Our Curriculum

Classroom at King's Cross Academy Primary School

The Academy’s approach to learning is distinctive, challenging and rigorous. We are determined that all our children will make exceptional progress in developing the skills, knowledge, understanding and attitudes needed for high-quality learning.

The statements below summarise the basic entitlement, values, aims and objectives that the King’s Cross Academy curriculum seeks to embody. We also recognise that the curriculum experienced by the children does not just include the planned curriculum, but involves the so-called ‘hidden curriculum’ of relationships, ethos, informal learning and outside school hours learning.

Children learning at King's Cross Academy Primary School
  • The values behind our curriculum

    We believe the learning at King’s Cross Academy should:

    • Enable every child to develop in the key areas of communication, thinking, social and emotional awareness, creativity, physical development and learning about learning (known as the Academy Learning Toolbox).
    • Contribute to equality of opportunity for all, active citizenship, economic awareness and commitment to sustainable development.
    • Reflect the values of respect for ourselves, others and diversity within society.
    • Engender a commitment to truth, justice, honesty, trust and a sense of personal responsibility.
    • Enable a positive response to the opportunities and challenges of economic, social and cultural change.
    • Develop awareness of globalization, new work and leisure patterns and communication technologies.
  • Curriculum entitlement

    • All pupils have access to the whole National Curriculum plus Religious Education. There will be no disapplication of children with Special Educational Needs; instead, the curriculum will be adapted according to the needs of the individual child.
    • The curriculum is organised into Foundation Stage (Nursery and Reception) which follows the Foundation Stage Framework, Key Stage One (Years 1 and 2) and Key Stage Two (Years 3 to 6).
    • To ensure progression and rigour in the core subjects of Mathematics, English and Science throughout the school, the core curriculum is supported by:
      • The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) Book Power programme;
      • the Hamilton Trust programme of study for maths; and
      • curriculum project maps and skills and knowledge progression maps written by Academy staff.
    • The foundation subjects are supported by our curriculum maps which provide a structured, project-based approach (examples of the curriculum project maps are available below).
    • The King’s Cross Academy Learning Toolbox – utilised to plan and structure the learning. The Toolbox has been developed to support high quality learning. It is offered as an aid to thinking about and planning learning using tools from the six Toolsets – communication, thinking, physical, creative, learning about learning and social and emotional.
    • The school days starts at 8.55am and ends at 3.30pm providing 33 hours of education a week for every pupil
  • Curricular Aims and Objectives

    The three over-arching aims of the curriculum at the Academy are:

    1. To provide exciting and varied opportunities for all pupils to learn successfully, whatever their current levels of attainment or needs.
    2. To promote learners’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
    3. To develop the knowledge, skills, understanding and attitudes needed for a positive response to the diverse opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life.

     

    Curriculum Objectives

     

    1. Developing high-quality learning

    Across the curriculum, core subjects and RE, all children experience structured, and progressively more sophisticated experiences, designed to develop all aspects of the Academy Learning Toolbox:

    • Communication – speaking and listening, reading, writing and ICT are employed across the curriculum as fundamental tools for expressing ideas and engaging in dialogue.
    • Thinking – reasoning, comparing, debating, persuading and questioning are developed explicitly in a wide variety of contexts.
    • Social and emotional learning – collaboration, empathy, emotional awareness and self-management are explored and practised within the taught curriculum and in informal settings (e.g. the playground, lunchtimes).
    • Creativity – risk-taking, experimentation, trial-and-error and imaginative play are encouraged and planned for in all subjects.
    • Physical learning – simulations, drama and movement are used to represent thinking in novel ways and to engage with ideas using the senses.
    • Learning about learning – reflection, self-assessment and planning are encouraged and developed.

