At Dhoon School, we’re passionate about nurturing curious, lifelong learners. Our unique approach is guided by the Dhoon High Five — five key qualities that help our pupils grow confident, capable, and ready for the future. These qualities shape how our children learn, play, and thrive every day.
Every Friday, we come together for our High Five Assembly — a special celebration where we highlight the week’s achievements and present certificates to pupils who have shown outstanding dedication to one or more of our High Five qualities. We’re sure you’ll soon hear your child talking about these values as they become a big part of their school journey!
Our curriculum is built on the exciting Cornerstones Maestro framework, which brings learning to life through engaging, hands-on projects. For maths, we use the highly effective White Rose Maths scheme, helping children build strong foundations and enjoy problem-solving. And for phonics, we follow Monster Phonics, a fun and systematic way to develop confident readers and writers.
All of this supports the goals of the DESC’s Essentials for Learning (E4L) curriculum, ensuring that your child receives a well-rounded, high-quality education. You can explore the full E4L curriculum on the DESC website.
At Dhoon, learning is an adventure — and we’re excited to have you and your child join us on this journey!
Download "The Dhoon High Five" here
At Dhoon School, we are committed to providing a rich, varied and exciting curriculum for all of our pupils. We offer a wide range of opportunities for children to learn in different ways, catering for a range of learning styles. This means that our pupils learn to work both independently and collaboratively, developing an understanding of themselves as learners and recognising the ways in which they learn most effectively.
Our curriculum is creative and innovative, with our team of talented staff able to deliver high quality teaching and learning through cross-curricular, theme based activities; an approach that our pupils find engaging and inspiring, thanks to the variety and range of different activities on offer, and which allows them to make connections between the different areas of learning.
Our curriculum also includes a commitment to helping our pupils learn to learn; we believe that children should develop an understanding of how they learn most effectively, reflect on their own progress and be involved in identifying their own ‘next steps’, thus developing the skills to be a successful learner for life.
| Foundation Stage | Key Stage 1 | Key Stage 2 |
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Our Foundation Stage curriculum allows children to learn by exploring, talking about their learning, practising skills and being active. It is important to us that your child is happy at school and from their first days with us in Reception, our children enjoy exciting, engaging learning experiences alongside their peers, enabling them to feel safe, secure and confident in their new environment. |
A broad and balanced curriculum is provided in Key Stage One, with exciting and engaging learning opportunities taking place within the classroom environment, the outdoor learning spaces and beyond into the local environment. Throughout this phase, we aim to promote positive attitudes toward learning, making it fun, exciting and enjoyable and specific focus is given to phonics, reading, literacy and mathematics skills. |
Throughout Key Stage Two we continue to provide a broad and balanced curriculum through our thematic approach, with regular, exciting opportunities for children to steer their own learning - ‘Learning on Demand’. Carefully planned, quality teaching and learning activities promote a love of learning, celebrate high expectations and spark curiosity, creativity and determination. |
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KEY FEATURES: Fun, child-centred activities allowing children to progress comfortably at their own pace High quality teaching and learning experiences that promote curiosity and creativity A learning environment rich in language and colour Lots of opportunities for carefully planned practical activities Making use of our superb outdoor learning facilities Enabling children to foster positive relationships with their peers, staff and the wider school community Happy, contented, confident children! |
KEY FEATURES: A vibrant, stimulating and language rich learning environment ‘Curiosity hooks’ to engage and inspire Opportunities to learn through exploration, play and investigation Quality time to build on knowledge through practical, interactive tasks Daily Maths and Phonics sessions Small group and whole class work Individual and Guided Reading sessions to develop skills and promote a love of reading using a multi sensory approach Thematic approach to help children make links in their learning Celebration of our culture, language and heritage Learning about the ‘Wider World’ Development of a ‘Growth Mindset’ within a safe to fail environment Keeping ourselves active and healthy Learning takes determination but is fun and rewarding! |
KEY FEATURES: ‘Curiosity hooks’ to engage and inspire Vibrant, stimulating learning environments Development of a ‘Growth Mindset’ with opportunities for children to direct their own learning, set themselves goals, fail well and challenge themselves Teacher, self and peer-assessment Daily phonics, spelling and handwriting sessions Individual and Guided Reading sessions to develop skills and promote a love of reading Development of writing composition strategies through modelling and supported practice Sentence construction skills (including grammar) developed through extensive practice A deeper understanding, confidence and competence in Mathematics through a ‘Maths Mastery’ approach Regular times tables practice A combination of formal teaching and collaborative learning activities Challenge based learning Celebration of our culture, language and heritage Global Learning Keeping ourselves active and healthy Learning takes determination but is fun and rewarding! |