Please click on the links below to find an overview of the school's curriculum for the past three academic years. If you would like to find out more information about the school's curriculum then please email: admin@forestview.gloucs.sch.uk or contact the school office from our contact us page.

Individual subject information can be found by going to the relevant page on our website.

Individual class overview's can be found by going to the class section of the website.

'To improve the academic outcomes of children within the community of Cinderford so that they may contribute to the improvement of this rural town.'

At Forest View we 'put children first'. Our curriculum enables children to:

• enjoy school and want to learn;
• become independent learners;
• attain the highest academic standards;
• develop skills and knowledge needed to develop individual talents, be they creative, scientific, technological, spiritual, sporting or social;
• understand their own feelings and begin to make life decisions that reflect their increasing confidence;
• understand how to lead a safe and healthy life both in mind and body; and
• understand that everyone has equal rights to access opportunities.

Overall the school aims to improve the academic outcomes of children within the community of Cinderford so that they may contribute to the improvement of the area in the future. The school does this by offering a range of Adaptive Teaching techniques and Growth Mindset practices which help the school to provide an equitable learning experience for all children that enables everyone to be successful.

The school's curriculum has been built around the school's local community and meets the requirements of the National Curriculum 2014 which is taught through whole school topics. Forest View offers a broad and balanced curriculum which builds on the skills and knowledge of each individual pupil regardless of their starting points as they progress through each key stage. These provide children with purposeful learning activities which are designed to excite and engage children in their learning.

The school upholds the British Values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of those from different beliefs and faiths through all that it does and teaches children to respect each other. At the heart of Forest View's curriculum are the schools key values of honesty, tolerance, cooperation, kindness, invention, courage and determination. These values are taught and celebrated across the school year and as a result, the school aims for every child to leave fully prepared for their next stage in education and to have the skills to tackle any problem that they may face through life.

We recognise that our school is situated in a rural community that is very different to other parts of the UK. Children often do not have as many experiences coming into the school that other children in different areas of the country might have. We therefore try to include experiences into our curriculum that children might miss out on as a result of living in a rural area. This could include finding out about and exploring cities, visiting the beach or learning about a multi-cultural Britain. We recognise that early experiences are of particular importance to children and usually the more experiences a child has the better their language development, which enables them to access the full education system more successfully.

Through each topic we ensure we cover all of the ‘drivers’ for our curriculum. As a school we feel that these areas will help the children to become life-long learners, responsible citizens and be able to access future workplaces. Our drivers are:

• To ensure maths and English skills are developed across the curriculum.
• To develop independence.
• To promote and develop individuality.
• To develop children’s Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural (SMSC) awareness.
• To engage and interact with our local and wider communities.
• To ensure learning takes place in a variety of environments (including home learning).
• To develop a wide understanding of people and society.
• To develop understanding of safe and healthy lifestyles.
• To develop the skills for using computers and electronic devices across all parts of the curriculum.

Whole school topics are used through which children learn and develop key skills and are taught the requirements of the national curriculum. The key learning areas within each subject are completed on a rolling programme. This ensures that all children have completed all elements of the national curriculum by the time they leave each key stage, making sure that they are fully ready for the next stage in their education. Children’s ability to be able to access the next part of their educational journey within a subject is checked at the end of each phase (EYFS, KS1, LKS2, UKS2) for foundation subjects and at the end of each year for the core subjects. It is recognised that English is an essential part of the school’s curriculum which enables children to access all areas of their learning and be successful in life. The teaching of English skills are therefore reinforced across all curriculum areas.

The school values pupil input into our curriculum and every topic begins with a child led element which allows pupils to suggest their ideas for what they want to learn about in the next topic. Teachers then take these ideas away and incorporate elements of them into their planning.

In EYFS the school uses the New Early Learning Goals (2020) to assess children's ability. By the end of the first half of the Autumn term all EYFS children would have been baselined to the criteria laid out in these goals across all 17 areas of learning. This enables the school to develop an accurate picture of the ability of each child in each cohort so that a child's early (and future) learning is personal to them. This makes sure that children are taught in the correct groups for phonics and reading and are able to access speech and language programmes if appropriate.

Many pupils enter year 1 still working on the Early Learning Goals and during the first half of the Autumn term all children progress onto the National Curriculum so that by the end of November all children are ready to be baseline assessed to the early requirements of the National Curriculum in maths and English. Phonics, reading and speech and language programmes continue so that their reading fluency and phonic knowledge is built upon during each year group across the key stage.

Across Key Stage 2 the skills and acquisition of the curriculum is developed and built upon further so that children leave year 6 fully prepared for the next stage in their educational journey. Children continue to be assessed regularly with formal assessments being undertaken twice a year in maths and English. However, like in EYFS and KS1 assessment is an ongoing tool which enables school staff to adapt learning tasks so that they meet the needs of each individual pupil so that they are able to make progress from their starting points.

We are an outward looking school who supports and welcomes support from a range of settings. The school is involved in teacher training, engages in research and works alongside local Multi-Academy Trusts to improve the standard of education right across the Forest of Dean.

The school continual reviews and adapts its curriculum to ensure that it continually meets the needs of the school community. Further information about individual subjects, including end points can be found on the left hand side of the page. The individual class pages contain an overview of the curriculum that will be taught in the current term, this also includes information about which work will be done to address all the school’s drivers for its curriculum.

As a result of the school’s curriculum that has been adapted to meet the needs of our community, learners develop detailed knowledge and skills across the curriculum and, as a result, achieve well. This is reflected in our results; the school’s statutory assessments and national tests usually meet or exceed government expectations.

Children leave each Key Stage and the Primary phase of their education equipped to move onto the next. This is due to our strong leadership of a dedicated team and high staff retention, ensuring an embedded ethos of inclusivity and enriched educational experiences. We extensively know and work closely with our families across the school confirming and strengthening children’s ability to learn in the school environment.