What is a Curriculum? Curriculum lies at the heart of education. It determines what children will known and what they will be able to go on to do. It includes what children learn in their classroom, and beyond, to prepare them for life in Modern Britain. Our Intent “History is exciting because we learn about the past and understand why things are the way they are today.” “PE is fun because we try lots of sports, see howwe improve, and teachers always encourage us.” “PSHE is great because we can share our thoughts, learn about being ourselves, and stay safe online.” The curriculum at Smith’s Wood Primary Academy is driven by the following key intentions: To provide broad and balanced learning experiences for all pupils To embed high-quality Literacy and Numeracy across all areas of learning, with a strong focus on core subjects To ensure ICT skills are securely embedded as an integral part of the curriculum To meet the needs of all pupils, promoting a thirst for learning and enabling excellent levels of progress To promote positive well-being, alongside high academic achievement To provide a wide range of sporting opportunities for all pupils To offer varied and high-quality music opportunities, fostering creativity and cultural appreciation Our curriculum is filled with memorable experiences and opportunities for highquality learning. It is tailored to suit the needs of all learners and delivered within stimulating and exciting environments, ensuring high levels of challenge and consistently strong outcomes.
Curriculum Design At Smith’s Wood Primary Academy, our curriculum places core learning and life skills at the heart of everything we do. It is carefully designed to meet the needs of all pupils, providing broad, balanced and engaging learning experiences that prepare children for lifelong success. We focus on: ·Literacy and Numeracy across all subjects ·ICT skills embedded in learning ·Physical education and sport, promoting health and teamwork ·Music and creative opportunities for all pupils Our curriculum aims to develop pupils who are confident, resilient, motivated and aspirational, equipped with the skills to live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives and make a positive contribution to society. The quality and impact of our curriculum have been recognised with two Outstanding Ofsted inspection judgements, demonstrating the excellence of learning and progress across our school. At Smith’s Wood, every child is supported, challenged, and inspired to achieve their very best. Learning Launch At Smith’s Wood, we don’t just start a new topic… we launch it in spectacular style! Our teachers go the extra mile to immerse pupils fully in the adventure that awaits them each half term. With the power of our incredible 4D immersive room, lessons burst into life as teachers craft unforgettable experiences designed to spark curiosity and fuel excitement. Our learning launches often transform into full‑blown themed days, with pupils stepping into costume and into character. One day they might be soaring across the world on a magic carpet, the next they’re sitting in a strict Victorian classroom, or even packing their suitcases to be evacuated to the countryside during wartime Britain. Wherever the journey takes them, our pupils don’t just learn about their new topic—they live it. And that’s what makes learning at Smith’s Wood truly extraordinary. “Pupils engage well with learning and demonstrate excellent attitudes to learning.The curriculum is delivered in a way that ensures pupils remember what they are taught. The bespoke curriculum fully prepares pupils for the next stage of their education, starting in the early years.” OFSTED 2023 Topic Touchdown To wrap up each unit, we celebrate with a Topic Touchdown! Pupils begin by completing a fun review sheet that helps them reflect on what they've learned. They then swap classes across year groups, sharing their ideas, discoveries, and favourite moments from the topic. Together, they take part in joint activities that spark conversation, build confidence, and help them learn from one another. It’s a brilliant way to boost oracy, deepen understanding, and end each topic on a high.
