Ethos

We believe our schools will nurture all individuals in their journey to achieve their full and unique potential. We are committed to developing a welcoming, safe and stimulating learning environment that will enable our pupils to become responsible citizens and lifelong learners.

Vision

Our vision is to be a school that prides itself on its academic and social excellence with a knowledge rich curriculum at its heart and core values that underpin everything we do.

We aim to equip all our children with the values, knowledge and skills which allow them to discover and develop their own unique talents and abilities regardless of background.

Our children will become confident and respectful lifelong learners, shaping their own future and that of others in their own communities.

Our Values

Our curriculum is a bespoke, innovative knowledge rich curriculum that encompasses the following subjects: Science, Geography, History, Art and Design and Technology.  It is a carefully sequenced and aims to promote excellent outcomes alongside developing pupils; resilience and confidence and overcome inequality of opportunity by inspiring pupils from Reception to Year 6.

The National Curriculum 2014 encouraged schools to place more emphasis on teaching knowledge.  Researchers such as E.D Hirsch and Bernstein have influenced how knowledge is considered in the curriculum. 

As a Federation, we have asked the questions about what content should be taught, in what order, and also reflecting upon what children remember and how they remember it.  Importantly, findings from cognitive science are influencing practice in the classroom.  The Knowledge Curriculum is the ‘perfect interruption’ (Bernstein,2000) between what is concrete in a child’s life and what is abstract. ‘This has to occur if pupils are to enter into the world of powerful knowledge’ (Young 2010) where they can ‘think the not yet thought’ (Bernstein 2000).

What is the intent?
At the Windmill Primary Federation, we provide an ambitious, knowledge-rich curriculum that equips every child with the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to become successful, independent and motivated learners, ready for the next stage of their education.

Our curriculum is carefully sequenced to enable pupils to build and retain powerful knowledge in their long-term memory. By securing core knowledge over time, pupils are able to make meaningful connections across subjects and year groups, freeing their working memory to think critically, solve problems and apply their learning in new contexts.

Fully aligned with the National Curriculum, our curriculum is adapted to meet the needs, interests and aspirations of all learners, ensuring every child is engaged, challenged and inspired to achieve their potential. High-quality questioning, informed by Bloom’s Taxonomy, supports pupils in developing, securing and deepening their understanding across the curriculum.

How is the Knowledge Curriculum implemented?

Our Knowledge Curriculum is delivered through carefully planned lessons that follow the sequenced knowledge outcomes set out in a curriculum overview. Teachers use detailed short-term planning to ensure learning is progressive, coherent and builds on prior knowledge.

Each unit is supported by a knowledge organiser, which is shared with pupils at the start of learning, sent home to support families and used throughout the unit as a reference point. Knowledge organisers identify the essential vocabulary, facts and concepts that pupils are expected to learn and remember.

Teachers present new learning clearly, explicitly teach subject-specific vocabulary and create regular opportunities for discussion, questioning and retrieval. A strong emphasis is placed on developing pupils’ language and vocabulary across the curriculum, helping to close the word gap and enabling all pupils to access increasingly complex learning.

Pupils study subjects in depth, allowing them to develop secure knowledge, deepen their understanding of key concepts and make meaningful links within and across the curriculum. Their work demonstrates progression over time and increasing confidence in applying what they have learned.

Assessment is ongoing and informs future teaching. Teachers use a range of strategies to check understanding and ensure knowledge is retained in the long term, including:

• the accurate use and application of subject-specific vocabulary in discussion and written work;
• skilful questioning and retrieval practice during lessons to assess understanding and recall;
• opportunities for pupils to make connections with prior learning through presentations, discussion and extended tasks;
• assessment of key pieces of work to evaluate pupils’ understanding and retention of essential knowledge.

What is the intended impact?

The intended impact of our Knowledge Curriculum is that children retain and build upon knowledge, strengthening their long-term memory and enabling them to make meaningful connections between areas of learning across the curriculum. Through a carefully sequenced, knowledge-rich approach, children develop the secure understanding needed to achieve academic success and become lifelong learners.

As a result:

• Pupils’ attainment in both core and foundation subjects is in line with, or exceeds, national expectations.
• Writing outcomes are enhanced across the curriculum as pupils confidently apply subject-specific knowledge and vocabulary in a range of contexts.
• A strong focus on explicit vocabulary teaching helps to reduce the language gap, particularly for disadvantaged pupils, enabling greater access to the full curriculum.
• Pupils benefit from a broad, balanced and ambitious curriculum that develops both high levels of literacy and wider academic achievement.
• Teachers have the subject knowledge and curriculum resources needed to deliver engaging, creative and effective lessons while maintaining clear progression in learning.
• A shared body of knowledge and language provides common ground for discussion, reasoning and communication within the classroom and beyond.

