Non-core Subjects

• Topic (ICT/Geography/History/Art/DT)

We teach these subjects through a half-temly topic which brings all the individual subjects together in an holistic approach resulting in an end purpose.  For example Year 3's topic may be The Rainforest; their end product might be a shoe box diorama. The diorama could display the different layers of the rainforest (Geography knowledge), use collage for the canopy (art skills), involve moving animal models (DT skills) and the animal movement be planned through programming in Scratch (ICT skills). We feel this brings a purpose to the learning and helps connect the different subjects. All subjects are still carefully planned across the year groups to ensure progression of skills. We also use knowledge organisers to establish key knowledge and to allwo all children to access the learning.

• Religious Education & Personal, Social & Health Education (PSHE)

As a Church of England school, we place high importance on learning from and about Christianity, in addition to other world religions. 

We use Discovery RE, a scheme for Religious Education from Nursery to Year 6 (for 3-11 year-olds), which ties in with the Bucks Agreed Syllabus. 64 enquiry modules cover Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism support the teacher to deliver engaging and challenging RE lessons with confidence. Christianity is taught in every year group, with Christmas and Easter given fresh treatment each year, developing children’s learning in a progressive way. Pupils can then also relate what they learn to their own experiences.

At our school we encourage pupils of all faiths to share their beliefs and throughout the year we invite parents and religious leaders to contribute to the life of the school.  Whilst we accept the right of parents to withdraw their children from RE, we aim for everyone to be a part of our inclusive experience.

We teach our PSHE through an excellent widely used scheme - Jigsaw. This is a taught weekly through six termly units and covers self-identity, bullying, racism, discrimination, resilience, healthy lifestyles, relationships and RSE.

• Physical Education

Our vision is that every pupil enjoys sport and develops a life-long positive attitude towards their own health and well-being. Through PE and sport, we aim to:

• Improve fitness, health and well-being.
• Encourage regular and active participation in sport.
• Enable each pupil to achieve their full potential.

The values, discipline and teamwork associated with sport are paramount in helping the spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development of pupils, in addition to supporting other areas of the curriculum.

Play leaders encourage Key Stage 1 and EYFS pupils to actively participate in sport by offering them a variety of fun lunchtime activities and games. Additionally, pupils from all year groups are encouraged to organise their own lunchtime clubs, resulting in a huge range of activities from cheerleading to football.  There are also a number of other extra-curricular sports clubs led by staff, volunteers and external agencies: football, multi-skills, hockey, dance, martial arts, netball, athletics, rounders and Change4Life clubs (skipping and running).  Our summer term always culminates in an exciting sports day where pupils display incredible sportsmanship and team work.

Furthermore, this year we were awarded the Gold Sports Mark, a government led award for acknowledging all our hard work and commitment to the development of competition across the school and into the community. Well done Quainton Primary School!

• Modern Foreign Languages (MFL)

Our main focus of learning modern foreign languages is for pupils to develop the ability to communicate orally and to instill an enthusiasm for languages. Weekly French lessons begin in Year 3 and continue on until Year 6 through the Language Angels scheme.

• Music

We are using a new scheme across the school this year - Sing-up!  Mr De Silva will also be running singing assemblies to stir the children's love of music!