    In order to promote high-quality learning throughout the planned curriculum, we:

    • Seek to involve the children as much as possible in planning their own learning approaches.
    • Combine two or three subject areas to form meaningful learning projects, supported by the curriculum maps written by the Academy staff.
    • Highlight connections between ideas in different subject areas.
    • Value the distinct contributions of different subject areas to learning and develop the specific skills and approaches that are particular to each subject area.
    • Aim to develop awareness of what expertise in each subject area looks like i.e. what it means to be a mathematician, a scientist, a historian etc.
     2. Promoting inclusion

    When teaching the planned curriculum, we:

    • Value and present positive images of different languages, religions, cultures and ethnic groups, particularly those within the King’s Cross community.
    • Seek to address the needs of all our pupils, including those with special needs, English as an additional language and gifted and talented pupils.
    • Use available resources, including those within the King’s Cross area, effectively to meet the individual needs of all pupils.
    • Actively promote community cohesion.
    • Promote positive behaviour and awareness of the needs of others.
    • Assess the children’s needs to ensure appropriate planning by class teachers and additional support staff, where available.
    • Employ targeted actions plans (TAPs) in planning learning experiences for pupils with special educational needs, including those who are gifted and talented.
     3. Building a learning community

    Throughout the curriculum, we seek to develop attitudes based on:

    • Respect for each other as individuals
    • A sense of shared purpose and teamwork
    • Awareness of the school community (our responsibility to others as well as the support we receive)
    • Awareness of the local community (e.g. links to King’s Cross)
    • Awareness of the international dimension to learning
    • An ability to give constructive feedback and to listen to the advice of others
     4. Enriching the curriculum

    In order to extend children’s horizons and widen experiences, we:

    • Plan a wide range of learning activities and projects that enrich the curriculum through the use of the King’s Cross environment for example:
      • music workshops from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE) and the Performing Rights Society (PRS)
      • forest school in Camley Street Nature reserve
      • French teaching from Eurostar train drivers
      • Drawing workshops with the House of Illustration
      • Engineers from Hoare Lea supporting learning in the science curriculum
      • Reading buddies from Argent
      • Skip Garden gardeners visiting the Academy on a weekly basis
      • art projects supported by student ambassadors from Central Saint Martins
      • Digital Brain engineers teaching coding from year 1
      • students from Regent High school working with some of our youngest children on joint projects
    • Organise clubs under the umbrella of the co-curriculum: choir, recorders, multi-sports, football, poetry, home learning, crafts etc.
    • Draw on local expertise from other schools to provide tasters of different subjects e.g. music performance from Regent High School.
    • Participate in a variety of external activities that enrich the curriculum, including Borough sports events and competitions, museum-based events such as ‘Family Deaf Day’ at the British Museum, curriculum-related visits and residential experiences.
    • Stage music evenings and assemblies to celebrate the skills and talents of our children.
    • Run a range of child-led initiatives including peer mentors, play leaders, and class meeting representatives.
    • Introduce children to musical instruments e.g. colour strings kindergarten in the Early Years / Key Stage 1 in which every child learns about musicality, recorder lessons for every pupil from year 1, peripatetic lessons for all children as part of the co-curriculum.
  • Mathematics and Literacy Curriculum

    Mathematics

    Our Intent

    Our intention is that all children who attend King’s Cross Academy will become  fluent, and flexible mathematicians capable of problem solving and reasoning.   The school has adopted a mastery approach to the  teaching and learning of maths which enables pupils of all ages to acquire a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of the subject . Achieving mastery means acquiring a secure understanding of the maths that’s been taught to enable pupils to apply their knowledge and prior learning to a range of contexts and at greater depth. 

    The intent of our mathematics curriculum is to provide children with a foundation for understanding number, reasoning, thinking logically and problem solving with resilience so that they are fully prepared for the future. By adopting a Mastery approach, it is also intended that all children, regardless of their starting point, will maximise their academic achievement and leave King’s Cross Academy with an appreciation and enthusiasm for Maths, resulting in a lifelong positive relationship with number. 

