Our Curriculum

While there will be discrete English lessons each day, literacy skills (in particular speaking, listening and writing) will be used and developed in every curriculum area through the International Primary Curriculum. Our English sessions ensure that children are engaged in a variety of activities matched to their specific needs. Alongside the more technical approaches to teaching English, children at RAPS learn to write through play, storytelling, talking about their own experiences and ideas, drama and improvisation.  Our teaching uses a range of instruction, group collaboration, paired work, practical activity, performance, individual research and investigation with appropriate. Varied and regular writing tasks are also a feature across the whole of our curriculum in every year group. This enables our pupils to access writing for a range of purposely and extends writing beyond the literacy hour.

At RAPS, phonics is taught via the ‘Read Write Inc’ programme (also known as 'RWI'). This consistent, rigorous and dynamic literacy programme aims to teach every child to read by the age of six. Using synthetic phonics, children quickly learn to blend letter sounds together following a fun and effective programme.

The RWI programme has been proven to be a very successful method of teaching children to read and write using phonics. Evidence of this can be found in the Ofsted Report: ‘Reading by six: how the best schools do it.’

All children in KS1 follow the RWI programme and are be placed into the appropriate RWI groups following assessments. In their groups, children work through the programme, learning phonics and recording into their RWI workbooks. KS1 use RWI as their reading scheme. The programme can also be followed by older children, who may need to catch up or plug any gaps in their learning.

We achieved 100% in our Year 1 Phonics screen for 2018. 

In reading we use a variety of approaches such as:

• shared reading
• reciprocal reading
• independent reading
• guided reading

These are strategies that enable children to construct meaning from a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts. They also provide a strong decoding and spelling foundation using a blend of phonics and visual techniques to suit the learning needs of the individual child. 

 Teaching and learning approaches are adopted using the practices associated with the “Power of Reading” project developed by the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE).

In Key Stage 1, reading is taught to groups appropriate to their stage of learning and understanding. High-quality texts are used throughout to encourage children to become skilled and fluent readers.

In Key Stage 2, reading is taught from a whole text. Learning is  scaffolded and differentiated according to need, enabling effective learning to take place for all. This learning will then be transferred to the literacy lesson and other areas of the curriculum as appropriate.

From Year 2 to 6, additional reading and literacy learning groups will ensure that children are able to catch up and keep up with their literacy skills in order to access the whole curriculum. These groups will be taught through Read, Write Inc. and Fresh Start (a RWI programme for children beyond year 2).

Writing plays an essential role in the curriculum as a whole. Writing opportunities interest and engage children so that they learn to become thoughtful, reflective and evaluative writers. Our children learn to write for a range of audiences and purposes. Throughout the teaching and learning of writing, our pupils develop an understanding of how to write a broad range of text types (fiction, non-fiction and poetry).

Whilst grammar, punctuation and spelling will be taught throughout the literacy curriculum, these skills will also be taught in discrete, daily lessons to ensure that children become confident, competent and proficient writers.

Please use this link to access our English curriculum

At RAPS, we follow the National Curriculum for Mathematics and use the ‘Primary Advantage Maths’ framework to support the planning of our maths lessons. Maths lessons take place every day for each year group.

Understanding mathematics is an essential life skill and all our children need to become good mathematicians. This means that the curriculum and teaching need to address not only the mastery of basic skills and recording but also have a progressive focus on real life mathematics and the more advanced concepts.We aim to develop a love of maths in our pupils, helping them to see the value of mathematics in the read world around them. We want our children to develop mathematical habits of mind. We believe that children must master basic facts through practice and then explore key skills in depth and with variation to work towards mastery. We want our pupils to be mentally agile and become creative problem solvers, who tackle complex problems with confidence. We promote open and rich discussion during mathematics, sharing our misconceptions and learning from our mistakes. Where possible, we aim to apply mathematics in other subject areas too.  

Please click here to see a copy of our long term maths curriculum.

Please click here to see a copy of our medium term maths curriculum.

ICT and the use of technology will be based upon the National Curriculum programmes of study. Children have access to laptops and iPads throughout their working week, often incorporating this technology into their daily lessons. We support the children to become confident, safe and appropriate users of ICT, who are well prepared for a technology rich future.

We want to promote the benefits of physical activity and ensure that children are aware of the link between physical activity, healthy eating, a healthy mind and a healthy lifestyle. We are sensitive to cultural issues that may influence children’s participation and that of their families.

We base our formal PE lessons on the National Curriculum programmes of study. We offer regular timetabled activities such as rugby, hockey, football, netball, cricket, athletics, gymnastics, dance and swimming. Alongside these will be opportunities such as surfing and sailing, which will build on our existing strong links with Ramsgate Yacht Club and Joss Bay Surf School.

We will provide all Key Stage 1 and 2 children with more than the expected two hours per week of physical education, with further opportunities through the co-curriculum and our extended curriculum by offering physical activity sessions before or after school. These will also be designed so that parents and other community members will be able to participate in or lead activities. These sessions will include dance, a wide range of exercise classes, games, walking, cycling, skipping and many more activities that can be continued outside of school.

We will teach French from Reception to Year 6 as part of the formal curriculum. Having knowledge of a foreign language is widely recognised as part of being well-educated. A modern foreign language is a desirable, if not essential, requirement for entry into university, college and good employment.

We have chosen French as our modern foreign language based on the curriculum taught at our family of secondary schools, as well as our geographical location with the ease of visits to France. We will also have a range of activities to support learning French in our extended day and throughout the school year.