“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
Psalm 51:10

At Cavendish Church of England Primary School, we believe that every child is entitled to an ambitious, rich and meaningful education.

As a small, mixed-age Church of England school, we know our children well. This allows us to respond carefully to individual needs while protecting a clear and ambitious curriculum entitlement for every pupil.

Our curriculum develops secure knowledge and skills alongside curiosity, creativity, confidence, compassion, independence and resilience. We want children to understand more about themselves, their community and the wider world, and to develop the knowledge and character they need to flourish.

Our curriculum brings our school vision to life:

We Learn. We Love. We Belong.

What We Want for Every Child

Through our curriculum, we want every child to:

build secure and connected knowledge across a broad range of subjects;
become fluent and confident in reading, writing and mathematics;
develop curiosity and the confidence to ask questions and think deeply;
communicate ideas clearly and listen thoughtfully to others;
experience literature, music, creativity, physical activity and the arts;
understand people, places, cultures, beliefs and experiences beyond their own;
develop independence, resilience, responsibility and self-belief;
feel safe, known, valued and able to belong; and
be well prepared for the next stage of education and for life beyond Cavendish.

We do not see academic achievement and personal development as competing priorities. We want children to know more, understand more and become increasingly confident in what they can do, while developing the relationships, character and values that enable them to flourish.

A Curriculum Designed for Our Mixed-Age School

Our mixed-age structure is an important and positive part of life at Cavendish.

Our classes are:

Robins – Reception, Year 1 and Year 2
Wrens – Year 3 and Year 4
Owls – Year 5 and Year 6

Our curriculum is carefully organised through rolling programmes so that pupils receive their full curriculum entitlement without unnecessary repetition.

Mixed-age teaching does not mean that every child completes the same work.

Where it adds value, pupils may share a text, enquiry, practical experience, demonstration or discussion. Teachers then carefully adapt vocabulary, representations, scaffolding, questioning, level of independence and expected outcomes according to pupils' year group, prior knowledge and individual needs.

Our principle is:

Shared learning where it adds value. Distinct expectations where they matter.

Reception children belong fully within Robins while remaining distinctly EYFS. Their curriculum, teaching and assessment remain rooted in the Early Years Foundation Stage, with purposeful play, adult interaction and high-quality continuous provision protected throughout Reception.

A Carefully Sequenced Curriculum

Our curriculum is not a collection of disconnected activities or topics.

Each subject has a carefully designed Long-Term Plan which sets out what children need to know, understand and be able to do over time.

We draw upon high-quality curriculum programmes and resources, including Little Wandle, Literacy Tree, NCETM Mastering Number, White Rose, Kapow Primary, Oak National Academy and the Emmanuel Project, adapting these thoughtfully to our mixed-age context while maintaining the intended knowledge and progression.

Children do not simply learn facts about different subjects. They increasingly learn the distinctive ways of thinking within them.

They learn to reason mathematically, think historically, investigate geographically, work scientifically, create artistically, design purposefully, perform musically and engage thoughtfully with religious and non-religious worldviews.

Our individual subject curriculum pages and Long-Term Plans set out this progression in greater detail.

The Cavendish 5

Across our curriculum, teaching is underpinned by the Cavendish 5.

Retrieval

Important prior learning is revisited so that knowledge is remembered and new learning can connect securely to what children already know.

I Do, We Do, You Do

Teachers explicitly model new knowledge, skills and ways of thinking before practising alongside pupils and gradually supporting children towards independence.

Purposeful Practice

Children are given sufficient meaningful opportunities to practise what they have learned so that knowledge and skills become increasingly secure and fluent.

High-Quality Questioning

Teachers use questions to identify misconceptions and encourage children to explain, reason, compare, justify and think more deeply.

Feedback

Responsive feedback helps children recognise misconceptions, refine their thinking and understand how to improve.

These principles look different according to subject and age. In Reception, for example, they may be seen through adult modelling, play, exploration and responsive interaction, while older pupils increasingly apply their learning independently.

Reading and Language at the Heart of Our Curriculum

Reading gives children access to the entire curriculum.

From their earliest days at Cavendish, children experience stories, conversation, rhyme, vocabulary and high-quality literature.

Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised provides our systematic approach to phonics and early reading. Children develop secure decoding before progressing towards increasingly fluent and independent reading.

In Key Stage 2, our Faster Read approach gives pupils sustained experience of ambitious whole texts, developing fluency, stamina, vocabulary, comprehension and understanding of authors and ideas.

Purposeful talk is equally important.

Across the curriculum, children are encouraged to discuss, explain, question, justify and use increasingly precise subject vocabulary.

We want pupils to develop both the knowledge and the language with which to think about it.

Inclusion: Adapt Access, Not Ambition

Inclusion sits at the heart of our curriculum.

Every child — including pupils with SEND, disadvantaged pupils and those requiring additional challenge — is entitled to encounter the important knowledge and experiences within our curriculum.

Teachers may adapt:

explanations and modelling;
vocabulary and communication support;
resources and representations;
the size and sequencing of learning steps;
opportunities for oral rehearsal;
practical and visual support;
levels of scaffolding; and
the ways in which children demonstrate what they know.