    Implementation

    Our long term planning follows the National Curriculum. Weekly and daily lessons follow the Hamilton Maths framework which provides a structure for progression in the development of mathematical skills and knowledge. Short term planning is also supplemented  by the use of the White Rose Maths Hub and NCETM spine materials.

    • Teaching is supported by carefully crafted lessons and resources to foster deep conceptual and procedural knowledge.

    • Differentiation is achieved by a progressive success criteria emphasising deep knowledge, extension activities and through individual support and intervention. 

    • Children who have shown their understanding at a deep level within the unit, will have opportunities to apply these skills in a greater depth activity. This should be challenging and ensure that children are using more than just one skill to be able to answer the mathematical problems.

    • Children with additional needs are included in whole class lessons and teachers provide scaffolding and relevant support as necessary. For those children who are working outside of the year group curriculum, learning activities are provided to ensure their progress. 

    • Practice and consolidation play a central role in all maths lessons. Carefully designed variation within this builds fluency and understanding of underlying mathematical concepts. 

    In Early Years Foundation Stage, mathematics development involves providing children with opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers; calculating simple addition and subtraction problems; and describing shapes, space, and measures. Children will develop their understanding through planned, purposeful play and through a mix of adult-led and child-initiated activity.

    Our  mastery approach  means small steps for learning are taken together as a class, and to challenge our children through rich problems.  Important aspects of each maths lesson are: factual recall and fluency; variation of question design to make children really think; well-chosen models, images and concrete apparatus; and reasoning. Our teachers design lessons that are coherent and in which children listen, talk and have ownership of their learning journey.

    We understand future success in mathematics  depends greatly on the children’s confidence and enjoyment of maths. We ensure that we deliver a high quality maths curriculum that is both challenging and enjoyable. We want children to make rich connections across mathematical ideas to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competence in solving increasingly sophisticated problems and how these can be applied in the ‘real’ world.

     

    Literacy

    Our Intent

    Our intention is that all children who attend King’s Cross Academy become successful life-long learners. For them to succeed across the curriculum, children need to master and develop a love of both reading and writing, and we want our learners to grow into adults who are able to interpret and use the written word to bring about the changes they want to see in the world. We want them to feel empowered by their own creativity and curious about others who may experience the world differently. All this, and more, can be developed through a dynamic, research-informed literacy curriculum.

    The literacy curriculum at KCA provides children with the necessary skills, knowledge and attitude to access a range of texts, as well as create their own pieces of ambitious writing. They explore high-quality texts right from Nursery to Year 6, as well as rigorously practising the skills needed to access reading and writing. Our literacy provision sits within a whole school culture of Reading for Pleasure. 

    When our children leave King’s Cross Academy, they will all see themselves as both readers and writers, irrelevant of their favourite book or how neat their handwriting is. We understand that the most important things to develop in a literacy curriculum are strong ideas, a listening ear and a creative, expressive voice. These three elements combined will enable our children to go out into the world as literate, articulate agents of change.

    Implementation

    Reading

    At King’s Cross Academy, we firmly believe that our reading teaching needs to sit within a strong Reading for Pleasure culture. Our Reading for pleasure culture is evident through:

    • the high-quality texts used in our Reading and Writing lessons;

    • class story time at the end of each day;

    • daily independent or free reading sessions in class;

    • our class libraries, a well-stocked school library and a playground library;

    • the reading buddy programme, which runs from Reception to Year 6;

    • Bookmark Volunteers working with children across the school to improve their reading;

    • each of our children having the opportunity to be a member of Pancras Square Library;

    • half-termly whole school Drop Everything and Read events;

    • half-termly Reading Assemblies;

    • each of our Reception and Nursery children being part of the Dolly Parton imagination library;

    • our online reading library, provided by Get Epic.

    As a CLPE Power of Reading school, our children have access to a wide variety of high-quality children’s books in their literacy lessons and across the curriculum. The children read and discuss picture books, traditional tales, poetry, non-fiction, novels and graphic novels. This broad range of text-types ensures all children have the opportunity to find something they enjoy and ignites both their imagination, and their passion for reading. 

