LEAP into the curriculum

At Pinxton Village Academies (Longwood Infant Academy, John King Infant Academy and Kirkstead Junior Academy), our school vision is to “Prepare for the future, Value the now, Achieve every day.” This is embodied with our curriculum which is structured to prepare our children to be compassionate citizens of our world, valuing the local context and community.

We define curriculum as the totality of a child’s experience at Pinxton Village Academies including not only what but also how each child learns. Our broad and balanced curriculum has been developed to inspire our children through enquiry, addressing the identified barriers to learning, to deliver the skills, cultural knowledge and understanding to achieve every day of their lives. It encompasses our school values of aspiration, confidence, creativity, enjoyment, perseverance, pride and responsibility.

PVA staff supported the development of our curriculum vision which is based on the context and needs of our local community. We communicate our vision through the acronym, ‘LEAP’.

 Language rich – – to expose children to high quality texts, improve speech and vocabulary and develop a love of reading.

Experiential – to challenge children to overcome personal barriers through culturally rich, memorable experiences which expand their knowledge of the wider society. 

Aspirational – to create ambitions for themselves and our community.

Purposeful – to give meaning and value to learning, preparing our children for their next step in education. 

The Flying High Curriculum

Our FHP curriculum, underpinned by current research and the National Curriculum, ensures our children will be well-rounded individuals who are prepared for the next stage of their journey. It will promote the demonstration of compassion, mutual understanding, integrity and a pursuit of excellence in order for our children to reach their potential and make a positive contribution to the wider world. Our enquiry-based approach takes children on a journey of memorable learning through rich and purposeful experiences, culminating in authentic outcomes which leave a legacy. 

Fluency in the core subjects, with reading at the heart, enables access to the full curriculum and is therefore integral to our approach. The curriculum is carefully designed through enquiry drivers (for example: History, Geography and Arts), enhancers and discrete subjects, ensuring coverage, progression and retention of knowledge and skills.  Our knowledge-rich curriculum is underpinned by key concepts. Children explore concepts throughout the curriculum, revisiting them in a wide range of contexts and through the lens of different subjects.  This promotes a deep understanding of the concepts and enables the transfer of knowledge to the long-term memory.  It aims to provide inclusive and aspirational environments where learners thrive and build the cultural-capital they need to make aspirational choices about their own future, overcoming any barriers. In order to achieve this our curriculum is underpinned by the following principles:

• Relevant and current 

• Empowers children 

• Promotes character and heart 

• Memorable learning 

• Provides opportunities 

Our trust mission is to create the best schools in the universe and as part of this we celebrate the unique nature of each school. Our ethos of adopt, adapt and fly recognises the importance of a curriculum to meet the needs of each community.  The implementation of the FHP core elements and principles provides all children with the knowledge and skills they are entitled to learn. We aim to make every day count!

Our model:

Our curriculum progression makes use of the Flying High Key Knowledge Progression Documents (KKPDs) to ensure learning builds on prior learning throughout children's time with us. These documents are based on the National Curriculum Programmes of Study and the Derbyshire and Derby Agreed Syllabus for RE.

Discrete teaching of subjects

Certain subjects are taught discretely (not as part of an enquiry). For many of these, we use published schemes which we deliver in a way to meet the needs of the children in our school.

These discrete schemes are:

Computing at Longwood, John King and Kirkstead: PurpleMash

Music at Longwood, John King and Kirkstead: Charanga

French at Kirkstead: Rigolo

Want to know more?

If you would like to find out more about our curriculum and what is taught in each year group, please look at our class pages, contact your child’s class teacher or the school office and we will be pleased to share more information with you.