Our Curriculum
We are a very large primary school, bonded by our highly prized School Values and seated right in the heart of Solihull in the West Midlands. We take pride in celebrating the rich diversity of our families and community and from learning from each other. Ours is a happy school, with passionate staff who see children as individuals and work enthusiastically to ensure all of our children thrive. The whole child is at the center of all we do and all of the decisions we take.
We are ambitious for every single one of our children, we are inclusive and believe in every child’s right to be happy, successful and to be prepared for their future lives as learners and as members of society. This belief underpins every aspect of school life, of working in partnership with our families and drives all that we do.
We know children achieve when they are safe, challenged and purposefully engaged. To this end, we strive for academic rigour and excellence through an enriched, creative and tailored curriculum, helping all children to develop positive attitudes toward themselves and others and setting them on the path of life-long learning with the knowledge, attributes, beliefs and skills that they need to succeed.
We strive to ensure that every child will be the best they possibly can be tomorrow…
…without forgetting that they are someone very special today.
Curriculum Intent
The design of our curriculum at Monkspath Junior and Infant School provides for rich and relevant experiences which inspire pupils to learn, grow and flourish. We intertwine the teaching of both knowledge and skills, alongside developing essential learning behaviours and embedding the skills that our children will need for future learning. Central to this is the constant reinforcement of our School Values which are both an outcome of our curriculum and are pivotal in the curriculum choices we make.
Our curriculum not only meets national requirements, but is uniquely developed by us to meet the needs of our pupils, our school and our local community. Gaining proficiency as a reader is key to accessing all other subject areas and therefore holds a place of priority for all children, beginning in the Early Years alongside numeracy and writing.
Our curriculum is personalised around our children’s needs, reflecting the backgrounds and experiences of the wide range of pupils we have from family heritages that are locally based or are rooted from around the globe. It is outward-facing, setting learning in local and global contexts wherever possible; it celebrates diversity and unity and ensures that learning is relevant, purposeful and sequenced.
Curriculum plans are continuously under review ensuring that they are fit for purpose and that they provide benchmarks in learning, detailing what we want our children to acquire by specific end points.
Curriculum Design
Our Curriculum Design:
- Develops sequential, progressional learning, where pupils know more and can do more than before. It builds on what they have been previously taught and understand and how this fits with what they will be learning next.
- Has a strong focus on subject disciplines and subject-specific skills and knowledge.
- Considers depth and breadth and provides frequent opportunities to revise, practice, memorise and reshape previous learning.
- Provides clear links to purposeful assessment.
- Reflects the needs and views of our children developing their skills, interests, strengths and areas of relative weakness.
- Underpins the development of our children’s resilience, character and personality.
- Reinforces a shared understanding of our School Values.
You can find out further information about our curriculum by contacting your child's teacher or the School Office.
Year Group Curriculum Overviews
You can find information about what our children learn in each year group, if you need more specific information then please do ask us by contacting the school office or your child's teacher through the appropriate Year Group email address.
| Year Group Curriculum Overviews | |||||
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 |
Whole School Curriculum
Please follow the links below for details of our whole school curriculum.
| Subject specific long term curriculum overviews | |||||
| Art and Design | Computing | Online Safety | Design and Technology | Geography | History |
| Music | Physical Education | Relationships and Health Education | Religious Education | Science | Spanish |
| Subject specific progression frameworks | |||||
| Art and Design | Computing | Online Safety | Design and Technology | Geography | History |
| Music | Physical Education | Relationships and Health Education | Religious Education | Science | Spanish |
English
Reading
At Monkspath Junior and Infant School, reading is at the heart of our curriculum. We believe that reading unlocks learning across all subjects and opens doors to lifelong opportunities. From the earliest stages, we nurture a love of reading and develop strong comprehension and literacy skills.
We teach reading through a range of strategies, including VIPERS (based on Literacy Shed resources), which help children develop key skills in Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Explanation, Retrieval, and Sequencing/Summarising. Our Book Spine forms the foundation of our curriculum, guiding the texts we use to teach comprehension, grammar, writing, and to inspire a love of reading.
Children have access to a wide variety of texts, including our non-fiction library, which supports reading for information and builds knowledge across the curriculum. We also use Bug Club to structure early reading and comprehension, ensuring a consistent and engaging approach.
Regular class story time and opportunities for children to explore their own reading interests are built into the school day. In Key Stage 2, we set reading challenges to inspire and motivate children to read widely and often.
Phonics
We use Bug Club Phonics as our systematic synthetic phonics programme, starting in Early Years and continuing through to the end of Key Stage 1. This scheme provides a clear, structured approach to teaching phonics, supporting children to decode words, build fluency, and develop confidence in reading.
Bug Club also supports reading practice at home, with online access for families to engage in their child’s learning. As children progress, the Bug Club reading scheme continues to support their development, reinforcing phonics and comprehension skills.
We place a strong emphasis on reading for pleasure, recognising its role in building life skills, cultural capital, and the ability to access the whole curriculum. Reading empowers children to become independent learners and thoughtful members of society.
Grammar
Grammar is taught in context through the high-quality texts we read and through visual literacy approaches. This ensures that children understand how grammar works in real writing and can apply it effectively in their own work. Our teaching follows the National Curriculum expectations for each year group, ensuring progression and clarity.
Writing
Writing at Monkspath is taught through a wide range of fiction and non-fiction texts, as well as through other areas of the curriculum such as science, history, and geography. Children learn to write for different purposes and audiences, covering a variety of genres including narrative, explanation, persuasion, and report writing.
We focus on developing children’s skills in planning, drafting, editing, and publishing, helping them to become confident and capable writers. Writing is closely linked to reading, with texts used as models to inspire and guide children’s own work.
