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Curriculum overview

Visual representation of the curriculum overview at Robsack Wood

Our Curriculum

Robsack Wood Primary Academy is a unique setting: children may join our nursery from the age of three months, and continue their journey with us right through to age eleven. As we are part of the University of Brighton Academy Trust family of schools, many of our pupils choose to remain within the Trust for the next phase of their education and some progress to study for undergraduate or post-graduate degrees at the University of Brighton. We build on this link to raise pupils’ aspirations and engage both pupils and their families with the potential of higher education.

Robsack Wood aims to provide opportunities for pupils to develop as independent, confident, successful learners with high aspirations who know how to make a positive contribution to their community and the wider society.  There is a high focus on developing pupils’ moral, spiritual, social and cultural understanding.  Robsack Wood ensures that pupils are well prepared for the next phase of their education and for life in modern Britain.

Robsack Wood prides itself on being a highly inclusive academy. We believe that all pupils can be supported to develop the executive functioning skills they need to succeed, and to succeed in the future. In order to support all pupils to develop these skills, we offer highly personalised and alternative provision as well as a full range of scaffolds, which are used to support some pupils on their journey to becoming successful independent learners.

We ensure that all pupils develop good character by explicitly teaching them about the brain and about pro-social and pro-learning skills. We believe that when pupils do not meet expectations, it is because they do not yet have the skills to manage within the environment they have been placed or with the demands that have been placed on them. We explicitly teach pupils about their executive function skills, as well as tools to manage their stressors so that pupils develop their emotional intelligence. Across the academy, we are able to develop and maintain a safe and happy environment where all pupils can learn at their best.

We believe in delivering a curriculum that builds knowledge of the world, capturing every pupil’s interest and engagement to become lifelong learners.  In order to achieve this, our curriculum is carefully mapped to ensure that it is coherently sequenced and progressive. Learning sequences across year groups have been designed to ensure alteration in pupils’ long-term memory. We achieve this through building on prior knowledge, supporting pupils to make connections in their learning and helping pupils to develop and understand transferrable skills that they are able to apply across the curriculum. We strive to ensure that pupils are well prepared, not only for the next phase of their education, but to be the successful citizens of the future.

We believe that reading is the key that unlocks all limitless learning for pupils, and for this reason we place reading at the heart of our curriculum. We ensure that early reading skills are systematically developed through high quality phonics to support pupils to develop the decoding skills they need, alongside systematic opportunities to develop their language comprehension through their engagement with quality texts. We believe in the importance of investing in inspiring texts for pupils to enjoy. At key stage two, we use high quality fiction and non-fiction texts – linked to subjects across the curriculum – to further enrich our broad and balanced wider curriculum and to ensure that pupils have access to the powerful knowledge they need to thrive as learners.

At Robsack Wood, we believe that pupils come first and that all pupils should have an active role in the way their academy is led. This is achieved through Pupil Parliament and Pupil Voice. Pupil Voice enables every pupil to influence the aspects of academy life that are important to them, for example, by helping in re-designing the playground area and by participating in the interview process for key staff members. Within Pupil Parliament, pupils learn to take responsibility and manage money, for example by having a budget for play equipment. Pupil Parliament promotes leadership opportunities and develops essential communication, organisation and debating skills. Last year, Pupil Parliament were successful in securing funding from a local charity. We also participate in Learning and Business Ambassadors to engage our pupils with a range of businesses and career opportunities, helping pupils prepare for a successful future.

We believe in the importance of time spent in the outdoor environment to ensure that pupils develop their understanding of the local environmental, including British wildlife. Outdoor learning, within Rocky Shore – a site of specific scientific interest adjoining Robsack Wood - offers our pupils the opportunity to engage with the rich natural diversity of the woodland environment to help build confidence, sensitivity, resilience and curiosity. 

We take great pride in offering a wide range of opportunities through enrichment activities, to capture the imagination of all children.

Every pupil should have access to the best of what has been thought and said.

Pupils come first and that all pupils should have an active role in the way their academy is led.

At Robsack Wood, we believe that pupils come first and that all pupils should have an active role in the way their academy is led. This is achieved through Pupil Parliament and Pupil Voice. Pupil Voice enables every pupil to influence the aspects of academy life that are important to them, for example, by helping in re-designing the playground area and by participating in the interview process for key staff members. Within Pupil Parliament, pupils learn to take responsibility and manage money, for example by having a budget for play equipment. Pupil Parliament promotes leadership opportunities and develops essential communication, organisation and debating skills. Last year, Pupil Parliament were successful in securing funding from a local charity. We also participate in Learning and Business Ambassadors to engage our pupils with a range of businesses and career opportunities, helping pupils prepare for a successful future.

We are proud to be a St Leonards academy and value our locality for all that it has to offer in terms of art galleries, museums and historic sites, believing that our engagement with the local area brings our curriculum to life. We also benefit from being in an area of geographical interest. Our programme of educational visits and collaboration, which includes visits to and collaboration with the Hastings Contemporary; geographical field studies in a range of local environments; trips to local museums including the Hastings Museum and the Life Boat Museum; visits to and collaboration with the University of Brighton; visits to Battle Abbey and Great Dixter; engagement with local events such as Jack in the Green and Hastings Bonfire to name just a few, ensures that pupils access local culture, and enables us to expand the horizons of all pupils.

We believe in the importance of time spent in the outdoor environment to ensure that pupils develop their understanding of the local environmental, including British wildlife. Outdoor Learning, within Rocky Shore – a site of specific scientific interest adjoining Robsack Wood - offers our pupils the opportunity to engage with the rich natural diversity of the woodland environment to help build confidence, sensitivity, resilience and curiosity. Pupils are further supported to become independent learners who are inspired to try out their own ideas, explore their own interests, to attempt new things and to take risks. Pupils engage in gardening, taking pride in our exceptional environment thus making a positive contribution to the academy.

A range of opportunities

We take great pride in offering a wide range of opportunities through enrichment activities, to capture the imagination of all children. These include an active Pupil Voice, Pupil Parliament, Sports Leaders, extra-curricular clubs and activities, competitive sports teams and additional music lessons.

We believe that high quality partnerships with parents are integral to enabling positive relationships and shared learning experiences. For this reason, parents are welcomed into our classrooms on a regular basis to celebrate their child’s successes and share their learning journey.

To enable this partnership approach and ensure high quality communication we use the following methods:

  • Website and other social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
  • ‘Dear Parents’ updates.
  • Class and academy newsletters.
  • Termly celebration afternoons and activity days.
  • Parent consultation meetings.
  • Class and Year Group Assemblies.
  • Weekly Recognition Awards that recognise pro-social and pro-learning behaviour in whole academy assembly where parents are invited to attend.