Curriculum Introduction

At Kells Lane Primary School, our curriculum is designed to be diverse, engaging and inclusive, ensuring that every child can succeed. It is underpinned by research and evidence-based teaching practices, enabling us to deliver high-quality learning that is purposeful, coherent and effective.

We have carefully structured our curriculum to provide seamless progression from Nursery through to Year 6, with subjects thoughtfully interleaved to strengthen connections in learning. This approach ensures that children continually build upon prior knowledge and skills, applying them meaningfully both within and beyond the classroom.

Our curriculum aims to inspire curiosity, ambition and a love of learning, encouraging children to explore a wide range of cultures and communities and to develop a deeper understanding of the world around them.

For our staff, the curriculum provides clarity and consistency, ensuring a shared understanding of expectations and progression across the whole school. This collaborative approach supports high-quality teaching and learning for all.

Through our curriculum, we are committed to helping every child live our school motto:

What Inspires and Shapes Our Curriculum?

At Kells Lane Primary School, our curriculum is carefully designed to reflect our community, our values, and our ambition for every child. Our “Learning Means the World” curriculum developed by Dimensions, is rooted in evidence-informed practice and shaped by collaboration with trusted educational partners, research schools, and local experts. It is designed to help pupils understand the world around them and their role within it—locally, nationally, and globally.

Our curriculum development has been informed and strengthened through professional collaboration and high-quality training. We are grateful to Benton Park Primary School for their partnership work with us on Task Design, which has helped ensure learning is purposeful, sequenced, and ambitious. We have also drawn on the work of Schools North East, particularly through their Curriculum Conference, which supported curriculum leadership and networking across the region, including valuable links with local historian Peter Sagar, enriching our local history offer.

In science, our approach to assessment has been developed in collaboration with the Primary Science Teaching Trust Home – Primary Science Teaching Trust through their Teacher Assessment in Primary Science (TAPS) programme, ensuring assessment supports learning and deepens conceptual understanding.

To quality assure our curriculum more widely, staff have been trained in Pupil Book Study, led by Alex Bedford (Unity Research School – Unity Schools Partnership) Pupil Book Study | CUSP, providing an evidence-informed framework to evaluate the impact and coherence of our curriculum. Our pedagogical approach has also been influenced by the work of Tom Sherrington and WALKTHRUs particularly in relation to clarity, communication, and effective classroom practice.

Click below to view Kells Lane Teaching & Learning Routines:

Kells Lane Teaching & Learning Routines

Adaptive Teaching at Kells Lane

• Scaffolding: Providing temporary support—like writing frames, word banks, or worked examples—that is gradually removed as students become more independent.
• Flexible Grouping: Using temporary, targeted groups for specific tasks rather than static "low" or "high" ability tables.
• Checking for Understanding: Frequently using tools like mini-whiteboards or "hinge questions" to get instant feedback from every student at once.
• Micro-adaptations: Small shifts such as rephrasing a question, providing an extra visual aid, or giving a "just a minute" challenge to a quick-grasper.

Communication at the Heart of Our Curriculum

Communication is a defining feature of our curriculum and ethos. We want our pupils to communicate their learning and understanding confidently and effectively in a variety of ways, including speaking, writing, drawing, and practical work. We also emphasise that learning is not only demonstrated through a final outcome; the processes, thinking, and steps along the learning journey are equally important.

Pupils are given frequent opportunities to develop their communication skills through School Council debates, council sessions, our Rights Respecting Schools work, and the effective use of the Pupil Books Study sessions to gather pupil voice and feedback. Through these experiences, pupils learn the importance of listening as well as being heard and understand how unclear communication can lead to misunderstanding or conflict.

Learning About Conflict, Culture and Conservation

Our curriculum recognises that conflict is a natural part of everyday life, from small disagreements to global challenges. We teach children that strong communication skills can help resolve conflict constructively and that respectful debate, active listening, and understanding different viewpoints are essential life skills. Children are encouraged to discuss and disagree in a balanced and open-minded way, recognising that some conflict can be healthy when managed appropriately.

As a culturally rich and diverse borough, Gateshead provides an important context for our work on Culture. Our curriculum celebrates diversity and actively challenges stereotypes, helping children to develop tolerance, acceptance, and respect for others. Through our curriculum, children learn to use appropriate language when discussing culture and to understand why context matters. We aim to build meaningful connections with the wide range of cultural and ethnic groups within our community.

Our commitment to Conservation extends beyond environmental issues to include culture, history, and community. Although our children may not have the same access to natural spaces as those in rural areas, we make the most of our environment through activities such as building bird feeders, planting wildflowers, litter picking. These experiences help children develop teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills while fostering a sense of responsibility for the world around them.

We want children to understand that even small actions can have a significant impact and that moving away from a ‘throw-away’ culture is essential for the future of our planet and communities. Conservation within our curriculum also includes protecting culture and history. As a school with over 100 years of history, we teach children the importance of caring for our school and community so it can be enjoyed by future generations.

Our Curriculum Narrative

Our curriculum narrative begins with Communication, as this underpins all other learning. This leads naturally to Conflict, Culture, and Conservation, helping children understand how these global issues are interconnected. Alongside this, we raise aspirations through additional Competency Units which enable children to learn about remarkable people from the past, looking at their stories and how they have shaped our world today. People such as Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female doctor or Walter Tull, known for his dedication to the British Army. The curriculum gives all children the opportunity to explore themes of Creativity, Commitment, Courage, and Community through the lives of significant individuals and groups.

Through our curriculum, we aim to develop thoughtful, articulate, and compassionate learners who understand the world they live in and recognise the positive role they can play within it. 

Curriculum Roadmap Example: – Science Roadmap Y5

Curriculum Roadmap Example: – History Roadmap Y2

Learning Card Example: –Y5 Science Learning Card Circulatory System

The following schemes of work support and inform the teaching and learning within the curriculum areas listed below:

Music:Sing Up and Mr Dunn from the Music Service

French: Rachel Hawkes

PE:Complete PE 

RE:Local agreed syllabus Gateshead

PSHE/RHE:Pol-Ed

Online safety:Project Evolve 

Handwriting:Letter-join

Oracy:Voice 21

Phonics:Read, Write, Inc