Appleby's curriculum is designed to cater to all pupils, incorporating local community context and rural experiences, whilst broadening pupils’ horizons and developing aspirations. The school prioritizes providing memorable experiences to enrich learning, aiming to cultivate lifelong learners.
Appleby’s engagement with The PTI has had a significant impact on the development of the curriculum and the most notable impact has been in Geography. Geography subject leaders were inspired by the training they attended at The PTI Primary Hub with Paula Owens and immediately returned to school to action what they had learned. They conducted a rigorous review of our existing Geography curriculum and identified that, whilst the curriculum met statutory requirements, elements of disciplinary thinking and geographical enquiry were taught much less consistently.
Subject leaders adapted the curriculum and delivered training to teachers across the school to enhance subject knowledge, effective pedagogy and to introduce the resources purchased following advice received from Paula. The "digimaps" tool, for example, has really brought learning to life. Children’s mapping skills have been improved exponentially and they have really enjoyed using the resource. For teachers, it has not only increased their own subject knowledge but has also enabled them to create resources that link much more closely with the knowledge elements of the curriculum being taught.
Subject Leaders also developed a series of new units focussing specifically on the local area and developing geographical enquiry. The themes, all entitled The wonder of Appleby focus on a particular human or physical feature of our local area. Teachers are enthused and pupils are motivated through learning actively and getting out of the classroom and into the outdoors. Field work visits have seen children climbing mountains, conducting traffic surveys and exploring the town and our local area.
Engagement with the PTI has revolutionised Geography at Appleby but more importantly it has inspired both staff and pupils. Teachers are talking with enthusiasm and sharing ideas and good practice not only through planned staff meetings but simply over lunch in the classroom. For subject leaders, this has extended to include colleagues met through the PTI Hub in other local schools.