We teach the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum in our reception classes and the National Curriculum in Years 1 to 6. In addition to this we teach Personal, Social, Health Education and Citizenship (PSHEC) and Sex and Relationships Education. We follow Bromley’s Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education. All children learn to play the djembe drums in Year 3 and the recorder in Year 4.

Our aspiration for all our children to become successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens underpins our planning of the curriculum. We work hard to ensure that the children enjoy the curriculum offered, so we create schemes of work that will interest them. We recognise that our children are unique in their outlook and in their needs so we have some ‘key drivers’ for our curriculum. These are:

• Our world; we encourage children to see themselves as global citizens

• Enquiry and possibilities; we support children in thinking for themselves and problem-solving

• Creativity; we find ways to develop children’s learning through the creative arts

• Social and emotional awareness; we encourage children to look after their own and others well-being

We are proud of the awards linked to the curriculum that the school has achieved: Activemark for the school’s delivery of Physical Education, both during and outside curriculum time; Healthy Schools status in recognition of the work we undertake to promote healthy lifestyles; Artsmark Gold in recognition of our significant achievements in incorporating Art, Music, Dance and Drama across the curriculum; the International School Award for the school’s curriculum links, helping children to be aware of the world around them.

Please click on the links below to download an overview of the curriculum for each subject.

Long Term Curriculum Maps 2022-23

Every year we invite famous authors into school to share their work and enthuse the children. Past visitors have included Michael Rosen, Anthony Browne, Valerie Bloom, Leigh Hobbs, Anne Fine and Timothy Knapman. 

Educational visits

We believe that educational visits are a vital part of children’s learning. Every year group will visit at least one place related to their curriculum studies. Year 5 pupils visit Frylands, a nearby outdoor activity centre, for an overnight stay and our Year 6 pupils enjoy an action-packed residential trip to Hindleap Warren in the Ashdown Forest.

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Reading at Wickham Common

Reading is central to all we do in school and is a skill that we want children to learn as quickly as possible.

For a 35 minute session every Monday to Thursday morning, our children from Foundation Stage through to Year 2 work in groups to develop their reading skills.  This work uses a phonic-based programme called Read, Write Inc. as its core.  Additionally, Guided Group Reading is undertaken daily in all classes.  This supports children in understanding what they are reading and develops their ability to read ‘beyond’ the text.  During these sessions in Upper School, children who are not working in the teacher’s focus group of the day will be undertaking an activity designed to develop their reading skills and to encourage their love of books and reading.

Our Lower School reading scheme is made up of a good selection of fiction and non-fiction books.  Book collections in the Upper School classrooms are being developed to appeal to children’s interests and to encourage them to experiment with their reading choices.  Additionally all children visit the well-stocked school library every week.

As part of our Home Learning Policy, we ask parents to read at home with their children every day, and to role model reading so that children see it as a life skill; important outside school as well as in. 

To further encourage a positive view of reading, every year we invite famous authors into school to share their work and enthuse the children.  Past visitors have included Michael Rosen, Anthony Browne, Valerie Bloom, Leigh Hobbs, Anne Fine and Timothy Knapman.

The attached grammar glossary includes all the technical grammatical terms used in the National Curriculum programmes of study for English, as well as others that might be useful. It is intended as an aid for teachers, not as the body of knowledge that should be learnt by children.  We recognise that there are different schools of thought on grammar, but the terms defined here clarify those being used in the programmes of study.  There are other glossaries which present some of the terminology in more child friendly terms (as we do in school), but as this is the official glossary published by the government, we hope that this is useful for parents.

Phonics at Wickham Common:

Maths at Wickham Common

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To ensure that children gain an understanding of our number system, the importance of place value and why formal methods work, they are taught in a structured and progressive way. This mathematical fluency helps children to choose an appropriate strategy for the calculation given. For instance, it may be that a mental addition strategy is better suited than the formal column method. Children develop their skills with larger and more complex numbers (decimal, negatives, fractions etc.) as they move up the school.

Further information about the way maths is taught at Wickham Common can be found in our Calculation Policy.  If you have any questions about maths home learning, or the methods and strategies we use when teaching, please do not hesitate to contact your child's class teacher, or one of us.

What do all these acronyms mean?

• PSHE Is the umbrella term under which RSE/SRE is taught It stands for Personal, Social Health Education. There is also RSHE which is Relationships, Sex and Health Education.

•RSE/SRE Historically, Sex Education was called SRE, Sex and Relationships Education At Wickham
Common, we have always called it RSE, as we feel this focuses on relationships (Relationships and Sex Education) These terms are interchangeable and you may see this referred to generally as SRE.

•In the new guidance it is the Relationships Education which is statutory for Primary Schools from September 2020 Parents and carers do have the right to withdraw their child from the sex aspect of Relationships Education.