Outcomes and Expectations
Our approach to English ensures that children leave Monkspath with strong literacy skills, ready for the next stage of their education. We are proud of our outcomes, which reflect the high standards we set and the support we provide for every child to succeed.
Our curriculum meets all statutory requirements set out in the National Curriculum for England, and is tailored to meet the needs of our diverse and vibrant school community.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Mathematics
Mathematics at Monkspath School
At Monkspath School, we are passionate about developing confident, curious, and capable mathematicians. Our approach to teaching mathematics is rooted in the belief that every child can achieve success through a deep and secure understanding of mathematical concepts.
We follow the National Curriculum for Mathematics in Key Stages 1 and 2, and the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Framework and Development Matters guidance in the Early Years. Our curriculum is carefully sequenced to ensure progression and coherence, enabling children to build strong foundations and make meaningful connections across mathematical ideas.
Our Approach
Rather than following a single scheme, our teachers draw on a wide range of high-quality resources to tailor learning to the needs of their pupils. These include:
- The Mastering Number programme aims to secure firm foundations in the development of good number sense for all children from Reception through to Year 1 and Year 2. In Years 3-6 we further develop children’s knowledge of fluency facts which allows students to automatically recall basic maths facts freeing up working memory for more complex problem solving. Fluent in Five and a strong focus on arithmetic to build speed and accuracy in mental and written calculations.
- Daily Fluent in 5 practice helps children to secure strong arithmetic skills.
- Use of visual representations and manipulatives to support conceptual understanding and reasoning.
- Carefully selected resources from White Rose, NCETM, Third Space Learning, and other trusted sources to enrich and deepen learning.
Regular discussion of mathematical problems helps children:
- Clarify their thinking,
- Make connections between concepts,
- Move from surface-level to deeper understanding.
When children explain their reasoning aloud, they consolidate their learning and develop conceptual understanding and not just procedural knowledge.
Our teaching is underpinned by the principles of mastery, ensuring that all pupils develop a secure and lasting understanding of mathematics. We place a strong emphasis on mathematical talk, problem-solving, and reasoning, helping children to explain their thinking and apply their knowledge in a variety of contexts.
Strong Outcomes
We are proud of our consistently strong outcomes in mathematics:
- Our pupils perform exceptionally well in the Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check (MTC), reflecting their fluency and recall of key number facts.
- At the end of Key Stage 2, our SATs results in mathematics are above national averages, demonstrating the effectiveness of our approach and the hard work of our pupils and staff.
A Welcoming and Supportive Environment
We believe that a positive attitude towards mathematics is key to success. Our classrooms are inclusive, supportive, and engaging, where mistakes are seen as opportunities to learn and every child is encouraged to persevere and take pride in their progress.
Whether your child is just beginning their mathematical journey or preparing for secondary school, we are committed to providing them with the skills, confidence, and enthusiasm they need to thrive.
English and Mathematics Assessment Criteria
Our English and Mathematics assessment criteria can be found below.
|
Reading |
Writing |
Maths |
|
|
Reception |
|||
|
Year 1 |
|||
|
Year 2 |
|||
|
Year 3 |
|||
|
Year 4 |
|||
|
Year 5 |
|||
|
Year 6 |
Early Years Curriculum
Please click on the links below for details of our Early Years curriculum.
| Reception curriculum overview and skills progression |
Relationships and Health Education
Relationships and Health Education comprises of several aspects, which are:
- Personal, Social and Health Education (you may also see this called PSHE). At Monkspath School we teach this through 'Jigsaw'.
- Online relationships, internet safety and harms
- Physical health and fitness
- Heathy eating
- Health prevention
- Basic first aid
Full details of our Relationship and Health Education curriculum can be found by clicking here.
Our PSHE progression framework can be found by clicking here.
Click here to see our information for families on the 'Changing Me' asepect of our PSHE curriculum.
The resources below are shared for parents/ carers should they wish to use them. We do not use these resources in school and they do not inform our curriculum.
Click here to read guidance about puberty and growing up (aimed at parents of children in Years 5 and 6)
Supporting Families in talking to your child about Puberty and Sex Education at a time you consider is appropriate.
As requested by our families during our consultation; we have provided links to resources you may wish to use when you feel it is appropriate to talk to your child about Puberty and Sex Education.
Although we have put these in sections related to age, they are by no means exclusive and you may wish to use them at different times with your child.
|
Ages 2- 5 years |
|
|
Ages 6 – 10 years |
|
|
Ages 11 – 16+ |
Music Development Plan
All schools should have a music development plan, as set out in the national plan for music education.
Schools to publish a summary of their music development plan on their website.
Publishing a summary helps to:
- raise awareness of the music development plan
- promote the school music offer to parents and prospective parents
- give greater opportunity for schools and music hubs to work together
Please click here to read our music development plan.
 |
 |
Religious Education
Our religious education (RE) curriculum is is planned with the belief that it is important that all pupils should have an opportunity to engage in RE. However, the parent of a pupil at a community, foundation or voluntary school may request that they be excused from all or part of the RE provided.
Parents who wish to withdraw their children from RE should be aware of its aims and what is covered in the RE curriculum and that they are given the opportunity to discuss this. If pupils are withdrawn from RE, schools have a duty to supervise them, though not to provide additional teaching. A pupil may be required to work in another area of the school, such as working a within a different year group or different part of school.
Whilst parents or carers have a right to withdraw children from RE, they should note that children may also encounter religions and beliefs and wider aspects of faith in other areas of the curriculum from which there is no right of withdrawal. On occasion, spontaneous questions about religious matters are raised by pupils or issues related to religion arise in other curriculum subjects such as history or relationships and health education.