Brightlingsea Primary School & Nursery

Curriculum

 

Our curriculum is underpinned by our school values of 'Aspiration', 'Community' and 'Equity'. 

We want our learners at Brightlingsea Primary School to be, “thoughtful, confident, healthy, responsible, conscientious, caring members of society who make a positive contribution to the community in which they live”, (Brightlingsea Primary School Handbook, 2021). We want to give all children equal access to our curriculum, irrespective of ability, race or gender and develop their understanding of issues such as other cultures and equal opportunities through all areas of our curriculum. We therefore want our curriculum to be designed in a way which, whilst meeting the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum, has PSHCE at its core in order to promote the desired skills. Our aspirational curriculum is designed to provide equity for all and to instil a sense of community.

We believe that the National Curriculum can be divided into ‘conceptual’ (factual) and ‘foundational’ (skill-based) learning and that whilst the conceptual learning may take place in blocks of themed teaching, the foundational skills will need opportunities to be revisited time and time again, in order for our learners to develop their fluency, confidence and accuracy over several years. The progression of Key Performance Indicators in each subject, through the year groups, serves to promote systematic acquisition of skills.   In all subjects, children are encouraged to know and remember more. So, we have identified the knowledge that children need to over-learn. We have called this 'sticky knowledge'. 

We believe that different styles of learning suit different children; consequently, we provide equity for our learners through a variety of learning styles. Additionally, we encourage children to be aware of the style in which they learn best, to help them to take ownership of their learning and eventually allow them to apply appropriate techniques to their own independent study.

We believe that as the sole primary school in Brightlingsea, we are responsible for nurturing a love for our town, its history and its environment, drawing on local businesses and services as much as possible. We aim to enrich our curriculum through  regular visits to their local area, to places of interest and community hubs. These experiences will act as pivotal learning points to enhance the curriculum for all children.

We know, that as they get older, our children are going to be experiencing a rapidly changing climate. They will need to be able to engage fully with new concepts, challenge their previously held beliefs and question ideas with confidence, within an evolving society. It is no longer enough for our children to be passive learners, who sit quietly waiting to be told what they need to know. We want our children to have a passion for learning. We will teach children how to be cooperative learners who aspire to achieve. Outdoor learning, purposeful play, open-ended investigations and problem solving will foster necessary life-long learning skills.

We also know that high quality speaking and listening lies at the heart of English development. So, in all subject areas we place an emphasis on subject specific vocabulary progression and the celebration of a language rich environment.

 

We follow the National and Foundation Stage Curriculum 

Please click HERE a document about the National Curriculum

Click HERE to find the National Curriculum broken down by year group.

Please click on each year group below to find out what the children will be learning across the year, and if you have further questions please come in and talk to your child's class teacher.