At Bure Valley, we believe that a strong English curriculum should develop children’s love of reading, writing, speaking and listening, as well as preparing pupils for the next stage of their education. Our children have a wide range of opportunities to develop these skills for a variety of purposes and contexts across the curriculum.
We are passionate about reading and have books at the heart of our curriculum. We strive to inspire a lifelong love of reading for pupils through trips, visitors, book fairs, national competitions, our school reading challenges and other special reading events. Through our curriculum, pupils are exposed to a range of carefully chosen texts from a range of genres and styles. These texts are used to inspire writing, analyse the writer’s craft, develop comprehension, expose pupils to new vocabulary and support a range of other skills key to success in English.
We have a nurturing culture where children take pride in their writing. Pupils write clearly and accurately, learning how they can adapt their style for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. Our pupils develop a confident understanding of punctuation and grammar in order to use and manipulate language for different purposes. This gives pupils the power to make their writing clear, impactful and dynamic. We understand the importance of ensuring children have secure literacy skills, and believe this is crucial to a high-quality education that gives our children the tools they need to thrive within society.
Core Threads
Reading: Phonetic knowledge, Fluency and Decoding, Comprehension and Inference
Writing: Grammatical Correctness, Writing for Purpose, Applied Vocabulary
Curriculum Drivers in English
The following curriculum drivers, alongside our Framework for Excellence and values, underpin our curriculum philosophy and the implementation of our curriculum intent:
- To promote effective communication, vocabulary development and a love of reading
- To be inclusive and meet the needs of all children
- To provide a wide range of experiences and opportunities beyond the requirements of the national curriculum
- To develop the whole child and prepare them for the next phase of their education
- To encourage mentally healthy and emotionally literate children
To promote effective communication, vocabulary development and a love of reading
Reading, writing and vocabulary permeate the English curriculum at Bure Valley. Pupils regularly have opportunities for drama, reading aloud and working in groups in most English units. Drama techniques like hot-seating, story pegging and conscience alley are used frequently. Vocabulary is very important to the teaching of English. It is explicitly taught in our Guided Reading sessions. As a school, we have done significant professional development on developing pupils’ vocabulary, using Word Aware and Reading Reconsidered as key texts, as well as other research. A love of reading is promoted time and time again at Bure Valley. Our entire school is centred around our incredible library and we regularly welcome authors and illustrators to visit. We have a school reading challenge which is very popular and culminates in pupils visiting the local Norfolk Children’s Book Centre to pick books for our ever-expanding selection. We regularly restock our library with the latest short-liste and winners of the UKLA book awards. Every class has a class reading book which is read by the teacher to pupils in short sessions regularly throughout every week. Our school text selection criteria helps to ensure that pupils are accessing valuable texts in these sessions. The subject leader also leads termly assemblies on new books being added to the school library shelves.
To be inclusive and meet the needs of all children
The school SENDCO and English subject leader meet regularly to discuss provision and intervention, especially for those pupils who are behind in reading, where specific attention is paid. SEN pupils will have specific LSP targets for English where that is an area of focus. Our school text selection criteria helps staff to identify where texts represent pupils best and where they do not. We recently undertook a major survey of the texts used in school and identified where authors and characters of varying ethnic, religious and gender background were represented (available to review on request). This identified a lack of representation of female authors, and POC author and characters. We have since taken steps to improve this, including a wider range of texts in our school library and curriculum to represent pupils of all backgrounds. The genres of writing taught in school are also diverse and powerful – pupils spend significant time learning how to write formally, persuasively and for effect. This is especially important to us, as it is these styles of writing which will best prepare pupils for later life. When assessing pupils writing, each class teacher has time with the subject leader during each term to discuss any outliers, or those who may be requiring additional support. Our writing assessment criteria makes allowances for pupils who may not meet every objective as needed by a secure-fit framework.
To provide a wide range of experiences and opportunities beyond the requirements of the national curriculum
The English national curriculum offers little in regards to which genres of text and writing should be taught, however we have a rigorous and broad curriculum which include a range of interesting and exceptional genres rarely experienced by a more traditional curriculum, for example, writing reviews of pizza or sports commentaries. By offering this broad experience, pupils can find and develop in their own areas of strength. Writing in English is frequently, but not always, linked to other curriculum areas. Pupils will often use experiences outside of the classroom to inform writing, such as recounting a trip or science experiment. All subject leaders have produced documentation which clearly shows these to English in the wider curriculum.
To develop the whole child and prepare them for the next phase of their education
As previously mentioned, we believe a focus on powerful genres such as more formal and persuasive writing opportunities, support pupils in learning skills that will support them into high school and further. However, as some of these genres are repeated, it is key that their progression be clear so that pupils are not simply repeating previous learning. Staff compared and altered planning to create progression documents for each of these genres which are repeated to ensure pupils are pushed to progress. The English Subject leader has regular contact with the English leader at Aylsham High School and discusses the needs of cohorts. We have worked on projects across this phase, including much work on comparative judgements.
To encourage mentally healthy and emotionally literate children
Much of writing in English involves empathy and exploring life through the experience of others. Throughout our units, pupils have to articulate and explore the lives and feelings of individuals. This may be thinking about how to convince Mr Olney not to extend the school day, instruct a reader on how to build a stone age trap, or describe how Scrooge feels as he looks through the window of Bob Cratchit’s house. These skills are embedded in the curriculum and require skills of articulation and empathy towards others.
Phonics and Early Reading
We follow the Twinkl Phonics complete systematic phonics programme. The programme is based on Letters and Sounds as is validated by the DFE.
Children are given a phonics screening on entry to Year Three to assess their level of understanding. From there, pupils who require additional phonics teaching are grouped according to prior knowledge and receive phonics lessons three times a week. These groups may include pupils form Year 4 who are still requiring additional phonics teaching. Pupils completing phonics lessons also receive a fully-decodable Rhino Reader book to take home each week. These books are produced by Twinkl and feature the specific sounds being taught in that weeks’ lessons.
When ready, pupils then move on to our spelling programme (the details of which can be found here link to Spelling tab)
The Twinkl Phonics Overview can be found here.
Reading
The National Curriculum aims to ensure that all pupils:
- Read easily, fluently and with good understanding
- Develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
- Acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
- Appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
At Bure Valley, we put reading at the heart of learning to ensure that children have the opportunity to use reading for a range of purposes and develop a love of reading. We have an extensive, well-stocked and ever-growing school library. All classes have dedicated time for sharing books and for reading – independently, and together. We also have a reading shed and reading garden on our playground so children have the opportunity to read their favourite books at break and lunchtimes.
We have a systematic system of teaching reading; where early reading books are carefully matched to children’s phonetic knowledge.
When children have confidently completed the Twinkl Phonics scheme, they move on to the Accelerated Reader system.
In key stage two, we use the Accelerated Reader system to enable children to choose appropriate level books to read. Children log on to the Accelerated Reader system at home and at school to take regular quizzes about the books they have read.
Children are given time to read these books every day at school and are also encouraged to read regularly at home as a part of homework. Reading widely is celebrated every week in our celebration assembly, with Bookworm Reading Awards being given out to those pupils who have completed tasks from our school reading challenge.
Guided Reading
Guided reading is completed in whole classes, who share one text together. We purchase class-sets of novels so that all pupils have access to the material being read. Pupils will then read aloud around the room, as well as tackle passages independently. This is then followed by a comprehension task. Vocabulary is also taught through guided reading and teachers will often pre-teach vocabulary before it appears in the text.
As well as whole texts being used in guided reading sessions, staff will also use one-off comprehension activities based on shorter texts. These sorts of tasks better prepare pupils for the rigour of reading comprehension assessments and can allow for more focussed skill development, where questions may focus solely on one specific area, for example inference.
To develop comprehension skills, we use The Literacy Shed Reading Vipers. Key Stage 2 children have 3 guided reading lessons a week where they focus on a particular reading skill. (We’ve not done work on this yet – I would suggest we expand the GR section after our PD is completed this year, that way we can give better justification for whole-class approach)
We work closely with parents and offer opportunities for parents to come into school and share a book with their child. We also run various reading meetings for parents to find out about how we teach reading at Bure Valley, and how they can support reading at home.
