For more policies, follow the link to our policies page.

Curriculum

Care, Learn, Achieve

At Boothstown Methodist Primary School, we aim to provide outstanding outcomes for our pupils. We believe that our curriculum should engage pupils in a relevant, meaningful and challenging process, where they are stimulated and allowed to let their learning develop and flow.

Our aim is to develop the whole child, ensuring all children can achieve their full potential, both academically and emotionally. We believe that children learn best when they are motivated, happy and interested in what they are doing. At Boothstown Methodist, we strive to provide each child with a broad, balanced, exciting and engaging curriculum. To achieve this, we have adopted a skills-based teaching approach through specific topics whilst also recognising that children need a curriculum that develops knowledge.

The core of our curriculum is based around the guidance issued by the Department of Education (DfE) in the following two documents:

• The Early Years Framework (2021) - Nursery and Reception
• The National Curriculum (2014) – Year 1 to Year 6

Whilst the two listed documents are statutory, we are free to supplement this with any other knowledge and skills that we feel are relevant to our pupils. The Subject Progression Handbooks below also summarise coverage of the National Curriculum and EYFS Framework.

Topics and Themes

At Boothstown Methodist, we believe the coherence of the curriculum can only be strengthened by combining aspects of one subject with those of another and we strongly promote this within our curriculum. Each theme has been carefully mapped out to ensure objectives can be grouped. The learning objectives (or challenges) for each individual subject continue to be covered but in a more creative and imaginative approach.

Across all phases, the curriculum has been organised into overarching themes.  The themes cover a wide range of different topics and have been carefully mapped out to ensure children have access to a broad and balanced curriculum. Each theme has been linked to a variety of rich literature and texts, and also incorporates our Methodist Values for Life.

Each class teacher has the freedom to choose a topic for each half term or term that will allow them to deliver all the relevant aspects of the curriculum for their year group through a theme that will inspire, engage and challenge their children.

Each topic should be chosen with quality texts in mind to ensure a high quality English tuition. Each year we allocate money to supplement class libraries to enhance these topics and encourage pupils to develop and love of literature.

For each topic the class teacher will produce a Topic Map which outlines the main objectives. These topic maps are available on the individual class pages on this website. Whilst our curriculum encourages a creative approach from staff, we recognise that there are many aspects of the curriculum that require consistency, such as phonics, grammar, spelling and calculation. Our staff work extremely hard, in collaboration, to monitor and ensure this consistency.

Our main toolkit for the teaching of phonics is Read Write Inc. and we utilise the Penpals for Handwriting scheme by Cambridge University Press to support the development of letter formation.

Concepts

At Boothstown Methodist, our Science and Foundation Subject Curriculum shows a clear progression across all subjects that is woven together through our Curriculum Concepts. Our subject leaders have designed our bespoke curriculum and curriculum concepts to suit the needs of our pupils and we strive to ensure that we provide a broad and balanced science and foundation subject curriculum, that teaches knowledge, skills, understanding and vocabulary progressively from EYFS to Year 6, preparing the children for life beyond primary school:

• Our curriculum team of subject leaders have developed our own bespoke knowledge-based curriculum that aims to inspire and engage our pupils, whilst enabling them to discover cross-curricular learning and build their knowledge and skills in each subject area.
• We have developed our science and foundation subject’s curriculum to have a clear progression of knowledge, skills, understanding and vocabulary throughout the school. To promote maximum progression, we are focused on the retention of this learning from year to year and our curriculum is centred around the research-based approach of repeated curriculum concepts.
• Our Curriculum Concepts run as threads through our curriculum and help piece together a child's learning through their journey with us, always working towards the bigger picture of achievement at the end of each year group, phase, or key stage.
• Each subject has a set of concepts, which appear on all planning, resources, and displays. These are the key threads that will be referred to repeatedly throughout the school to instil these core ideas and themes within each subject - please see our Curriculum Concepts below:

Visits and Visitors

At Boothstown Methodist, we feel that trips and visitors are important to learning. These experiences reinforce classroom learning, allow subjects to ‘come alive’, and give the children the opportunities to visualise, experience and discuss the topics. All members of our school recognise the importance of high quality learning experiences. If relevant, staff will arrange a variety of visits, visitors or other experiences throughout the year.

Experiences such as these do come at a cost which is why the governors and I allocate funds to substantially reduce or remove any costs to parents. Parents and pupils tell us how much they appreciate these creative experiences and how much they believe it contributes to their child’s engagement and enjoyment of our curriculum.

Christian Values

The school’s mission statement reflects our explicit desire to provide a relevant educational experience for all children, regardless of their ability, background, gender, age or ethnicity. It recognises that all children are different and unique and that school plays a key role in assisting each child in their development, so that they may become a responsible and well-rounded adult of tomorrow.

Throughout their time at Boothstown Methodist, pupils will grow in an atmosphere where all relationships are based on mutual respect and the belief that all children matter. These relationships are seen to be the foundation on which our values like commitment, kindness, peace, honesty, friendship, love and respect are built on.

Our last inspection recognised that our school has a distinctive Christian ethos which underpins all aspects of work throughout the school and has a dramatic impact upon high quality relationships. It can be clearly seen and felt in all areas of the school life.

Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC)

At Boothstown Methodist, we believe that all children should experience the world beyond the classroom as an essential part of learning and personal development, whatever their age, ability or circumstances. LOtC can support:

• Attainment and social mobility
• Personal development and character
• Health and well-being
• Environmental and cultural engagement
• management of risk, challenge and adventure

Learning outside the classroom is not an addition to the curriculum; it is integral to it and also a regular part of teaching and learning. To make sure that happens, Learning Outside the Classroom is built into the development of schemes of work and into curriculum planning at every stage. Subject leaders need to provide evidence of LOtC on their subject postcards at the end of each academic year.

Our school is also committed to developing our outdoor spaces to take 'Learning Outside the Classroom’, but within the school grounds. We already have a small gardening area, a fantastic woodland trail, a Storyteller’s Corner and an outdoor lodge which is often used as a teaching space.

Support for Parents

Throughout the year we will hold a number of parents’ briefings to share how we teach aspects of our curriculum, such as phonics and maths, and offer advice on how parents can support their child. Parents can visit the ‘Helping your Child’ section of our website to see PowerPoint presentations from these briefings or documents such as our calculation policies.

Our staff will report regularly to parents giving them an indication of how their child is progressing against the expectations of the National Curriculum and their own personal targets. A written report is provided at the end of the Summer Term. Parents are also welcome to make an appointment to see a member of staff at any time throughout the year.