    Phonics

    The children at King’s Cross Academy learn to read using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme, developed by the Wandle and Little Sutton English Hubs. This involves a daily discrete phonics session, as well as a group reading session three times a week using a decodable book that matches their phonic knowledge. They follow the programme from Nursery through to the end of Year 1, when the children take the Phonics Screening check. Any children who do not pass the check continue with a rigorous, engaging Keep-up programme into Year 2 and beyond if necessary. 

    Guided and whole class reading

    Once the children have mastered the mechanics of word reading, their phonics and group reading sessions transform into daily guided reading or class reading sessions. The children are taught to recognise, use and apply reading skills during these sessions, which either focus on their Power of Reading text, or a guided reading group text, depending on the needs of the children.

    The Power of Reading

    As a CLPE Associate School, we are known for our work championing the use of high quality, whole texts in the teaching of writing. We do this primarily through their Power of Reading programme, but also use a number of their Poetry and Power of Pictures resources. Their work is research informed and driven by their belief that every child has the right to be literate, and enjoy literature.

    Writing

    Due to our work with CLPE, our written work is linked to the high quality texts that the children study across the school, as well as often linking to our Learning Projects. This means that much of the writing the children do is cross-curricular. The children write both for purpose and pleasure, learning the importance and joy of mark-making in the Early years Foundation Stage, right up to the satisfaction and pride that comes from rereading, editing and redrafting a high-quality piece of writing in Year 6. 

    The children are taught grammar in the context of their literacy lessons, as and when it arises, so that the children are able to apply it directly to their writing. This is then revised in Upper Key Stage 2 during explicit, twice weekly grammar sessions.

    Spelling

    At the Academy we teach the foundations of spelling through our Phonics programme, Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. From Year 2 upwards, spelling is taught through No Nonsense Spelling, a complete spelling programme designed to meet the needs of the National Curriculum in a manageable way. The children have twice weekly spelling lessons, and the children are also given a spelling rule to practise for home learning each week. 

    Handwriting

    At the Academy, the children explore the joy of mark-making in our Early Years Foundation Stage, beginning to form letters through the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds programme. The children continue to practise their letter formation during their phonics lessons in Year 1, and then move on to learning to join in Year 2 with Nelson Handwriting. Throughout Years 2 and 3 the children have daily discrete handwriting sessions, moving on to twice weekly handwriting sessions in Year 4 if necessary. 

  • The Foundation Curriculum and Cross-Curricular Projects

    Foundation Subjects 

    Science

    At King’s Cross Academy, our vision is to provide children with a science curriculum which enables them to explore and discover the world around them, so that they develop a deeper understanding of the world we live in. 

    Our children are curious, flexible and creative thinkers. We want to  stimulate their ideas by providing them with the opportunity to ask questions, experiment as well as plan and carry out their own scientific investigations linked to their scientific knowledge and interests.

    Children will frequently be provided with the opportunity to develop their scientific knowledge and skills through real life experiences.  Children will develop a sense of awe and excitement about science and be supported by teachers to make meaningful links between classroom learning and the real world in order to develop their understanding of Science.

    Geography

    All the children at Kings Cross Academy will be able to use their observational skills to record and measure both the human and physical features in their environments. They will be able to use atlases and read maps with confidence, and have the ability to explain the different features on a map. They will be able to compare and contrast different regions across the world based on their knowledge of physical and human geography.

    The children will leave the Academy having developed a passion for and an understanding of the world around them. They will be inquisitive, curious and equipped with the skills to question information presented to them.

    The Geography at the Academy is created around 4 key geographical elements: places; patterns & processes; environmental relationships and issues; geographical enquiry and skills, disciplinary Knowledge:

    • Places: Ask questions about aspects of local/global places. Begin to identify key features and make comparisons of physical and/or human geography processes and include personal experiences. 

