At Elson we believe that children learn best when they feel good about themselves and acknowledge that children learn in different ways and at different rates.  Our children tell us they make most progress when the lessons are challenging, exciting and fun.  Our curriculum is designed with these principles in mind.

We nurture the philosophy that everyone in the school needs to recognise their own self-awareness as a learner through certain beliefs, behaviours and feelings towards oneself and other people in their lives. In order to educate the children to develop positive learning attitudes, we have adopted ‘The Seven Dimensions of Learning’ (Ruth Deakin Crick, 2006) as a framework to empower learning. Each dimension is represented by an animal character to help the children remember them.

What are The Seven Learning Dimensions?

Learning Relationships (Winston the Worker Bee) Effective learners like to work with other people, learning from them and with them. They can work on their own too.

Meaning Making (Ariadne the Spider) Effective learners are on the look out for links. They like to see how things fit together.

Strategic Awareness (Edwina the Eagle) Effective learners know about their own learning. They can see the big picture.

Changing and Learning (Belinda the Butterfly) Effective learners know that through effort their minds can get bigger and stronger just as their bodies can.

Critical Curiosity (Mango the Monkey) Effective learners like to find out what is really going on. They like to ask the question WHY?

Resilience (Rocky the Red Squirrel) Effective learners like a challenge and are willing to ‘give it a go’. They accept that it is OK to get something wrong.

Creativity (Da Vinci the Dolphin) Effective learners like to look at things in different ways. They play with ideas and like to use their imagination.

Themes In addition to daily Literary and Numeracy lessons in which we teach the core skills, we have a Theme based approach to the whole curriculum.  Each half term the children will study a Theme which emphasises several subjects and where the children can use their Literacy and Numeracy skills. 

Each week the children have at least one Information and Communication Technology lesson and the computers are used to support their learning wherever possible. They also receive a Modern Foreign Language lesson each week.

Physical Education takes place at least twice a week and over the course of the year will cover Gymnastics, Dance, Athletics, Problem Solving, Swimming and a range of Games. Coaches from the Gosport Sports Partnership give children experience of other sports such as basketball, tennis and cricket.

All children take part in our Annual Sports Day and Family Picnic.

Religious Education is taught in accordance with Hampshire County Council's agreed syllabus ‘Living Difference’.  Through this the children gain an understanding of other world religions and cultures including Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism.  Parents who wish to withdraw their children from RE or school assemblies should contact the Headteacher.

Personal, Social and Health Education is a key aspect of the children's education and it is taught both through the Themes and on its own.  Children are encouraged to take a full part in weekly Circle Time Activities and their Class Council.  In these sessions we address the Social and Emotional aspects of Learning; children learn to express their thoughts and opinions and to respect those of others.

Visits and Visitors The children take part in termly visits out of school and enjoy learning from a range of visitors invited to the school.  These may include SEARCH, Explosion, Butser Iron Age Farm, Hampton Court, Romsey River, INTECH and Legoland.  Year 5 and 6 are offered the opportunity of a residential visit; currently Y5 do an environmental visit to the New Forest and Y6 have an adventurous activities week in Osmington, Dorset.  Visitors have included: Music and Theatre Groups, Authors and Poets, Hampshire Wardrobe, Gosport Planning and Environment Departments, Health Professionals.

Performing Arts We are very proud of the standards our children achieve in the Performing Arts.  Our choir has earned a reputation for a very high standard and performs at local festivals and community events as well as at school.  Every child takes part in a musical production once a year.  The Lower School performance is held in the school hall in November and the Upper School perform at a local theatre in July. Talented performers are given additional coaching and are entered for external Performance Examinations.

Homework is an integral part of your child's learning process and all children are expected to do it.  The children get more out of the activities when their parents take an active interest. The aims of our Homework Policy are to;

• complement the work the children are doing at school,
• enable families to be more involved in their children’s schooling
• enhance and extend the child’s learning experiences.

All children are expected to read to an adult every day and practise their spellings and tables. On top of this, each half term, the children either have an Extended Homework Project or are expected to do Weekly Homework.

Extended Homework Projects link to the Theme they are studying e.g. Make a quiz about the Tudors; this is normally completed over the half term and we expect about an hour a week to be given to this work. 

Weekly Homework is set early in the week and a whole week, including a weekend, is given for it to be completed.  We do this to make it easier for families to fit it around busy lives.  This will link to the children’s class work and may be a language or mathematical based activity. 

Music Opportunities

Music is a significant feature of our school. All children have a weekly class music lesson from a specialist teacher. We also have a weekly Singing Assembly which all children participate in.

Peripatetic Lessons are available for those children wanting to learn an instrument in depth.  We offer: Keyboard, Guitar, Violin and Percussion lessons. These currently cost £50 per term

Wider Opportunities for All In September 2008 we started a new music project. Our eventual aim is for every child in the school to have been given the opportunity to learn an instrument. From September 2009 all Year 3 and 4 children will also have a weekly violin lesson in school. There is no charge for this.

School Orchestra This is also a new venture for us building on the class violin lessons. Children with an aptitude for this will be invited to join the orchestra.

After School Clubs

We run a range of extra curricular opportunities after school and at lunchtimes. These vary from term to term and will include Choir, Karate, Football, Netball, Swimming, Cookery and Multi-sports and more. Some of these clubs are provided free, whilst others may have a charge as we have to employ extra staff or they are run by outside Clubs.

Meeting Specific Needs

Disability In accordance with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, the school will make reasonable adjustments to its facilities and curriculum to accommodate those with special needs.

Special Educational Needs Sometimes children require additional classroom support in order to be able to learn.  Our team of Learning Support Staff, led by the Special Needs Co-ordinator, work with the class teacher to plan a suitable programme of work to address the child's specific needs.  Where a child's needs cannot be fully met from within our school, advice is sought from other agencies offering specialist help.  We work closely with parents to support the needs of these children.  A copy of our Special Needs Policy is available from the school office on request.