Burley St Matthias Primary School

The school covers all the statutory programmes of study outlined by the government.  We teach English and Mathematics in dedicated lessons every day but are always looking for opportunities for pupils to draw their developing learning and understanding together in cross curriculuar topics and themes.  We believe this not only makes learning more interesting and fun, but also enables pupils to demonstrate and consolidate what they have learnt in new contexts.

We have developed the following Curriculum Vision statement by working with parents, children, staff and governors and this drives all that we teach:

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 face the challenges 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. 

In Reception Class pupils follow the Early Years Foundation Stage and are regularly assessed using 'Development Matters'.  Phonics teaching takes place every day (following the DfE Letters and Sounds document and supplemented with some of the actions and materials from 'Jolly Phonics') and 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).  Children learn to read through the core Oxford Reading Scheme books and all books are banded with a colour code enabling them to take home a range of different kind of books at a suitable reading level.  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.

In Key Stage 1 and 2 pupils are taught the majority of subjects by their class teacher who has overall responsiblity for their achievement and progress.  Subjects are organised into themes and strong links are made between areas of the curriculum wherever possible.    In KS2 pupils begin to learn French, taught by our specialist French teacher.  Other subjects taught are: English, Mathematics, Science, ICT, History, Geography, Design and Technology, Art, Music, Religious Education and Pesonal Social, Health and Citizenship Education.

Each half term teachers produce a newsletter for parents outlining what will be taught in each area of the curriculum and indicating the sorts of things parents can do to support learning at home.

Further details for Literacy, Mathematics and our Theme plans can be found in the submenus off this page, as well as a statement on how we teach British Values to our pupils.  There is also a lot more information for parents who can log in to our members only Learning Platform and visit their child's class pages.  Please call into school for your username and password.

National Curriculum for England and Wales 2014

PE and the primary school sports funding

The school was allocated £8615 in 2014-15 as part of this government initiative to improve the provision of PE and sport.  The largest part of this is spent on a contribution to the salary of a Sports Coach who teaches PE in years 2-6.  The linked documents give a detailed breakdown of the spending and its impact. All classes take part in at least 2 hours PE each week and our Year 4 class go swimming throughout the year.

Sports Premium 2014-15

Sports Premium 2015-16