Curriculum Drivers INSPIRE Workshops Rationale At Smith’s Wood Primary Academy, we love, learn and grow through our exciting and ambitious curriculum. Subject overviews are available on our school website. These documents detail how each subject is taught at Smith’s Wood Primary Academy. Long and Medium Term Plans contain key concepts, which are built over time, as well as connections between how each unit fits into the bigger picture of the curriculum. Each subject also has a vocabulary progression document which outlines the vocabulary taught and when. Inspire Workshops are fun and exciting workshops hosted in each year group, throughout the year. They are a fantastic opportunity for all parents and guardians to come into school and spend time with their child, learning together in a relaxed atmosphere. Inspire Workshops are held for each year group twice across the academic year. The class teachers plan one core academic and one topic themed activity, which is usually practical. Our pupils always look forward to these events and it gives parents and guardians a chance to see the sort of activities their children do at school. At Smith’s Wood Primary Academy, our newly devised and ever-evolving curriculum places core learning and essential life skills at the heart of its design. It has been carefully developed to meet the needs of all pupils, ensuring that every child— regardless of background or starting point—has access to a rich, ambitious and inclusive learning experience. Our curriculum reflects the unique context of our school community and aligns fully with the National Curriculum for England. It is responsive to pupil need, underpinned by high expectations and continuously refined to ensure it remains relevant, engaging and effective. The strength and impact of our curriculum have been externally validated, having resulted in two Outstanding Ofsted inspection judgements, demonstrating sustained excellence in curriculum design, implementation and outcomes for pupils.
Core Subjects Challenge Every lesson begins with a challenge. These are an effective way to promote critical thinking and recap prior learning. This enables our children to make links throughout different lessons. Throughout the lesson, our More-Able learners are challenged appropriately through the use of Golden Challenges, enabling our children to access higher-level thinking. “Reading is at the heart of the curriculum. Adults are highly skilled teachers of phonics and have expert subject knowledge. They provide effective, tailored support for those pupils at risk of falling behind. Pupils read books that are well matched to the sounds that they are learning. They quickly become fluent, confident readers. Pupils enjoy listening to stories and reading regularly to teachers. This helps pupils to develop a real love of reading.” OFSTED 2023 At Smith’s Wood Primary, our core curriculum embeds high‑quality Maths, Literacy, and Guided Reading throughout every area of learning, ensuring pupils develop strong foundational skills that support success across the wider curriculum. In Maths, children build fluency and confidence through investigative, problem‑solving opportunities that deepen their understanding of mathematical language, reasoning, and real‑world application. Reading is taught daily through phonics, literacy, and structured Guided Reading sessions, enabling pupils to read a wide range of texts with increasing fluency, comprehension, and enjoyment while enriching their vocabulary and cultural awareness. Literacy lessons provide rich, engaging stimuli—drawing on diverse texts, visual literacy, and topic-linked materials—to inspire high‑quality writing and allow pupils to craft extended pieces that showcase creativity, accuracy, and genre-specific skills. Together, these strands of learning ensure that every child becomes a confident reader, skilled writer, and resilient mathematical thinker, equipped with the essential tools to thrive both in school and beyond.
Foundation Subjects Topic Pages A Topic Page is a tool which we use as a key component for our learning in the foundation subjects. They are designed to provide pupils with key vocabulary linked to their unit of work. At the start of a unit, pupils are encouraged to RAG review the vocabulary based upon prior knowledge and learning. Then, teachers provide opportunities for their pupils to learn these words in context before RAG reviewing again at the end of the unit. Outdoor Education At Smith’s Wood Primary Academy, we have a variety of outdoor spaces which are used to enrich the curriculum. Amazing Areas We are also fortunate enough to have an incredible 4D Room, to help engage children in all areas of the curriculum. In addition, our Music Room and Cooking area are regularly used for these lessons.
