Our Curriculum

Our curriculum aims to:

• Widen children’s  KNOWLEDGE of the WORLD. We want our children to see themselves as  local, national and international citizens. 
• Increase children’s VOCABULARY. Words empower children to make sense of the world around them. A wide vocabulary helps them to put their emotions into words, socialise with people, imagine and wonder.
• Develop their CURIOSITY and PASSION FOR LEARNING. These are characteristics of engaged learners. 
• Enhance CRITICAL thinking skills. Successful learners compare, analyse, sift, sort and ask perceptive questions.

Curriculum Drivers

Rather than just letting subjects drive the curriculum, we felt that it should be the needs of our children that should determine the emphasis. To do this, we established some key ‘drivers’ for our school. 
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We use these 'drivers' to underpin the development work we undertake in all areas of school life and to ensure our curriculum offer is personalised to meet the needs of our school community. After a consultation with stakeholders, we decided on two main drivers for our William Davis curriculum and they are: 

Communication

We believe that being an effective communicator is a vital skill for a successful life. We plan for opportunities to develop children’s communication skills in every lesson, through drama, performance, debate, presentation and discussion. We expect children to use excellent communication skills across the school day.

Experiences

We want to broaden curriculum content out into much more than a series of well-remembered facts. We believe that our children learn best when their knowledge is enriched by experiences such as visits, workshops and visiting speakers. We aim to expose our children to both knowledge and experiences that will provide them with the cultural capital needed to become well rounded, educated citizens.

How do we know what children have learned?

  • ​​​​Questioning
  • Pupil Book Study
  • Talking to teachers
  • Low stakes “drop in” observations
  • Quizzing and retrieval practices
  • Feedback and marking.
If you would like to find out more about the William Davis Curriculum contact our deputy head Charlotte Barrington on  
admin@williamdavis.towerhamlets.sch.uk, or click the link below.