    • Patterns and processes: exploring why places are as they are, why people live where they do, how places have changed and why, why businesses and other amenities are located where they are, impact of weather and other physical conditions.

    • Environmental relationships and issues: exploring children’s and other people’s different views about the local environment and change; the impact of environmental change e.g. pollution, climate change, recycling and waste, migration etc. Exploring how to manage the environment e.g. promoting bicycle use and walking to school.

    • Enquiry and skills: generating questions worth investigating and collecting first hand evidence. Make direct observations about places and the environment and use maps, atlases and other secondary sources. Use simple equipment e.g. anemometer (wind measure). 

    • Recording: notes, ideas, questions, plans for enquiries, sketch maps, observations and journals from fieldwork, data collected e.g. questionnaires, traffic count, tables and charts (link to Handling data). Geographical conclusions and thinking can be used for some meaningful purpose and presented persuasively as a leaflet for a particular audience, a web blog, a poster, a letter to local politicians etc. 

    • Disciplinary Knowledge: Insight into the ways geography experts think i.e. what is a Geographer? How can we think like a geographer? What do we know from one context to another? How can we think about alternative futures? How can we consider our own influence on decisions that will be made? e.g. Considering the impact of a flood / volcanic eruption on the people living in the area and their response. Interconnection between local and global issues e.g climate change.

    The Academy uses the  ODDIZZI scheme to support the planning for progression in Geographical skills and knowledge .

    History

    All the children at Kings Cross Academy will be able to place events on a timeline and use their knowledge of history to sequence events chronologically. They will be able to use artefacts and sources to deduce information about a period of history, and compare different sources that may offer different insights. The children will be able to talk about the history of our planet both in terms of historical time periods, and themes such as conflict, democracy, trade and medicine. 

    The children will leave the academy with a broad and balanced understanding of both the history of this country, and others around the world. They will be able to critically analyze and challenge preconceived ideas in our history, and use evidence to support their ideas.

     

    Art

    At King’s Cross Academy, we believe that teaching and learning in art is vital, as it stimulates creativity, imagination and inventiveness. 

    The key elements of Art are: pattern, texture, colour, line, tone, shape, form, and space. The Purpose of art education is to give pupils the artistic skills, concepts and knowledge necessary for them to express responses to ideas and experiences in a visual or tactile form. They should apply these skills creatively using their imagination: a fundamental means of personal expression. 

    Our Art curriculum provides children with opportunities to develop their skills using a range of media and materials. Children learn the skills of drawing, painting, printing, collage, sculpting textiles, 3D work and digital art and are given the opportunity to explore and evaluate different creative ideas. Children will be introduced to a range of works and develop knowledge of the styles and vocabulary used by famous artists.

    We also believe each medium needs to be explored and played with, in order that children can use it creatively. Some exploratory sessions e.g. mark-making, getting used to the texture and ‘feel’ of clay, experimenting with different weaving techniques etc will help to develop confidence and a sense of the options available in different media.

    Most artistic work starts with some sort of stimulus and observation. There can be plenty of observational work before moving on to a creative piece e.g. observing the leaves of different plants (colour, pattern, texture etc) could lead to a creative piece drawing on one element and transforming it e.g. the pattern of a leaf transformed into an abstract design.  Art stimuli could be something seen, felt, heard or touched; something to stimulate the memory or imagination.

    Wherever appropriate it is linked to other areas of the curriculum, gives children the opportunities to develop specific art skills, and reinforces skills already established. Many areas of art link with mathematical ideas of shape and space; for example when printing repeating patterns and designs and thinking about 3D shapes to support structures. Furthermore, art and design is tied into national awareness celebrations such as Black History Month where children learn about underrepresented artists, communities and their influence on the creative arts. 

    As a school, we celebrate and recognise the work children create and hold an internal arts week with an end of year exhibition for parents and members of the community at Central Saint Martins Art University, where the children’s work is creatively showcased. In addition, as part of our schools philosophy we hold termly learning presentations. These often showcase children’s art, creativity and design skills as they develop across their time at the academy.

