Golcar Junior Infant And Nursery School

Geography 

"Geography explains the past, illuminates the present and prepares us for the future. What could be more important than that?"

Michael Palin

At Golcar JIN school, we strive to provide our children with the opportunities to become global citizens, deepening their interest and wonder in exploring their own place in the world. We believe it is important to provide ‘Living Geography’ concerned with children’s lives, their futures and their world. Through our curriculum, our children will develop a sense of their world at the local, national and global scales, understanding the interconnections between how people and the environment interact.

Geography is taught through a curriculum that allows the children to discover the world around them and then make enquiries to further understand our planet. We use a topic-based approach to ensure learning is meaningful and relevant. Clear links are made with other subjects to provide a whole picture of Earth and its history. Our Early Years pupils are taught to look closely at the environment around them and make comments and ask questions about what they observe. Our Key Stage 1 children are taught to make observation about and study the local village and then look at the wider world by making comparisons between India (a hot place) and Antarctica (a cold place), following on from this they will do an in-depth study of Kenya. Our Key Stage 2 children are taught geographical skills that allows them to use an atlas, globe or measuring equipment to discover and enquire about locations in the United Kingdom as well as the wider world such as Italy, Brazil and Mexico. This approach allows them to questions aspects of their soundings, make observations, deepen their knowledge of the local area and the wider world. 

Science

 "The important thing, is to never stop questioning!"

Albert Einstein

At Golcar JIN we teach science in a way that ensures children have a concrete understanding of the specific scientific area’s: biology, chemistry and physics. Our science curriculum follows the National Curriculum through the use of the White Rose. It is progressive throughout the school so that each topic and skill can be built upon one year after another, deepening scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding.

We nurture our pupils sense of curiosity by giving them time to ask and explore scientific questions through investigations and develop the key skills they need to answer those questions. We develop our pupils’ confidence and ability to collaborate with others during team tasks, sharing ideas, offering explanations and planning next steps. Pupils use a range of methods and tools to communicate their scientific information and present it in a systematic, scientific manner, including I.C.T, diagrams, graphs and charts. We build our pupils’ 

PE

"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

Michael Jordan 

PE develops the knowledge, skills and capabilities necessary for mental, emotional, social and physical well-being in our children – now and for the future. Physical fitness is an important part of leading a healthier lifestyle. It teaches self-discipline and that to be successful, you must: work hard; show resilience; and have the determination to believe that anything can be achieved. We aim to deliver high-quality teaching and learning opportunities that inspire all children to succeed in physical activities. We want to teach children how to cooperate and collaborate with others, as part of a team, and develop an understanding of fairness and equity of play to embed life-long values.

Music

“Music has a power of forming the character, and should therefore be introduced into the education of the young,”

Aristotle

We have an in-house specialist music teacher who delivers music lessons to all of our children. Lessons are taught using the Charanga scheme which provides opportunities for the children to regularly appraise, compose and perform pieces of music. Children are given the opportunity to use and explore instruments and listen to a variety of music genres. They are encouraged to express opinions and communicate emotions about pieces of music. We aim to give all children the confidence to play and perform as part of a group or solo, using their voices and musical instruments. Children will aspire to discover their musical strengths and talents in a safe and stimulating environment.

Design and Technology

"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."

Steve Jobs 

Our Design and Technology curriculum is taught using the Kapow scheme. This provides opportunities for our children to develop their questioning skills and nurture their curiosity so they can explore how things work or investigate why they may not. We also encourage perseverance and resilience when designing, creating and evaluating products and teach children how to use a range of tools safely.

Progressive knowledge and skills are taught through:

• Cooking and nutrition
• Structures
• Mechanisms / Mechanical systems
• Electrical systems (KS2)
• Textiles
• Digital World (KS2)

History

"The more you know about the past, the better you are prepared for the future."

Theodore Roosevelt

Our history curriculum aims to deliver an exciting and inspiring history curriculum, allowing all our pupils to develop their knowledge and understanding of significant events and people from our locality, Britain’s past and that of the wider world. We use a termly topic-based approach and to engage our pupils and use first hand experiences; artefacts; historical texts; and primary and secondary resources to enrich our curriculum.

Using the National Curriculum document, pupils develop and build on their historical enquiry, chronology, knowledge and interpretation skills as they travel through time with us. Our children will leave school with a chronological awareness of historical periods, an understanding of people and their impact on the world as we know it today.

Computing

“The computer is incredibly fast, accurate, and stupid. Man is incredibly slow, inaccurate, and brilliant. The marriage of the two is a force beyond calculation.” 

 Leo Cherne

Computing at Golcar is treated as a multidisciplinary subject, learned through clearly focused, dedicated computing lessons, but also embedded as part of a creatively cross-curricular approach.

We nurture our pupils in their curiosity about the connected world and ensure that they understand how the digital systems which they use actually work.

Pupils learn how to use computational thinking to create and solve problems through coding and discover the value of different apps and devices in helping them create, develop, analyse evaluate and present ideas and information.  We take online safety very seriously and we aim to give children the necessary skills to keep themselves safe online. They learn how to recognize and manage risks when communicating electronically through fun, engaging and age-appropriate schemes of work. These skills are reinforced and embedded whenever pupils use computing to enrich their learning across the curriculum; we aspire for our pupils to become increasingly confident and independent when choosing to use ICT to help them achieve their objectives.

Languages - French

You live a new life for every language you speak. If you only know one language, you only live once.’ 

Czech proverb                     

At Golcar J&N, we begin teaching French as our modern foreign language in KS2. After speaking to our local secondary schools, we have chosen to deliver French as this was the most commonly used Key Stage 3 language. We follow the national curriculum requirements through the use of the Kapow French scheme of work.  The scheme challenges and supports pupil’s listening, speaking, reading and writing of the French language.

Art

“Creativity takes courage."

Henri Matisse

At Golcar JIN we give children opportunities, from EYFS to Year 6, to develop their curiosity and confidence in their own abilities so that they can create without boundaries. Our Art curriculum is taught using the Kapow scheme and provides children with opportunities to develop their skills using a range of media and materials. Children learn the skills of drawing, painting, printing, collage, textiles and 3D work and explore different artists.

We aspire to promote self-esteem, risk taking and to not be afraid to make mistakes. Children are encouraged to be able to communicate their own experiences and emotions through their artwork.

Sketchbooks are used as a working document to record ideas and observations. The children are taught to develop the skills to choose their own media appropriate to the task and to be able to explain, evaluate and improve on their choices.

PSHE

"Be good to people. And don't forget that you're people, too."

Colin Wright

Our PSHE curriculum is taught using the SCARF programme from CORAM life education. Following the thematic model, it has been designed to fit with the PSHE Associations three core themes: Health and Wellbeing, Relationships and Living in the Wider World. These three themes form part of a developmental, spiral curriculum and are tailored to address community needs. The same key principles are revisited each year but are progressive to build upon the children’s knowledge and understanding. These principles are introduced to our children in Early Years and permeate school life. They are discussed regularly in assemblies and lessons, forming part of our day to day vocabulary. Our PSHE lessons involve lots of discussion, role-play and problem solving and this is often recorded in the way of photographs and video clips. External visitors are used to enhance learning and provide expert input as well as themed weeks to reinforce key learning point.