Curriculum

Five Lanes Primary School ensures the learning pupils experience in school incorporates the National Curriculum and Government initiatives.

Click Here to see the National Curriculum

EYFS Framework

At Five Lanes CE Primary School, our Early Years curriculum is designed to give every child a secure and joyful start to learning. Nursery and Reception work closely together as a mixed‑age unit, offering a carefully structured environment where children learn through high‑quality interactions, purposeful play and well‑planned adult‑led learning.

Our curriculum is shaped by the Strong Foundations Framework, ensuring clear progression across both year groups. Children develop early language, communication and vocabulary through rich talk, stories, songs and high‑quality texts. Continuous provision is planned to build children’s independence, curiosity and early learning behaviours, with opportunities to explore early reading, writing and mathematics woven throughout the day.

Staff develop their expertise through the Excellence in Early Years programme, ensuring teaching is responsive, ambitious and grounded in strong subject knowledge. This supports children to build secure foundations for phonics, early writing and number, and prepares them confidently for the transition into Key Stage 1.

Our aim is that every child feels known, nurtured and ready for the next stage of their learning, with the confidence to explore, communicate and thrive.

Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework - for Group and School-based Providers

English Overview

At Five Lanes CE Primary School, we believe every child is a writer. We use HFL Education’s ESSENTIALWRITING programme from Year 1 to Year 6 to provide a clear, progressive and inspiring approach to writing. The curriculum supports children to write for a range of purposes and authentic audiences, using high‑quality literature and a structured writing process to develop confidence, creativity and accuracy.

Alongside this, we teach spelling through Sounds and Syllables and handwriting through Letterjoin, ensuring children build secure foundations for fluent, independent writing.

ESSENTIALWRITING Overview

English Programmes of Study: Key Stages 1 and 2

Reading Progression

Reading sits at the heart of our curriculum at Five Lanes CE Primary School. We want every child to become a confident, fluent reader who enjoys books and understands the power of reading in shaping their learning and their lives. Children experience a rich reading diet from the earliest stages, including high‑quality texts, daily story time and opportunities to talk about books together.

Early reading is taught systematically through our phonics programme, ensuring children build secure knowledge of letter–sound relationships and develop fluency as they move through the school. As children progress, they are supported to develop deeper comprehension, broaden their vocabulary and read widely across different genres and subjects.

We place a strong emphasis on reading for pleasure. Classrooms and shared spaces promote a culture of reading, and children are encouraged to choose books that interest and inspire them. Through guided reading, independent reading and regular opportunities to discuss texts, children learn to read with understanding, enjoyment and confidence.

Our aim is that every child leaves Five Lanes as a capable, enthusiastic reader, ready to access the full curriculum and equipped with a lifelong love of reading.

Five Lanes - Reading Progression.pdf

Parent guide to reading at Five Lanes.pdf

Writing Progression

At Five Lanes CE Primary School, we want every child to see themselves as a writer. Our writing curriculum is built around HFL Education’s ESSENTIALWRITING programme, which provides a clear and progressive structure from Year 1 to Year 6. Children learn to write for a range of purposes and audiences, using high‑quality texts to explore language, develop ideas and understand how writers craft their work.

Across the school, children are taught how to plan, draft, edit, proof‑read and publish their writing. They build confidence in choosing vocabulary, organising their ideas and applying grammar and punctuation with increasing accuracy. Writing is shared, celebrated and discussed so that children understand how their choices affect the reader and how they can improve their work.

Our approach ensures that children develop the skills, creativity and independence needed to write with clarity and purpose, preparing them well for the next stage of their learning and for life beyond primary school.

Five Lanes - Writing Progression.pdf

Writing Milestones

At Five Lanes Primary, we are committed to building firm foundations for every child’s development as a confident, capable writer. Our Writing Milestones set out the progressive knowledge and skills pupils need from Year 1 to Year 6, ensuring that every child is supported and challenged at the right stage of their learning.

These milestones draw directly from the national Writing Framework and the DfE and Ofsted Strong Foundations documents. They provide teachers with a clear, consistent guide for assessing where pupils are in their writing journey and identifying the next steps they need to take. Whatever a child’s starting point, the milestones help us plan precise teaching that develops composition, grammar, punctuation, handwriting, and transcription skills in a structured and meaningful way.

