At Farnham Common Village Schools, we have been busy developing and delivering our new Creative Curriculum, which is a curriculum that is skills-based, builds knowledge, develops creative thinking and promotes independence. Our Creative Curriculum is organised into three terms of the academic year; in the Autumn term each year group undertakes a ‘Discover’ project which is history themed. The Spring term is ‘Explore’ (Geography and Design Technology themed) and the Summer term is ‘Create’ (Arts themed).
The children are provided with the opportunities to collaborate, innovate and lead and, more than anything else, to explore what it means to be an important part of their local and global community by investigating key concepts such as community, determination and stewardship. We want our children to produce exceptional outcomes whilst developing their independence, curiosity and creativity.
Each term, the children complete a Project Book which showcases what they have learnt throughout their topic, and is shared with specific audiences depending on the final purpose of their work.
Creative Curriculum is taught in our afternoons and consists of six topics a year per year group. In Key Stage 1 and 2, each topic has a history or a geography focus and skills and knowledge progress as you move up through the school. In Early Years, Creative Curriculum is taught under the umbrella of 'Understanding the World' and 'Expressive Arts and Design'.
We launch each topic with a 'hook' to engage the children and aim to finish with a purposeful outcome, such as a class book or presentation. Throughout the year we have a trip or a visitor to support the topics being taught.