Reading Challenge
At Bure Valley, we also have our Bookworm Reading Challenge.
Children choose a book that is new to them, and which meets one of the ‘Book Choice’ criteria (in the files to the right and in pupil planners). Once they have read it, they must complete a response task of their choosing. There are many combinations, such as reading a book that looks old then redesigning the cover, or reading a book set in the future then writing a letter to the author!
There are three levels of certificate:
- Bronze – reading three new books and completing three tasks.
- Silver – reading eight new books and completing eight tasks.
- Gold – reading fifteen new books and completing fifteen tasks.
Silver and Gold achievers also receive a corresponding bookworm badge and get the opportunity to choose and purchase new books for the school library at the end of the year.
The challenge has little focus on page quantities or book length, but rather focuses on reading widely. This encourages readers of all ages and abilities to take part. By having criteria for books that count towards the challenge, this encourages children to find new and different books to their normal ‘safe’ choices. Of course, children are still free to select and read whatever they choose, and the challenge is not compulsory.
The tasks not only serve to confirm that children have read the titles they claim to, but also aim to embed a habit of discussing and reflecting upon what they have read.
BVS Reading Challenge Book Choices and Tasks
Writing
We have a well-developed and organised curriculum that has been honed and improved over multiple years. Most of our units of work are linked to key texts which stimulate writing, offer context for activities and make links to our class themes(?) to deepen children’s understanding across the curriculum and offer opportunities for vocabulary development. Our grammar and punctuation teaching is embedded within these English units as we believe that children develop a stronger understanding when they are taught in context. Many of our units began life as prepared planning for other providers, but have been altered and improved over many years to offer the best possible experience for our learners. We have a general sequence for planning a unit of English work that ensures children have the opportunity to get to know a text well and develop grammatical skills in context.
This generally involves:
- exploration of a high-quality text which models the skills to be taught and emulated
- appreciating and analysing the decisions made by an author for effect
- supported tasks which allow pupils to rehearse their new skills
- opportunities to use new learning in independent writing
- further opportunities to edit and improve writing once it is completed
Children develop an understanding of different text types and writing for different purposes following this progression.
Writing Non-Negotiables
Across the curriculum, we expect pupils working at the expected standard to ensure their writing is of a high standard. This way, we support pupils in realising that clear communication is important no matter the context, and not just in English lessons. Each year group has a carefully chosen number of non-negotiables that pupils must strive to achieve in every piece of written work. If pupils are repeatedly not achieving these, then teachers may begin to consider support that may need to be put in place.
Our non-negotiables for each year group can be found here.
Handwriting
At Bure Valley, we use the Nelson Handwriting scheme to support a half-hour weekly handwriting lesson. We do not require pupils to use joined handwriting at all times, but by learning how to join fluently, pupils are enabled to make their own decisions about when and where to use their best handwriting. Teachers will often ask pupils to use joined handwriting when producing final written pieces or pieces for display.
Speaking and Listening
Opportunities for speaking and listening are built-in across our Curriculum, ensuring there are opportunities for discussions in pairs, groups and as a class. As a part of a teaching sequence, teachers may also facilitate drama activities such as opportunities to hot seat, enact scenes, or set up a conscience alley.
Children also have opportunities for learning and reciting pieces to the class and the wider school, such as in class assemblies, parent performance or other services. Children are encouraged to explain their thoughts and ideas on a daily basis and develop an understanding of what makes a good listener, across the curriculum.
We have a clear assessment schedule to monitor children’s progress in reading, writing and phonics.
At Bure Valley, our Reading curriculum impact is assessed daily through formative assessment practices and termly using PIRA standardised tests, Hodder Salford Reading and GL Assessment Single Word Spelling Test tests.
For writing, we use a range of additional tools for assessment. Teacher’s make multiple assessments termly using our school Writing Assessment Frameworks. These judgements are moderated internally throughout the year. We have collated our own set of example collections to support these frameworks, similar to the STA’s collections which demonstrate the end of KS2 standards. We also participate in No More Marking’s national Assessing Primary Writing programme which uses comparative judgements to provide us with a detailed understanding of our pupil’s writing. These assessments are nationally standardised, with insights based on over half a million pieces of writing.
Teachers triangulate evidence to inform end of year teacher assessment judgements in reading, writing and SPaG and these are recorded on SIMs (our school management information system).
High quality writing is frequently published for display and for end of year pupil exhibitions. Examples of work are kept to enable children to see their own progress and that of others.
We use a local authority trained moderator to run book-looks and writing moderation sessions with staff. This helps us to identify areas of success and areas requiring further development. Our year six staff engage termly with the LA assessment team to ensure they are up to date with all training in regards to meeting end-of-key-stage assessment requirements.
A robust monitoring schedule gives leaders the opportunity to look at children’s work, read with children and monitor phonics assessments. Pupil voice and observations of children show that children talk enthusiastically about reading and writing and understand the importance of the subject. Children love to talk about books and have opportunities to recommend reads for their friends. More than 250 reading challenge certificates have been given out each year since its inception.
All aspects of English are an integral part of the curriculum, and skills learned in these lessons are used constantly in other areas of learning.
Useful links
Promoting Reading
- Model reading
- Central to all subjects
- Inspiring library
- Presence and use of books
- Staff are reading advocates
Writing Links to Reading
- Vocabulary focus before writing
- Sentence stacking
- Shared writing
- Re-drafting
- Exemplifications
- Exposure to different genres
- Exposure to different texts
Core Knowledge
Retrieval Practice – Reading:
- Daily reading input allows for regular retrieval activities;
- Use of reading ages and regular phonics assessment checks;
- Frequent retrieval of ‘tricky’ words;
- Summarising, headlining and linking are skills practiced continually;
- The use of reading within core subjects allows for reading skills and knowledge to be retrieved and applied.
Retrieval Practice – Writing:
- Reflect and retrieve activities, revisit prior learning, grammatical elements and vocabulary;
- CLIPs are used to revisit and apply Core Thread elements of the writing curriculum;
- Genres are revisited throughout the learning journey at the school to build upon prior understanding;
- Purposeful writing opportunities are built into other areas of the curriculum as another way to retrieve and revisit learning.
http://www.burevalleyschool.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Core-Knowledge-English-Yr3-6.pdf
Spelling is a big priority for us at Bure Valley School. We recognise that it is an important part of clear and concise communication, not only within the curriculum, but in further life. In early 2020, we began to develop our spelling curriculum to better address the needs of our pupils and begin a shift in the way children think about and learn about spelling. Using research in the field and support from the local authority, we identified some key values that our curriculum needed to reflect in order to be successful.
We want all of our pupils to:
- be able to make ‘best bets’ when spelling unfamiliar words using a range of spelling ‘rules’ to guide their choices
- have some etymological appreciation for how words change over time
- have a strong morphological understanding of how words are assembled
- have a range of subject-specific vocabulary with which to discuss words
- participate in activities which support rehearsal, muscle-memory development and word sight-recognition
- practice spellings which are appropriate to their own personal spelling level
- repeatedly revisit taught content across multiple years
We could not identify a commercially-available scheme that would support the above elements of spelling so we set about creating our own spelling programme. Our spelling scheme is based around the non-statutory National Curriculum guidance, with some supplementary content added.
Our spelling lessons involve pupils engaging in tasks such as card sorts and games, to identify words which fit rules and their exceptions. Teachers have ready access to a range of words which exemplify the application of the taught rule, which includes any words from the KS2 Statutory Word List which may have the rule applied to them.
This curriculum is taught to all pupils not learning phonics, and each year features repeated objectives from previous year groups’ curricula. Key subject-specific vocabulary, such as ‘long vowel sounds’ and ‘affixes’ is revised at the start of every year. An overview of the Spelling Curriculum objectives can be found here. (Note: year six are currently following the Year 5 objectives)
Big Spell
As a part of weekly homework, pupils take home a list of 10 or 15 words to practise and learn. These lists are tailored to each child’s level, informed by an initial assessment, and should offer a balanced challenge. Some words on the list they may already be familiar with, and some should be a challenge to learn. They are then tested on these lists each week. Any pupil who scores full marks, or only gets one incorrect, is then allowed to move onto the next list. Those pupils who do not achieve this, are given another week to learn the mis-spelled words before moving on. Only pupils not currently having phonics lessons participate in Big Spell.