    In Art, children are expected to be reflective and evaluate their work, thinking about how they can make changes and keep improving. This should be meaningful and continuous throughout the process, with evidence of age-related verbal and written reflection. Children are encouraged to take risks and experiment and then reflect on why some ideas and techniques are successful or not for a particular project. Our goal is to develop holistic learners who are engaged to apply their skills within art and design across their lives.

     

    Music

    Music makes an important contribution to life at KCA, and is celebrated, promoted and encouraged. It helps build pupils’ self-esteem and self-discipline and leads to higher standards across the curriculum. KCA has a responsibility to equip our students for the future and a part of this undoubtedly involves nurturing their creative inclinations

    Music will be taught both in class and by specialist Colour-strings music teachers that will include:

    • Composition and performance: All pupils are part of Colour-strings musicianship programme where children have opportunity to learn the foundations of music, including composition and performance. In addition in Nursery and Reception, singing will be promoted across every lesson; a school choir supports singing across the school; weekly singing assemblies in KS 1 and 2 and Music is promoted in class where there is a link to the project e.g. listening to Tudor music. 

    • Instrumental tuition: From year 3 at KCA all children learn to play either the violin or cello. In addition all children learn to play small percussion instruments in Colour-strings musicianship.

    Listening and appraising: there are many opportunities in learning projects to develop children’s skills in listening closely to music, commenting and responding using different media. In addition, a variety of music genres are played on entry to assemblies and during lunchtimes.

    The Colour-strings Method

    At KCA we have, from the outset,  employed instructors from the Colourstrings School to teach using their holistic approach to music education. 

    The Colourstrings method creates a firm musical foundation for the child, which means child-centred music teaching. Their philosophy and method does not form or mould the child to the need of the instrument but rather domesticates the instruments and the instrumental teaching to meet the child’s need.

    All pupils, from Nursery to Year 6 take part in weekly musicianship classes, where they learn songs that support their music awareness and technique. 

    From Year 3 onwards the pupils learn a stringed instrument in groups of three. These instrumental classes complement the musicianship sessions, by using the same material and techniques and applying them to the violin or cello.

    Design Technology

    At King’s Cross Academy, children receive a design and technology curriculum which allows them to exercise their creativity through designing and making.

    The children are taught to combine their designing and making skills with knowledge and understanding in order to design and make a product. Skills are taught progressively to ensure that all children are able to learn and practice in order to develop as they move through the school. Evaluation is an integral part of the design process and allows children to adapt and improve their product, this is a key skill which they need throughout their life. D&T allows children to apply the knowledge and skills learned in other subjects, particularly Maths, Science and Art. Children’s interests are captured through theme learning, ensuring that links are made in a cross curricular way, giving children motivation and meaning for their learning. Children will also learn basic cooking skills in our purpose built food science room.

    Physical, Social and Health Education (PSHE)

    Our intention is that all children who attend King’s Cross Academy become successful life-long learners. They feel confident and safe within the school environment knowing that they are fully supported by the school community around them. As a result children fully engage with all the learning experiences on offer and develop their independence, creativity, critical thinking and resilience.

    Our pupils do not hesitate to question the world around them. They share their views but also listen and are respectful of the views of others. They do not hesitate to be assertive and take a stance against current social issues within their community but also the wider world such as discrimination, prejudice, racism, sustainability, climate change etc…

    The PSHE curriculum at KCA provides children throughout their time at the Academy with the necessary skills, knowledge and attitude to make informed choices to keep themselves and others safe physically, emotionally and online. They build strong, positive and healthy relationships, they respect and value people’s differences, understanding that diversity makes our world a richer place. They are aware of their rights and responsibilities and their leadership skills are fostered within their class and within the school as a whole. Personal achievements at KCA and externally are recognised and celebrated.