Planning Teaching staff at Smith’s Wood Primary Academy are deeply committed to ensuring the highest quality of curriculum planning and implementation. To achieve this, teachers have engaged with a breadth of opportunities to develop a deep understanding of each unit’s intent. Teachers use the Topic Pages to launch lessons and help with the teaching of vocabulary throughout a unit. Challenges are planned for the beginning of every lesson to support pupils with understanding how new learning integrates into the broader curriculum and previously taught concepts. Staff continually refine their subject knowledge through tailored professional development opportunities. These are provided internally by subject leaders and through external providers. This approach to planning alongside the way that our curriculum has been meticulously designed and sequenced, helps to close the attainment gap for disadvantaged pupils; ensuring that every child achieves their full potential. All subject overviews are available on our website. https://www.smithswoodpri.solihull.sch.uk/
Recap - Refresh - Reflect At Smith’s Wood Primary, interventions are an integral part of each school day, supporting pupils from the moment they arrive until home time. These take many forms—academic, sporting, and those designed to nurture mental health and emotional wellbeing—and are carefully woven into our daily routines to ensure every child receives the tailored support they need. Alongside high‑quality in‑school provision delivered by our own counsellors, play therapist, and speech and language therapist, we enrich our offer with specialist external providers such as Relax Kids, drumming tutors, and music practitioners. Together, these interventions help pupils develop essential skills, build confidence, and thrive both within and beyond the classroom. Interventions Recap, Refresh, Reflect is a strategy used across lessons at Smith’s Wood to support the retention of knowledge. During the first ten minutes of a lesson, pupils revisit and strengthen their understanding by recapping previously taught concepts, refreshing key information, or reflecting on prior learning. This routine helps pupils identify and close gaps in their knowledge, leading to improved learning over time.
Assessment At Smith’s Wood Primary, we assess pupils using the MIS platform Arbor, which allows us to track progress accurately and consistently across the school. Teachers complete ongoing teacher assessments for all subjects, ensuring day‑to‑day learning is captured alongside pupils’ broader development. This is complemented by standardised half‑termly assessments in spelling, grammar, reading, and mathematics, providing reliable data to support our professional judgements. In addition, we carry out all required national assessments at key stages, including the Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA), the Multiplication Tables Check (MTC), and the statutory assessments for both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 (SATs), ensuring that our assessment approach meets statutory expectations while supporting pupils’ learning effectively. “Leaders have aspirational ambitions for each pupil. In turn, pupils have high ambitions for themselves. Leaders are determined that ‘no child should fall behind’. The bespoke approach to the curriculum ensures that this is a reality. Highly skilled teachers adapt the carefully designed curriculum so that every pupil achieves extremely well.” OFSTED 2023 Subject leaders at Smith’s Wood Primary Academy play a vital role in sustaining the school’s high expectations and its ethos of being “more than a school.” They help shape the aspirational curriculum noted by Ofsted for ensuring that "no child falls behind" and for "preparing pupils extremely well for the next stage of learning". By monitoring teaching, offering subject‑specific support, and ensuring consistent, ambitious learning across the school, subject leaders strengthen both curriculum quality and classroom practice. They also model the academy’s values—respect, friendship, responsibility, honesty, perseverance, and determination—through their leadership. In championing high standards and guiding curriculum development, subject leaders help uphold the exceptional educational experience for which the academy is recognised. Subject Leaders
Adaptations for SEND “Leaders and teachers support pupils with SEND very well. Their needs are quickly and accurately identified. Staff adapt learning and extra-curricular activities so that pupils with SEND can access them all. They make strong progress and participate fully in school life.” OFSTED 2023 At our school, we make proactive and personalised adaptations so that pupils with Special Educational Needs can access the curriculummeaningfully and make progress from their individual starting points. Teachers use pre‑key stage standards to break learning into achievable, developmentally appropriate steps, ensuring expectations are realistic and ambitious. Classroom practice includes the use of Widgit symbols, visual scaffolds, simplified and chunked instructions, and a range of language levels tailored to pupils’ receptive and expressive abilities. Adaptations may also include now/next boards, pre‑teaching of vocabulary and concepts, differentiated resources, sensory tools, movement breaks, individual workstations and flexible grouping. We follow the graduated response—assess, plan, do, review—so adaptations are continually strengthened through collaboration with the SENCO, specialist staff and families.