Pupils’ spelling attainment is measured regularly throughout the year. Every term, pupils complete a GL Assessment Single Word Spelling Test. as well as a Rising Stars GAPS paper, which includes a section on spelling.
Pupils who regularly struggle to complete their Big Spell lists, or are otherwise identified by assessments, are considered for additional support within school.
Useful Links
Core Knowledge
Mathematics is a creative and highly inter-connected discipline that has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems. It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary in most forms of employment. A high-quality mathematics education, therefore, provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.
At Bure Valley school, our intent is to develop lively and enquiring mathematical mind-sets in our children so that they are self-motivated, confident and capable of solving problems in a variety of contexts throughout their lives.
We aim to sustain and develop in all children:
- confidence, understanding and enjoyment in mathematics;
- awareness of relationship and pattern, and how these can bring about a clearer understanding of a situation;
- an appreciation of mathematics as a means of communication through which they can analyse information and ideas;
- the ability to work systematically where the task requires a careful accurate approach, as well as the ability to show imagination, initiative and flexibility when appropriate;
- independence of thought and action as well as the ability to co-operate within a group;
- problem solving skills and strategies;
- the ability to use mathematics effectively as a tool in a wide variety of situations;
- sensible use of factual recall, mental and written methods, calculators, micro-technology and other mathematical aids.
The National Curriculum for mathematics aims to ensure that all pupils:
- become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils have conceptual understanding and are able to recall and apply their knowledge rapidly and accurately to problems
- can reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language
- can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.
As a junior school we are aware of the expected standard in mathematics at the end of key stage one.
Expected Standard at the end of Lower KS2
The principal focus of mathematics teaching in lower key stage 2 is to ensure that pupils become increasingly fluent with whole numbers and the four operations, including number facts and the concept of place value. This should ensure that pupils develop efficient written and mental methods and perform calculations accurately with increasingly large whole numbers.
At this stage, pupils should develop their ability to solve a range of problems, including with simple fractions and decimal place value. Teaching should also ensure that pupils draw with increasing accuracy and develop mathematical reasoning so they can analyse shapes and their properties, and confidently describe the relationships between them. It should ensure that they can use measuring instruments with accuracy and make connections between measure and number.
By the end of year 4, pupils should have memorised their multiplication tables up to and including the 12 multiplication table and show precision and fluency in their work.
Pupils should read and spell mathematical vocabulary correctly and confidently, using their growing word-reading knowledge and their knowledge of spelling. (DfE 2021)
Expected Standard at the end of upper KS2
The principal focus of mathematics teaching in upper key stage 2 is to ensure that pupils extend their understanding of the number system and place value to include larger integers. This should develop the connections that pupils make between multiplication and division with fractions, decimals, percentages and ratio.
At this stage, pupils should develop their ability to solve a wider range of problems, including increasingly complex properties of numbers and arithmetic, and problems demanding efficient written and mental methods of calculation. With this foundation in arithmetic, pupils are introduced to the language of algebra as a means for solving a variety of problems. Teaching in geometry and measures should consolidate and extend knowledge developed in number. Teaching should also ensure that pupils classify shapes with increasingly complex geometric properties and that they learn the vocabulary they need to describe them.
By the end of year 6, pupils should be fluent in written methods for all four operations, including long multiplication and division, and in working with fractions, decimals and percentages.
Pupils should read, spell and pronounce mathematical vocabulary correctly. DfE 2021)
Core Threads Maths: Fluency, Reasoning, Problem Solving
At Bure Valley School, in the teaching of mathematics we believe:
- Every child can succeed, regardless of background;
- That the teacher makes the difference;
- In being informed by evidence and research
- In working in partnership with other schools
We believe that great curriculum design and delivery leads to improved teaching and learner outcomes, which impacts positively on children’s life chances. We follow Mathematics Mastery, a programme from Ark Curriculum Plus, that is used by more than 300 primary schools across the UK to give non-specialist primary school teachers confidence in their approach to maths.
This maths programme is the only one in the UK to have had its impact shown by an Education Endowment Foundation trial.
Evidence shows that pupils make more progress when they have been equipped to master a subject by understanding its fundamental concepts in sufficient depth so that they can apply subject knowledge in unfamiliar contexts.
Our commitment is to provide high quality subject teaching, through curriculum collaboration and integrated professional development, in order to develop young people’s subject mastery.
The principles of Mathematics Mastery
The Mathematics Mastery approach is driven by teacher consultation and the latest cognitive and educational research. It is underpinned by the dimensions of depth – which together enable pupils to develop deep understanding of the subject.
The three principles of the dimensions of depth are:
Principle 1. Conceptual Understanding
Mathematics tasks are about constructing meaning and making sense of relationships. Learners deepen their understanding by representing concepts using objects, pictures, symbols and words.
Different representations stress and ignore different aspects of a concept and so moving between representations and making explicit links between them allows learners to construct a comprehensive conceptual framework that can be used as the foundation for future learning.
We use the content of the national curriculum as the starting point for our curriculum but this is expanded upon by making explicit the foundational knowledge that learners need to understand in order to access this.
Tasks are sequenced to help learners build a narrative through different topics. These topics are then sequenced in a logical progression that allows learners to establish connections and draw comparisons.
Multiple representations are carefully selected so that they are extendable within and between different areas of mathematics. Using these rich models encourages learners to develop different perspectives on a concept.
Principle 2: Language and Communication
Mathematical language strengthens conceptual understanding by enabling pupils to explain and reason. This must be carefully introduced and reinforced through frequent discussion to ensure it is meaningfully understood
The more learners use mathematical words the more they feel themselves to be mathematicians. Talk is an essential element of every lesson and time is dedicated to developing confidence with specific vocabulary as well as verbal reasoning.
The content of our curriculum carefully progresses in order to induct learners into the mathematical community. A large part of this community is confident use of the language, signs and symbols of mathematics. Verbal and non-verbal communication is part of every sequence of learning in the curriculum.
This often starts with more informal language initially, building up to formal and precise mathematical language.
Talk tasks are part of every lesson in the curriculum to help with this development.
Principle 3: Mathematical Thinking
By the time they reach school, all pupils have demonstrated a significant range of innate ways of thinking that can be harnessed in the classroom to develop mathematical thinking.
We must support pupils to develop mathematical ‘habits of mind’ – to be systematic, generalise and seek out patterns.
The creation of a conjecturing environment and considered use of questions and prompts are important elements of encouraging learners to think like mathematicians.
Our curriculum is designed to give learners the opportunities to think mathematically. Throughout the curriculum you will see tasks that require learners to specialise and generalise, to work systematically, to generate their own examples, to classify and to make conjectures.
This is aided by our prompts for thinking which help make these important parts of mathematics more explicit.
Maths Mastery lessons are broken into six parts.
- Do Now
The purpose of the Do Now task is to consolidate previous learning.
This could be:
- recapping on what was learnt the day before or a topic from a previous unit that is
- necessary for the current lesson. Do Now tasks should be independent work that the
- children do at their tables for about 5 minutes.
- New Learning
Introduces the main learning for the lesson, beginning by sharing the lesson’s key vocabulary with the pupils. This segment will require clear explanations and modelling of tasks to be completed throughout the lesson, especially the talk task. New learning lasts around 10 to 15 minutes.
- Talk Task/Let’s Explore
The main focus here is on the children working together in pairs or small groups and talking in full sentences about maths.
Developing pupils’ language is an important feature of the Mathematics Mastery approach, and taking turns and listening are important to children’s development. An alternative approach to this section is Let’s Explore – this is an opportunity for pupils to apply the skills they have learnt previously, by discussing and reasoning mathematically.
- Develop Learning
This mirrors the New Learning but aims to move the pupils’ learning on further and deepen their understanding. Learning could be developed by introducing different resources, adding a problem solving element, or encouraging further good language use following the Talk Task.
- Independent Task
Pupils practise their Develop Learning by working independently and demonstrating what they have understood and learnt.
