Curriculum Statement – January 2025

 

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

Curriculum Intent:

We offer a holistic approach to learning recognising the needs and interests of the children using real life, meaningful experiences both in the classroom and in the outside area. We build on what the children already know and give them the knowledge and skills for future learning. We promote enjoyment, resilience and independence. The Reception team at Buttsbury Primary School have high expectations for all children and work together to ensure children are happy and settle quickly into school life.

Curriculum Implementation:

We follow The Early Years Foundation Stage framework which sets the statutory standards for the development, learning and care of children from birth to age 5. The framework is split into seven areas, 3 prime areas which are the necessary skills children need to access the four specific areas. The prime areas are communication and language, physical development and personal, social and emotional development. The specific areas are literacy, mathematics, understanding the world and expressive and design. Characteristics of Effective Learning run through all areas and look at how a child learns through playing and exploring, active learning and creating and thinking critically. We teach the skills and knowledge children need through a topic approach utilising both the indoor and outdoor learning environments. Topics are exciting and engaging, encouraging children to explore and investigate through observation and play, whilst taking regard of the whole child’s development; intellectual, emotional, social, physical and aesthetic. We value parental involvement to support learning and assessment. Educational visits and visitors enrich the curriculum. We teach phonics daily and there are numerous opportunities to write, listen to stories and develop language skills.  In maths we use the mastery approach, which is underpinned by White Rose Maths, with children developing a deep understanding of numbers and applying their skills to problems and real-life situations.

Curriculum Impact:

We strive for all children to achieve their maximum potential academically, socially and emotionally. Our children become independent learners who enjoy school and are developing a love of learning. The diversity of work we cover enables children to be well prepared for the transition to KS1. Our work on promoting good manners, consideration and co-operation enables children to become good role models and the best version of themselves.  Our results are usually above national average.

Key Stage One and Key Stage Two

Curriculum Intent

Our curriculum is ambitious, broad and well-balanced. We follow the National Curriculum. We plan the curriculum carefully, with a clear learning sequence, to ensure new knowledge and skills are built upon.

Our mastery approach provides opportunities for children to apply their skills across the curriculum and ensures pupils have the cultural capital required to be successful citizens.

We use KWL charts (What we know, What we want to know and What we have found out) to ensure progression in learning and our mastery approach enables children to apply knowledge and skills they have learnt to new situations.

We ensure that all children have access to a broad and balanced curriculum, identifying quality first teaching as the biggest key to success. The Pupil Premium Grant (PPG) is allocated wisely to enable us to ensure pupils entitled to PPG funding make progress in line with their peers. 

Our curriculum is carefully adapted and provides excellent skills-based challenge therefore addressing the needs of our children with SEND as well as those who are more able.

We ensure British Values are explicitly taught.

Curriculum Implementation

High quality CPD is used to ensure leaders have strong subject knowledge and are able to evaluate the impact of the curriculum in their subject area. Wherever possible, subject specialists lead curriculum areas. Subject Leaders have focused monitoring sessions six times a year, supported by the Deputy Headteachers.

Medium Term Plans are devised carefully to ensure there is a clear sequence of learning. We have deliberately limited the number of different aspects studied within a subject area to enable us to deepen learning and focus on skills’ development. Subject specialists are used to teach some areas e.g. PE and Music.

Working Walls are used to promote deep learning.

Pupil talk is a strength of all lessons and enables teachers to help children develop vocabulary and language.

Careful use of questioning, using the platform of Bloom’s Taxonomy, enables teachers to check pupils’ understanding and also challenge them.

We enrich the curriculum by inviting visitors into the school and also arranging numerous external visits. Practical activities are used to inspire learning.

Teachers use the ‘double teach’ approach to ensure more able learners are moved on swiftly and to enable additional support to be given, as appropriate, to other learners.

The maths curriculum is based upon White Rose Maths and provides lots of opportunities for children to explore maths practically.

Individual Education Plans are devised, where appropriate, to ensure the curriculum is adapted to meet the specific needs of learners. The school will go to any length to meet the needs of individual pupils.

Themed weeks e.g. Well-Being Week are designed to promote skills such as resilience as we know this is a barrier to learning.

Opportunities to develop reading skills are utilised widely and a love of reading is actively promoted, via focused initiatives and rewards. This helps us to address the issue that many children do not read at home.

Assessment, via questioning and use of KWL charts, is used to check pupils’ embedded learning and our mastery curriculum enables pupils to apply new skills readily.

The school has its own data tracking system which both parents and teachers find helpful in order to identify next steps in learning. Data is collected three times a year for core subjects in Year 6 and twice a year for Years 3, 4 and 5; data is collected twice a year for all other subject areas.

Curriculum Impact

National tests show that attainment in reading, writing and maths – both as individual subjects – and combined is significantly above national standards.

Monitoring findings show that work in children’s books is of a very high standard and progress is generally rapid and seldom slow.

Pupils enjoy their learning and are enthused by the knowledge they gain. They often choose to complete further work at home, linked to their topic in class. They are motivated by things that happen at school e.g. school fundraising projects for Guide Dogs UK.  

Pupils enjoy reading and most demonstrate a high level of fluency.

Pupils transfer their skills well e.g. using spreadsheets and charts/graphs in science lessons.

Pupils with SEND achieve excellent outcomes against their individual targets where appropriate.

Disadvantaged pupils make good progress which is in line with, or better than their peers, in all years.

Pupils learn about the impact that we have on our planet and how to make sustainable choices e.g. creating microhabitats for bees and insects in science and learning about the air miles of ingredients when making food products in DT.

Feedback from our local secondary school confirms that the children join them very well prepared for the next steps in their learning journey.