Vision for Learning

It is important to us that your child loves learning at Meon Junior

We want to equip children with the skills to easily adapt to changing circumstances as they continue on their learning path. We have a clear curriculum vision that sets out our aims for our children.

We are working with our family of schools including Meon Infant and Moorings Way Infant School to create a joint vision for our schools and the learning that takes place there. Our 3 schools can be referred to as ‘M3’.

We believe:

 ‘Every child should have the opportunity to learn long term knowledge and skills which challenge them to find their place in the world’

 

How?

Through clearly sequenced content knowledge that is evidenced:

  • within lessons
  • between lessons
  • between year groups
  • between key stages

 

M3  Context:

  • Our schools comprise of 2 Infant Schools and 1 Junior School with a combined pupil number of approx. 685 children
  • Our schools are split site and work in collaboration with each other as one organisation
  • Our schools are situated in Portsmouth in the South East region in Hampshire

We serve a community:

  • Where Pupil Premium is generally in line with the National Average
  • Where we have high levels of parent engagement
  • Children come into our school with strong starting points

The M3

meon junior school
meon infant school
moorings way infant school

Intended curriculum outcomes:

We Transform Life Chances by:

  • Embedding habits in pupils that enable long term success and the application of these in all new circumstances.
  • Implementing a curriculum that has been designed to empower children with the knowledge and skills they need to ‘meet the world’
  • Providing the conditions for the acquisition of long term knowledge and skills that allow our children them to achieve their potential regardless of their starting points.
  • Equipping children with the strategies and schemas needed to approach any new situation.
  • Developing independent learners who use prior learning to make their aspiration their reality
  • Giving children the tools to find their place in the universe, their world and their community
  • Providing children with a wide range of experiences for academic and holistic growth
  • Cementing the power of practice to make learning permanent

vision for learning gallery mjs
vision for learning gallery mjs
vision for learning gallery mjs

Rationale for curriculum intent:

Embedding habits in pupils that enable long term success and the application of these in all new circumstances.

  • Right from the very first day in our schools, our children are developing habits: How they hold their pencil, how they listen to each other and how they approach learning.
  • We know that changing a habit once established is extremely difficult so our curriculum must re-enforce the habits for success for physical, emotional and academic behaviours.
  • Our curriculum supports the forming of effective habits so these become embedded and part of everyday life.

Implementing a curriculum that has been designed to empower children with the knowledge and skills they need to ‘meet the world’

  • We recognise the need to prepare our children for world they will grow into.
  • We want our children to recognise their own significance in that world including its history and its future.
  • Children need to be exposed to and prepared for the challenges, dangers and possibilities that they will encounter in the modern world including economic, global and technological concerns and advances.

 

Providing the conditions for the acquisition of long term knowledge and skills that allow our children  to achieve their potential regardless of their starting points.

  • We are immensely aware of the relationship between storing memories and the capacity for learning. We use deliberate techniques to support the establishment and consolidation of long term memories.
  • The encoding, storing and retrieving of information is consciously planned for and children are taught strategies to support the process.
  • These stored memories and skills will support children in the learning of new knowledge, skills therefore supporting understanding.

 

Equipping children with the strategies and schemas needed to approach any new situation.

  • We understand that children need a strong foundation of knowledge and skills to build on. Through careful planning of our subjects, we strive to layer content in a way which allows children to revisit information before making intentional links to new learning.
  • Subjects will be taught with a clear understanding of our pupil’s own journey, and relationships between previous learning and new learning are exploited.
  • Values, dispositions and attitudes are embedded and re-enforced continually so that they can be applied to any challenge or situation.

 

Developing independent learners who use prior learning to make their aspiration their reality

  • Being aware and conscious of the thinking tools we use, the strategies we employ, and the curriculum we teach empowers our children to make informed decisions.
  • The expectation for independence is inherent through EYFS, KS1 and KS2. Children are able to track their success and show responsibility for their own learning. Learning behaviours in our school reflect this.
  • Having a clear understanding of what you need to do, why you need to do it and the specific steps you must take to get there is a key driver in our curriculum.

 

Giving children the tools to find their place in the universe, their world and their community

  • The children in our schools are taught about their own significance in their world. Consequences of actions and the belief that they can make a difference to our world is taught as a common thread. For example, as a society, we understand the harm that plastic refuse in the ocean is having on animals and conservation. We nurture our children to not just observe but to act.
  • Our curriculum content draws on subjects and threats such as these to ensure our children know what they need to do to play a part in their world.
  • The children in our school are encouraged to celebrate their identity and to delight in the similarities and differences of others. Our curriculum deliberately plans links with our local area, members of our community and with representatives of the world that their future selves will be confronting.

 

Providing children with a wide range of experiences for academic and holistic growth

  • The thinking skills we teach our children are skills for life. Decision making, building relationships, resilience and curiosity are all integral to academic as well as personal growth.
  • Learning happens through planned experiences that are designed to be ‘sticky’ and are therefore retained by the pupils. We ensure that through our planning, the right information is stored. Cognitive science differentiates between episodic (contextual) and semantic (meaning) learning and as facilitators we focus on lessons that target the specific needs of the pupils. We also understand that learning is not an immediate process, and to ensure long term memory acquisition we need to re-visit, overlearn and apply stored knowledge and skills to gain better understanding. We want our children to remember the right things.
  • All planned sessions are designed to motivate, excite and challenge the learners but the focus will always be on the intended knowledge and skills needed to build up a schema of new learning.

 

Cementing the power of practice to make learning permanent

  • Practice is fundamental to the mastery of all new skills, knowledge and understanding regardless of subject content. We see this is all aspects of life from the Trainee Doctor learning how to administer a vaccination to the toddler taking their first steps. By repetition, changing, feedback and determination we reach our objective.
  • The habit of practice supports the philosophy of Growth Mindset and is explicit in our teaching. Our children understand the power of practice and know why it is a habit for life. We teach them that their successes are the product of effort and self-motivation.