Kings Hill School Primary & Nursery

Developing deep thinking skills so that children can question the way the world works.

Individual Liberty

Encouraging children to delve deeper into their understanding of literature and how it relates to the world around them.

• - Skills of analysing information so children can make sense of large amounts of information available in the modern world.

Inspiring children through cross-curricular links and giving their learning purpose.

Providing children with challenging questions which:

• Once completed, allow them to experience a feeling of excitement and delight, a sense of personal achievement.
• Require them to be resilient and develop their ability to persevere.

Individual Liberty

Teaching a range of literature that promotes discussion and debate. -Pig Heart boy- Year 6. Kensuke’s Kingdom- Year 5, discusses individuality and the importance of unprejudiced views. 

Studying key texts that give students the opportunity to think about the consequences of right and wrong behaviour, applying this to their own lives.  The London Eye Mystery – Year 6 - raises the issues of stranger-danger and the accepting of ‘free gifts’.

Respect & Tolerance

Talking Point Assembly encourages discussion and debate about current affairs and topical issues. For example, should refugee children from Afghanistan have places in UK schools? Use Ballot boxes to vote on these issues.

Respect & Tolerance

Providing children with opportunities to:

• Organise their work in a systematic way so that it can be understood by others as well as themselves.
• Distinguish between the right and wrong methods of completing tasks.
• Engage playfully in unequal shares of resources and encouraging them to consider how people may feel about this. Rule of Law
• Analyse information and consider the implications of misleading or bias literature.
  Individual Liberty

Developing a safe learning environment in which making mistakes is okay.

Respect & Tolerance

Studying key texts that encourage moral thinking through the recognition of values. For example debating the moral dilemmas of xenotransplantation and human donors and thinking about how we apply such dilemmas to our own situation – Pig Heart Boy (Year 6). In The Arrival (Year 6) the text discusses how families become separated by disaster/terror and the urgency and turmoil of seeking asylum. Pupils are encouraged to link this to current affairs (such as Afghanistan) and consider the wider aspects of immigration.

Pupils are able to analyse characters and events to explore the consequences of negative actions For example, in The London Eye Mystery, the character of Aunt Gloria is egocentric and materialistic resulting in her son feeling unwanted.

Giving the opportunities to consider different perspectives and empathise with other characters. For example, in The London Eye Mystery, the main character has autism and the story is told through his eyes. His autistic traits (depicted as annoying in the book) help children to empathise with the character and see the world through his eyes. In turn, children are more able to understand the needs of others and apply empathy to similar situations in their own lives.

Respect & Tolerance

In Guided Reading, texts are carefully selected to deal with moral questions such as that of race, homelessness and immigration.  Through ‘The Journey’- Year 4 - pupils have the opportunity to discuss, debate and develop their ability to apply fiction to real life scenarios.

Respect & Tolerance

Individual Liberty

Talking Point Assembly encourages discussion and debate about current affairs and topical issues. For example, should refugee children from Afghanistan have places in UK schools? Use Ballot boxes to vote on these issues.

Respect & Tolerance

Democracy

Working regularly in partners and small groups.

• Children discuss tasks and questions and decide how best to solve them.
• Children develop their abilities to work as a team.
• Children develop a sense of responsibility within a small group.

Democracy

Respect & Tolerance

Participating in high quality class discussions.

• - Children listen to and respect the methods and strategies of others even if they are different to their own.
• - Children explain their ideas and share good practice, explaining what they particularly like about someone else’s work.

Democracy

Respect & Tolerance

Children write peer reviews of others’ work ensuring that it is an honest opinion but is delivered sensitively using appropriate language.

Respect & Tolerance

Participating in English events, such as World Book Day.

Lessons promote cooperation and teamwork through the ability to work in groups, listening to presentations and asking questions. For example, children are encouraged to build on the views of others, or oppose the view using positive language. In turn, this creates a culture where they make speak freely but showing social awareness of others.

Individual Liberty

Giving pupils opportunities to speak in different contexts and regarding a range of real life issues.

Giving pupils the opportunity to be independent and take responsibility for their own learning.

Drama and productions encourage freedom of speech and individuality.

Individual Liberty

Mayor’s debate with other schools promotes interaction with others about topical issues.  Children debate views and build on from the views of others. Democracy

Paired reading encourages resilience and mutual respect.

Librarians are aware of the needs of the children at school and offer suggestions and support others to locate reading materials.

Applying learning to real-life scenarios.

• Children develop skills which prepare them for the real-world e.g. note taking, creating plans, reading aloud.

Appreciating English in other cultures e.g. in Ancient Egypt, Mayan

Respect & Tolerance

Understanding that literature is  universal, that every country has a language.

Respect & Tolerance

Pupils learn to appreciate and respect others through the study of fiction, non-fiction and poetry from different cultures . For example, The Chocolate Tree- Year 6; The Scarab’s Secret – Year 4; and

Escape from Pompeii – Year 3.

Key texts enable pupils to appreciate British history and culture. For example– Street Child - Year 5, Shackleton’s Journey  - Year 6; Macbeth- Year 5

Respect & Tolerance

Speaking and Listening activities promote the opportunity for pupils to share their own experiences and appreciate other pupils’ perspectives and experiences.

Etymology – links to other languages

Pen-pals – children converse with others in a different country and learn to appreciate the similarities and differences eg. French Pen-pals

Respect & Tolerance

Theatre trips, watching shows and visits from published authors give all pupils the opportunity to access cultural activities eg. Shakespeare