Focused Learning Days (FLDs)
At William Harding we ensure we deliver the National Curriculum but we also enrich our pupils’ experience by going beyond the curriculum.
Enrichment and our Personal Development Curriculum
Our curriculum is made up of the subjects that we teach and our Personal Development Curriculum. As part of the Personal Development Curriculum we look at values like Respect and Honesty. We also learn about how to develop personal qualities like being organised and resilient. Enrichment is also part of our Personal Development Curriculum. We enrich our curriculum through clubs, trips and visitors.
Beyond the National Curriculum
We ensure that we cover everything that is required within the National Curriculum but we also go beyond that. In the last week of each half term we have Focused Learning Days (FLDs). On those days we take our learning beyond the National Curriculum to look at other aspects of the world around us.
Focused learning days are carefully selected to meet the needs of our pupils. We choose topics that help pupils develop a broader understanding of the world around them. This bespoke approach is designed to support and enrich their learning experiences. We choose our FLDs based on what we feel that our pupils need to know and the gaps they have. We cover a wide range of topics during the year to give our curriculum breadth and depth. These are the FLDs planned for this year.
FLDs can be half a day or for a day. We focus on a specific topic or idea that is particularly relevant to our pupils. FLDs are recording in our class books and displays.
Our FLDs for 2025-26
MUSU
LORIC, values, behaviour and wellbeing - Transition support
Autumn 1
Black History Month - an international month to give everyone the opportunity to share, celebrate and understand the impact of black heritage and culture. We are a diverse, multi-cultural school. Only 39% of our pupils are white British and we want to ensure we celebrate the contributions and improvements the black community has made to the world we live in.
World Mental Health - a global day to look at how we can improve our mental health and support others. We are very aware of the rising mental health needs in society and in our school. We aim to de-stigmatise mental health and also support pupils to find ways to improve their mental health.
Us, Community, Culture and the World - each half term we cover an aspect of the world around us. We look at our locality, our national and the world as a whole. We are a diverse, multi-cultural school. We want our pupils to develop their understanding of the wider world and cultural capital.
Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) – a national day to explore what DLD is. This FLD is aimed at raising awareness and improving understanding as of language disorders, especially as we have a SALT ARP. It is also develops an understanding of a protected characteristic.
Autumn 2
Anti-bullying - a national day to look at how we can prevent bullying. We are part of a diverse community. We ensure that all pupils feel welcome and part of our school. We want to ensure our pupils learn about tolerance, understanding or respectful behaviour. We therefore include this FLD so that we have a longer and dedicated time to focus on developing this understanding. This is however part of learning and education across the year.
Us, Community, Culture and the World - each half term we cover an aspect of the world around us. We look at our locality, our national and the world as a whole.
Careers - this is an FLD to explore the types of jobs that exist, the skills needed to do them and explore the children’s aspirations. Our pupils have a limited understanding of careers – they mainly are aware of either careers that make them famous or what their parents do. These FLDs are structured to provide pupils with more information about the wide range of careers available and develop their aspirations.
Spring 1
NSPCC Number Day - a national day to learn about maths and numbers. We support the work of the NSPCC. We also want to promote real life maths and show children that maths does exist outside the maths lesson
Comic Book Day - during the day we look at a range of aspects of comic books such as writing speech, onomatopoeia and how to summarise a story. 55% of our pupils are boys and this FLD aims to interest boys in reading as we know that boys are less keen to pick up a book to read. This will in turn positively impact the boys’ writing.
World Read Out Loud Day - a global day encourage reading out loud.
Us, Community, Culture and the World - each half term we cover an aspect of the world around us. We look at our locality, our national and the world as a whole.
Careers - this is an FLD to explore the types of jobs that exist, the skills needed to do them and explore the children’s aspirations.
Spring 2
World Book Day – a national event to celebrate and enjoy books and reading. We support this national FLD to encourage our pupils to talk about books and develop their love of reading even further.
Summer 1
Keeping ourselves safe – during these FLDs we learn about a range of ways to keep us safe e.g. near railways, near water, fire safety etc. Fire safety and travel safety — for example around water, roads and railways is part of the updated PSHE guidance. Our school is adjacent to a railway track and so we feel it is vital to the safety of our pupils to have a lesson on rail safety.
The roads around the school are very busy during drop off and collection so our pupils need regular reminders about road safety. We are also aware that our Y5 and 6 children travel to and from school alone and so need regular reminders about their personal safety on roads. We want to ensure our pupils know what to do in an emergency situation.
Road Safety – during these FLDs we learn about a range of ways to keep us safe on roads or near roads and when crossing the road.
Us, Community, Culture and the World - each half term we cover an aspect of the world around us. We look at our locality, our national and the world as a whole.
Summer 2
Finances – We learn about our finances, budgeting, saving, different places to save money in e.g. banks, building societies etc. Modern purchases tend to be via credit / debit cards. Pupils do not see or use cash often and so we want to ensure that they have the understanding of the value of money. We also feel that our pupils need to understand how to budget, how to manage their money, loans etc as they are growing up in a world in a cost of living crisis and they need to be aware of their finances.
Sports Day – An event to allow the children to compete together for their house.
Us, Community, Culture and the World - each half term we cover an aspect of the world around us. We look at our locality, our national and the world as a whole.
Careers - this is an FLD to explore the types of jobs that exist, the skills needed to do them and explore the children’s aspiration.
MUSU
Inventors and Inventions – We learn about different inventions and inventors. This is part of our cultural capital offer and also to develop aspirations and ideas. The aim is to enable the pupils to open their minds to new possibilities and also to break stereotypes.
Parliament, laws and the prime minister – We learn about Parliament and the job of MPs in creating laws. This is part of our cultural capital offer and an area that our pupils know little about. We feel it is important that our pupils understand how the country is run.
Women in science - Famous scientists tend to be male so we learn about important female scientists in this FLD. This is part of our cultural capital offer and also to develop aspirations and ideas. The aim is to enable the pupils to open their minds to new possibilities and also to break stereotypes
Us, Comm.unity, Culture and the World - each half term we cover an aspect of the world around us. We look at our locality, our national and the world as a whole.
If you have any further questions about FLDs please contact Mrs Skinner via the school office