Curriculum

It is never too soon to acquire the leadership qualities of kindness, tolerance, and teamwork. In the classroom and the playground, even Lubavitch’s youngest students acquire these attributes while learning about our Jewish heritage, our Torah traditions and British Values.

At Lubavitch Primary Boys’ School a balanced curriculum is studied covering a wide variety of subjects.

Including, Torah, Jewish Law, Jewish History, English, Maths, Science, Music, Art, Humanities, ICT, PE.

Curriculum Intent

We ensure that all children have a broad, balanced and relevant education which provides continuity and progression and considers the needs of all learners. Our curriculum is exciting and inspires children to nurture a passion for learning. We aim to teach our pupils how to grow into positive, responsible people, who are aware and proud of their Jewish heritage and traditions.

Curriculum Vision

Our curriculum vision is to ensure our students develop in both their Kodesh studies and their chol (national curriculum) studies. At the heart of this, is that we want our students to become well-rounded, Torah observant Jews that have a passion for Judaism and their Chassidishe Heritage, and follow the teachings of the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe.

We place Kodesh at the root and foundation of what we are about. Every morning will start with davening and Torah learning. Learning Torah is a lifelong commandment, and we are proud that the students start their Torah learning journey at Lubavitch. We will ensure that as the children progress through the school, the Torah they are taught is age-appropriate, stimulating and meaningful for themselves as students and prepare them for the next stage in their education and ultimately into adulthood where, according to Jewish tradition, the very same code of law will be studied rigorously.

Our curriculum vision for general studies has the development of English and Maths at its core, alongside developing the attributes for children to gain the skills to become lifelong learners. To facilitate this, we provide each child with ‘learning opportunities’ which engage and inspire. Topics and themes, which are driven by the pupils’ interests, provide ‘real world’ experiences that are relevant to and enrich their lives. This is particularly relevant with the Foundation Subjects of the National Curriculum.

Quality First Teaching is at the heart of Lubavitch education with a motto that no child should get left behind. We tailor learning to provide children with opportunities to develop skills and explore concepts. These allow them to build their knowledge and understanding through topics (incorporating a progression of skills drawn from the National Curriculum) that capture their interest and stimulate their imagination.

Curriculum Aims

We follow the National Curriculum; it sets out subjects and content which we must teach. Within this however, there is flexibility (being an academy) so that we can interpret and plan to meet the needs and interests of our children now and for the future.

The key aims for all our teaching and learning are:

To provide opportunities for all pupils to learn, to enjoy and to achieve
To educate students according to the wellsprings of the Lubavitch principles.
To provide a vibrant, happy and safe environment in which all people can share positive experiences and feel valued
We encourage and stimulate the best possible progress and the highest attainment for all our pupils. Our curriculum builds on pupils’ strengths, interests and experiences and develops children’s confidence in their capacity to learn and work independently and collaboratively
To assist everyone in acquiring the skills to learn independently, interdependently and work as a team
We place great importance on the skills of literacy, maths and problem-solving. We promote skills that help our learners to improve their own learning and performance and that help them to work well with others
To help each child adopt healthy lifestyles with a sound knowledge and understanding of the factors that affect their physical and mental health and emotional well-being
We place a high priority on developing pupils’ physical skills, self-esteem and emotional well-being. We encourage them to recognise the importance of pursuing a healthy lifestyle and keeping themselves and others safe both physically and online. We promote happy, effective relationships that are based on respect for themselves and for others
To help each child develop a good understanding of right and wrong, respect and treat each other as equals and become decent and responsible citizens. We do this through teaching knowledge and understanding of the spiritual, moral, social and cultural heritages of Britain’s diverse society and of the local, national, European, Commonwealth and global dimensions of pupils’ lives. We want everyone in our school to understand and appreciate their own and different beliefs and cultures, and how these influence our communities
To encourage confidence and high aspirations so everyone realises their full potential and talents
We provide rich and varied contexts for pupils to acquire, develop and apply a broad range of knowledge, understanding and skills. Doing so enables our pupils to think creatively and critically, to solve problems and to make a difference for the better
We promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and the differences between right and wrong, and that we have rights but also responsibilities. We want everyone in our school to be responsible and caring citizens who make positive contributions to communities

English

A child's ability to communicate is vital to all aspects of their learning, so English learning is embedded in all subjects that we teach across the curriculum. We also plan for literacy focused learning every day in school, in line with the National Curriculum.

