Foundation Subjects

At Kings Ash Academy we provide a modern, relevant and intellectually challenging history curriculum that also makes meaningful and rigorous links to other subjects. In EYFS we plan experiences within ‘past and present’ as well as ‘people, culture and communities’ to ensure children are ready for the history curriculum in year 1. We follow the Connected History curriculum which supports children’s deeper understanding and retention with enquiry-based approaches to history lessons and sequences. The scheme includes units that look at the history of the children’s own locality in both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. This will provide all children with meaningful learning experiences that contribute to their cultural capital and understanding of the wider world through the contexts of their own locality.

Learning objectives are outcome focused and progressively more challenging for Years 1–6 and reflect what it means for a pupil to get better at history. They recognise that whilst it is important for pupils to increase and extend their knowledge of the subject, it is also vital that they make connections between their learning in order to develop the concepts and skills of young historians.

Connected History recognises that increasing mastery of the subject occurs as a result of a pupil combining the application of key subject skills, processes and subject vocabulary with the development of knowledge and understanding. These are interdependent components of a pupil developing the attributes of a young historian.

Our school music education consists of three distinct, but interlinked areas of provision.

Curriculum music,

Instrumental and vocal lessons,

Ensemble membership through musical events and opportunities, such as singing in assembly, concerts and shows and trips to professional concerts.

These three areas are accessible to all pupils and build on each other, starting from a foundation set in curriculum music time, supporting progression through co-curricular learning, playing and creating, and enriching this with musical experiences. Kings Ash Academy has strong links to other schools in our Academy, Torbay and South Devon Music Hub and Torbay and South Devon Music Centre which benefit all pupil’s music development.

Art and Design at Kings Ash Academy will celebrate children’s unique and diverse creativity across all ages.

Children will produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences whilst becoming proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques. Skills are revisited and the use of ongoing sketchbook work underpins this process, fostering an open-ended exploration of creativity. Pupils will also gain substantive knowledge of great artists, craft makers and designers.

We aim for children to experience a high-quality art and design education that inspires, engages and challenges them – enabling pupils to communicate what they see, feel and think through the use of colour, texture, form and pattern. They will take pleasure in producing work, building resilience, perseverance and confidence in themselves and their abilities.

Through the study of Design and Technology, we encourage children to think independently, become critical problem solvers and work creatively; both as individuals and a team. Children at KAA will Identify real and relevant problems to give meaning to the learning and then consider how to solve them. Using their imagination and creativity, children will have opportunities to design and make their own products and will take into account their own and others’ needs, wants and values. Children will have time to reflect and evaluate their work against design criteria and existing products.

By the time they leave Kings Ash, children would have learnt key knowledge and skills of the Design and technology curriculum (design, make, evaluate and technical knowledge). They will leave with the knowledge and understanding that high-quality design and technology makes an essential contribution to the culture, wealth and well-being of the nation.

We aim to provide a broad & wide-ranging P.E. curriculum which encourages all pupils to achieve their true potential in the physical domain.

Working with our Trust partners at Paignton Academy, we aim to offer a curriculum which will give pupils the knowledge and confidence to lead healthy & active lifestyles and to perform in competitive environments where applicable.

We aim to encourage a sense of well-being (Physical/Mental/Social) within our pupils through physical activity both in lesson time and during extra-curricular activities.

Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) provides a unique opportunity for us to explore, understand and interact with other cultures, communities and nationalities. At Kings Ash, we believe ‘A high-quality languages education should foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world’. As children progress through Kings Ash, their understanding of the ways in which other cultures and nations communicate will increase in line with their knowledge of non-foundation subjects. By the end of Key Stage 1, pupils will be able to share and practise a range of greetings, simple words or phrases. By the end of Key Stage 2 pupils will have been exposed to a wide range of other cultures in greater depth, present and historic, have a good knowledge and understanding of a range of global nationalities and understand how other cultures communicate. In French specialist lessons (from Year 3-Year 6), pupils will have learnt how to: count within 10, name colours, name body parts, name animals, begin to understand grammatical rules and will have participated in learning familiar French stories and songs. With all of these skills and a deeper understanding of the world around them, pupils will have acquired ‘… the foundation for learning further languages, equipping pupils to study and work in other countries.’, equipping them with skills they can take to secondary school and beyond.

It is our intent in RE for pupils to acquire and develop knowledge and understanding of Christianity and the other principal religions represented in the United Kingdom. We want children at KAA to develop an understanding of the influence of religious and non-religious worldviews, values and traditions on individuals, communities, societies and cultures, locally, nationally and globally. We want to encourage all pupils to develop the ability to make reasoned and informed judgements about religious and moral issues. We intend to enhance pupil’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and enable them to develop positive attitudes of respect towards other people who hold views and beliefs different from their own, to prepare them towards living in a society of diverse religions and worldviews.

At Kings Ash Academy we believe that Geography should inspire a curiosity and fascination about the world. Our curriculum equips children with knowledge and skills about the changing world. This is explored through study of diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments.

Through practical experiences, we want our children to gain confidence and have geographical knowledge, understanding and skills to be able to explain how the Earth’s key physical and human features are shaped, interconnected and change over time.

At Kings Ash Academy our computing curriculum aims to ‘equip pupils to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world’ (National Curriculum, 2014). The teaching of computing ensures that deep links with mathematics, science and design and technology and insight into both natural and artificial systems are made explicit and that those links carefully build on pupils’ prior knowledge and understanding. Our school’s context is at the very heart of our computing curriculum, recognising the specific hurdles our pupils and families face that we seek to overcome through provision of high quality equipment and well informed teaching. Alongside this, we recognise that eliciting pupils’ prior knowledge and understanding, access to devices and on and offline experiences is crucial to understanding how to plan to ensure they leave Kings Ash digitally literate, knowing how to keep themselves safe and inspired by real computer scientists and experiences.