The first years at the New Model School will provide children with a secure grounding in reading and maths, as well as a wide experience of creative and sporting activities. In the following years, like all independent primary schools in the UK, New Model Schools will start to prepare pupils academically for the Eleven Plus, or for the Common Entrance Examination at 13-plus. This means that pupils will be introduced in a systematic and enjoyable way to history, geography, science, languages, classics, and the other academic subjects needed for these exams.

The aim of the New Model Schools is not simply to ensure that children will be well prepared for important exams, but to provide them with a broadly based and satisfying education. Our curriculum is being designed to inspire a love of knowledge, which will form the basis of good judgement and independence of mind – essential qualities for citizens of a tolerant and liberal democracy. For today’s pupils, such an education must necessarily involve a sound understanding of the free and democratic society they are living in, and its complex history.

Two points stand out. First, it is essential that pupils come to understand the history and nature of the liberal institutional arrangements that have provided a high degree of personal freedom to the citizens of the world’s democracies, and which at the same time permit different faiths and cultural influences to flourish together in a free society. For pupils in the UK , the emphasis in history will naturally fall on the development of British constitutional arrangements; such knowledge is fundamental to responsible citizenship.

Secondly, a firm grasp of these traditions provides the necessary basis on which to build an understanding of the wider world, for example enabling children to learn about the events that have brought people of different cultures into contact in modern times.

Curriculum: Reception Year and Key Stage 1

Reading and Spelling

The mainstay of the New Model School approach to literacy is a well-proven, phonics-based programme.

We selected this programme from among a number of good phonics-based systems, because it impressed us with its high success rates, both as a remedial tool and in the school classroom. This programme has been shown to be both effective and enjoyable for children. It enables them to make rapid progress in reading and spelling – skills which are essential to their self-esteem, and which form the foundation of all later education. It has consistently produced results that exceed the expectations laid down in the National Literacy Strategy.

Maths and numeracy

We have developed and tested a programme which concentrates on teaching children the core skills necessary for the mastery of primary maths. This emphasises fluency and confidence in the basic stages of mathematical understanding: numbers and counting, number-bonding, mental arithmetic, and written sums. Our approach will ensure that even pupils who find maths difficult will make encouraging progress towards the standards expected in the Eleven Plus.

Storytime

Pupils at the New Model Schools will enjoy a period of story time every day in the early years. They will hear a wide range of stories: folk tales and legends from around the world, classical myths, fairy stories, and stories from world religions. In this way, children will become familiar with a network of cultural reference points, which will reappear over the years as the children learn more about literature, history, classics and religions.

Listening to, discussing and enacting stories in groups feeds the imagination. Such story telling develops thinking and writing skills, and helps children to structure their own work and to express themselves more effectively.

Foreign Language

We shall introduce pupils to spoken French at an early stage, familiarising them with basic vocabulary and good pronunciation. We will build up their ability to form simple sentences through an informal approach that will include question and answer games, nursery rhymes, and songs.

Extra-Curricular Activities

From the early years, children at the New Model School will be introduced to a range of stimulating creative activities, such as painting, craft, music and drama.

During each school day there will also be opportunities for the children to enjoy fresh air and exercise, as well as time for free play. Pupils at the Queen’s Park New Model School will have access to excellent sporting facilities, including large indoor and outdoor play areas, an Astroturf football pitch and a basketball court. We will also make good use of Queen’s Park itself, which is nearby.

Maple Walk School broadly follows the National Curriculum. The curriculum is separated into English, maths, science, RE, PSHE, ICT, history, geography, art, music, drama, PE and French at Key Stage 1.