By sharing these milestones, we aim to give families a transparent view of how writing progresses through the school and how we nurture pupils to become fluent, thoughtful and purposeful writers prepared for the next stage of their education

Writing Milestones 2025-26.pdf

Phonics

Little Wandle

Parent-handout Reception Autumn Term

Parent-handout Reception Spring Term

Handwriting

Letterjoin

At Five Lanes Primary, we follow the LetterJoin handwriting programme to ensure that all children develop clear, consistent and fluent handwriting. LetterJoin provides a structured approach from Early Years through to Year 6, supporting children as they move from early letter formation to confident, joined writing.

Using a blend of digital modelling, practical activities and regular practice, LetterJoin helps pupils build strong fine-motor skills and take pride in the presentation of their work. Lessons follow a consistent progression so that children develop secure letter shapes, correct joins and increasing fluency as they move through the school.

Our aim is for every child to develop handwriting that is legible, fluent and enjoyable, supporting success across all areas of learning.

Spelling

Sounds and Syllables

At Five Lanes Primary, we use the Sounds and Syllables spelling programme to help children become confident, accurate spellers. The approach supports pupils to understand how words are made up, breaking them into sounds and syllables so that spelling becomes logical and manageable.

Lessons build steadily from the strong phonics foundations in Early Years and Key Stage 1, moving towards more complex spelling patterns as pupils progress through the school. Children are taught spelling rules, patterns and exceptions in a clear, structured way, with regular opportunities to revisit and practise key learning.

Our aim is for every child to develop secure, transferable spelling skills that support them to write with accuracy and confidence across the curriculum.

Maths Overview

At Five Lanes CE Primary School, our maths curriculum is designed to help every child develop a secure understanding of number, fluency and problem‑solving. We follow a structured approach that builds mathematical confidence step by step, ensuring children can apply their learning in a range of contexts.

In Reception and Key Stage 1, we use the Mastering Number programme to strengthen children’s understanding of number relationships, counting, composition and early calculation. This provides strong foundations for later learning and supports children to develop quick recall and flexible thinking with numbers.

As children move through the school, they build on these foundations through carefully sequenced teaching that develops fluency, reasoning and problem‑solving. Lessons include practical exploration, discussion and opportunities to apply mathematical ideas in real situations. Children are encouraged to explain their thinking, make connections and choose efficient strategies.

Our aim is that every child becomes a confident mathematician who can think logically, work systematically and enjoy the challenge of mathematical learning.

Maths Programme of Study: Key Stages 1 and 2

EQUA Mead Maths Fundamentals

Mastering Number

At Five Lanes Primary, we deliver the Mastering Number programme to strengthen pupils’ early number sense and build firm foundations for future maths learning. The programme provides short, focused sessions that help children develop fluency with number facts, confidence in using numbers, and a deep understanding of how numbers relate to each other.

Through carefully designed activities, children explore patterns, subitising, composition of number and the use of visual representations such as ten frames and rekenreks. This supports pupils to develop quick recall, flexible thinking and strong mental calculation strategies.

Mastering Number ensures that all children have the essential knowledge they need to thrive in mathematics, enabling them to approach more complex concepts with confidence as they move through the school.

Times Tables

Fluent recall of multiplication facts is an essential part of the primary maths curriculum. At Five Lanes CE Primary, we teach times tables progressively from Year 2 onwards using a combination of daily practice, structured teaching materials and online tools.

We follow the Wiltshire‑approved Times Tables Booklet approach to ensure children build secure understanding through short, regular practice sessions. This provides a clear sequence for learning, revisiting and embedding multiplication facts.

To support fluency and engagement, pupils also use Times Tables Rock Stars. Daily use of Garage mode allows children to practise the facts they most need to strengthen, while heatmaps help teachers and families monitor progress over time.

All pupils in Year 4 complete the statutory Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) each June. The check consists of 25 online multiplication questions up to 12 × 12, with six seconds per question. It is designed to assess how confidently and quickly children can recall their times tables. Strong fluency supports later learning in areas such as division, fractions, long multiplication and problem‑solving.

Our approach combines structured teaching, daily retrieval practice and home–school partnership to ensure children develop confidence, accuracy and enjoyment in learning their times tables.