- Plenary
The plenary is used to reflect on learning, gather evidence for assessments and plan for future learning. It should sum up what the children have learnt during the lesson, consolidating all learning, address any common misconceptions, and pose a question for the next lesson.
All classrooms have a number of mathematical, age appropriate resources.
Resources which are not used or required regularly are stored centrally and can be accessed easily by teachers. Each classroom has a maths display relating to the current work.
Maths Meetings are a vital part of the Mathematics Mastery programme.
They consolidate learning outside of the core maths lesson and provide a fun way for pupils to practise applying their knowledge and skills on a regular basis, helping to continually build on their mastery of key concepts.
Maths Meetings will provide crucial additional support in this period of potential lost learning as they will help to:
- support areas of the curriculum where pupils may have forgotten key maths concepts
- consolidate learning and help highlight areas where pupils may have any misconceptions
- provide extra time in the day for maths and an opportunity to revisit and practice key skills
Bringing together multiple short segments, Maths Meetings:
- draw on the principles of retrieval practice and interleaving
- ring-fence time for teachers to revisit concepts that have yet to be fully mastered, or that need reviewing before the class moves on to greater depth in the main lesson
- provide opportunities for pupils to discuss and evaluate different mathematical strategies, developing their ability to use technical vocabulary and mathematical reasoning skills.
- The content covered in each Maths Meeting complements the work covered to date, as well as preparing pupils for upcoming topics.
Bure Valley Progression in Written Calculations
Aylsham Learning Federation (Primary Phase) Progression in Calculation
Maths Mastery Year 3 Programme of Study
Maths Mastery Year 4 Programme of Study
The impact of mathematics at Bure Valley is assessed daily through formative assessment practices and termly using standardised (Rising Star PUMA/Sandwell Maths Age testing) summative assessments.
Teachers use summative tests to inform end of year teacher assessment judgements; these are recorded on SIMs (our school management information system).
Useful Links
Links to Reading
- Word problems;
- Reasoning statements;
- Mathematical vocabulary;
- Reasoning and justifications;
- Definitions/features
Core Knowledge
Retrieval Practice – Maths:
- Interleaving objectives have been identified and classified to ensure these are revisited at different points throughout the year;
- Reflect and retrieval activities at the start of lessons allow for spaced retrieval of core learning essential to mathematical understanding;
- Key vocabulary and concepts are revisited;
- Multiplication tables and number bonds are revisited to ensure number foundations are strong.
http://www.burevalleyschool.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Core-Knowledge-Maths-Yr3-6.pdf
At Bure Valley School, we believe that science is one of the cornerstones of our learning and it is a powerful way to understand the universe. It affects every aspect of our lives now and in the future, from nutrition to the environment, to the materials we use in life. Understanding the world around us helps us to be invested and engaged in it. We are global citizens and part of a diverse and interconnected world. We aim for Bure Valley pupils to value science as a way of understanding our world and for our science lessons to provide an exciting opportunity for scientific curiosity, questioning and practical investigations. Our science curriculum blends substantive knowledge of facts and concepts with explicitly taught disciplinary knowledge of how to work like a scientist. We intend to teach science as a continually changing and relevant subject to our pupils. We want our pupils to value science as a subject they can question, participate in and become excited about.
The 2014 National Curriculum for Science aims to ensure that all children:
- develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics
- develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science through different types of science enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them
- are equipped with the scientific skills required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future.
Throughout the programmes of study, the children will acquire and develop the key knowledge that has been identified within each unit and across each year group.
We teach the five lines of inquiry that enable children to build understanding and make progression within the subject. These are:
- Observation over time
- Pattern seeking
- Identifying, classifying and grouping
- Comparative and fair testing
- Research using secondary sources
By the end of primary school, children should be able to use scientific terminology with precision and accuracy, and also be able to describe scientific processes in common language. They will have developed their practical measuring, observing, organising and teamwork skills, and their ability to apply their mathematical knowledge, in the collecting, presenting and analysing of data. We encourage children to continually ask questions about their scientific enquiries, reflecting on and improving their skills, planning and understanding as well as asking wider questions about the world around them.
Teaching and Learning
Our aim is to develop pupils’ scientific knowledge, skills and understanding, and improve understanding of theory through practical experience of enquires to answer their own and given questions. They have opportunities to develop their accuracy and independence of working scientifically skills such as setting up enquiries using a range of resources, observing, measuring, recording, concluding and evaluating data and working in effective, communicative teams to do so. Pupils also use secondary information sources such as books, photographs, websites and models. Suitable learning opportunities are provided for all children by providing varied and open-ended tasks, additional challenges, tailoring questioning to extend pupils’ abilities, and supporting children or groups in ways such as providing vocabulary mats, sentence stems or additional adults. In planning for children with learning support plans, we take into account individual targets, to enable all pupils to make progress in science.
Cross-curricular links
Science contributes to the teaching of English by promoting, reading, writing, speaking and listening in a range of ways including oral discussion, recounting observations, recording data and writing reports and conclusions. Science contributes to the teaching of mathematics by promoting use of number facts, precise observations, estimating and measuring and recording data in graphs, charts and pictograms. Science contributes to the teaching of PSHCE including through the areas of healthy living, stewardship of the planet, citizenship and teamwork. Science provides opportunities for exploring fundamental life questions such as evolution, the creation of the Earth and key issues such as climate change, pollution and resource management.
Core Threads
Science: Science in the wider world, Working as a Scientist
We base our planning on the National Curriculum statutory objectives and follow the specific guidance provided by the www.planassessment.com PLAN Primary science resources.
Class teachers are responsible for planning science lessons, making meaningful real life and community links where possible and revisiting the working scientifically objectives throughout the academic year.
Our planning builds on prior learning and the sequence of the topics in each year group supports the development of meaningful links, for example teaching about the concept of gravity in the year five forces unit, before the year five Earth and space unit, in order for pupils to apply their understanding of gravity to the knowledge of the moon orbiting the Earth and the planets orbiting the sun. Our planning ensures the teaching of appropriate key scientific vocabulary, core knowledge and develops challenge for pupils as they progress through the school. Enrichment opportunities are provided, such as school-wide competitions, assemblies and earning Crest awards through the upper and lower school science clubs. Science captains support in these areas. We also have STEM visitors from within the school and local community and utilise our school outdoor area for our science lessons, such as our garden, field, hedgerows and pond.
We assess pupils’ work formatively in science through observation, questioning, discussion and marking. Assessments may take the form of a practical activity or written learning. These assessments inform planning for future lessons.
The subject leader will monitor the impact in a variety of ways, including looking at children’s work, learning walks, discussions with children (pupil voice) and monitoring assessment.
A successful approach to science at Bure Valley means that:
- Children are engaged with, enjoy and are enthusiastic about science in our school and understand that science can give them the capability to change the world.
- There is a clear progression in learning across the science curriculum.
- Children’s work reflects our curriculum covering all the science units we teach.
- Children are ready for their next steps as they move on to high school.
- As children move through the school, they show increasing independence in using equipment, leading investigations and choosing methods of recording.
Useful links
Links to Reading
- Scientific articles
- Research information
- Information texts
- Scientific vocabulary
- Read and debate conclusions
- Recounts/instructional texts
Core Knowledge
Retrieval Practice – Science
- Reflect and retrieval activities as the start of the lesson allows for core concepts and knowledge to by revisited. This helps to ensure retention;
- CLIP’s are used to revisit and link learning which is clearly identified through progression grids;
- The use of concept maps are used to re-visit prior learning and to begin to build a picture of wider learning.
http://www.burevalleyschool.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Core-Knowledge-Science-Yr3-6.pdf
Under the current curriculum in England, KS2 is the first opportunity pupils have to learn another language in school. As such, at BVS, we feel it is important to build skills and knowledge gradually, using a range of languages and resources.
British Sign Language (BSL) in year 3 shows children that language and communication do not just need to be verbal and that their body language can have an impact. It is also a language that they may come across at any time.
Spanish in year 3 offers a fun, mainly oral and aural based opportunity for pupils to explore a new language. Spanish is a very phonetic language making it an easier language to learn.