EYFS Rationale

Our Early Years curriculum is ambitious, inclusive and built on high expectations for every child. It provides a carefully sequenced foundation of knowledge, skills and vocabulary through a balance of adult-directed teaching, purposeful play and high-quality interactions. Our curriculum is designed to ensure children revisit and build upon key concepts, preparing them successfully for Year 1 and beyond.

Recognising our rural context and the varied experiences children bring to school, we place a strong emphasis on developing cultural capital. We provide opportunities for children to explore the wider world, broadening their experiences and helping them make sense of the communities, places and cultures beyond their immediate environment.

Our curriculum begins with familiar themes that strengthen the Prime Areas of Learning, particularly self-regulation, managing self and building positive relationships. Our Marvellous Me unit supports children to settle confidently into school while developing knowledge about themselves, their families, homes, routines and school life. Alongside this, children begin to learn age-appropriate scientific vocabulary, including parts of the body such as the heart, lungs, skull and ribs, laying important foundations for future learning.

Learning is deliberately sequenced so that knowledge introduced in Reception is revisited and extended throughout Key Stage 1. For example, early learning about the human body develops into more detailed scientific study in Year 1, while early drawing, mark making and map-making provide the foundations for later learning in Art and Geography.

As the year progresses, the curriculum broadens children’s understanding of the wider world. In Autumn, children explore seasonal change and celebrations, comparing familiar events such as Bonfire Night and Christmas with celebrations including Diwali, helping them appreciate diversity and different traditions. Through continuous provision and planned experiences, children revisit key knowledge and vocabulary, strengthening understanding and retention.

Throughout the Spring and Summer terms, children continue to build their understanding through topics such as the United Kingdom, London, the monarchy, transport and the seaside. These carefully chosen themes are revisited and developed in Year 1, enabling children to deepen their understanding, make connections between areas of learning and transfer knowledge into their long-term memory.

Our aim is for every child to develop a rich vocabulary, secure foundational knowledge and genuine curiosity about the world around them. By making learning meaningful, connected and memorable, we ensure that knowledge becomes “sticky”—helping children remember more, apply what they know and approach future learning with confidence.

EYFS Curriculum Map

Planning

Our EYFS curriculum is supported by carefully structured long-term and medium-term planning that ensures progression, coherence and high-quality learning experiences throughout the year. A clear yearly overview is broken down into half-termly plans for Literacy, Mathematics and our knowledge-rich curriculum, with carefully sequenced content and ambitious vocabulary identified for each unit.

Planning is closely aligned with our continuous provision, ensuring that the learning environment reinforces and extends direct teaching. Resources, enhancements and adult interactions are intentionally planned so that children revisit key concepts, apply new knowledge and make meaningful connections between prior and current learning.

Our weekly timetable provides a balance of child-initiated learning through continuous provision and high-quality adult-led teaching. Children have daily opportunities to develop the Prime and Specific Areas of Learning through purposeful play, exploration and explicit teaching. As the year progresses, the timetable evolves to increase children’s readiness for Key Stage 1, gradually building independence, sustained attention and engagement in more structured learning while maintaining the importance of play-based experiences.

The Role of Adults

High-quality interactions between adults and children are at the heart of our Early Years provision. We recognise that these interactions have the greatest impact on children’s learning, development and wellbeing. Our practitioners build warm, trusting relationships and actively engage in children’s learning through purposeful play, conversation and shared experiences.

Adults skilfully extend children’s thinking by listening carefully, modelling language, introducing ambitious vocabulary, asking thoughtful questions and encouraging children to explain their ideas. Using the principles of SHREC (Sharing Attention, Responding, Expanding and having Conversations), adults develop children’s communication and language, celebrate effort, encourage recall, support emotional development and model curiosity by wondering, narrating and storytelling. Alongside these responsive interactions, adults explicitly teach key knowledge and skills through carefully planned learning opportunities.

Many of the most powerful learning moments arise naturally throughout the day. Whether planned or spontaneous, adult interactions are used to clarify understanding, reinforce prior learning, introduce new concepts and deepen children’s thinking. Our carefully designed indoor and outdoor environments provide rich opportunities for meaningful conversations and sustained shared thinking, enabling children to explore, practise and apply their learning in a range of contexts.

Parents and carers are valued partners in their children’s education. Knowledge organisers are shared with families each half term, outlining the key learning, vocabulary and suggested questions that support learning at home. We also offer workshops, information sessions and opportunities for families to engage with the curriculum, strengthening the partnership between home and school and ensuring children receive consistent support throughout their learning journey.

Provision and Resources

Every EYFS classroom is carefully organised into areas of continuous provision that support planned learning and encourage independence. Resources are clearly labelled and accessible, enabling children to confidently select and use what they need. This supports self-regulation, independence and a strong understanding of how to navigate the learning environment.

