What is the Cornerstones Curriculum?

Ninian Park Primary School uses the Cornerstones Skills Curriculum to provide a flexible approach to teaching and learning. It features more than 70 enterprising, thematic projects and hundreds of engaging lessons, all rich in the cross-curriculum responsibilities of language, literacy, communication and digital literacy.

Our new Skills Curriculum comes complete with an Essential Skills Framework, which has been designed to help teachers effectively differentiate learning intentions to meet the needs of individual children and groups.

The Cornerstones Philosophy

The fundamental aim of any curriculum is to help children learn. What sets the Cornerstones Curriculum apart is that it’s based on our four-stage philosophy: Engage, Develop, Innovate, Express.

Bring lessons to life

Successful curricula are built on inspirational learning activities and high-quality teaching. It’s about creating a classroom environment that allows children to learn in a way that motivates and interest them. The Cornerstones curriculum is designed to give teachers the chance to plan and structure lessons around their children.

Four-stage philosophy

The Cornerstones Curriculum features more than 70 Imaginative Learning Projects. Each project is split into sections, which see children progress through four stages of learning: Engage, Develop, Innovate, Express.

Engage

At the ‘Engage’ stage, children:

• gain memorable first-hand experiences, such as going on a visit or inviting a special visitor into school

• enjoy ‘WOW’ experiences

• get an exciting introduction to a topic or theme

• begin researching and setting enquiry questions

• get lots of opportunities to make observations

• develop spoken language skills

• take part in sensory activities

• have lots of fun to fully 'engage' with their new topic.

Develop

At the ‘Develop’ stage, children:

• improve their knowledge and understanding of the topic

• develop and practice their new skills

• compose, make, do, build, investigate, explore, write for different purposes and read across the curriculum

• research their own questions and those set by others

• follow new pathways of enquiry based on their interests

• complete homework activities that support their learning.

Innovate

At the ‘Innovate’ stage, children:

• apply skills, knowledge and understanding in real-life contexts

• solve real or imagined problems using everything they’ve learnt

• get inspired by imaginative and creative opportunities

• revisit anything not fully grasped at the ‘Develop’ stage.

Express

At the ‘Express’ stage, children:

• become the performers, experts and informers

• share their achievements with parents, classmates and the community

• evaluate finished products and processes

• link what they have learnt to where they started

• celebrate their achievements!

Welsh songs

(To the tune of Frere Jacques)

Bore Da
Bore da, bore da.

Sut wyt ti? Sut wyt ti?
Da iawn diolch, da iawn diolch!

Bore da, bore da. 

Good Morning

Good morning, good morning.

How are you? How are you?

Very well thank you, very well thank you!

Good morning, good morning.

Prynhawn Da 

Prynhawn da, prynhawn da.

Sut wyt ti? Sut wyt ti?
Da iawn diolch, da iawn diolch.
Prynhawn da, prynhawn da.

Good Afternoon

Good afternoon, good afternoon.

How are you? How are you?

Very well thank you, very well thank you!

Good afternoon, good afternoon.

Hywl Fawr Ffrindiau

Hywl fawr ffrindiau.

Hywl fawr ffrindiau.

Mae'n amser dweud hywl fawr.

Twr-a-lwr a bant a ni.

Bant a ni, bant a ni.

Twr-a-lwr a bant a ni.

Mae'n amser dweud hywl fawr.

Goodbye friends.

Goodbye friends.

Goodbye friends.

It's time to say goodbye.

Cheerio and off we go.

Off we go, off we go.

Cheerio and off we go.

It's time to say goodbye.

Un Bys, Dau Bys, Tri Bys yn Dawnsio

Un bys, dau bys, tri bys yn dawnsio,
pedwar bys, pump bys, chwech bys yn dawnsio,
saith bys, wyth bys, naw bys yn dawnsio,
deg bys yn dawnsio'n llon.

One Finger, Two Fingers, Three Fingers Dancing

One finger, two fingers, three fingers dancing,
Four fingers, five fingers, six fingers dancing,
Seven fingers, eight fingers, nine fingers dancing,
Ten fingers dancing merrily.