Curriculum Overview

Our curriuclum is a knowledge based curriuclum. 

Intent

Our vision is to equip young people with the knowledge, skills and mind-set to thrive and then take on the world!

We will achieve our vision by every child developing:

  • a greater understanding of themselves as a learner
  • recognise what their strengths are
  • how they can share their strengths with others
  • understand what steps they need to undertake for their continual learning journey
  • Pupils will be encouraged and inspired to believe in themselves, build dreams and aspirations and strive to achieve these.
  • Our curriculum reinforces what is integral to us – our school values

Curriculum design

The school follows the national curriuclum. End points are carefully planned and compoenet knowledge builds progressively from the early years. Substantive knowledge and disciplinary knowledge is carefully placed to support all children to develop great er undersatnding. Key components are revisited to support children to know more and remember more.

The whole school has topics defined across 3 key concepts and themes: Environment and sustainability, Inspirational Leadership and Identity, diversity and social justice. Across each year group, understanding of these concepts develops through carefully designed progressive topics building from the Early Years

Within each topic, intended knowledge is clearly defined in both schemes of work and in knowledge intent documents. Lessons are taught using knowledge notes which set out precise knowledge per lesson and across the sequence. Practitioners use these knowledge notes to implement retrieval practice and to support children’s retention. This precision also supports assessment. Both the acquisition of substantive knowledge and disciplinary knowledge is prioritised.

Staff design learning that focus on the constructs needed to gain a thorough grounding of knowledge. Pedagogy and quality first teaching is prioritised through professional development. This ensures that curriculum implementation is achieved well through carefully designed tasks that enact the intended knowledge.

Pupil assessment and progress determines the development of the sequence of learning. We have an unwavering commitment to developing vocabulary throughout a topic and providing opportunities for communication. Our curriculum design is underpinned by these core areas:

  1. All topics are based on a key enquiry question so that pupils can have ownership over the learning journey and this drives engagement. These are chosen to steer the curriculum towards achieving depth of thinking within a topic. Pupils are also given the opportunity to answer key questions.
  2. Literary texts will be selected to support each enquiry.
  3. A focus on key subject specific vocabulary development is a key part of our curriculum and will be embedded within all curriculum plans.
  4. The development of core skills, such as reading, writing and oracy, is a priority and are practised through a series of well-planned contexts and cross-curricular themes. The frequency of this will be dependent upon personal need.
  5. The curriculum is implemented through discrete subject teaching linked to a core topic so that children develop a sound understanding of subjects and can broaden their general knowledge and understanding of the world around them. Subjects are taught in blocks throughout the year to allow immersion in a subject, intense progression of knowledge and a clear sequence of learning.
  6. Within the curriculum, we intend to provide a range of learning experiences to strengthen the retention of knowledge, skills and understanding.
  7. Regular daily and weekly review and retrieval practice is mapped in by teachers to support children in knowing more and remembering more. Links are made with prior learning to ensure that children make strong connections to support them with new learning.
  8. Knowledge notes are used in all lessons. In each lesson, children highlight the knowledge they do not know so they can independently identify areas for further practice and consolidation.

 

Development of aspirations and skills in line with employment through learning about industry and influential leaders

Alongside our curriculum, we have a careers curriculum. This has precise intentions:

  • Children will develop ambition for future learning and careers
  • All children will leave our primary schools with a good understanding of local industries across Doncaster
  • Children will be prepared for modern life
  • Children will learn how to be responsible active citizens
  • Children will develop and apply work-based skills which are underpinned by our school values and learning characteristics
  • Children will have the opportunity to communicate and explore skills related to the hierarchy of audience. 

This is implemented through:

  • Class based half termly assemblies
  • Termly enrichment day
  • Focus on visits and business links including parents and local community

Autumn

Introduce industry and links to local context

Spring

Learning new skills and application

Summer

Present new learning and ideas

Create real audiences

Industries have been carefully selected based on our school context of Doncaster

Nursery

Construction

Reception

People who help us-emergency services/construction

Year 1

Transport and storage focus

Year 2

Engineering-problem solvers of the future!

Year 3

Retail/marketing- products design, selling and adverts.

Year 4

Human Health, sports industry and social service (Doctors, social workers etc.)

Year 5

Media, social-influencers and journalism

Year 6

Finance- spending to budgets, making sensible decisions

Mortgage rates, house prices etc

Revisit Transport- main industry in local context

Reflection

Daily and weekly reflection is mapped in throughout the week to ensure that children are able to spend time recalling and reviewing new learning so that they are able to know more and remember more. This may be done as a class or individually through quizzes, mind maps or with visual prompts. Children will often review the linked vocabulary to that topic too to check understanding. Staff are being supported in the use of a range of activities to promote retrieval and the research behind this. Weekly reflections revisit the learning from the whole week and focus on recall, vocabulary and key concepts taught through the week.

Recall of knowledge is also a key factor within our learning pedagogy. Lessons all start with a review of prior learning and conclude with pupil’s self-assessment using the lesson’s knowledge note. Children are given time in lessons to assess what they know and to identify where they need more practise. With younger children, this is achieved collectively with the whole class. In EYFS and Year 1, teachers have started to develop floor books. These floor books are also used by children within provision to practise recall of knowledge

Learning environment

Our learning environment plays a role in supporting our learning journey through our curriculum. We use learning walls to display our learning journeys with key learning outcomes and vocabulary displayed. Children can regularly refer to our learning walls to enable them to revisit prior learning and support their current learning. We aim to immerse children in topics with resources and equipment on topic tables to support each topic. Learning walls are intended to be knowledge rich and to be used to support recall and making connections with prior learning

Here is a look at our curriculum substantive document.

This knowledge is then defined into an intent document-see here for an example

Curriculum- main concepts

Please see the below statement for further information regarding our curriculum:

Our school follows the national curriuclum programme of study. If you would like to find out more information about our curriuclum, please contact the school

Email: admin@bentleyhighst.doncaster.sch.uk

Telephone: 01302 874536