Primary Department

Welcome to our Primary Department

Head of Primary

Mr Flanagan

 

We have three Primary classes at West Kirby School and College; Pathfinders, Adventurers and Navigators. The Primary journey starts in Pathfinders, following a path through Adventurers, up to Navigators.

We have a very vibrant and nurturing department, comprising of four Teachers, HLTAs and Teaching Assistants, who are all very highly experienced and specialised. We aim to give the pupils the best possible start in their journey through education; supporting their emotional needs and wellbeing with a nurturing approach alongside our dynamic innovative curriculum. 

We have three classroom areas which are well-equipped for learning, play and life skills. This includes a light and dark sensory room, Lego therapy area, continuous provision environment, reading room, phonics hub, intervention rooms and kitchen areas. Pupils also have access to our adventure playground and access to outdoor provision.

 

Library and reading areas

In addition to access to our main school Accelerated Reader library, our Primary department has a dedicated library and reading spaces, providing an inspirational approach to a love of literacy and reading.

To support our pupils' health, wellbeing and life skills we also utilise our local area including visits to the local park, beach, marine lake, Wirral Way, and encourage our children to develop a sense of local community. 

Our Primary Department takes part in Primary Wellbeing and Life Skills Adventures every Friday afternoon, with a choice of activities on and off site. 

Primary Curriculum

At West Kirby School and College, our classes follow their own bespoke curriculum. These are based on learning pathways which reflect the aims and values we want our curriculum to possess.

From September 2020 we introduced a new global curriculum called 'Learning Means the World''. This curriculum is innovative, forward thinking and highly relevant to our pupils' needs and thoroughly engages them as they tackle challenging topics and issues. As a school which is majority white British, we wanted our pupils to fully embrace cultural diversity, learning about, experiencing and celebrating a range of cultural and faith heritages.

Curriculum map cycles

Our LMTW curriculum is taught on a two year cycle in both of our Primary classes, which encompasses all topics covered in the thematic units. For September 2021 we are covering Curriculum Cycle B, see Pathfinders and Adventurers pages for more information.   

LMTW curriculum themes

The 'Learning Means the World' (LMTW) curriculum is theme based and has been written with world issues in mind and is centred around 4 c's :

• Culture
• Communication
• Conflict
• Conservation

At West Kirby School and College, we believe that communication is the key to accessing learning and securing pupils' future success. With one of its four areas being communication, this curriculum provides lots of opportunities for pupils to develop expressing themselves in discussion, debate and presentation, as well as enabling them to collaborate and exchange ideas. 

As the future generation our pupils need a greater awareness and appreciation of local, national and global conservation issues and initiatives, they need to learn that they have an important role to play in sustainability. This curriculum gives our pupils opportunities to grow and develop, spiritually, emotionally, physically and socially in the natural world around them. 

 

Communication

We believe that communication is vital to learning, as the key to success, and a focus on communication underpins every aspect of school life. Our pupils struggle to express their emotions and find maintaining positive relationships a challenge. We want our pupils to develop language skills that mean they are articulate, able to socially interact well, and can select and use appropriate vocabulary.

Culture

As a school that represents a white British demographic, with little personal experience of other people groups, we want our pupils to fully appreciate and embrace cultural diversity, learning about and experiencing a range of different cultural and faith heritages. 

We strive to embed learning about culture as a whole, enabling our pupils with an understanding of the roots and importance of cultural heritage, teaching pupils to behave in a respectful and tolerant way towards others, regardless of faith, ethnicity or background. We actively promote cross-cultural friendship, respect, tolerance and understanding through ‘Learning Means the World’.

Conflict

We believe that life skills should be taught throughout the curriculum and an understanding of responsible, respectful behaviour is an important aspect of learning. Having a developed understanding of sources of conflict and its consequences, we believe, will make a difference to their own choices as they learn about cause and consequence.

We want our pupils to have a real awareness of how their behaviour affects others and how important positive relationships are throughout life. We also want them to be able to resolve conflicts in a constructive manner.

Conservation

We feel that a curriculum that employs a structured approach to developing environmental awareness and appreciation, not just at local, but also national and global levels, will actively engage our pupils and tap into their love of nature and the outdoors.

We want our pupils to be good stewards by developing their knowledge about conservation issues and nurturing a caring attitude towards the world they live in.