At Park Hill Primary School, we feel passionately about providing a broad, balanced and challenging curriculum for all of the children in our care. We aim to offer a rich and engaging school experience, in which children are confident in their learning, and are successful learners, making progress and achieving well. Our curriculum is designed to encourage learners to enjoy their school experiences, and offer opportunities through trips and visits that may not be so accessible at home. We aim to provide opportunities to acquire and develop the knowledge, understanding, personality and skills needed to progress with confidence to the next stage of their life and education, and make a positive contribution to the local community. We want our children to enjoy school, form friendships for life and become respectful, responsible young people.

Our school values are evident in all that we do at school. We draw focus to each individual value over the course of a half term. Children are taught about the elements of each value and begin to understand the importance that we place in each. Assemblies are used to introduce and explore the values in greater depth. We also try to incorporate the value in other curriculum areas whenever possible. By emphasising the importance of these, we aim to embed these values within our curriculum, our staff and our pupils.

At Park Hill, we believe that the teaching of mathematics should equip children with unique, powerful tools to help them understand and make sense of the world around them.  These tools include logical reasoning, problem solving skills and the ability to think in abstract ways.

Mathematics is a whole network of concepts and relationships which children can use to analyse and communicate information and ideas and to tackle a range of practical tasks and real life problems.  Mathematics is important in everyday life. It is integral to all aspects of life and with this in mind we endeavour to ensure that children develop a healthy and enthusiastic attitude towards mathematics that will stay with them and make them happy, confident lifelong learners.

You can view the full Maths at Park Hill document here: Maths at Park Hill Primary 

View what we are doing below:

Maths All Other:  Yr 1 Maths – Yr 2 Maths – Yr 3 Maths – Yr 4 Maths – Yr 5 Maths – Yr 6 Maths

Yr 1 Maths – Yr 2 Maths – Yr 3 Maths – Yr 4 Maths – Yr 5 Maths – Yr 6 Maths

At Park Hill, we feel that giving children opportunities to write from an early age is intrinsic to children’s learning and their development. Whilst at Park Hill, children begin to experience writing opportunities right from Preschool age using sand, water, paints as well as pencils to develop their pencil grip; this is then further developed as children move up through the school. RWI not only develops children’s reading skills but develops key skills needed within writing in preparation for further up the school.

Children take part in various activities to develop their skills as writers. Often, books will be used as stimuli to engage and promote opportunities for writing such as: describing characters, predicting what will happen next, comparing characters or writing their own version in the style of the book. The way in which children record their writing will develop across the key stages.

Each year group has a specific set of genres to focus on. Children look at the features within each text type and then complete various writing activities, such as biographies, stories, myths, recounts and non-chronological reports. These are repeated throughout the key stages to expose children to a range of different text types. It also gives children the opportunity to incorporate higher level features from different text types within their own writing as their writing progresses through their time at Park Hill.

At Park Hill, we encourage children to read regularly to enhance their writing skills. By reading a wide range of texts, children will be able to incorporate a wider range of vocabulary and introduce literary techniques they have come across in their own independent reading. Where possible, we try to incorporate these different genres across our topics to create cross-curricular writing opportunities. For example, you might read your child’s work on how to mummify a dead body using instructions or a biography on Queen Victoria. By the end of their time at Park Hill, children should be fluent writers and able to write across a range of text types.

The expectations of each year group vary considerably, but we continually try to challenge the children to be the best they can be and make progress. Below are child-friendly PDF objectives of the expectations of writing within each year group.

If you would like further information about writing at Park Hill and how we teach writing please speak to your child’s class teacher or I am happy to answer any questions you may have.

Mrs Willacy

View what we are doing below:

Yr 1 Writing – Yr 2 Writing – Yr 3 Writing – Yr 4 Writing – Yr 5 Writing – Yr 6 Writing

All children in England are required to sit a Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPaG) test at the end of Year 2 and Year 6 (see the links below for more information). At Park Hill SPaG is taught in a variety of ways and it is our mission to make grammar and spelling a fun part of learning.
In Early Years and KS1, Read, Write, Inc. Phonics is used to develop children’s phonics skills in which spelling patterns are taught and embedded. For more information, please see the RWI information page.
When children have finished the Read, Write, Inc. phonics scheme (usually by the end of Year 2) all children then take part in the follow-up programme Read Write Inc. Spelling.
Read Write Inc. Spelling is a 15-minute-a-day programme for Years 2 to 6. Using a fast-paced approach underpinned by phonics, spelling games and interactive videos, Read Write Inc. Spelling prepares children for the higher demands of the statutory spelling assessments in KS1 and KS2 in a fun and engaging way.
Grammar and punctuation are taught through lesson warm-up games, and are taught explicitly as part of English units. Children are Park Hill are taught the rules of grammar and punctuation and given a wide range of opportunities to embed these skills across the curriculum.
Please see the links below for lots of grammar games your child can access at home.

At Park Hill, we are passionate about fostering a love of reading for all our pupils. A child’s reading skills are hugely important to their success in school as they enable them to access the breadth of the curriculum and improve their communication and language skills. In addition, reading can be a fun and imaginative time for children, which opens doors to all kinds of new worlds for them.

Children at Park Hill are provided with a wide range of skills to be successful in reading. Through Early Years and KS1, children learn how to decode and read words through Read, Write, Inc. In KS2, comprehension and inference skills are taught, enabling children to think deeper about the explicit and implicit meanings of the books they are reading.

To facilitate this, children across the school take part in individual, group and class reading sessions, and writing units are often based around a key text to stimulate children’s ideas and interest.

View more about our Curriculum for Reading here: Reading at Park Hill

View what we are doing below:

Yr 1 Reading – Yr 2 Reading – Yr 3 Reading – Yr 4 Reading – Yr 5 Reading – Yr 6 Reading

At Park Hill we feel that embedding an early love of reading is essential and a key aspect in children’s learning. Children at Park Hill begin to experience many aspects of reading right from Preschool age. Children will take part in story time, share picture books with their peers and will be able to access a range of activities based around stories. As children move through our Early Years, it is important that we provide them with the skills they need to read. This begins first by exploring sounds in the environment, the sounds we can hear in words and patterns that we notice. Children will also meet our Read, Write, Inc. character FRED the frog – FRED enjoys playing ‘sound’ games. The children at Park Hill love FRED and also develop an early love for phonics. Children in Reception will begin with a daily 20 minute phonics session with a member of staff in a small group. As the children progress through the programme the sessions move from 30 minute sessions to 1 hour sessions in KS1. As part of the Read, Write, Inc. lesson, the children learn a new sound, practise spellings, read a book linked to their phonic knowledge and then complete writing activities.

Below is the link to the Read, Write, Inc. website with lots of videos that will further explain the impact of teaching phonics in this way. There are videos demonstrating how to pronounce sounds in the correct way in order to support your child’s learning at school and ideas for story times at home.

The Oxford owl website enables you to have access to lots of ebooks at home, from a computer or tablet. Please speak to your child’s class teacher if you need your class log in.

If you would like further information about phonics at Park Hill and how we teach reading please speak to your child’s class teacher or I am happy to answer any questions you may have.

Miss Norcliffe
Phonics Leader