To nurture talent and achievement in everyone and build the foundations for success in the 21st Century’
At Holmesdale we are very proud of the exciting and inspiring Curriculum the children experience here. The Early Years and National Curriculum provides an outline of the core knowledge and skills around which we develop engaging and stimulating lessons.
Our curriculum is based on developing the individual’s knowledge, skills and understanding (what children know, what they are able to do and what they understand about their world) and is delivered through a thematic approach with units of work built around a theme designed to appeal to the children. Each theme is developed to facilitate the mastery of core skills as well as providing pupils with opportunities to investigate, apply knowledge, solve problems, think and learn at the highest levels.
At Holmesdale School we provide a curriculum which is balanced and which promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and of society. The curriculum is not static as we constantly monitor, review and develop it to meet the needs of our pupils and the school community. Our high expectations build on individual achievements and children are encouraged to improve on their previous best. In order to maximise engagement and enjoyment of their learning we regularly gain children’s feedback to adapt their learning journey through each topic depending upon where the children’s interests lie. We also take the opportunity to recognise and adapt our curriculum to respond to any significant local, national or worldwide events that are taking place. For example, in the Spring of 2021 we buried a time capsule to commemorate 2020-2021 and included the children’s pictures and photos of things they have achieved and enjoyed doing over this time, as well as drawings of their favourite toys, books and tv programmes of 2021. The plan is to dig this up in 20 years’ time. The children are very much looking forward to returning to school to do this in 2041!
We also have a full programme of enrichment opportunities embedded within each unit of work. This may include visitors to the school, workshops or visits within the local area or further afield. We are regularly making the most of our local environment in and around Reigate as it is steeped in History! Our aim is to provide all of our children with first hand experiences to draw them into the topic and help to bring learning to life!
We like to make full use of the stimulating learning environments that we have at Holmesdale, both indoors and outdoors. The children regularly visit the pond and woodland areas as part of their weekly timetables to consolidate and apply their learning from a range of Curriculum areas, as well as making full use of our large astro area for developing their fine and gross motor skills in PE. We know that our young children often learn best when they are outdoors, so we are regularly outside whatever the weather!
Our aim is to create a community where each child is helped and encouraged to become an independent, happy and confident learner. To support the children in reaching this goal we have 6 core learning behaviours, each linked to a friendly animal character. These are embedded within our teaching and learning environments to help the children to understand and recognise when they have applied these behaviours to their learning, in order to become efficient lifelong learners. We are also a values based school, and opportunities for the children to discuss, understand and use our 11 core values are integrated throughout our Curriculum.
