Statement of Intent

At Sunnyside Academy, we aim to provide exciting learning opportunities, which motivate and engage our children by offering inspiring, accessible learning opportunities.

A range of teaching and learning opportunities will offer a differentiated, bespoke curriculum, which celebrates each individual child’s successes.

Through their natural curiosity, we will strive to enable the development resilient, confident lifelong learners.

Rationale

In order for pupils to be successful and confident when approaching the wider curriculum, we believe that it is very important that they have a good foundation in the following academic skills;

Reading – phonics, decoding and comprehension
Mathematics – fluency, number and reasoning
Writing – handwriting, spelling and composition
As the outcomes across these key areas have been variable across all phases, they have been a significant focus of school improvement initiatives through CPD, coaching and monitoring.

If the systematic teaching and learning in these areas is successfully in place then the work around the wider curriculum can be implemented with greater confidence by both staff and pupils alike.

We also place great importance upon positive emotional health and wellbeing and have ensured a focus upon developing strategies that support this as a Headstart school. We invest in sport and competition too as we believe that sporting opportunities builds resilience, team work and community cohesion. As an inclusive school, we ensure that ALL pupils have fair and equal access to a range of activities.

Our curriculum framework is based upon History and Geography units, but we adapt it to meet the characteristics and needs of our school community. It is important that we develop a greater focus upon specific vocabulary and progression of knowledge in more detail.

We are incorporating the work of the Royal Shakespeare Company across school in order to develop confidence, use of vocabulary and drama to promote a love of language and recognise the importance of language and influential linguists.

As an inclusive school for pupils and staff with hearing impairment we agree that moving towards BSL would be more beneficial than MFL as it’s our shared common second language. We also offer Smile Therapy, Deaf Studies and habilitation, life studies for our pupils with hearing or vision and learning impairment.