At Spalding Primary School, we believe all pupils are entitled to an education appropriate to their needs; which at times may require a distinct teaching and learning style to meet their learning needs. Our school values all children equally and endeavours to ensure that each child should have the opportunity to realise his/her potential in a challenging and supportive environment. All children should fulfil their potential and be given significant challenges to bring out the best in themselves and develop to a high standard of their ability. Not only depth, but also breadth will enable them to unlock and use their high level of thinking skills.

Opportunities are provided for even deeper learning. For some children they will be able to access even greater challenge to deepen their thinking further. ‘Mastery’ learning or ‘learning at greater depth’ requires this higher order ability where children have potential to develop significantly beyond what is expected for their age. A child’s exceptional talents could exist in any area(s) – whether academic or more practical within sports or creative within the arts. We believe these are all important in order to provide an enriched curriculum.

This diagram helps to clarify the concept of mastery and greater depth in the National Curriculum:

What we do know for certain is that mastery is not:

• Mastery and greater depth – not working on content from the next year group.

• Mastery and greater depth in mathematics – not practising the same concept with bigger numbers.

• Mastery and greater depth in reading – not necessarily reading a more challenging text.

The Characteristics of mastery and greater depth in the National Curriculum could therefore be summarised as: