Learning at Hindon

We want all of our pupils to receive an excellent education that fosters a love of learning, and develops their knowledge and skills so that they grow up to be curious and creative life-long learners and responsible citizens. Our curriculum covers everything your child learns, explores, experiences and enjoys while at Hindon.

We aim to ensure that our ambitious and carefully designed curriculum:

• is broad and balanced, enabling pupils to develop a wide range of knowledge and skills
• is sequenced carefully so that children can make links and connections between areas of learning
• uses enquiry questions to inspire curiosity and promote deeper, critical thinking
• provides opportunities for children to share their voice and be open-minded about the ideas of others
• values the creative arts by interweaving creative opportunities
• reflects our locality in a small, rural village, alongside raising global awareness
• promotes spiritual, social, moral and cultural development
• is enriched with high quality resources, visits and experiences

Our curriculum map ensures that all aspects of the National Curriculum are covered, whilst at the same time not being overloaded with content so that deep learning is possible and outcomes are focused on skills, application of skills, knowledge and understanding. It is driven by three principles:

Investigate the past,
Explore the present,
Create the future.

As we have mixed-age classes we have rolling programmes. Robins and Owls have a two-year rolling programme and Woodpeckers have a three-year rolling programme. 

English

English is taught daily in each class, both in discrete lessons and across the curriculum.  We aim for children to see themselves as confident readers, writers and speakers, take pleasure in reading and writing and develop strong literacy skills that they can apply throughout their lives.

We place great importance on oracy, as spoken language helps children learn, communicate and express ideas clearly. Through discussion, storytelling, drama and presentations, children develop vocabulary, confidence in articulating their ideas and listen respectfully to others.

Phonics: We follow the Little Wandle Systematic Synthetic Phonics scheme to build strong phonics and early reading skills. Little Wandle is a method of learning centred around letter sounds and phonics, focusing on pure sounds and segmenting and blending. We aim to support all children to become confident readers, so create timely, small group intervention programmes for those who need it. Children are 'bench marked' termly to ensure that their reading and phonics levels match with the correct level of reading book.

The resources on this page will help you support your child with saying their sounds and writing their letters: https://www.littlewandle.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

Reading: In Owls and Woodpecker classes (Years 2-6), fluency and a love of reading is further developed through our whole-class reading approach, inspired by Mary Myatt's 'A Faster Read' project. Children are immersed in high-quality, challenging literature and engage in rich discussion to develop their vocabulary and comprehension. We use VIPERS (Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Explain, Retrieve, Summarise) from the Literacy Shed to structure our guided reading lessons, ensuring children develop a full range of reading skills. 

Children are also encouraged to read for pleasure by selecting a 'sharing book' to take home from our extensive school library and to select a Library Book from the Wiltshire Library Bus that visits the school every two weeks.

 

Writing: Writing at Hindon empowers children with the knowledge, skills and creativity to communicate with confidence and purpose. Writing skills are embedded through a carefully designed cycle of modelling, planning, drafting, revising and publishing, enabling children to make meaningful progress as authors. Language development sits at the heart of our approach, with ambitious vocabulary explicitly taught and used confidently by both staff and pupils to strengthen communication. Engaging, purposeful teaching ignites children's imagination and gives them real reasons to write.

Spelling: We follow Spelling Zoo for national curriculum age-related spellings and children have their own individual spelling lists on their tables to support high frequency words and common exception words that they need to practise in free writing.

Handwriting

At Hindon School, we believe in the importance of making handwriting automatic so that all the focus of the brain can be on writing content.

We follow the Kinetic Letters programme to develop the required physical skills for handwriting. From EYFS, every opportunity is taken to develop the required body strength to enable pupils to develop effective and sustained handwriting techniques, whether that be in the classroom, in PE lessons, swimming lessons or when moving through the school.

We teach our pupils how to pick up and hold the pencil in a specific way, consistent across the school. 

Maths

Mathematics is taught every day across the school, using a wide variety of activities designed to build fluency, deepen understanding and support mastery. We want all pupils to develop a secure grasp of the number sense, to approach mathematical learning with curiosity, and to nurture a lasting enjoyment of maths and problem solving.

Within our carefully planned curriculum, pupils:

• Strengthen their fluency in core mathematical skills, building a deep understanding of key concepts through regular, varied practice. Over time, pupils encounter increasingly complex tasks that help them recall and apply knowledge quickly, accurately and with growing confidence.
• Think logically and communicate their ideas clearly, using precise mathematical vocabulary to articulate their reasoning. Pupils learn to follow lines of enquiry, spot patterns and relationships, and develop well-structured arguments, justifications or simple proofs to explain their thinking.
• Tackle a wide range of mathematical challenges, applying their learning to both familiar and unfamiliar problems with increasing sophistication. They break problems into manageable steps, choose efficient strategies and develop resilience—persevering when solutions are not immediately obvious and continually refining their approach.