FOUNDATION STAGE At Smith’s Wood Primary Academy, we believe that the Nursery and Reception years are a vital part of a child’s development. Our aim is to create a happy, exciting and nurturing environment that helps children develop a lifelong love of learning. We want every child to grow into a confident, independent and caring individual who recognises their own strengths and abilities. We encourage natural curiosity by giving children opportunities to explore, ask questions and find answers. Learning takes place through a balance of adult-led activities and child-initiated play. Our EYFS classrooms are rich in opportunities that help children build the key skills needed for Year 1 and beyond. We are committed to giving every child a strong start, ensuring that no child is left behind. Early reading is a central focus so that children can become confident and successful learners. Our curriculum builds on what children already know and follows their interests. Learning is shaped through well-planned themes, purposeful play and the expertise of skilled practitioners who observe and extend children’s experiences. Our curriculum follows the statutory EYFS Framework (updated 2021) and is supported by the non‑statutory Development Matters guidance. EARLYYEARS “The early years is rich with opportunities for children to develop their communication and language skills. This ensures that no time is wasted in children starting to learn to read.” OFSTED 2023
Character education underpins everything we do at Smith’s Wood. Our curriculum is intentionally built around the core values of Honesty, Friendship, Responsibility, Determination, Perseverance and Respect, supported by our guiding behaviour principles: Be Committed, Be Ambitious and Be You. Through carefully designed micro-lessons, assemblies, enrichment opportunities and daily classroom practice, pupils learn not only what these values mean but how to live them in their actions and relationships. Character development is explicitly taught, celebrated and tracked across the school so that every child grows as a confident, responsible and compassionate individual. By embedding values in both learning and wider school life, we ensure that pupils leave Smith’s Wood not only academically prepared, but equipped with the personal qualities required to thrive in modern society. Behaviours & School Values “Smith’s Wood Primary Academy lives up to its motto of being ‘more than a school’. Leaders, staff and pupils demonstrate the school values in every aspect of school life. ‘Respect, friendship, responsibility, honesty, perseverance and determination’ are visible in everything they do.” OFSTED 2023
British Values At Smith’s Wood Primary Academy, we develop the pupils’ understanding of the British Values to help prepare them for life in Modern Britain. Across each academic year, we offer a range of initiatives and pupil leadership roles, in addition to curriculum reflections, to develop pupils’ understanding. Leaders prioritise the promotion of diversity, tolerance, understanding of relationships and democracy. It is exceptional. It leads to pupils developing an excellent awareness of British values. OFSTED 2023 Cultural Capital At Smith’s Wood Primary Academy, cultural capital is built through a wide range of enriching experiences that help pupils understand the world around them. Theme days, food‑tasting activities, cooking sessions and engaging visitors all bring learning to life and introduce children to different cultures, skills and perspectives. Trips and visits further extend this learning, with all year groups from Year 1 offered a residential experience, including the Year 6 trip to Paris, which provides a valuable opportunity to experience life in another country. In topic lessons, the What in the World section helps pupils explore current events and global issues, while VR workshops open up places and experiences they may not otherwise encounter. Together, these opportunities broaden pupils’ horizons and equip them with essential knowledge and confidence.
