Education at Abberley Parochial follows our vision for the school. Connection is the over-arching theme which motivates all that we strive to achieve. Connected children thrive and care about what they do and achieve. 

Our vision has three aspects:

1. We seek to enable the children to be rooted and grounded in love; we seek for them to feel a connection with the school, the staff and the community and feel motivated to give back to those around them.

2. We strive to instil in pupils the power to comprehend; we seek for them to be connected to the world, the past and the future through a deep and rich knowledge that is woven together and connected in order for them to make sense of their lives and prepare and plan for their future so that every door of opportunity is open for them. Through our curriculum they will be taught to and practice applying the skills necessary to demonstrate an age related expertise in a wide range of subjects.

3. Filled with the fullness of God. We want our pupils to be connected to themselves and their peers and to care deeply about the enrichment opportunities and develop the resilience, habits, interests and hobbies that will enable them to flourish as people in a connected world. As self-aware and confident people they will be grounded and have the intellectual freedom to explore and challenge ideas about the big questions.

We show our love for each child by educating and enriching in a way that gives them a good depth of knowledge and developing the skills and attitudes to grow in confidence and succeed.

Our curriculum overview gives a simple snapshot of the themes the children explore through our curriculum during their time at Abberley Parochial Primary School.

Whole school curriculum overview

During pupil's time at the school, the curriculum that the they follow is focussed on instilling our school's values and attributes. We seek to enable our pupils to, and instil in them the desire to communicate deeply, think deeply and connect deeply with others. Each subject in each year group follows a plan to achieve the training, practice and opportunities to progressively develop these attributes with the view that they leave us with the attitudes and skills required to succeed in life and feel empowered to be positive agents of change within our community and in the world. This is enhanced further through our enrichment programme which provides opportunities to develop and demonstrate our spiritual capacities.

Our learning attributes form the basis of our academic curriculum design and each attribute is assigned disciplinary knowledge which we use throughout our planning. This knowledge becomes more complex overtime as children apply themselves more deeply and create a broader and more connected schema.

These are:

Creativity: Imagine, design, construct, assemble, formulate, compose

Reasoning: Compare, evaluate, explain, investigate, conclude, defend, judge, critique, debate, validate

Comprehension: Summarise, interpret, explain, infer, deduce, classify, locate, annotate,  correlate

Curiosity: Question, analyse, test, question, investigate, associate, link, categorise, group, measure, hypothesise , predict

Perseverance: Experiment, improve, modify, calculate, implement,  adapt

Collaboration: Communicate, share, resolve, listen, discuss, play, present

Knowledge: Recognise, identify, describe,  retrieve, recall, distil, define, list, memorise, repeat, imitate

Each of our subjects is carefully mapped so that sequences of learn provide a sensible experience for our pupils which allows them to develop a strong understanding and retain their learning. Vocabulary is at the core of the substantive knowledge our pupils learn. This is taught discretely and revisited throughout the curriculum.

As well as the academic attributes, skills and knowledge, we also recognise that learning has an emotional aspect of learning, known as the 'Affective domain'. As a school, we also seek to develop pupil's spiritual capacities. These are to:

  - exercise imagination and creativity
  - appreciate beauty in the world
  - be alive to experiences of awe and wonder
  - be intrigued by mystery
  - be aware that many things transcend us
  - appreciate and be thankful for what is good in life
  - show generosity towards others
  - be self-aware
  - empathise with the experiences of others
  - love and care for themselves
  - believe in their potential to achieve
  - find inner strength and resilience when facing challenges
  - be comfortable with stillness and silence
  - be willing to take risks
  - reflect and learn from success and failure
  - be ready to say sorry when mistakes are made and be willing to forgive others
  - be open minded and curious when exploring life’s big questions

Our curriculum policy provides more detail relating to the intention of our curriculum, how we implement our curriculum and the impact it has on the children who work and learn alongside us at Abberley Parochial Primary School.

Our curriculum and approach to teaching and learning is informed and evidence based. It is established in line with the following research texts, theories and writers and adapted to suit the needs of our school and pupils.

The Curriculum – Gallimaufry to coherence – Mary Myatt

Rosenshine’s Principles in action – Tom Sherrington

Powering Up Children, The Learning Power approach to Primary Children – Guy Claxton

A Curriculum of Hope, as rich in humanity as it is in knowledge – Debra Kidd

Educating Ruby – Guy Claxton

Closing the Vocabulary Gap – Alex Quidgely

How to use Bloom's taxonomy in the classroom: the complete guide - Mike Gershon

This Much I know about Love of Fear (creating a culture of truly great teaching) – John Tomsett

Making Every Primary Lesson Count – Jo Payne and Mel Scott

The Learning Rainforest (great teaching in real classrooms) - Tom Sherrington

The Reading Mind – Daniel Willingham

If you would like any further information relating to our school curriculum, please contact Mr J Turvey through the school office. Telephone: 01299 896332 email: office@abberley.worcs.sch.uk