The school aims to make our children confident and enthusiastic speakers, readers and writers. To support this, we provide a broad range of daily activities for children to develop and apply their speaking, listening, reading and writing skills.

From the EYFS pupils are taught phonics following the Read Write Inc scheme. They are then taught to apply these skills through a variety of activities and contexts. We provide opportunities to read for pleasure and engage with texts in guided-reading sessions. RWI was developed by Ruth Miskin and more information on this can be found at https://ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/.

Lubavitch Boys' Primary School has developed a new curriculum for English for the school year 2024/25. This runs from Year 1 all the way through to Year 6. At the heart of it, is that all learning should be through the lens of a 'class reader.' There is a clear learning focus, each week, for Reading and Comprehension, Spelling and Grammar and Writing. Every term, children develop knowledge and skills related to fiction, non-fiction, poetry and playscripts. More information on the English Curriculum can be found by clicking on the links below

Maths

At Lubavitch, Mathematics is taught every day. Children go through a process of gaining a deep understanding of numbers through the 'concrete, pictorial, abstract' model. By the end of Key Stage 1, children should have a strong mental model of numbers to 100 and be fluent in the 2, 5 and 10 times tables. By the end of Year 4, students should know their times tables to 10. Throughout Key Stage 2, we ensure that children have key strategies and algorithms to solve various problems using the 4 operations.

At Lubavitch Boys' Primary School, our main scheme of work is the White Rose Scheme, which develops positive attitudes and keen problem solving and reasoning skills. We also try and make maths real and relevant for students. More information on the Maths Curriculum can be found here.

Music

At Lubavitch, we know that music promotes positivity, self-confidence and a sense of community. Therefore, we believe that it should be a part of our everyday practice, through davening, singing in class or music lessons. In the annual music week there will be an opportunity for the children to create their own instruments and perform for their peers. On this special week there will also be a performance from the school choir. More information on the Music Curriculum can be found here.

Humanities

In humanities, students alternate half-termly between Geography and History. We are keen that students should gain an understanding of their place in the world and their place in time, by studying the world around them and the history that leads up to the modern era. The curriculum is structured in a way that students build up their skills and knowledge in a carefully constructed systematic way. Students will start by learning about the local area around them and where they live and slowly progress to learn about the UK and the world at large and its key features. In history, students learn about a range of historical eras ranging from Ancient Egypt all the way to post-World War 2 and the holocaust. At Lubavitch, we endeavour to find links between the places and eras they are studying and their own Jewish history and traditions. More information on the Humanities Curriculum can be found here.

Science

At Lubavitch, we aim to teach the National Curriculum Science topics within the framework of the Torah and Lubavitch Ethos. We want our students to become curious about the world and how things work and to appreciate the wonders of creation. They should be investigative and learn about the rules of nature and develop a keen sense to ask why things happen. As children progress into KS2, their skills as to how to write up and record their investigations, results and conclusions should be developing too. More information on the Science Curriculum can be found here.

Topics covered in Science are listed here

D&T

Design and Technology at Lubavitch gives children the chance to use creative thinking and design within a defined purpose and product outcome. Through a variety of creative and practical activities, pupils are taught the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to engage in a process of designing and making a product. Through the evaluation of past and present design and technology, they develop a critical understanding of its impact on daily life and the wider world. Design and technology makes an essential contribution towards being creativity, cultured, and thinking innovatively. More information on the D&T Curriculum can be found here.

Art

Art and Design at Lubavitch allows the children to stimulate creativity and imagination. It provides visual, tactile and sensory experiences and a special way of understanding and responding to the world. It enables children of all abilities to communicate what they see, feel and think using colour, texture, form, pattern and different materials and resources. We teach and encourage children to explore ideas, shapes, patterns and meanings through the work of a range of artists and designers. More information on the Art Curriculum can be found here.

ICT

Children at Lubavitch are taught a range of skills in ICT. Every year group begins by learning online and computer safety, helping children be prepared for the modern, technological world. They are also taught how to use ICT as a tool for other subjects, e.g. databasing for maths. In the Spring term, children focus on coding and computer science, followed by information technology and digital literacy in the summer term. At the heart of our intent, is to be computer literate and ready for the outside world when they leave school. More information on the ICT Curriculum can be found here.

