Curriculum Statement

Intent

We are a small school offering big opportunities through our inspiring, creative, broad and balanced curriculum – a curriculum which is flexible to meet the needs of all our learners. Our curriculum enables us to equip our pupils with a sense of wellbeing, confidence and the tools to develop their own individual pathways in a nurturing environment.  

At the heart of all we do are our values and ethos, the building blocks that unlock each child’s potential leading to unique success stories for each and every one.  

Our primary school is at the centre of our community, and our curriculum strives to make the most of what is on offer at our doorstep, enhancing the experiences we offer our pupils. This includes the use of the community orchard, Headlands sports field, the village church and shop, along with the Beacon Woodland for our forest school sessions.     

Our curriculum is designed to enable learners opportunities to become independent, collaborative, creative children who seek answers and nurture a love of learning for life.  

A Five Star Core Offer

During their time in our school, children will be offered the opportunity to:

Create an outdoor fire and cook something on it

Meet an inspirational person

Have the opportunity to take part and compete in a sporting event

Have the opportunity to perform in front of an audience

See our forest school in every season.

We believe that a broad, balanced, creative curriculum will enable children to flourish. With this in mind we have implemented a programme of enriching activities, visits and memorable experiences which underpin our five star core offer

Together with, and underpinning our core offer, we ensure that our curriculum has its roots in basic skills. Our teaching of reading is well established and we have systems in place for ensuring that children secure basic skills at the earliest point possible. We teach writing through the Talk for Writing approach and use of varied Phonics resources(Phonics Bug, Letters and Sounds, Phonics Play) and No-nonsense Grammar and Spelling Shed to support skills children need to acquire. Alongside this staff ‘forensically’ analyse children’s written work to enable focussed targets, which result in accelerated progress.

Our maths teaching is through a mastery approach. The children are exposed to discussions, vocabulary and CAPED (check it, another way (show), prove it, explain, draw your learning). This ensures children’s understanding of new concepts is both secure and challenged.

The core curriculum at Broadhempston is of a high standard and supports our creativity. It focuses on the necessary priorities for ensuring that all pupils make excellent progress in reading, writing, maths and science. It allows for progress within all groups of children across the school and results in high standards.

Implementation

Our Early Years curriculum is designed with the characteristics of effective learning and development matters at its core. Beyond EYFS the curriculum ensures coverage of the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum. The school’s curriculum builds on pupils’ prior learning and develops deep understanding of the material covered, introduces subject content progressively and constantly demands more of pupils embedding reading, writing and communication, and maths where appropriate, across all subjects. We aim to develop pupils who love the challenge of learning, are resilient to failure and are curious to seek out new information to deepen knowledge, understanding and skills.

The curriculum was designed with consideration of our staff and their varying experiences and skills, our children’s passions and interests and the passions of our families who often share their expertise with us. It was built with the local surroundings in mind; which are vast and interesting.

Our two-year programme, created in 2020/2021, was supported by the responses from questionnaires for staff and children and discussion with our stakeholders. We are ambitious and want to create successful and enjoyable topics that allow for a broad and balanced approach.

Long and medium term planning 

Please see class pages for long and medium term planning

Medium term planning

Completed by all teachers and involves ensuring coverage of both the national curriculum objectives and the key skills that we want the children to develop. These detail the starting points for all topics, show how it will develop and outline any significant outcomes. These documents use the format below, are entirely for the use of teaching staff, and become a starting point for short-term plans.

Class                                                   

Theme:

Length of time:

Big question: 

Hook /enrichment: 

Desired outcome:

Parents are kept well informed about what their children will be learning each term. Learning maps are created to share our intentions. These are available on our website or in paper form.

We strive for the impact of our curriculum to be…

Excellent standards

• Pupils make expected or better than expected progress, according to their baseline and national testing
• Pupils have aspirations and high expectations of themselves  they reach for the stars

Exceptional behaviour and attitudes

• Excellent learning behaviours and attitudes - to school life and beyond
• Ability to manage risk, conflict and uncertainty
• Aspirational, independent and inquisitive learners
• Building a toolkit of life skills, including a growth mindset and our school values.

Personal Development

• Pupil wellbeing monitored and developed
• Mental Health supported
• Developing sense of ‘wow moments’ and spirituality
• Happy, healthy pupils