Our Curriculum

The Woodland Academy Trust aims to provide learners with an educational experience that provides them with the skills, knowledge and character to understand and contribute to the world they live in.

Wherever possible we look for meaningful opportunities across the curriculum for the children to make connections with their learning whilst not compromising on the knowledge they need to build upon.

Willow Bank uses a core text approach and aim to provide children with cross curricular contexts which are diverse and rich in local history, as well as areas of geographical interest, in order to develop a love for where they live and a deeper understanding of the world. Community involvement is an essential part of our curriculum as we celebrate and learn about the local area and traditions, learning new skills to enable the children to take an active role in events throughout the year. We also want them to understand how where they live fits into the wider locality, e.g. London and beyond. Each theme therefore looks at local impact, before considering regional impact, the wider UK, and where appropriate, across the world.

In addition, we are proud of our PSHE curriculum which has been written and developed by teachers across our schools. Character Education focuses on how to best educate the whole child, beyond the purely academic curriculum and is made up of the unique traits that define a person, their strengths, personal values and behaviours. Character Education helps children discover their unique traits and develop an understanding of how to use them in everyday life to benefit them and the wider community around them.
Our teaching and learning model is linked to Rosenshine’s Principles and the use of Teaching Walkthrus by Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioli.

We have high ambition for all of our learners, providing equality of opportunity for all. Our aspiration is for all children to leave our Trust with a sense of belonging to a tightly knit community where they have the confidence and skills to make decisions, self-evaluate, make connections and become self-regulated learners. 

Teachers ensure they cover all curriculum content as intended and they check children's understanding systematically to address gaps in their knowledge and correct misconceptions.