E3L; Excite, Explore, Excel
At Holyhead Primary Academy, our themes are carefully chosen to show progression through content and knowledge across the subjects, taking account of seasons across the year and the first theme of each academic year focusing on PSHE, such as ‘Blast from the Past’ in Year 1.
A theme lasts up to half a term, and starts with an Excite experience, such as the discovery of a dinosaur nest, which the pupils use as a hook to engage them and base their learning on. Our underpinning philosophy is that they learn better in context rather than studying a single subject in isolation.
Science knowledge and skills are delivered through the E3L themes, some of which are specifically science focused such as ‘Brilliant Bodies’ and ‘Creepy Crawlies’. We also place an extra emphasis on practical science through additional practical science investigations. We ensure coverage of the science programme of study across each year group.
All of the themes have certain key characteristics: A large piece of extended writing, time for developing reading, and a number of subject specific skills that the pupils will develop. A pupil can produce a variety of outputs such as a digital dinosaur fact-files in the ‘Dinosaur Discovery’ theme in Year 1 or a recipe for a class book that will be printed in the ‘Roll Up! Roll Up!’ theme in Year 2.
