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Curriculum Policy

Through our Islamic Faith, we acknowledge our responsibility to all, to enrich lives and show love and respect within our school family. We believe in

lifelong learning aiming to equip our children to live life today and for tomorrow rooted in love for our religion.

Mission:

“To provide the best quality education in a secure Islamic environment”.

Intent:

Our Curriculum has been designed to ensure each and every child can live life in all its fullness by offering stimulating and awe-inspiring learning

experiences with Islamic and British values at its heart.

It is bespoke to the needs of the pupils at Mehria, not only by focussing on appropriate subject specific knowledge, skills and understanding as set out in the

National Curriculum, but by modelling the virtues given to us by Allah (s.w.t.) and by developing individual and collaborative learning experiences, a positive

growth mind set, a sense of responsibility and challenges that take them beyond the classroom.

Economic and social disadvantage is widely recognised as being one of the greatest barriers to educational achievement and future life chances. We are a

small school with a constantly evolving curriculum which responds to the needs of learners and their interests by enhancing learning experiences and

raising awareness from the local area to national and global arenas. Here at Mehria we are relentless in the way that we use every aspect of school life to

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enable the children, whatever their background, to access and build up their reserves of both Social and Cultural Capital as well as the full range of

knowledge skills and dispositions that are essential if they are to understand, communicate and be successful in the world.

In order to do this, we as a school must be inspirational in all that we do each and every year. Key to this is way in which we create and maintain the on-

going momentum that is necessary for the sustainability of our work. It is through the design of our school curriculum, its content and delivery that we

achieve this important goal. Our intentions as a school are articulated through the key curriculum drivers that we follow, as they set the direction for all of

our work and enshrine the commitments that we make to our school community. These drivers are:

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Mehria Curriculum Drivers

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Implement:

Through quality teaching of knowledge, skills and vocabulary across core and foundation subjects, all children will be challenged to be inquisitive,

compassionate, courageous and creative learners. They will have opportunities to influence their own learning through age appropriate and progressive

themes and topics. Effective learning characteristics including being ambitious, reflective and imaginative will drive teaching and learning.

Impact:

Our children will have a confident set of skills, knowledge, Islamic and British values which can be used to get ahead in education and life more generally. In

short they will learn more, remember more, enjoy more and develop more spiritually, socially and emotionally. Thus enabling them to be ready for their

next stage in education.

WHAT do we teach?

The provision we offer is guided by the requirements of the National Curriculum.

Our provision takes into account every aspect of a child’s development. The curriculum gives all of our children the opportunity to achieve the highest

possible standards of numeracy and literacy which is integrated across all areas of our curriculum. To enable our children to develop socially, morally,

physically, emotionally and spiritually, we provide stimulating learning environments in which children are encouraged to learn through their own

experiences and apply their knowledge independently. Within this framework of both a broad and balanced curriculum, our planning and progression

documents ensure that our curriculum suits the needs of all pupils in school where lessons are practical in real-life contexts where possible to provoke

curiosity we want our children to have in order to fully engage in our exciting journey curriculum. The individual needs of each child are met through well

planned and varied learning activities, including visits and workshops.

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Teaching for depth of learning

At Mehria Primary school, our progressive curriculum has been carefully designed, organised and planned to ensure that our children are not merely

covering the statutory content of the National Curriculum but achieving a depth of learning through the widening and deepening of essentials skills,

understanding and concepts thus allowing these to be used across all areas of the curriculum. Within our curriculum, we build in many opportunities for

repetition and practise to ensure that children are able to revisit previous learning, which allows them to gradually develop and build upon this to ensure

for depth.

Teaching for balance of learning

At Mehria primary school, we carefully design, plan and implement our curriculum to provide balance across areas of learning to allow for children to

develop both academically, personally and socially. It is part of our underlying belief that every child should feel valued and experience feeling success in a

wide range of curriculum areas as responsible and resourceful pupils who reflect on their learning, building resilience and taking risk whilst understanding

that we learn from our mistakes. In addition to this we want to ensure that our children build and develop and maintain good relationships.

Our balanced curriculum is not at the expense of high standards in core subjects. Our cross curricular approach to learning ensures that high standards and

expectations of our children’s work and outcomes are consistent across all areas of their learning.

Our full, rich and varied curriculum, with its excellent range of experiences, ensures that every pupil at Mehria Primary School makes excellent progress

both academically and personally. It is unique to our school and allows our children to flourish.