We use the White Rose Maths small steps to structure and sequence learning across the school, providing a clear progression of concepts. However, our approach remains flexible to ensure that mixed-year groups are appropriately supported and challenged. The programme is enriched in a variety of ways to meet the needs of each cohort, helping us create curious, confident learners who enjoy exploring mathematical ideas.

Our structured progression ensures that children steadily broaden and deepen their knowledge, growing into capable, motivated and reflective mathematicians.

Religions and World Views

At Hindon CE VA Primary School we teach Religion and Worldviews in order to help prepare students to understand and confidently take their place in an increasingly complex world. Through a multi–disciplinary approach that promotes deep thinking and meaningful dialogue, we aim to teach children to think like a theologian, a social scientist and a philosopher and to ask big questions of themselves to help them develop their own worldview. As a result, RW at our school, is a vital part of our students’ journey towards becoming thoughtful, informed and respectful citizens.

We aim to:

• • Develop pupils’ knowledge and understanding of the beliefs and practices of a wide range of Christians and people of other principal world religions, and non-religious worldviews in our local, national and wider global community.
  • Enable pupils to explain how beliefs and practices can inform and change the way people see the world and the way they live and treat others.
  • Help pupils to develop their own sense of identity and belonging.
  • Help pupils to gain an understanding of differences held within a religious or non-religious worldview and of the similarities of beliefs and practices held in common by people within and across traditions.
  • Equip pupils to be sensitive to others’ beliefs, be able to express their own views well, be open-minded and respectful, show curiosity and have the skills to ask appropriate questions when meeting people different to themselves.
  • Recognise and build on children’s prior learning, opinions and experiences, provide first-hand learning experiences and encourage children to develop their thinking in the three key strands of RW (theology, philosophy and the social sciences) whilst exploring and enriching their own beliefs and values.
  • Develop spirituality.

Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE)

At Hindon Primary School, Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE) is central to developing confident, resilient and empathetic learners. Using SCARF as the basis of our PSHE curriculum, we equip pupils with the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to make safe, informed decisions, manage their wellbeing and build positive relationships throughout their lives. The intent of our PSHE curriculum is to prepare pupils for life in modern Britain so that they lead safe, healthy and fulfilling lives.

In our small, mixed-age classes, lessons are delivered flexibly and are carefully differentiated to meet pupils’ developmental needs and reflect the context of our school community. Teaching approaches include discussion, role-play and reflection, enabling pupils to explore ideas in a supportive and inclusive environment. The curriculum follows a spiral approach, revisiting and building on key themes over time:

• Families and Relationships
• Health and Wellbeing
• Safety and the Changing Body
• Citizenship
• Economic Wellbeing
• Transition

As pupils progress through the school, learning is carefully sequenced and builds systematically to develop self-awareness, responsibility and understanding of their role in society. Key knowledge, skills and vocabulary are revisited over time, enabling pupils to deepen understanding and apply learning with increasing confidence and independence. PSHE promotes emotional resilience, positive relationships, inclusion and safeguarding. Pupils learn to recognise unsafe situations, identify trusted adults and know how to seek help, contributing to a strong culture of safeguarding. The curriculum meets statutory requirements for Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE); further detail is available in our RSHE policy.

The PSHE curriculum actively promotes British Values, including respect, tolerance, democracy, the rule of law and individual liberty, and supports pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development. It is inclusive and reflects a wide range of families, relationships and lived experiences, promoting equality, respect and mutual understanding. PSHE is closely linked with other areas of the curriculum, including RE and Worldviews, and is further reinforced through assemblies and whole-school events.

Teachers use discussion, reflection and observation to check pupils’ understanding and inform future teaching, ensuring learning meets pupils’ needs. As a result, pupils demonstrate positive attitudes to learning, respectful behaviour and an increasing ability to manage emotions and relationships effectively.

By placing PSHE at the heart of our curriculum, we aim to nurture happy, healthy and responsible individuals who are well prepared for the next stage of their education and for life beyond school.

Science

The curriculum follows a structured, spiral approach, enabling pupils to revisit and deepen their understanding of key scientific concepts as they progress through the school. Pupils develop secure knowledge across biology, chemistry and physics, while also strengthening their understanding of working scientifically. They learn to ask questions, plan and carry out investigations, observe carefully, gather and analyse data, and draw reasoned conclusions.

In Reception, the foundations for scientific thinking are established through the Understanding the World area of learning, where children explore, observe, ask questions and begin to make sense of the natural world around them. This early curiosity provides a strong foundation for more structured scientific learning as pupils move into Key Stage 1.

Practical enquiry lies at the heart of our science teaching. Pupils are encouraged to think critically, make predictions and reflect on their findings, developing both independence and confidence in applying their knowledge. Through this approach, pupils become curious, reflective and analytical learners, well prepared for the next stage of their education and equipped with the scientific understanding needed to engage thoughtfully with the world around them.