Curriculum Drivers
What are our Curriculum Drivers?
At Oliver Tomkins we believe that our curriculum should offer children not only the National Curriculum but life skills and experiences beyond this.
Alongside teaching the requirements of the national curriculum, key drivers have been identified. We have prioritised the key skills and aspirations we want our children to experience and develop during their time with us. We use these 'drivers' to underpin the learning and experiences we undertake in all areas of school life and to ensure our curriculum offer is enriched. These key drivers are personal to our school and reflect the social and educational needs of our local area.
The following key drivers underpin our learning and are developed through the school. Our four key drivers for our school curriculum are:
Resilience:
Resilience means having the skills and resources to deal with challenges and barriers. Resilience is a measure of how much you want something and how much you are willing, and able, to overcome obstacles to get it. It has to do with your emotional strength.
Our children will develop the emotional and physical security needed to become resilient individuals who are able to take risks and deal with different challenges across the curriculum and in the wider world by thinking positively and having the confidence to ‘have a go’.
Enquiry Curiosity
Enquiry and curiosity means eager to learn or know and being confident to ask for information.
We desire for children to be curious about the world around them and ask questions. We encourage the children to be inquisitive and questioning through their learning and school life experiences.
This approach to learning enables inquisitive thinking such as exploration, investigation, and learning and nurtures problems solvers.
Aspiration Ambition:
Aspiration is the hope, desire or ambition to strive to achieve something. To be the best they can possibly be and to challenge themselves as a learner. The development of aspirations encourages children to produce work of high quality, take pride in themselves and be the very best that they can be.
Independence:
Independence is the ability the ability to live your life to the full, confidently and to be self-sufficient. Children will develop the life skills necessary to work with growing independence and perseverance to become resourceful problem-solvers able to nurture aspirations for the future. We aim to promote our young people’s independence and develop a commitment to learning and self-improvement, both inside and outside of the school environment.
We will give our young people opportunities to organise themselves, show personal responsibility, initiative, creativity and enterprise.
We will nurture our young people’s awareness that actions have consequences, and to make choices based on this awareness, understanding that they have ownership of their actions.
We will give our young people opportunities to develop their self-help skills, to self-manage, to problem solve and to engage in activities with increasing independence.