Our Curriculum
At St. Michael’s CE Infant School we recognise that our children need a variety of rich and relevant experiences to bring the curriculum to life, and to help them to remember what they have learnt so that they are ready to move on to Junior school to build on their learning when they leave us at the end of Year 2. As well as valuing teaching and learning of basic skills we make non-core subjects as exciting and creative as possible. For example in Year R, children make porridge when they learn the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears and they go pond dipping when learning about minibeasts. In Year 1 when children are learning about the Oceans and animals’ bodies they examine fresh fish with all their senses. As part of learning about Harvest they make bread. In Year 2 having learnt about the Great Fire of London, teachers set fire to houses the children had made at home, simulating the Great Fire and as part of learning about Rainforests children visit the glass house at Wisley. When learning about Mary Anning they became ‘Dinosaur Detectives’, dressing up as explorers and going on a dinosaur hunt.
In children's Reception Year (YR) they follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum and in Years 1 and 2 the National Curriculum. Details of which areas of development and subjects are included can be found on the ‘Reception Year’ and ‘Year 1 and 2’ tabs, and details of how we teach Literacy and Mathematics specifically can be found by clicking on those tabs.
In September 2018 we revised our curriculum having realised that children's spoken language skills, in particular their understanding and use of vocabulary, needed to be improved. Having researched the most effective method of doing this and trained key staff, we now have whole class guided reading sessions in all year groups. More information can be found under the 'Literacy' tab.
