Bugle School Curriculum Aims and Intent
School Aims:
- Be an inclusive school that values and celebrates individual differences.
- Support children to be independent, successful and confident learners.
- Provide relevant experiences that are memorable, positive and enriching.
- Promote an ethos of aspiration, curiosity, honesty and respect.
- Ensure that all pupils feel safe and happy.
- Have dedicated staff and support staff.
- Value and appreciate the impacts of the wider community.
Curriculum ethos –
Our curriculum provides our children with a wide range of experiences and opportunities which will allow them individually to reach their full potential. The curriculum will put subject specific knowledge and skills at the heart of it. Through delivering exciting, motivating and relevant questions to explore, the children will learn to:
- Be inquisitive, question and be resilient to challenge,
- Make connections and see relationships,
- Be curious and explore ideas, keeping their options open,
- Reflect critically on ideas, actions and outcomes
- Be active in participating in wider curriculum opportunities
- To want to succeed and be aspirational about their future.
Curriculum intent at Bugle Primary School
How does our curriculum fit in with our aims and ethos?
When considering the aims and ethos of the curriculum we consulted the wider school and the community. We have worked with staff, hub councilors, pupils and the wider school community to find values which meet the needs of our community and expectations which underpin what we are trying to achieve. We felt it was vitally important that these core values were at the heart of everything we do and therefore also in our school curriculum. We wanted pupils to understand that support for themselves and for each other are the key to success; that we are a team and therefore look after each other – whether that be within our school community or in a much wider context as a global citizen. Having a good attitude was also very important to us and through teaching the children about resilience, academic success and embracing challenge we hope to promote excellent behaviour for learning. And, finally respect, where our restorative culture ensures that all members of our school community take responsibility for their actions and understand that actions have consequences.
How did we design our curriculum?
We have spent a considerable amount of time designing our curriculum discussing the needs of the community combined with research into best practice. We dedicated staff CPD sessions to plan and develop the curriculum. Our staff were given time to be creative and imaginative to develop a curriculum that is unique to our school whilst covering National Curriculum objectives.
How does our curriculum meet the needs of our pupils?
Our curriculum has been carefully designed, planned and organised to ensure breadth, balance and depth for every learner in our school. We discussed our pupils’ backgrounds, life and cultural experiences and this has helped us to design a curriculum that meets their needs. Oracy, reading ability and vocabulary knowledge are the 3 main drivers that link all areas of the curriculum. 20% of our pupils start school speaking no English, 20% of our pupil’s education may end at 11 years old and over 97% of our pupils sit in the most deprived areas of the UK.
We wanted our curriculum to develop not only our children’s cultural understanding but also their spiritual and moral understanding of how to make their community and the world a better place. At Bugle School, we feel that education stems beyond the classroom. Therefore, we believe strongly in giving all children access to ‘Life experiences.’ Across their 7-year journey will us they will experience the following:
How do pupils progress and achieve within our curriculum?
At Bugle Primary School, our definition of progress is; the widening and deepening of essential knowledge, skills, understanding and learning behaviours. We designed, organised and planned our curriculum to ensure that children are not merely covering content but achieving a depth to their learning which enables them to use their skills and understanding to develop the key subject specific knowledge they require to make progress. Our careful curriculum design and planning means that we build in many opportunities for repetition and practise of the essential skills of: Oracy, reading ability and vocabulary knowledge. We aim to ensure that children can revisit previous learning, allowing them to gradually develop a deeper understanding of the skills and processes within subjects, at their own pace and in the best possible way for each individual child.
How will we evaluate our curriculum?
We pride ourselves in constantly improving our school and value feedback from all stakeholders. We give our parents and hub councilors the opportunity to share and celebrate the outcomes of our curriculum. All classes invite parents to a termly celebration of work where pupils will showcase their outcomes. Each class will also celebrate their work through either: a class performance, an art showcase, an oral retelling or by simply sharing their work. Year group pages on the school website will also inform parents of the key objectives that children will covering in that term. At the start of a new subject specific area of learning, the children and parents will be provided with knowledge organisers for most subjects. This will inform the children and parents of the key knowledge and vocabulary that the children will learn. The Knowledge Organisers are an important assessment tool to ensure that the children are making progress and retaining newly acquired knowledge.
An important aspect of our curriculum is inspiring pupils from the very first week of the term. Our staff plan exciting educational visits/visitors or tasks which ‘hook’ and inspire pupils into their learning for the coming term. In all of this we will ask for feedback from all stakeholders and senior leaders will monitor and evaluate the impact that our curriculum is having on learning.