In year 4 Latin is introduced, allowing a firm foundation of grammar teaching to support the pupils in both their English lessons and future learning of foreign languages. It also fits well with the Roman topic covered in this year group.
French is the language for transition to our main feeder high school (AHS). For this reason, we teach it in Y5 and 6. This longer period of study allows pupils to build on their learning in Spanish (with such concepts as gender and agreement) and Latin (verb endings) and means they approach KS3 French with a strong vocabulary and grammatical knowledge – with specific focus on commonly used verbs.
Year 3 BSL and Spanish from Twinkl Plan it. Year 4 Minumus Latin
Year 5 French taught by AHS specialists. Year 6 French taught by AHS specialists.
National curriculum attainment targets to be achieved during lessons:
- Listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding
- explore the patterns and sounds of language through songs and rhymes and link the spelling, sound and meaning of words
- Engage in conversations; ask and answer questions; express opinions and respond to those of others; seek clarification and help speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary, phrases and basic language structures
- Develop accurate pronunciation and intonation so that others understand when they are reading aloud or using familiar words and phrases present ideas and information orally to a range of audiences read carefully and show understanding of words, phrases and simple writing
- Appreciate stories, songs, poems and rhymes in the language
- Broaden their vocabulary and develop their ability to understand new words that are introduced into familiar written material, including through using a dictionary
- Write phrases from memory, and adapt these to create new sentences, to express ideas clearly
- Describe people, places, things and actions orally* and in writing
Understand basic grammar appropriate to the language studied, including (where relevant): feminine, masculine and neuter forms and the conjugation of high-frequency verbs; key features and patterns of the language; how to apply these, for instance, to build sentences; and how these differ from or are similar to English.
| Skills |
| Listening/Aural understanding Oral rehearsal Pronunciation and intonation Written recognition Written rehearsal Cultural awareness and understanding Language learning skills |
Colleagues from the French department at Aylsham High School deliver all French sessions to pupils in upper key stage two with the support of class teachers. This model provides clear progression for the development of speaking and listening as well as language acquisition.
The resources and materials used across MFL topics are there to empower teachers to deliver lessons confidently and to provide pupils with a range of learning opportunities where they get to practice their skills of both written and spoken language. Children learn through booklets that include stories, songs, rhymes and poems as well as interactive activities and the opportunity to work with their peers to develop their communication skills.
Teaching focuses on the acquisition of new language and skills as well as giving the opportunities for children to practice and rehearse the language they have already acquired.
They focus on four main areas:
- Listening and responding
- Speaking
- Reading and responding
- Writing
We encourage children to ‘give it a go’ and not worry about getting anything wrong or ‘sounding silly’. We as teachers model this so they can see the stages of initially trying and perhaps not getting it ‘quite right’ but continuing to practice and see the difference.
Year 3 – British Sign Language and Spanish
| Autumn – BSL | Summer – Spanish |
| Greetings How are you? /What is your name? Colours Numbers 1-20 Classroom equipment and subjects Christmas | Greetings How are you? What is your name? Colours Numbers 1-10 |
| Spring | ||
| Meet the family. Food glorious food. Work, work, work. The best days of your life. | Romans and Britons. Off to town. The military machine. Clean and healthy. | A soldier’s life. How beautiful. A sad day. Gods! Hear our prayers. |
Y4 – Latin
| Autumn | Spring | Summer |
| Greetings How are you? (Introduce Etre – to be) What is your name? (Introduce regular –er verb forms through appeller – to be called) Colours Numbers 1-12 | How old are you? (Introduce avoir – to have). Months of the year Numbers 13-31 When’s your birthday? | Days of the week The date Pets (revise use of avoir and introduce concept of noun gender). Brothers and sisters (revise use of avoir and noun gender. Introduce negative form of verbs). Consolidation |
Y5 – French
Year 6 –French
| Autumn | Spring | Summer |
| Revision of year 5 content – especially verbs, pronouns and gender)Where do you live? (Revision of regular –er verbs through habiter – to live) Town (noun gender for places in town)Directions (Introduce irregular verb aller – to go) | At schoolClassroom objects (noun gender for classroom objects)The weather (Introduce irregular verb faire – to do and simple future Il va …. It is going to… and revise negative form of verbs). | Numbers 40-200Food and drink (Introduce regular verb aimer – to like). Verbs Leisure activities (introduce simple past of avoir and etre)Consolidation |
Through the teaching of modern foreign languages at Bure Valley:
- Children will be able to communicate with each other in basic BSL, Spanish, introductory Latin and French;
- Children will become aware that a language has a structure, and that the structure differs from one language to another;
- Children will develop their language through development of the four key skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing;
- Children will enrich their language learning by developing an understanding of different cultures;
- Children will learn language skills that can be applied to a range of languages;
- Children will transfer to high school well prepared for languages at KS3
Useful Links
Links to Reading
- Stories linked to specific countries
- Songs and poems
- Vocabulary sheets
- Dialogue and stories
Links to English and maths
- Sounds and spellings
- Spelling patterns and etymology of words
- Nouns, adjectives and verbs
- Imperatives and prepositions
- Subject and object
- Simple future tense
- Revision of digits, numbers, dates and order
- Data handling and directions
Core Knowledge
Retrieval Practice – MFL:
- Retrieval practice is incorporated into every lesson through reflection and retrieval activities;
- CLIPs are used to recap previous learning during the lesson;
- As a learner progresses through KS2, they revisit topic areas, increase and build upon their existing knowledge – allowing for application of their prior learning in more challenging situations.
http://www.burevalleyschool.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Core-Knowledge-MFL-Spanish-Yr3-4.pdf
http://www.burevalleyschool.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Core-Knowledge-MFL-French-Yr5-6.pdf
At Bure Valley School, it is out intent that children become masters of computing to enable themselves to thrive in a life filled with technology.
Technology has become key to modern day living and most children will start school having already been in daily contact with a form of computer. We will ensure that all children will leave Year 6 with a strong sense of how to use technology positively, responsibly and safely.
We want out pupils to be creators, not consumers, and our curriculum encompassing computer science, information technology and digital literacy reflects this.
It is our aim that all of our children have a solid foundation of these 3 strands of computing and nurture analytic, problem solving minds which they can continue to use as world technology updates around them.
It is also our aim for children to understand the complexities and implications associated with technology. As a school, we model positive technology use and recognise the importance of education in shaping happy, healthy and respectful digital citizens.
We use the Teach Computing Curriculum because:
- Resources include high quality lesson plans, slides, activity sheets, homework, and assessments;
- Each key stage has a detailed teacher guide and progressive curriculum map;
- The schemes of work are built around an innovative progression framework, where computing content has been organised into interconnected networks (called learning graphs);
- Content has been created by subject experts, using the latest pedagogical research and teacher feedback;
- All of the content is free, and presented in formats that make it easy for us to adapt it to meet the needs of our learners.
Core Threads Computing: E-Safety, Programming, Creating Media
The Teach Computing curriculum is structured into units for each year group, and each unit is broken down into lessons. Units can generally be taught in any order, with the exception of programming, where concepts and skills rely on prior knowledge and experiences. Lessons must be taught in numerical order.
National Centre for Computing Education Teacher Guide
Year 3
- 1. Computing systems and networks – Connecting computers
- 2. Creating media – Stop-frame animation
- 3. Programming A – Sequencing sounds
- 4. Data and information – Branching databases
- 5. Creating media – Desktop publishing
- 6. Programming B – Events and actions in programs
Year 4
- 1. Computing systems and networks – The Internet
- 2. Creating media – Audio production
- 3. Programming A – Repetition in shapes
- 4. Data and information – Data logging
- 5. Creating media – Photo editing
- 6. Programming B – Repetition in games
Year 5
- 1. Computing systems and networks – Systems and searching
- 2. Creating media – Video production
- 3. Programming A – Selection in physical computing
- 4. Data and information – Flat-file databases
- 5. Creating media – Introduction to vector graphics
- 6. Programming B – Selection in quizzes
Year 6
- 1. Computing systems and networks – Communication and collaboration
- 2. Creating media – Web page creation
- 3. Programming A – Variables in games
- 4. Data and information – Spreadsheets
- 5. Creating media – 3D Modelling
- 6. Programming B – Sensing movement
Opportunities are also given to practise their computing skills in other curriculum areas and children regularly access laptops to help with reading and times tables. There are also discrete opportunities throughout the year for whole school computer focus, for example Internet Safety Day in February.
