Curriculum
We are proud to offer a broad and integrated curriculum which follows the national guidelines for Foundation level, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. The school emphasises creative learning where children are taught from first hand experience and resources. We take the children out into their local community, and invite many visitors into the school from our locality.
School trips play an essential role in the Michael Faraday curriculum. We have wonderful working relationships with organisations such as Shakespeare’s Globe, Rothschild’s Bank and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Learning is a two way process, with regular exchanges between school and the workplace of our outside partners.
Our curriculum respects our local area and celebrates the diverse backgrounds that make up the Michael Faraday family. We aim to extend each child’s experience beyond their home cultural background. We offer the opportunity for our pupils to explore situations that they wouldn’t normally have access to.
Foundation Stage:
Emphasis for the Foundation Stage at Michael Faraday is placed upon the personal, social and emotional development of each child. We aim to offer knowledge and an understanding of the world through communication, language and literacy. Our maths work focuses on core number activities, providing a curriculum that puts in place the framework for our children to excel in maths lessons as they progress throughout the school. We aim to help the children explore and develop their creativity using music, dance, design, role-play and storytelling. Physical development is helped by playing coordination games, and learning how to develop a sense of self-awareness.
Key Stage 1
The children access the National Curriculum across a number of core subjects in key Stage 1. These include maths, literacy, science, ICT, geography, history, music, design & technology, RE and PE. Maths work introduces the children to problem solving using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Our literacy work aims to introduce new vocabulary and stimulate the creative ability within each child. Science topics look at light and dark, plant growth, forces, sound and electricity. Our weekly ICT sessions address areas such as assembling text, using a word bank, labelling and classifying, representing data in graphs and finding information. The children study the local environment, an island environment and the seaside in geography. Our history syllabus covers how schools have changed over a period of time, historical housing, Guy Fawkes, Florence Nightingale and the Great Fire of London. We explore new sounds in music, looking at the duration of sounds and exploring rhythm, pitch and tempo. In Design and Technology we learn about moving pictures, healthy eating, vehicles, winding up devices and puppets. Our RE curriculum covers belonging, celebrations and what we can learn from visiting a place of workshop. Team games and understanding rules are strong themes in PE sessions throughout Key Stage 1.
Key Stage 2
We build upon the different disciplines taught in Key Stage 1 as the children progress to Key Stage 2 at Michael Faraday School. Lessons are taught in the same subject areas, with an emphasise on personal development. In maths and literacy lessons we study the areas that will give our children a firm understanding of the knowledge required in preparation for Year 6 SATS tests, and entry to secondary school. Science work covers magnets and springs, teeth and eating, rocks and solids, circuits and conductors, keeping warm, separating solids and liquids, habitats, friction, life cycles, micro organisms and reversible and irreversible changes. ICT topics include combining text and graphics, manipulating sound, databases, simulations, digital photography, graphic modelling, analysing data, spreadsheets, multimedia presentations and using the internet as a research tool. Weather around the world, improving the environment, mapping skills, investigating rivers and the mountain environment are all studied during geography lessons. Our history topics look at Tudor Britain, Vikings, World War Two and Ancient Greece. We introduce the children to the different sounds of the orchestra during music lessons, as well as learning about scale, sound colours, cyclic patterns, musical processes and contemporary song writing. Our Design and Technology syllabus looks at masks from other cultures, light, alarms and making musical instruments. The children study symbolism in religion, the importance of faith, local religions and expressing belief through actions in RE. Dance, balance, invasion games, athletics and racket sports are all played as part of the Key Stage 2 PE curriculum.
