Curriculum
At the heart of everything is a personalised approach to each unique individual as part of our Christian Community. The strong family ethos ensures that all children and staff feel valued, respected and grow in self-confidence. Enthusiastic and caring staff with high expectations, demonstrate care of the whole child. Through God’s guidance we encourage each and every child to let their light shine.
Article 29: Children’s education should develop each child’s personality, talents and abilities to the fullest. It should encourage children to respect others, human rights and their own and other cultures. It should also help them learn to live peacefully, protect the environment and respect other people.
Connected Curriculum Approach
At Bunbury Aldersey, alongside our core English and Maths basic skills, we teach through a thematic, Connected Curriculum based approach. This ensures that our children are able to apply their knowledge and draw meaningful links between different areas of the curriculum. We involve our children in planning and choosing exciting topics that will ensure they are fully engaged in their own learning. Our aim is to provide a curriculum which will firstly expand the pupil’s knowledge, experience and imaginative understanding, and thus his/her awareness of moral and Christian values and capacity for enjoyment, and secondly, enable the pupil to enter the world after formal education is over as an active participant in society and a responsible contributor to it, capable of achieving as much independence as possible. At Bunbury, the school curriculum consists of all those activities designed or encouraged within its organisational framework to provide the intellectual, emotional, personal, social, spiritual and physical development of its pupils which are central to the ‘abundant life that Jesus offers’. It includes not only the subject-specific curriculum, but also the ‘informal’ programme of enrichment and extra-curricular activities (i.e. the local curriculum).
Intent:
Bunbury school is strongly committed to helping our children grow and develop the skills required to be successful in life. Our curriculum is designed to promote every child’s individuality giving them the skills, knowledge and understanding to prepare them for the future. At Bunbury, our Connected Curriculum is planned around the development of Knowledge, Skills and Understanding. We ensure a curriculum that nurtures fascination and imagination and promotes an appreciation of creativity & individuality. One that also works in strong partnership with parents and carers to ensure high standards, engendering a strong sense of community, where all children and families are key to the delivery of a challenging, inspirational and innovative curriculum.
As a trust, we provide varied opportunities throughout their time with us, which promote independent, interactive and collaborative learning that builds on the children’s natural curiosity and eagerness to learn. We teach children to aspire to be the best possible version of themselves through our key drivers.
Our key drivers are:
- Inspirational and connected curriculum which instils a love of learning
- Curiosity and appreciation of God’s world through our Christian Values
- A culture of care for everyone in our community and in the world around us (RRSA, Global Learning, British Values)
- Aspiring to become the best person God created us to be – Let your light shine (Matthew 5:16)
Academic success comes through creativity and problem solving; responsibility and resilience, as well as physical development, well-being and mental health all being key elements in supporting the whole child through their learning journey.
Our curriculum also celebrates diversity and utilises the skills and knowledge of the community to enhance our curriculum while supporting the children’s emotional and spiritual development.
Implementation:
Our curriculum is driven by a desire to develop the whole child and therefore delivers much more than just the National Curriculum. Our connected curriculum provides opportunities for the children to learn about managing themselves, relationships and situations.
Our curriculum is not simply a set of encounters from which children form ad hoc memories; it is designed to be remembered in detail – to be stored in our children’s long-term memories so that they can later build on it, forming an ever wider and deeper pool of knowledge. Our curriculum is connected. It is planned vertically between year groups, horizontally within the academic year and diagonally to build on prior knowledge.
Our connected curriculum stems from a key question linked to a specific concept which then underpins the children’s learning. Knowledge around this concept is delivered through primary sources such as high-quality texts, music, art and technologies, enabling connections to be made across a range of National Curriculum subjects. Our teachers skilfully plan to ensure the children in their class experience a curriculum that inspires a love for learning.
Our curriculum is predominantly organised around rich and engaging, high-quality texts, making links and connecting to all curriculum areas where relevant. Subject leads ensure progression and coverage of knowledge, skills and understanding are weaved into a meaningful and cohesive curriculum drawing in learning based on local, national and international events
Medium term plans outline the learning to take place for the term and are developed as mind maps using the phrases; As Artists, As Geographers, As Historians, As Writers, As Readers, As Mathematicians, As Musicians, As Programmers, As Designers, As Performers, As respectful, responsible citizens to frame ideas and concepts to be taught. The core basic skills of English and Maths are planned and delivered to reflect the National Curriculum 2014 changes and many elements of the new statutory orders are reflected in our practice.
Our strong commitment to educational visits, extra curricular activities and enrichment opportunities reflects our belief that these ‘first hand experiences’ make learning more memorable, ensuring that the children enjoy a stimulating, creative and exciting curriculum. The curriculum also includes those features which produce the school's ethos (i.e. the ‘hidden curriculum’) such as the quality of relationships and the values exemplified by the way the school sets about its task.
The school is organised into seven classes in total including Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, and Year 6 who follow the National Curriculum 2014 for maths and English and our developed Connected Curriculum for non-core subjects. Our teaching is focussed on the needs of the individual child; we tailor our teaching to ensure every child makes excellent progress. Classes are also supported by our Teaching Assistants based on the needs of the children.
The EYFS (Reception) class is taught in a bright airy room, which is linked to the Infant area and has a dedicated outdoor learning environment. T
he reception children follow the Foundation Stage Curriculum which is planned carefully by our EYFS staff.
We are committed to providing specialist teaching where this benefits the children. We employ specialist music and PE teachers and also provide swimming tuition seasonally. We also welcome parents and friends of Bunbury into school to support our activities (following safeguarding checks).
"A caring, positive environment where everyone is valued and encouraged to enjoy their learning."
Parent survey December 2020