The school is further developing our use of Digital Leaders: children who work alongside teachers, parents and other pupils to enhance computing inside and outside of the school. We have digital leaders in Year 5 and 6 who help with resource management and other tasks. They also help to support younger year groups and enhance their own classes learning. We also have a coding club run after school by a local computer programmer for children who wish to attend.
The impact of Computing at Bure Valley can be seen through teacher assessment of both saved work as well as discussions with children during lessons. The impact is also checked by the subject leader through professional discussions with teaching staff, effective monitoring of teaching and it impact on learning and children interviews to check that pupils are learning and remember the planned curriculum.
Ensuring that support is in place for pupils to catch up.
We use the local hub at Neatherd to share moderated levels, complete subject rubrics and visit schools on the same journey.
Useful Links
Links to Reading
- Digital texts
- Safety materials
- Emails
- Live comments
- Website materials
Core Knowledge
Retrieval Practice – Computing:
- During a topic the learning from previous weeks is revisited through CLIPs;
- Children articulate and revisit previous learning so it is embedded and developed;
- The Computing curriculum has been devised so that key topics such as E-safety are taught annually to allow for retrieval practice from previous learning and to build on it in more depth.
http://www.burevalleyschool.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Core-Knowledge-Computing-Yr3-6.pdf
At Bure Valley School, it is our intent that children are taught geography that inspires them to discover more about the world that they live in and ask questions to further their curiosity. The themes of Space, Place and Scale are continuous throughout the curriculum to give a ‘zoom out, zoom in’ approach across all physical and human aspects of the units taught. The National Curriculum 2014 states, “A high-quality geography education should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.”
As a school, we are passionate that geography has its own place in our curriculum and it is taught discretely, with its own book for children to record their work. Our curriculum is designed to be progressive as the children build upon and revisit existing knowledge as they move through KS2. Locational knowledge is an important part of key geographical understanding and the children are given multiple opportunities across units to utilise atlases, globes and digital mapping.
We are lucky enough to have a wide outdoor space, which can be used to develop essential fieldwork skills: asking questions, creating enquiries, drawing maps, collecting, analysing and presenting data. Ofsted have recognised that this is often a weaker area for many Primary schools, meaning that children lack certain geographical fieldwork skills required at high school. Additionally, our locality allows us to have a range of areas to study and to carry out enquiries that are relevant to the children we teach, their families and the wider community.
Core Threads Geography: Place Knowledge, Human and Physical Geography, Geographical Skills & Fieldwork
Our geography curriculum is based on the themes of Space, Place and Scale. The children are encouraged to look at locations with these concepts in mind, continually making comparisons with their own locality. The children are encouraged to ask questions that allow further understanding and for them to make more informed decisions and base their opinions on the evidence they are given.
Year 3
- Revision of Continents and Oceans
- Location of the UK – the countries and counties within it.
- Local study of the Norfolk Broads – focus on economy and tourism
Year 4
- World Climate Zones
- North and South America – focus on North America and a comparison of an American city with Norwich.
- Mountains and Volcanoes
Year 5
- A region in Europe – Scandinavia
- Energy – renewable and non-renewable sources
- Coasts – processes, erosion and deposition with a local study
Year 6
- A major world power – China
- Rainforests – focusing on The Amazon
- Local study of Aylsham – enquiry led by children
Geography is assessed at BVS in a variety of ways: observations, teaching questioning, pupil questioning, discussion and marking.
The subject leader will monitor the impact of the curriculum by carrying out learning walks, professional discussions with colleagues and children and by viewing work carried out in books. Having an active Twitter across our school, also allows another form of engagement in the subject to be recorded – especially of fieldwork skills and investigations out of the classroom.
A successful geography curriculum at our school means that:
- Children are engaged in and enthused by the subject
- Children are inspired to know more about the world around them and want to visit these places
- When children are on family holidays, they are curious about the place they are visiting – can they tell their classmates about it?
- Children develop their locational knowledge and ability to locate and plot places on a variety of maps (including digital)
- In explanations, children can use geographical terminology correctly
- A sense of Space, Place and Scale is developed through each unit
- Human and Physical features of a place can be identified and an understanding of how one can affect the other positively or negatively
- Questions are asked by all children, showing deeper thinking
- As children progress through the school, they become more independent in carrying out enquiries and using fieldworks skills to collect and present data.
Useful Links
- Links to Reading and Vocabulary
- Range of place sources
- Leaflet/pamphlet
- Map reading
- Atlases
- Information texts
Core Knowledge
Retrieval Practice – Geography:
- Questioning and low stakes quizzes are used to promote long term learning
- Key content and vocabulary linked to core threads are revisited and linked to ensure maximal retention
- Reflect and retrieve activities included as the ‘Do Now’ in Geography lessons
- European and World maps in the front and back of geography books to be labelled as the country is studied
As a Historian, it is important to understand the history not just of the world, but also that of Britain and our local area. It is about understanding how one element of the past influenced the next, and how these have impacted our lives, Britain and the modern world today. Our History curriculum is designed to inspire pupil’s curiosity about the past and what we can learn from it.
Pupils will gain clear knowledge and understanding of their world and the chronology of events that have led us to where we are at today, as outlined in the National Curriculum 2014.
Our curriculum ensures that pupils can recall key facts and information, whilst also developing their historical enquiry skills. This is achieved through the analysis and interpretation of a range of information sources, along with continual questioning opportunities.
Our curriculum builds on prior knowledge and has been designed to develop historical thinking and understanding. This is done with the introduction of source material, as well as more complex historical concepts.
The national curriculum for history aims to ensure that all pupils:
- know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world
- know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind
- gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’ understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses
- understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed
Core Threads History: Significant people, events and developments, Chronology, Legacy
The subject leader for history has identified the skills, knowledge and key vocabulary of each unit and consideration has been given to ensure progression across units throughout each year group across the school. By the end of year 6, children will have a chronological understanding of British history from the Stone Age to the present day. They are able to draw comparisons and make connections between different periods and their own lives.
We engage and enhance our children’s opportunities through educational visits and visitors as these play a key role in helping children to understand history in the context of real life. The local area offers many rich opportunities for supporting the teaching of history, such as our local heritage centre and the local Roman Dig. In the surrounding area we have many opportunities for school trips linking to our history units.
In lessons teachers use formative assessment to identify areas that children will need practice in following lessons in a particular unit of work. At the end of each unit of work, teachers assess children’s skills and knowledge of the unit to identify children working towards the expected level, at the expected level or those children working above the expected standard. These assessments identify areas that children will need to continue to develop or particular areas that the class will need further support.
The subject leader will monitor the impact in a variety of ways, including looking at children’s work, learning walks, discussions with children (pupil voice) and monitoring assessment.
A successful approach to history will include:
- Children are engaged with, enjoy and are enthusiastic about history in our school;
- There is a clear progression in skills in use of source materials and discussion across the history curriculum as children move through the school;
- Children’s work reflects our curriculum covering all the history units we teach;
- Children are ready for their next steps as they move on to high school;
- Teachers are supported by having the opportunity to work together in planning teams to share ideas and resources;
- Children across the school have the opportunity to take part in a history focused school trip that enriches learning.
Useful Links
Links to Reading
- Sources
- Recount texts
- Information texts
- Artefacts
Core Knowledge
Retrieval Practice – History:
- Within history lessons, learning is put within the context of the chronology that is set. This allows for reference to what has been learnt and what is yet to come;
- The core threads of our curriculum ensure that children revisit learning as part of building new learning;
- Links to prior people, events and legacies left by other civilisations are examples of how learning is revisited.
http://www.burevalleyschool.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Core-Knowledge-History-Yr3-6.pdf
At BVS we aim to ensure Design and Technology is an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject where pupils use creativity and imagination. We endeavour to design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts, considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values. Children across the school acquire a broad range of subject knowledge and use cross-curricular skills from mathematics, science, computing and art to develop their engineering and DT skills. Pupils learn how to take risks, becoming resourceful; innovative, enterprising and capable citizens. Through the evaluation of past and present design and technology; they develop a critical understanding of its impact on daily life and the wider world.