Teaching for breadth of learning

At Mehria Primary School, careful analysis and discussion about our pupil’s backgrounds, experiences and culture has helped us to design a curriculum with

three priorities underpinning every subject area. We believe that by focusing on the following key priorities, our children will be ready to successfully meet

the challenges and opportunities they will face in the next stage of their education and lives.

Our curriculum priorities are:

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Aspirations – we aim to provide experiences which show children the wide range of possibilities available for their future.

An example of this is the fire fighter visit to Mehria. Children in Year 2 are visited by Fire fighters and the Prevention Team who provide information on

Fire safety, Smoke alarms, Matches and lighters, escape routes and Stop Drop and Roll. Children are encouraged to take these fire safety messages

home with them, teaching their parents and carers about smoke alarms and fire safety and spreading the word through their communities. Children also

take part in a hands-on experience of the fire engine and water hose; an opportunity to explore the job role.

Respect - we aim to help our children understand the importance of respect for themselves and others, showing them as role-models what this looks like.

We bring respect into all PSHE lessons and it is a concept explored with specific areas of our curriculum.

Active Learning – we aim to make learning as active as possible. This will involvement movement within lessons in the classroom, learning in and around

school, using our school garden and all outdoor areas.

We have designed and planned the curriculum to offer a range of experiences which contribute to every child receiving a full and rich curriculum. The range

of experiences we offer support and champion our culture and ensures that our children benefit from a full range of academic, spiritual, moral, social and

cultural activities. These activities enrich their lives and those of our whole school community and make them proud of their British values and diverse

society to which they belong and play an active part in. We are proud that our curriculum gives our children the skills, confidence and self-belief to lead a

happy and fulfilled life by encouraging them to aim high and work towards their goals and dreams in life.

An example of this is our Enrichment Day which focussed on STEM education introducing children to coding, robotic technology and engineering,

equipping them with in-demand skills. Smart robots designed to teach coding through play, that use simple remote control movements to drag-and-

drop programming, allowed children to discover a whole new world of creativity while learning to code.

Teaching for knowledge, understanding and skills

We plan very carefully to always ensure there are purposeful links to interweave subjects where it naturally fits. This ensures that planning and learning is

sequenced appropriately to help support understanding and for progression and to allow children to be able to obtain knowledge whilst applying the skills

necessary and vice versa.

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An example of this is the financial education programme which is held for Year 4, 5 and 6, in partnership with Metro Bank. It teaches our pupils financial

skills, helping them understand how money, saving and banking work. These sessions ideally incorporate into our school’s PSHE curriculum. The last of 4

sessions takes place at a Metro bank store where pupils meet real bank cashiers and experience this side of the world which is quite unknown to young

children.

Our intent is to ensure that our children develop the knowledge and understanding needed in what we must cover statutory from the National Curriculum

as a starting point, but to also take their learning deeper to ensure it has ‘stick ability’. Alongside the knowledge and understanding, are the many subject

specific and transferable skills we teach.

Concepts -

During our teaching, classes will explore concepts which they will be able to apply within and across subjects as well as to themselves.

In History, Year 3 and 4 will learn the concept of ‘empathy’ when understanding how evacuees and their families felt during the war. They will explore

this concept on a more personal level and discuss how to show empathy towards others appropriately.

As Muslims, we have teachings from the Holy Quran and Sunnah that we follow. Most of the manners are much similar to the world all over. In Islamic

studies, pupils are taught lessons on gratitude, how to treat your neighbour and the importance of honesty and kindness.

Beyond the Classroom

We are fully committed to providing the children with a wide and rich range of learning experiences beyond the classroom.

Educational Visits/Visitors and Projects

Here at Mehria, we believe while it is possible to learn some basic concepts in class, there is no substitute for real experience in the wider world. Our

school trips and specialists visits provide a great opportunity for our pupils to gain such experience and face a range of challenges that can contribute to

their personal development.

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We build opportunities for children to visit museums, galleries, theatres, parks, places of worship and historical landmarks. Not only do our children

regularly explore our local area, visiting places such as Wardown and Stockwood Park and Woods, we also take full advantage of the wealth of museums

and historic buildings in Luton and the surrounding areas. We expect that all children will participate in all educational visits as it links and enhances their

classroom learning.

This year our Year 3 and 4 pupils visited the RAF Museum where they experienced what it was like to be a pupil in a wartime classroom. Children took

part in a 1940s lesson complete with a strict teacher, arithmetic and an air raid. Such opportunities enable children to appreciate how history has made

a huge impact on the innovation they are witnessing and encourage a pupil’s love for history!