    When the children leave King’s Cross Academy, they will do so with the knowledge, skills, understanding and attitude to be able to play an active, positive and successful role in today’s diverse society. We want our children to have high aspirations, a belief in themselves and realise that anything is possible if they put their mind to it. In an ever–changing world, it is important that they are aware, to an appropriate level, of different factors which will affect their world and that they learn how to deal with these so that they have good mental health and well-being therefore becoming empowered to live a happy and fulfilling life.

    Computing

    Through our computing curriculum at King’s Cross Academy we aim to give our pupils the life-skills that will enable them to embrace and utilise new technology in a creative, responsible and safe way in order to flourish. We want our pupils to develop the necessary digital skills to able to operate in the 21st century workplace.

    At King’s Cross Academy, we take inspiration from the opportunities presented by digital organisations around King’s Cross including Google, Meta, BT, Samsung and the Silicon Roundabout. We look to develop creativity and engagement which encapsulates lifelong learning creating individuals who can collaborate, problem solve and are self-motivated.

    We want children to become autonomous, independent users of computing technologies, gaining confidence and enjoyment from their activities. We want the use of technology to support learning across the entire curriculum and to ensure that our curriculum is accessible to every child. Computing as a subject is not simply taking place when we use digital devices but Computing is defined by experiencing and learning the key skills, knowledge and processes that can be applied to everyday situations.

    Not only do we learners be digitally literate and competent end-users of technology but through our computer science lessons we want them to develop creativity, resilience and critical thinking skills. We want our pupils to have a breadth of experience in both plugged (online) and unplugged (unplugged) opportunities to develop their understanding of themselves as individuals within King’s Cross Academy but also as members of a wider global community and as responsible Digital Citizens.

    Religious Education

    At King’s Cross Academy we believe in the importance of children developing and expressing their own beliefs and values. When planning for teaching and learning in Religious Education, we use the Camden Agreed Syllabus ‘Living Difference.’ Through the ‘Living Difference’ syllabus children learn that they need to understand how and why people live differently from each other and respect their right to do so. Children learn to identify and understand how and why we have different beliefs, attitudes and practices and that by doing so they can also gain respect from others.

    Living Difference focusses on engaging with and enquiring into concepts. Concepts are ‘big ideas’ that enable us to interpret and communicate human experience and make sense of the world. Within religious traditions people use distinctive concepts to express their experience and their understanding of the world.

    At different key stages pupils are progressively introduced to different groups of concepts as follows:

    • Concepts that are common to all human experience. For example, remembering, specialness, celebration, rights,
      duty and justice.
    • Concepts that are shared by many religions and are used in the study of religion. For example, God, worship, symbolism, the sacred,
      discipleship, stewardship and martyrdom
    • Concepts that are specific to particular religions. For example, Dukkha, Trinity, Tawheed, Redemption, Khalsa, Moksha and the Torah.

    Christianity is taught across all Key Stages and children are encouraged to make links between their own beliefs, those of Christians and those of other religions they have studied.

    Cross-Curricular Projects

    Core and foundation subjects are supported by our curriculum maps which provide a structured, project-based approach. Cross-curricular learning involves establishing patterns of information between different academic subjects. It offers a creative way of developing knowledge, understanding and practical skills through a study of interconnected topics.

    You can access examples of our curriculum maps below. The maps outline the learning and example activities for each project.

    All projects involve an initial experience and involve sessions where children help to plan the learning with their teacher. We have high expectations of the children’s ability to co-construct their learning in the projects with the teacher, we believe that this leads to increased motivation for and relevance of learning. You can read more about our approach to c0-constructing learning  through our Learning Toolbox by clicking here.

    Example of Nursery Curriculum Maps: Autumn term

    Example of Reception Curriculum Maps: Spring term

    Example of KS 1 Curriculum Maps:  Summer term

    Example of Year 4 Curriculum Map: Spring term

    © The curriculum maps are copyright of King’s Cross Academy Trust and should not be reproduced without permission

The Academy is a school where children can achieve their maximum potential

Emyr Fairburn Head Teacher