When designing and making, pupils should be taught to:
Design
- use research and develop design criteria to inform the design of innovative, functional, appealing products that are fit for purpose, aimed at particular individuals or groups
- generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through discussion, annotated sketches, cross-sectional and exploded diagrams, prototypes, pattern pieces and computer-aided design
Make
- select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks [for example, cutting, shaping, joining and finishing], accurately
- select from and use a wider range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their functional properties and aesthetic qualities
Evaluate
- investigate and analyse a range of existing products
- evaluate their ideas and products against their own design criteria and consider the views of others to improve their work
- understand how key events and individuals in design and technology have helped shape the world
Technical knowledge
- apply their understanding of how to strengthen, stiffen and reinforce more complex structures
- understand and use mechanical systems in their products [for example, gears, pulleys, cams, levers and linkages]
- understand and use electrical systems in their products [for example, series circuits incorporating switches, bulbs, buzzers and motors]
- apply their understanding of computing to program, monitor and control their products.
Cooking and Nutrition:
- understand and apply the principles of a healthy and varied diet
- prepare and cook a variety of predominantly savoury dishes using a range of cooking techniques
- understand seasonality, and know where and how a variety of ingredients are grown, reared, caught and processed.
The school has chosen to use the Design Technology Associations (DATA) Projects on a Page scheme of work. To help us implement the National Curriculum in an imaginative way. The scheme is based on the principles of effective teaching and learning in D&T and is a valuable resource that has been put together by experts in the field.
D&T is often one of a child’s favourite subjects. Children like making decisions for themselves and doing practical work. They love creating products they can see, touch – and even taste – for themselves. They feel proud to have done so. We feel that D&T should bring learning to life and that it is a motivating context for literacy, mathematics, science, art, PSHE and ICT
Core Threads
DT: Compare & Evaluate, Design & Make, Technical Knowledge, Purpose
Our Design and Technology curriculum has been designed to identify and teach the key skills, knowledge and understanding required in the subject. Teachers have the freedom to block or to teach a unit across a term to best fit timetable and links to other areas of the curriculum.
Six D&T principles, that are the elements suggested by the D&T Association, should be in place in teachers’ planning in order to ensure that children’s learning is genuinely design and technological in nature are:
User
Pupils should have a clear idea of who they are designing and making products for, considering their needs, wants, values, interests and preferences. The intended users could be themselves or others, an imaginary or story-based character, a client, a consumer or a specific target group.
Purpose
Pupils should be able to clearly communicate the purpose of the products they are designing and making. Each product they create should be designed to perform one or more defined tasks. Pupils’ products should be evaluated through use.
Functionality
Pupils should design and make products that work/function effectively in order to fulfil users’ needs, wants and purposes. In D&T, it is insufficient for children to design and make products which are purely aesthetic.
Design Decisions
Pupils need opportunities to make their own design decisions. Making design decisions allows pupils to demonstrate their creative, technical and practical expertise, and use learning from other subjects. When making design decisions pupils decide on the form their product will take, how their product will work, what task or tasks it will perform and who the product will be for.
Innovation
When designing and making, pupils need some scope to be original with their thinking. Projects that encourage innovation lead to a range of design ideas and products being developed and are characterised by engaging open-ended starting points for learning.
Authenticity
Pupils should design and make products that are believable, real and meaningful to themselves and others.
Our Design and Technology curriculum enables and encourages our children to become critical thinkers and problem solvers. Through Design and Technology our children learn to take risks, become resourceful and innovative. Children at Bure Valley learn to be passionate and excited by the designing and making of products including working with, preparing and tasting food.
Learning is assessed through the analysis of the children’s ability to design, make, evaluate and improve their own work.
The impact of Design Technology is measured in a variety of ways including pupil voice, observations, book looks, photos and the products they design and make.
We complete an annual self-review to monitor the impact of our actions in Design Technology. This helps to address the need of the subject.
Teachers assess progress using the Design Technology Association’s progression framework.
Useful Links
Links to Reading
- Instructions
- Product descriptions
- Product research
- Marketing materials
Core Knowledge
Retrieval Practice – DT:
- Retrieval and revisits of learning are built into the DT curriculum through not only revisiting concepts in different year groups, but also through the cycle of design, make and evaluate;
- The six DT principles of: user, purpose, functionality, design decisions, innovation and authenticity run through DT lessons and are therefore concepts that are built in and revisited as children progress on their DT journey of learning.
http://www.burevalleyschool.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Core-knoweldge-DT-Yr3-6.pdf
http://www.burevalleyschool.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Core-Knowledge-DT-Glossary.pdf
The National Curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils:
- Perform, listen to, review and evaluate music
- Be taught to sing, create and compose music
- Understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated
At Bure Valley School, we want our children to gain a firm understanding of what music is. This is through listening, singing, playing, evaluating, analysing and composing across a wide variety of historical periods, styles, traditions and musical genres. We are committed to ensuring children understand the value and importance of music in the wider community and for their own wellbeing.
Our unique music curriculum is research based and designed to take pupils on a journey in music, which we feel, exceeds the expectations of the National Curriculum.
We provide the opportunity for every child in the school to receive quality instrumental tuition for the entire time they are at the school: African drums in Year 3 with a focus on rhythm; recorders and glockenspiels in Year 4 introducing tune and notation, and finishing with a choice of orchestral instrument for Years 5 & 6 which combines the earlier learning with larger ensemble playing and performance.
In each of these stages, children are given the opportunity to compose or create music with their instrument – be that from creation of rhythms and beats, to responding to a stimulus e.g. creating an orchestra Storm in response to Benjamin Britten’s piece of the same name. Through our year-on-year phased approach to music tuition, we are able to clearly demonstrate progression for every pupil in the time they are at Bure Valley School.
Whole Class Ensemble Teaching is further supplemented by singing assemblies and class teacher led listening and appraising – with a focus on a wide range of music and particularly topical themes e.g. Jubilee, sporting events, popular music, themes etc.
The pupils at Bure Valley School have extra-curricular opportunities available as well including a successful and popular school choir, a local ensemble hosted by the school, and other trips and opportunities. 1-2-1 tuition is also available for those children who wish to further their instrumental learning. We take part in community events where possible. In recent years Bure Valley School pupils have sung for local groups and took part in our Summer concert, where the whole school performed a piece of music as a 240 piece ensemble. Additionally, the school choir took part in the Young Voices 2022 concerts in London.
Our music curriculum and teaching is supported through partnership with Norfolk Music Hub who provide some of the teaching expertise and the orchestral instruments for the children to use. This is very much a collaborative approach with Norfolk Music Hub teachers and Bure Valley School based teachers, working together to deliver high quality lessons and opportunities. The music curriculum at Bure Valley School has been crafted over the last decade and is research based. In 2015, a Masters level research project sought to find an effective solution to teaching music history within the whole class setup, the results of which still inform our practise. More recently, we have opened the music teaching at Bure Valley School to scrutiny through another Masters level project looking into the effectiveness of whole class ensemble teaching.
Our most recent Ofsted report (2019) also looked closely at music teaching at Bure Valley School and concluded that:
‘Pupils can talk confidently about what they should know in…music. Music and sports are real strengths of the school. In music, every pupil learns an instrument for all four years of their time at school. The quality of education is effective in music, and pupils reach high levels of performance.’
Core Threads
Music: Music Notation, Musical Appreciation, Singing
We work in partnership with the Music Service to promote and offer high quality music education. This can be through:
- Individual instrumental and vocal teaching;
- Weekly whole class lessons;
- Singing assembly/choir;
- Cluster ensemble
Tuition can take place anytime during the extended school day.
We work with the Music Service to provide a musical pathway for all our young players for every stage of learning and host the Aylsham Cluster Ensemble.
Ensembles are an important part of learning to play a musical instrument and are often the most enjoyable and socially rewarding part of the process.
At Bure Valley School children are provided with opportunities beyond the National Curriculum to further and support their understanding. These include having visitors with musical talent, and school productions. They also enjoy a variety of opportunities to sing in the community.