Our guiding principle is:

Adapt access, not ambition.

Support is designed to help pupils participate successfully in the intended curriculum. As understanding grows, scaffolding is reduced so that children become increasingly independent.

Children who grasp learning quickly are supported to explore greater depth, complexity, independence and application, rather than simply being moved prematurely onto later curriculum content.

Personal Development and Wellbeing

Children learn best when they feel safe, secure and valued.

Personal development therefore sits alongside academic learning throughout school.

Through PSHE and Relationships Education, children develop knowledge and understanding relating to relationships, health, safety, citizenship, responsibility and growing independence.

Our whole-school myHappymind approach also supports children to understand their brains, recognise emotions, develop strategies for regulation and build resilience and positive relationships.

Shared language and approaches across school help children understand that wellbeing is something we can learn about, talk about and actively support.

Flourish Friday

Friday afternoons have a distinctive purpose at Cavendish.

Through Flourish Friday, children have regular opportunities to explore what it means to flourish as individuals, as a community and as people who can make a positive difference in the world.

Flourish Friday brings together our Christian vision, personal development and wider school values through experiences including:

myHappymind and wellbeing, developing emotional understanding, regulation, resilience and positive relationships;
Bible storytelling, allowing children to encounter, question and reflect upon stories and ideas from the Christian tradition;
stewardship, including gardening, allotment work, ECO activities and caring responsibly for our school environment;
arts and values-based activities, encouraging creativity, expression and reflection; and
courageous advocacy, helping children recognise issues that matter and consider how they can respond.

Flourish Friday is not a collection of disconnected activities. It is a regular opportunity for children to live out, explore and reflect upon our school vision.

Children learn that flourishing involves caring for themselves, caring for other people and recognising their responsibility towards the world around them.

Courageous Advocacy

We want children to understand that belonging to a community brings both opportunity and responsibility.

Through Flourish Friday and the wider life of the school, pupils are encouraged to:

notice → understand → care → act

Courageous advocacy is not simply about fundraising.

It is about helping children recognise something that matters, learn enough to understand it and consider how their words or actions might make a positive difference.

This may involve caring for our environment, supporting others, contributing to our village and community or responding thoughtfully to wider local and global issues.

As children grow, we want them to recognise that their voice matters and that they have something worthwhile to contribute.

Creativity, Music and the Arts

Creativity has an important place within our curriculum.

Through Art and Design, Design and Technology, Music, literature, drama and performance, pupils experience different ways of thinking, creating and communicating.

Kapow Primary provides the core progression for our Music curriculum, enabling children to develop as listeners, singers, instrumentalists, improvisers, composers and performers.

Singing, performances, instrumental opportunities and work with external partners such as Suffolk Music Service enrich the musical life of the school and complement the taught curriculum.

We want children not simply to experience creativity but to develop the knowledge, techniques and confidence needed to create for themselves.

Enrichment and Wider Opportunities

A strong curriculum extends beyond individual lessons.

Children experience a range of opportunities that deepen and broaden their education, including:

educational visits and visitors;
sporting activity and competition;
music and performance;
pupil leadership and responsibility;
community and church experiences;
special curriculum events and enrichment days; and
opportunities to collaborate, contribute and serve others.

These experiences are carefully chosen to bring learning to life, extend children's experience and open doors to possibilities they may not otherwise encounter.

Enrichment complements the taught curriculum rather than replacing it.

Assessment and Responsive Teaching

Assessment helps us understand whether children have learned the curriculum we intended.

Teachers use a range of approaches, including questioning, discussion, observation, retrieval, practical application, pupils' work and appropriate subject assessments.

Assessment is used to inform teaching.

Where pupils have gaps in prerequisite knowledge, teachers revisit learning and provide further modelling, practice or targeted support.

Where knowledge is secure, pupils are expected to use it with increasing independence, precision and depth.

This is particularly important within our mixed-age classes. Teachers ensure that the expectations of each year group remain visible within teaching, questioning, tasks and assessment.

The curriculum entitlement remains ambitious and secure; teaching responds to the children in front of us.

Our Christian Vision and Curriculum

Our curriculum is an expression of our theologically rooted Christian vision:

“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
Psalm 51:10

We want children to grow in knowledge while also developing the wisdom and character to use that knowledge well.

Across our curriculum and wider school life, children encounter opportunities to explore dignity, compassion, justice, responsibility, courage, creativity, stewardship, community and hope.

They encounter people whose experiences, cultures, beliefs and perspectives may be different from their own and are encouraged to approach these differences with knowledge, curiosity and respect.

Our vision also reminds us that every child has worth, potential and the capacity to grow.

We want children to understand that success is not simply about what they achieve for themselves, but also about how they contribute to the flourishing of others.

This is what We Learn. We Love. We Belong. means within our curriculum.

The Difference We Want Our Curriculum to Make

By the time children leave Cavendish, we want them to have developed a secure and connected body of knowledge and the confidence to use what they know.

We want them to be fluent readers, articulate communicators, thoughtful mathematicians, curious learners and responsible members of their communities.

We want them to: