CURRICULUM
The children who come to Burley St Matthias C of E Primary School are diverse, energetic, open-minded and welcoming. They appreciate opportunities to boost their self esteem and to encounter a wide range of experiences. They need clear, consistent and fairly applied boundaries. They deserve teaching which is at least good or even outstanding.
The world into which they will live and grow is changing rapidly and driven by technology. The jobs they will do as adults may not yet exist. They will embrace the opportunities of living in multicultural communities and in a way that protects and preserves the environment.
Our parents want them to grow up to be curious and self confident, to embrace difference and to show and be shown respect. They want them to have a good grounding in the ‘3Rs’ as well as being able to use technology. They want them to have a good knowledge of different cultures.
Our governors are keen for children to be connected with the local community and to have lots of first hand experiences.
Our children tell us they like learning practically and enjoy role playing and discussion. They like getting stuck into topics for substantial periods of time.
As professionals, we believe that learning and teaching are exciting. We will nurture the instinct to learn by offering quality first hand experiences and lots of opportunities for children to succeed. We will concentrate on teaching them the skills they need to learn how to learn.
THEREFORE
We need to teach our children:
- The skills to become independent, confident learners;
- To recognise and value their unique skills and talents;
- To believe that everything is possible and to appreciate and embrace the opportunities they have;
- To be literate, numerate and effective communicators in a variety of media;
- What is means that ‘Everyone is Special’ and to understand, respect and learn from other lifestyles, cultures, beliefs and backgrounds;
So our curriculum will:
- Be full of exciting, first hand experiences;
- Have a sense of awe and wonder;
- Build skills deliberately and rigorously, meeting all the legal requirements;
- Provide opportunities for children to apply these skills in meaningful ways;
- Draw on learning opportunities from a wide variety of sources including the learning environment, the community, the wider world, adults and other children;
- Continue to evolve to meet the needs and aspirations of pupils, parents, governors, the wider community and ourselves as professionals
EARLY YEARS
In Reception Class pupils follow the Early Years Foundation Stage and are regularly assessed using 'Development Matters'. Learning is planned in areas of provision (e.g. the construction area or the role play area) which respond to children's interests and needs and which change regularly (often every couple of weeks). High staffing levels means that pupils have continual access to our outdoors area which is very well resourced. Towards the end of the year, pupils are taught in longer sessions in preparation for Year 1. Phonics teaching takes place every day, following the DfE validated 'Sounds-Write' programme. This is a new approach in our school in Early Years and KS1, which will also be phased into our approach to teaching spelling in KS2. Children learn to read through the Phonics Books: Dandelion Readers, which are phonetically decodeable and are primarily used for children to rehearse the sounds and reading skills they are taught in class. We also use some supplementary books enabling them to take home a range of different kinds of books at a suitable reading level.
Click the links below to find out more about each subject
Click the links below to find out more about what is taught in each class