Our Kingfisher primary curriculum is adapted from the national curriculum to meet the particular needs of our learners. We teach a broad range of subjects, giving extra weight to English and Maths. Our primary curriculum is purposeful, structured and sequential, but also flexible and adaptable to individual circumstances. Our lessons are often guided by whatever the child would be learning at their home school, underpinned and supported by our Kingfisher curriculum, and our approach is strongly influenced by a child’s medical condition. Sometimes, it is more appropriate to work predominantly from our own curriculum, or to create a completely bespoke pathway for a child. In all cases, our aim is to provide the highest quality learning opportunities to every child, whether they are with us for a single lesson, an extended stay in hospital or regular readmissions.

We understand the importance of phonics and early reading to a child’s development. We teach phonics through Read, Write Inc., tailoring the structure to fit our hospital setting. Phonics is prioritised with all children in KS1, and with any older learners who are not yet secure. We use Fresh Start interventions as appropriate, to help older children to catch up.

In English, we teach reading, writing and oracy through a selection of high-quality texts appropriate to a child’s age and stage. When English planning is not provided by the home school, we use resources from Literacy Shed Plus for most of our English lessons. Each unit of work gives children the opportunity to engage deeply with the text and write sentences and longer pieces for a range of purposes and in a variety of styles. We have selected books which are well written, appealing, relevant, challenging and inspirational. For example, Shakespeare retellings are included alongside animal stories, a biography of Rosa Parks and a story about refugees. Spelling, punctuation and grammar are integrated into these units. We also have the flexibility to adapt our teaching to individual learners and focus on whichever areas of reading and writing will help them most, based on our ongoing formative assessment. We facilitate writing workshops and enable children to participate in Young Writers competitions. Beyond English lessons, reading, writing and oracy are all woven throughout the curriculum. We take every opportunity to read for pleasure with children, and we ensure that they have access to books between lessons, through our partnership with the charity “Read for Good”.

Our primary maths planning at Kingfisher is based on White Rose. Particular priority is given to place value, understanding of the four operations, and practical areas such as time and money. Where possible, we try to align our objectives with those of the child’s home school. However, we also use formative assessment to identify and address any areas of difficulty. We teach using a mastery approach, developing fluency, reasoning and problem-solving skills through a range of concrete, pictorial and abstract representations. We use a variety of games to practise mental arithmetic and develop children’s mathematical fluency.

Our primary science curriculum covers all the national curriculum areas of study and is structured and resourced using Grammarsaurus. We adapt investigations and experiments to our hospital setting and the needs of the children.

In history and geography, we cover all the main areas of the national curriculum. Where practical, we align the topics we teach with those of the child’s home school. We have identified a small number of key learning objectives for each topic, which are chosen to give children a strong foundation and understanding of key vocabulary, knowledge, skills and concepts.

Our Kingfisher primary RE curriculum is based on the Rotherham agreed syllabus. Children have the opportunity to learn about religions and world views in local, national and global contexts, to discover, explore and consider different answers to some of life’s big questions. We also collaborate with the hospital chaplaincy service and run workshops and special activities connected to religious festivals.

All children have access to weekly music sessions, delivered by a specialist teacher from Yorkshire Youth and Music. These practical sessions do not follow a structured curriculum but are guided by the strengths and interests of each child. Children are given the opportunity to improvise, compose, perform, listen and evaluate, using a wide range of instruments and electronic tools.

All primary aged children at Kingfisher have access to PE sessions. Because of the highly specific medical needs of our pupils, we do not follow a structured curriculum. Instead, we design and adapt activities for each individual, often in collaboration with physiotherapists and occupational therapists within the hospital.

Art sessions at Kingfisher are often used for engagement and enrichment, and can serve a therapeutic purpose, recognising the difficulties that many of our children face in hospital. We also offer design and technology sessions, which may include food technology, robotics and 3-D printing. We are able to offer computing, based on the National Centre for Computing Education curriculum, and can support children to study foreign languages, following their interests.

We can offer PSHE lessons to children in hospital which are tailored and responsive to their needs. Where practical, our lessons follow the PSHE curriculum of their home school, to ensure continuity and consistency. Our own PSHE curriculum is based on the three core themes from the PSHE Association Programme of Study: Health and Wellbeing, Relationships, and Living in the Wider World. Statutory content for Relationship and Health Education is prioritised, and fundamental British values (democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect, and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs) are integrated into the whole curriculum. Occasions such as Anti-Bullying Week and Safer Internet Day are used to highlight specific issues.