Our Curriculum
‘The Old Buck Way’
‘Inspiring Learning for Life’
In September 2022 we introduced five values to work to in our school:
- Respect
- Resilience
- Teamwork
- Honesty
- Communication
Kindness is threaded throughout.
Our curriculum is underpinned by these values and they 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.
We also have three Behaviour Rules:
- Ready
- Respectful
- Safe
- The curriculum at Old Buckenham Primary School 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. We believe that the curriculum is not just enacted in the classroom and is a much broader experience; including trips, visits, extra-curricular opportunities and work in our local community.
- 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.
Our curriculum is carefully mapped with the Early Years Foundation Stage providing the 'building blocks of knowledge' in preparation for children to begin the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum from Key Stage One through to the end of Key Stage Two. 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 at High School. It is important that the curriculum considers the development of the whole child and does therefore not only concentrate on academic success.
Teaching and Learning
At Old Buckenham Primary School we believe that every moment of a child’s time in school should be filled with rich experiences and memorable moments. We plan for our curriculum to go beyond just academic success, and offer a curriculum that gives all children at Old Buckenham Primary School new experiences that help to enrich their learning, deepen their understanding of the world and develop enquiring minds and skills for life.
We want our children to be successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens. We encourage and support each child to achieve their very best through creating an atmosphere of trust, openness and respect which encourages an enthusiasm for learning and critical thinking. Through a curriculum based upon the characteristics of effective learning, we encourage children to explore, take risks, investigate, be creative, and discover the world around them. They are supported to respond to challenge within a learning environment that is secure, enjoyable, and sensitive to individual needs and where mistakes are embraced as part of a learning cycle. We give our children time for independent thought and action as well as time to work together.
At Old Buck our curriculum meets the expectations of the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile and the National Curriculum and has been mapped carefully by curriculum leaders to ensure this is well sequenced and progressive - shown through each subjects own progression map.
In Early Years, the building blocks of knowledge are used to create the foundations for the National Curriculum expectations at Key Stage One and Two. These link closely to both the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile and Development Matters (This guidance sets out the pathways of children’s development in broad ages and stages).
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. If the children’s learning can be further enhanced, cross curricular links are made to core subjects such as English, Maths and Science The learning experiences we provide for the children are a balance of hands on practical activities and recorded work in the form of drawings, photographs, pupil voice or written text.
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.
The outdoor environment is considered an opportunity for active learning for all our pupils. The school grounds continue to be 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.
The Characteristics of Effective Learning
The Characteristics of Effective Learning are used across Early Years. They are:
- Playing and Exploring > engaging
Finding out and exploring, using what they know, being willing to have a go.
- Active Learning > motivation
Being involved and concentrating, keeping on trying, enjoying achieving what they set out to do
- Creating and thinking critically > thinking
Have their own ideas, use what they already know to learn new things, choose ways to do things and find new solutions
For further information regarding the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile, please click on this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-profile-handbook
For further information regarding Develop Matters, please click on this link:
To find out about the requirements of the current National Curriculum, please click on this link:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum
