Curriculum at Ordsall Primary School

At Ordsall Primary School, our curriculum is designed to ensure that every child can Play, Learn and Grow Together. We provide a rich, ambitious and coherent curriculum that enables all learners to know more, remember more and do more over time.

We also place a strong emphasis on communication and oracy, ensuring pupils can articulate their ideas, explain their thinking and use subject-specific vocabulary with confidence.

Our Curriculum Foundations

Our curriculum is rooted in two key forms of knowledge:

• Substantive knowledge – the essential facts, concepts and content of each subject
• Disciplinary knowledge – the distinct ways of thinking, questioning, discussing and working within each subject

We believe that a high-quality curriculum empowers children to develop secure understanding, build long-term knowledge and apply what they learn in new and challenging contexts. It also ensures that every child feels represented, valued and that they truly belong.

A Curriculum Built on Disciplinary and Substantive Knowledge

Across all subjects, our progression maps clearly define the knowledge that pupils must learn and the disciplinary understanding they must develop over time.

Each subject is taught as a discipline in its own right, with clear expectations for:

• What children should know
• What children should be able to do
• How children should think, question, discuss and communicate as historians, geographers, scientists, artists, musicians, linguists and mathematicians

This approach ensures a coherent and connected curriculum, where learning is carefully sequenced and built cumulatively from Nursery to Year 6.

By being explicit and intentional, our curriculum promotes fairness, avoids stereotypes and gives every child the opportunity to succeed.

How Learning Is Structured: Our Ordsall Lesson Design

Across the school, learning is delivered through a shared lesson design that provides consistency for pupils while allowing teachers to respond flexibly to need. This structure supports children to build knowledge securely, practise skills effectively and reflect on their learning.

Lessons follow six stages:

• Big Picture – pupils understand why they are learning something and how it connects to what they already know
• Revisit – key prior knowledge and vocabulary are revisited so learning is secure and ready to build upon
• Teach – teachers provide clear explanations, modelling and examples
• Learning Together – pupils practise with guidance, support and discussion, with structured opportunities to explain their thinking and respond to others
• Independent Learning – pupils apply their learning independently with appropriate scaffolds
• Reflect – pupils review what they have learned and consider next steps

This shared structure helps pupils develop confidence, independence and strong learning habits over time.

Underpinned by Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction

Our curriculum is delivered through consistent instructional routines shaped by Rosenshine’s Principles. This includes:

• Regular opportunities to revisit and retrieve prior learning
• Small, well-structured steps that reduce cognitive load
• Clear teacher modelling and thinking aloud
• Guided practice before independent work
• High success rates supported by scaffolds and adaptations
• Frequent checking for understanding and responsive teaching

Across all lessons, pupils are routinely expected to speak in full sentences, explain their reasoning and use precise vocabulary. These consistent opportunities to talk support the development of oracy and ensure pupils can communicate their understanding clearly and confidently.

These principles help ensure that every child is able to access, understand and retain the curriculum knowledge we teach. They also promote equity by ensuring no child is left behind and every learner receives the support they need to thrive.

A Curriculum That Reflects Our Vision and RESPECT Values

Our curriculum supports children not only academically, but also socially, emotionally and morally. Through the curriculum, pupils develop our RESPECT values:

• Show Resilience at all times
• Give 100% Effort
• Support others and ourselves
• Show Passion in all we do
• Take part in Enrichment opportunities
• Treat everyone with Compassion
• Use Teamwork to achieve

These values are woven throughout subject content, routines, enquiry, discussions and enrichment opportunities.

Our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging ensures that pupils:

• Learn about different cultures, histories and perspectives
• Challenge discrimination
• Recognise fairness
• Value difference as a strength

Inclusive, Ambitious and Accessible for All

We are committed to ensuring that every pupil can access the full curriculum. This means:

• Adaptations that support need without reducing challenge
• Vocabulary and knowledge taught explicitly and revisited frequently
• Consistent visual and linguistic scaffolds across subjects
• Proactive planning for SEND, disadvantage and individual needs
• Classroom structures that promote independence, confidence and equity

We actively identify and remove barriers so that every child, whatever their background, identity or starting point, is able to participate fully and flourish.

This includes supporting all pupils to develop confidence in speaking and listening, ensuring every child’s voice is heard and valued.

Preparing Children for Their Future

By the end of Year 6, children leave Ordsall with:

• A secure body of substantive knowledge across all subjects
• The disciplinary understanding needed to think critically, question, analyse and create
• The ability to apply knowledge with independence and confidence
• Strong learning habits grounded in Rosenshine’s principles
• The confidence to articulate their ideas clearly and communicate effectively
• A deep sense of belonging, responsibility and pride in themselves and their school
• An appreciation of diversity, a commitment to fairness and the confidence to be themselves

Our curriculum ensures that children are ready for the challenges of secondary school and the opportunities of the wider world.

Evidence-Informed Curriculum Design

Our curriculum design and teaching approaches are informed by educational research, including guidance from the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF).

This research emphasises the importance of:

• A well-sequenced, knowledge-rich curriculum
• High-quality teaching and clear instructional routines
• Regular retrieval and revisiting of prior learning
• Adaptive teaching that supports all pupils without lowering expectations

These principles underpin our use of clearly defined substantive and disciplinary knowledge, our shared lesson design and our commitment to equity, inclusion and ambition for every child.