Extra-Curricular Activities At Smith’s Wood Primary Academy, our extra-curricular strategy is designed to ensure that every child has access to opportunity. Our model provides a clear pathway from Entry (participation) through to Emerging (coached activity) and ultimately Elite (representative competition), enabling pupils of all abilities to engage, develop and excel. Activities range from structured lunchtime and after-school clubs to targeted development sessions, inter-house competitions and intra-school events that promote healthy competition. Physical activity, sport, and personal development opportunities sit at the heart of this offer, ensuring that children not only remain active but also discover new talents, build an understanding of identity and represent the school with pride. This tiered approach guarantees inclusivity while still providing stretch and challenge for those who demonstrate high potential. “Pupils benefit from an extensive range of opportunities outside of the curriculum to further embed their belief in themselves and the possibilities available to them. Staff promote positive personal development through the curriculum, assemblies, and extracurricular activities.” OFSTED 2023
Personal Development At Smith’s Wood Primary Academy, personal development is a central pillar of our provision and is deliberately designed to be progressive, inclusive and transformative. Our approach is underpinned by a unique, fully embedded Character Education framework, where core values are explicitly taught, modelled and tracked through a differentiated progression model from Reception to Year 6, with targeted micro-lessons used to intervene and strengthen individual development. This is complemented by a rich and strategic extra-curricular offer, aligned to our house system, which promotes both participation and healthy competition while reinforcing our school behaviours of Be Committed, Be Ambitious, Be You. Our SMSC provision is rigorously audited to ensure all pupils receive a broad and balanced exposure to spiritual, moral, social and cultural experiences, enabling us to identify and address gaps in provision. Experiential learning is a key driver, with opportunities such as residential visits, outdoor education, and real-world experiences—such as climbing Snowdon— designed to build resilience, independence and cultural capital. Alongside this, our careersrelated learning programme introduces pupils to the world of work through meaningful encounters, aspiration-building activities and curriculum integration. Collectively, this cohesive and strategically aligned approach ensures that all pupils develop the confidence, character and cultural awareness needed to thrive both within and beyond Smith’s Wood. “Leaders provide exciting opportunities for pupils to experience the world of work. This includes providing ‘voice overs’ for children’s television programmes and recording music in a London music studio. They experience exciting trips and residentials. This includes trips to Paris. Pupils also get the opportunity to climb Snowdon. Pupils said, ‘One of our values is to be determined so we all made it to the top. We made links to life in school. We know that if we work hard, we will get a good outcome.’” OFSTED 2023
Pupil Leadership Pupil leadership is at the heart of everything we do at Smith’s Wood Primary School, and we encourage children in all year groups to take a leadership role in one way or another. Each young leader encompasses all of our school values and promotes our school behaviours in everything they do. Within each class, a Wellbeing Warrior is nominated to lead class discussion during the ‘Me Time’ section of PSHE lessons. These children are also on-hand at all times to help support peers when needed. In addition, each class also has a SWAG member, to become part of our School Council for the year, representing their class voice and helping to organise charity and themed days with the subject leaders. As pupils move up to Year 6, they have the opportunity to apply for the role of a House Captain, creating a manifesto of changes they would want and support they can offer. Each child is in a house: Super, Spider, Hulk and Bat, and every child gets to vote for who they’d like to lead their house, promoting democracy. As well as this, as a school, we work with our local Mental Health organisation - SOLAR - to train children to become Peer Listeners. These children help to support some of our younger children who may struggle with learning, or show anxiety within their learning. As shown, our pupil leadership runs throughout our curriculum. “Pupils’ behaviour is exceptional. They are respectful, kind and polite. They have wonderful manners and are supportive of each other. Pupils understand that some of their friends find behaviour more difficult and need extra help. Well-being warriors and peer listeners are on hand to provide extra support for any pupil that needs it. Pupils feel safe in school because it is calm and orderly.” OFSTED 2023
Why are we exceptional? Smith’s Wood Primary Academy’s curriculum is exceptional because it is carefully designed, expertly delivered, and deeply aspirational, ensuring every child achieves highly and develops the character and confidence needed for future success. Teachers are described as highly skilled, adapting a bespoke, well‑structured curriculum so that no child falls behind, with swift, effective support in place whenever needed. Independent analysis highlights the curriculum as inspirational, noting its strength in phonics, its ability to secure above‑national progress in core subjects, and its excellent provision for SEND and disadvantaged pupils, ensuring equity and ambition for all learners. From the earliest years, pupils benefit from a reading-rich environment supported by expert phonics teaching, carefully matched books, and a well-stocked library— foundations that create confident, fluent readers who are ready to excel across the wider curriculum. Beyond academics, the curriculum is enriched through inspirational visitors, exceptional trips, and a strong character education programme that builds resilience, curiosity, and future readiness. This blend of academic rigour, personalised support, and rich experiences ensures that the curriculum not only meets national standards but exceeds them, inspiring pupils to believe they can be whatever they want to be.
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