Overview

At Kielder Primary School and Nursery, our curriculum is designed to be ambitious, knowledge-rich and carefully sequenced, enabling all pupils to build deep understanding, strong vocabulary and cultural capital, regardless of their starting points.

As a small rural school with mixed-age classes, our curriculum is organised into planned cycles that ensure:

  • Full coverage of the National Curriculum and statutory frameworks

  • Clear progression over time

  • Deliberate revisiting and strengthening of key concepts

  • Equity of entitlement for all pupils

Our curriculum is underpinned by the belief that secure knowledge is the foundation for strong skills, reasoning and creativity. We therefore prioritise the careful identification of core substantive knowledge in every subject, ensuring pupils know more, remember more and can apply what they have learned in increasingly sophisticated ways.

Knowledge-Rich and Sequential Design

In every subject, we have identified:

  • Core Knowledge (what all pupils should know and remember)

  • Key vocabulary (disciplinary and subject-specific language)

  • Progressive skills and outcomes

Knowledge is sequenced so that pupils build from:

  • Concrete and familiar concepts in EYFS and KS1

  • To increasingly abstract, technical and disciplinary knowledge in KS2

This ensures that learning is cumulative and that new learning is explicitly connected to what pupils already know.

Mixed-Age Curriculum Cycles

Our mixed-age curriculum is carefully designed to ensure that pupils:

  • Do not repeat the same content unnecessarily

  • Encounter new and progressively challenging knowledge each year

  • Revisit key concepts in new contexts to strengthen long-term memory

Our two-year (KS1) and four-year (KS2) cycles ensure full statutory coverage while supporting high-quality teaching in a small-school context.

Local, National and Global Context

Our curriculum is rooted in our unique context, making learning meaningful and relevant. We deliberately include:

  • Local geography, history and environment (e.g. Northumberland, Kielder, rural and forest landscapes)

  • Links to Kielder Observatory and Dark Skies where appropriate

  • Local heritage and regional history

  • A global dimension, including links to our partner school in Bahrain

This ensures pupils develop strong place-based understanding, alongside awareness of the wider world.

Personal Development and Values

Our curriculum promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development through high-quality provision in:

  • Religious Education

  • PSHE

  • Music

  • PE

  • Wider curriculum enrichment

These subjects are treated with equal importance and are carefully planned to support pupils’ character, wellbeing and understanding of diversity, belief, community and responsibility.

Ambition for All

We have high expectations for all pupils. Through carefully designed knowledge, vocabulary and progression, we ensure that every child, including those with SEND and disadvantaged pupils, can:

  • Access ambitious content

  • Build confidence as learners

  • Develop the knowledge and language needed for future success

At Kielder Primary School and Nursery, our curriculum is ambitious, inclusive and deeply personal. As a very small school, we know every child as an individual and design learning that recognises their strengths, interests and needs. Our curriculum is built on the belief that every child can thrive and excel, regardless of starting point, background or circumstance.

We provide a broad, balanced and knowledge-rich curriculum that carefully weaves together essential knowledge, transferable skills and rich vocabulary, enabling pupils to make sense of the world and their place within it. Learning is sequenced to ensure strong progression, while flexible teaching approaches allow us to respond to the unique dynamics of mixed-age classes.

Broadening Horizons

Located in a rural community, we are committed to broadening horizons. Our curriculum opens doors to places, cultures, ideas and possibilities beyond our immediate surroundings, while also valuing and drawing upon our local environment, heritage and community. Through meaningful links with the wider world, including global themes and international connections, pupils develop curiosity, empathy and ambition.

Thrive and Excel @ Kielder Framework

The curriculum is underpinned by our Thrive and Excel @ Kielder Framework, which shapes not only what we teach but how we teach. Across all subjects and phases, pupils develop competencies within the six domains:

  • Academic

  • Metacognition

  • Communication

  • Innovation

  • Service

  • Wellbeing

These competencies empower pupils to become reflective learners, confident communicators, resilient individuals and responsible citizens. We explicitly teach children how to learn, how to care for themselves and others, and how to contribute positively to their community and the wider world.

In essence, our curriculum prepares children not only for the next stage of their education, but for life — equipping them with the knowledge, skills, language and character they need to thrive and excel in an ever-changing world.