The West Park Way - OUR CURRICULUM VISION:

Our children know who they are, where they come from, who they aspire to be

At West Park Academy we believe that it is important to develop the whole child, both the academic and the personal.  We aim to inspire a life-long love of learning where children are valued for their individuality and realise their full potential within a positive enriched environment. Curiosity, flexibility of thought and risk taking are at the heart of everything we do.

Our children are confident and responsible citizens, understanding the positive impact they can have within the local and global community both now and in the future. 

OUR VALUES

In order for children to develop the positive attitudes to thrive we value the following:

• Work hard
• Try new things
• Never give up 
• Understand others
• Be curious

The vision and values are central to our everyday life, it is what we celebrate, what we recognise and what we believe will develop our children into confident and responsible citizens. They form the core of our Personal Development and are central to our teaching and work alongside the following policies in school:

• Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE-including Relationships and Sex Education)
• Fundamental British Values
• Positive Behaviour
• The Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural aspects (SMSC) of school life

Who we are

As children grow they learn more about themselves, what they like, what they are good at, what they need to get better at. At West Park we help them on this journey of discovery. Each classroom is set up with emotional check ins, regulation stations and weekly circle times that help our children learn to talk about how they are feeling and work alongside them to develop strategies to cope with emotions and setbacks. Our curriculum helps them to discover what they enjoy and floor books and assemblies celebrate their achievements.

We learn about Fundamental British Values of Mutual Respect, Tolerance, Individual Liberty and the Rule of Law through our PSHE curriculum including RSE, RE curriculum, our Opal playtimes, our assemblies, our varied after-school clubs and the books we study. We learn that our opinion matters and we use opportunities to utilise voting and see that Democracy gives us a voice. Our positive behaviour policy teaches children what good behaviour is and that behaviour is a choice and we need to take responsibility for the choices we make.

Where we come from

The curriculum is routed in the locality. We learn about the area: its Geography; its History; its beliefs. Alongside this are well planned visits and visitors that help us discover more about the place we are from, the people who have formed it and live here now. We follow enquiries that help us understand about the place we live and how it has been shaped and example of this would be the Year 4 enquiry entitled, “What might life be like in the North East if Hadrian hadn’t built his wall? We learn how to be responsible citizens and take responsibility for making where we come from a better place for all. A year 2 enquiry looks at “How we can make our local area better?” and then in Year 5 we investigate “How easy would it be to become a self-sufficient school?”  In both, children are given the responsibility of coming up with ideas and solutions that address big problems.

We aim to develop leadership in our pupils through the following:

• School Council
• Reader Leaders
• Eco Ambassadors
• Play leaders
• Librarians
• Monitors

Children who are self-assured, taking responsibility in all aspects of school life and beyond.

Who we aspire to be

We wish our students to be good people, successful both academically and in their positive contribution to society. Through our learning dispositions and recognition boards, we celebrate the values we wish to see; the values we believe will help our children to thrive and develop into understanding, caring individuals. In our PSHE and RSE curriculum themes we look at what bullying is and about being the change we wish to see. We value team work and supporting each other socially and academically and this can be seen in the way we organise our groups for lessons such as Science and PE. Our vision, and therefore our curriculum, develops our children as confident and responsible citizens, understanding the positive impact they can have within the local and global community both now and in the future. It does this through teaching units of work for example on sustainability; showcasing the legacy of great people who have had a positive impact on the lives of others; giving children opportunities to learn about the world of work; opportunities to challenge themselves and see what they are capable of.