change, challenge or setbacks; and
• recognise their responsibilities towards other people and the environment.

Through opportunities to practice and demonstrate these qualities as part of everyday school life, we aim for every child to leave Ninelands with the strength of character and compassion to contribute positively to society, both now and in the future.