Continuous provision is developed over time and closely linked to our curriculum, ensuring children can revisit and build on prior learning, apply new knowledge and explore ideas at their own pace beyond adult-led sessions. Provision is enhanced with high-quality resources such as books, art, natural materials and real-world objects to broaden children’s experiences and build cultural capital. These carefully chosen stimuli help children engage with ideas beyond their immediate experience.

We aim to nurture curiosity, awe and wonder, helping children develop a sense of belonging within both their local community and the wider world, while recognising the possibilities available to them.

Literacy Fundamentals

Early reading is at the heart of our EYFS curriculum. From their very first day in EYFS, children begin their reading journey through our systematic phonics programme, Read Write Inc. (RWI). Daily phonics lessons develop the skills of blending and segmenting, providing children with the foundations they need to become confident, fluent readers and writers. Alongside phonics, children receive additional handwriting teaching to develop a secure tripod grip, correct letter formation and accurate orientation. These essential early writing skills support children in becoming confident and independent writers.

Children’s reading progress is assessed every six weeks and they are grouped according to their stage of development, ensuring teaching is closely matched to their needs and enables every child to make strong progress. We recognise that learning to read unlocks the wider curriculum and is fundamental to future success. Alongside the teaching of decoding, we foster a lifelong love of reading by sharing a rich range of high-quality texts, celebrating stories, encouraging discussion and modelling enthusiasm for books every day.

Mathematical Fundamentals

Mathematics is taught using a mastery approach, supported by the White Rose planning tool. We aim to develop a deep understanding of number and mathematical concepts through a balance of exploration, play, games, songs, practical experiences and direct teaching. Learning in Reception begins with securing a strong understanding of numbers within 5 before progressing to numbers within 10 and beyond. Children use a wide range of concrete resources, including tens frames, counters, Numicon, natural objects and number tracks, to explore number, recognise patterns and understand mathematical relationships. As their understanding develops, they move from concrete resources to pictorial representations and increasingly abstract thinking.

Children are encouraged to reason, explain their thinking and solve problems, developing confidence in applying mathematics in meaningful contexts. Alongside number, concepts such as shape, pattern, measure, time and capacity are taught through both adult-led sessions and continuous provision, enabling children to revisit and embed their learning throughout the year.

• Maths

Mathematics is taught daily through engaging, high-quality lessons that develop pupils’ confidence, fluency and understanding across all areas of the subject. We place a strong emphasis on applying mathematical knowledge to real-life situations, enabling children to reason, solve problems and use mathematics confidently in everyday contexts.

Lessons provide opportunities for pupils to develop mental and practical strategies through exploration, discussion and problem-solving. Wherever possible, mathematics is taught in meaningful contexts and linked across the wider curriculum, including computing and other subjects, helping pupils recognise the relevance and value of mathematics in the world around them.

• English

In daily English lessons, children develop their reading and writing skills through a range of carefully planned activities using the Talk for Writing and Talk for Reading approaches. High-quality model texts, oral rehearsal, discussion and shared reading support pupils in developing their vocabulary, comprehension and confidence before applying these skills independently. Activities are carefully scaffolded to support those who need additional guidance, while ‘Step for Depth’ opportunities provide appropriate challenge for pupils ready to deepen their learning. Skills and techniques are explicitly modelled by teachers through shared writing, shared reading, role modelling, whole-class teaching, guided groups and independent practice. Regular guided reading and writing sessions are led by teachers or other adults, alongside the Read Write Inc. phonics programme. Speaking and listening are woven throughout the curriculum, with opportunities for purposeful discussion, oral rehearsal and collaborative learning.

• Science

Science is about developing curiosity, asking questions and making sense of the world through exploration, investigation and discovery. Our curriculum enables pupils to build secure scientific knowledge alongside the enquiry skills needed to think critically, investigate independently and draw evidence-based conclusions.

Science is taught as a discrete subject each week through engaging, practical learning experiences wherever possible. Pupils are encouraged to observe, predict, test, record and evaluate, using a wide range of high-quality equipment and resources to support hands-on enquiry. By making learning purposeful and relevant, we inspire children to become curious, confident scientists who enjoy discovering how the world works.

• Enrichment

Our enrichment provision enhances our knowledge-rich curriculum by providing meaningful experiences that deepen children’s understanding and bring learning to life. An annual enrichment map ensures a broad range of opportunities, including educational visits, visitors, themed celebration days, community links and assemblies. These experiences broaden children’s horizons, develop cultural capital and strengthen connections between classroom learning and the wider world.

Enrichment Map

Our enrichment provision enhances our knowledge-rich curriculum by providing meaningful experiences that deepen children’s understanding and bring learning to life. An annual enrichment map ensures a broad range of opportunities, including educational visits, visitors, themed celebration days, community links and assemblies. These experiences broaden children’s horizons, develop cultural capital and strengthen connections between classroom learning and the wider world.

Enrichment Map