Our Curriculum
- The curriculum at Old Buckenham Primary School & Nursery is designed to provide a broad and balanced education that meets the needs of all pupils and gives them the skills, knowledge and understanding to prepare them for their future lives.
- It ensures that academic success, creativity and problem solving, reliability, responsibility and resilience, as well as physical development, well-being and mental health are key elements that support the development of the whole child and promote a positive attitude to learning.
- The curriculum provides learning that has local, national and international dimensions in order to promote celebrating diversity while supporting the pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
Our belief is that children learn best when they are engaged, motivated and enjoying their learning. As a result, we provide a curriculum which is broad and balanced and which builds on the knowledge, understanding and skills of all children, whatever their starting points, as they progress through each Key Stage. The curriculum incorporates the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum 2014, Religious Education in Key Stages 1 and 2and other experiences and opportunities which best meet the learning and developmental needs of the pupils in our school. The aim of our curriculum is for pupils to have the requisite skills to be successful, independent, and motivated learners in readiness for their next stage of education. It is important that the curriculum considers the development of the whole child and does therefore not only concentrate on academic success.
Reception children follow the Revised Foundation Stage Framework. Reading is taught using synthetic phonics (Letters and Sounds), a mix of reading schemes and real books as we want children to develop a love of reading. Use is made of the Literacy and Maths strategies where appropriate along with bespoke topics and themes planned by staff and the children.
Pupils are still working on the Early Learning Goals of the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum as they enter Year 1. There is a period in the Autumn Term where the majority of children progress to the National Curriculum. Throughout this period and beyond all children are still developing their phonic knowledge through the Letters and Sounds Programme and developing their fluency in reading through paired and short burst whole class reading sessions.
The primary curriculum includes the core areas of learning and experience which are essential to the child’s development and which are defined within the National Curriculum. These are: English, Maths, Science, Computing and Religious Education. These are taught both discretely and in the context of the real world. They will also study the following foundation subjects: History, Geography, Art, Design & Technology, Music, Physical Education and French (MFL). We also deliver Personal, Social, Health, Emotional education. This includes Relationships and Sex Education appropriate to the ages of the children.
Broad areas of learning that take place across the school are:
- The development of communication skills through literacy, that is, speaking, listening, writing, reading and information handling.
- The development of mathematical skills and mastery of maths through numeracy, that is, number, shape and space, measures, investigation and data handling.
- The development of environmental enquiry through history, geography and science.
- The development of physical skills through gymnastics, games, and swimming.
- The development of aesthetic and creative arts through music, art, design dance and drama.
- The development of attitudes and values through citizenship, religious education and personal, social and health education issues.
- The development of skills and attitudes which will help the children achieve economic well-being in the future.
National requirements and school requirements are mapped out as a whole school and then individual year groups plan the curriculum for their pupils accordingly. The curriculum is underpinned by the school’s Core Values (Resilience, Problem Solving, Reflection, Teamwork and Empathy) and these are taught on their own and through other areas of the curriculum, including assemblies. The spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of our pupils and their understanding of the core values of our society are woven through the curriculum.
The outdoor environment is considered an opportunity for active learning for all our pupils. The school grounds have been developed so they can enrich different curriculum areas, particularly science.
Pupils have opportunities to share their learning with each other, their parents and carers and other learners through school-based and external exhibitions, performances, competitions and events involving other schools. Developing their independence and motivation as learners and their sense of responsibility as future citizens is at the heart of all our teaching and learning.