PE

At Lubavitch Primary School we aim to develop a fun, high-quality physical education curriculum. We will provide opportunities for pupils to become physically confident in a way which supports their health and fitness. PE is an imperative element of the curriculum, which develops a need for healthy lifestyles, a balanced diet, a positive- growth mindset and the resilience to persevere with activities that may be once have felt too difficult. We are passionate about the need to teach children how to cooperate and collaborate with others, as part of a team, understanding fairness and equity of play to embed life-long values. More information on the PE Curriculum can be found here

PSHE

Lubavitch Primary School recognises that personal, social, health and economic education is an important and necessary part of all pupils' education. The school teach PSHE, drawing on good practice, and following the expectation as outlined in the introduction to the proposed new national curriculum. The school tailors its PSHE programme to reflect the needs of our pupils and to use PSHE to equip them with a sound understanding of risk and with the knowledge and skills necessary to make safe and informed decisions. We use PSHE education to build, where appropriate, on the statutory content already outlined in the national curriculum, the basic school curriculum and in the statutory guidance. Furthermore, the PSHE curriculum is embedded in both secular and Jewish studies, through our assemblies and school policies. More information on the PSHE Curriculum can be found here.

Chumash

Talmidim at Lubavitch Boys' Primary School start learning Chumash in Year 1, after going through a vocabulary program to help prepare them for this. At the heart of Chumash learning is to connect with the Torah that was given at Har Sinai, to their ancestors, over 3000 years ago, in an unbroken train of tradition, going from father to son and Rebbe to talmid. We want that Chumash should be inspiring and full of moral and ethical instruction for our young students. We also want to prepare the children for future independent learning, by gaining textual and grammatical skills, each class according to its maturity.

Mishnayos

In Year 3, talmidim start their study of תורה שבעל פה with the learning of Mishnayos. Here we start handing over the traditions (mesorah) of the foundations of Jewish life. It is through Mishnayos that we expose the talmidim to a new way of thinking and understanding of their religion. The concept of halocho and law is instilled into their hearts and at the same time to understand how debate and critical thinking has its place. Understanding, that whilst the Law was given over to Moses with full clarity, over the centuries and millennia, clarity over the law had become forgotten and were the subject of honest discussion and debate amongst the great Tannaim of the late-Temple and post-Temple era. Our aim, is to train the young minds of our students to the ideas of each opinion and to apply those conclusions to their own Jewish lives.

Gemara

Students begin learning Talmud Bavli in Year 5, with the traditional perek of אלו מציאות. We understand how the language and syntax is extremely complicated and therefore our goal in Year 5 is primarily to decode a 'piece of gemara'. We work on the understanding that learning gemoro is not something that will finish when they leave school, but is something they will learn and delve into throughout their entire lives, being that gemoro is the foundation for Jewish religious life, and therefore our job is to provide them the fundamental textual skills to enable that deeper learning to take place as they progress in their education into secondary school and beyond. At the same time, we pique their curiosity by touching upon the idea that the main concepts of gemara are hidden beneath the surface, textual level.

Early Reading Statement in the EYFS and KS1:

What are our aims?

We want to teach every child to read and become a confident and enthusiastic reader.

When children start in Reception, we begin teaching them to read.

We follow the teaching sequence set out in Read Write Inc. supported primarily by resources from RUTH MISKIN LITERACY programme.

High quality phonics sessions will be taught daily in Reception and Key Stage 1 classes in small differentiated groups, enhanced by a multi-sensory teaching approach.

We expect children to learn 31 sounds by the end of Reception. In Year 1 children learn the other 13 sounds. During the lessons, children learn sounds for individual letters, diagraphs (two letters representing a single sound, such as ea) and trigraphs (three letters representing a single sound, such as igh). Children learn to blend sounds into words; read exception words; learn correct letters; and learn to spell. We give some children one-to-one support to help them keep up. We give children reading books that help them practise the sounds that they have learned. They read these books at school and take them home to read to their parents. During each week, the classes have story time. Each teacher carefully chooses books to read to the class. This is when children listen to stories that have rich language and they can develop a love of reading.

To find out more about the school curriculum please contact the office at admin.juniorboys@lubavitchmat.uk