We measure the impact of music in many ways including video recordings, pupil voice and observations.
Across the school, the impact of music can be seen in the children’s enjoyment and enthusiasm when singing in whole school celebrations, their interest and response when listening to different styles of music and their confidence when appraising, performing or composing music.
Useful Links
Links to Reading
- Musical vocabulary
- Talking and evaluation
- Song words and lyrics
- Musical articles
Core Knowledge
Retrieval Practice – Music:
- Retrieval and revisits of learning are built into our music curriculum through revisiting musical genres, revisiting music notation, musical appreciation and singing;
- The main elements of our music curriculum revisited and built upon as pupils move through their musical learning journey.
http://www.burevalleyschool.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Core-Knowledge-Music-Yr3-6.pdf
At Bure Valley School, art is a vital part of our curriculum providing a means of expression for all our children, regardless of their competence in verbal and written communication.
In addition to art being a practical subject stimulating creativity and imagination through the use of a wide range of materials, we believe it is very effective as a cross-curricular link, adding to our children’s experiences and depth of understanding in other areas of their learning; from creating their own topic related artwork, zines and artefacts to recording findings and learning from school trips or school visitors.
We incorporated the use of sketchbooks into our art curriculum before they were introduced into the KS2 National Curriculum believing them to be central to children’s creativity as a space where they can plan, develop and learn with free expression.
Our school timetable ensures all our children have creative opportunities for art every week in all classes.
The national curriculum for art and design aims to ensure that all pupils:
- Produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences
- Become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques
- Evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design
- Know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.
National Curriculum Attainment targets for Bure Valley School:
- By the end of Y6, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the KS2 programme of study –
- Pupils should be taught to develop their techniques, including their control and their use of materials, with creativity, experimentation and an increasing awareness of different kinds of art, craft and design.
Pupils should be taught:
- To create sketch books to record their observations and use them to review and revisit ideas
- To improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing, painting and sculpture with a range of materials [for example, pencil, charcoal, paint, clay]
- About great artists, architects and designers in history.
We understand that Art and Design stimulates creativity and imagination. It provides visual, tactile and sensory experiences and a special way of responding and understanding the world. It enables children of all abilities to communicate what they see, feel and think through the use of colour, texture, form, pattern and different materials and processes.
At Bure Valley School we encourage children to explore ideas through the work of a range of artists. Through learning about the roles and functions with art, the children can explore the impact it has had on contemporary life and that of different times and cultures. The appreciation and enjoyment of the visual arts enriches all of our lives.
Core Threads
Art: Knowledge of Artists, Artistic Techniques, Artistic Appreciation
At Bure Valley School the children are taught in blocks of work which regularly link to their topic where possible. The progression of skills are mapped out across the year groups so that the children continually build on previous learning. Our curriculum provides children with the opportunities to develop their skills using a variety of media and materials. Children study a range of works by famous artists to develop a knowledge of styles, this also provides cross curricular links.
Each child has their own individual sketch book which follows them through the school and shows their progression. Children’s artwork is displayed around school to motivate and inspire others and to celebrate the pupils’ work. Every year, the children have the opportunity to produce artwork to display in our end of year exhibitions.
At Bure Valley School the impact of art is measured in many ways including building a portfolio of examples of artwork from across the school, pupil voice, observations and sketch books.
Across the school, the impact of art can be seen in the children’s artwork which is displayed, the progression of skills shown in sketchbook work and the children’s final piece of artwork and their knowledge of artists and their styles.
In every lesson, children are given time to reflect on their own and other’s work, with their responses showing both their understanding, and the application of vocabulary specific to the subject.
Useful Links
Links to Reading
- Artists study
- Vocabulary usage and definition
- Research extracts
- Instructional pieces
Core Knowledge
Retrieval Practice – Art:
- Repetition of key areas of learning allows for pupils to revisit learning to a greater depth and use prior knowledge as a basis for developing understanding;
- Reflect and retrieve activities at the start of art lessons allows for children to access prior learning linked to core threads;
- CLIPs support the recall of prior knowledge to enhance retention.
http://www.burevalleyschool.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Core-Knowledge-Art-Yr3-6.pdf
http://www.burevalleyschool.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Core-Knowledge-Art-Dictionary.pdf
Religious education is taught as a basis for tolerance and to enable children to investigate, wonder and reflect upon fundamental questions of life. For example, the meaning of life and the existence of a divine spirit. We enable children to develop a sound knowledge, not only of Christianity but also of other world religions and world views. Children reflect on what it means to have a faith and to develop their own spiritual knowledge and understanding. We help the children learn from religions and worldviews as well as about religions and worldviews.
The objectives of teaching religious education in our school are to ensure that all pupils:
• develop an awareness of spiritual and moral issues arising in their lives;
• develop knowledge and understanding of Christianity, other world religions and value systems found in Britain;
• develop an understanding of what it means to be committed to a religious tradition;
• be able to reflect on their own experiences and develop a personal response to life’s key questions.
• develop understanding of religious traditions and cultural differences in UK today;
• develop investigative/research skills, making reasoned judgements about religious issues;
• have respect for other people’s views, and celebrate the diversity in society.
There is no National Curriculum for RE. Instead each UK region has created their own ‘Statutory Agreed Syllabus’. Norfolk’s Agreed Syllabus 2021 has a focus on RE as multi-disciplinary. RE is rooted in three key disciplines or disciplinary fields. These are theology, philosophy and the human/social sciences. In the Norfolk Agreed Syllabus they are re-contextualised for the school context in the following ways:
Theology
We have called this thinking through believing. It is about asking questions that believers would ask. It requires pupils to think like theologians, or to look at concepts through a theological lens. Pupils will explore questions and answers that arise from inside religions and worldviews.
Philosophy
We have called this thinking through thinking. It is about asking questions that thinkers would ask. It requires pupils to think like philosophers, or to look at concepts through a philosophical lens. Pupils will explore questions and answers raised through considering the nature of knowledge, exisitence and morality.
Human/Social Sciences
We have called this thinking through living. It is about asking questions that people who study lived reality or phenomena would ask. It requires pupils to think like human and social scientists, or to look at concepts through a human/social science lens. Pupils will explore questions and answers raised in relation to the impact of religions and worldviews on people and their lives.
Effective RE will balance these three disciplinary lenses in order for pupils to become more religiously literate.
Which religions and worldviews do we need to study in KS2?
| Religions and worldviews: In-depth investigation of: 1. Christianity 2. Two other principal world religions. And encountering: 3. At least one other religion, or worldview. |
| School contextualising factors: Schools should consider the following factors when deciding what to study as 2 and 3: · Understanding of the beliefs and practices of a Dharmic tradition, e.g. Hinduism. · Understanding of connections between Abrahamic religions, e.g. Christianity, Judaism and Islam. · The local context. · Build upon learning at KS1, provide foundations for KS3. |
| Weightings of religions and beliefs: More time should be spent on Christianity than any other individual religion or worldview. A minimum of 35% of allocated curriculum time should be spent on (1) and a minimum of 20% on each of (2). The remainder on (3). |
Pupils complete five enquiries throughout the year.
We follow an ‘enquiry-led’ approach for RE. By completing five enquiries each year, pupils cover the required areas of study.
This approach has five steps required to answer a key enquiry question. See long-term plans for all the key enquiry questions each year group has been allocated.
Engage – Step 1 – the key enquiry question, such as ‘Why is the Quran important to Muslims?’ should be introduced by engaging learners through a stimulus and engaging activity that introduces the general topic – such as creating an symmetrical Islamic pattern used on the cover of a Quran, using paper shapes. 1 hour
This stage needs to be relevant to the learners own experiences. Allow all learners the opportunity to explore the concept through a range of activities. This could include artefacts, music, a story, a video clip, a dilemma etc.
Enquire – Step 2 – pupils create sub-questions based on the overall key enquiry question. 1 hour
Teachers may wish to suggest sub-questions however, this stage is about co-construction. Talk about what will happen in the express stage (what the outcome will be). Will the questions lead to better understanding? Are they at an appropriate level – use assessment documents to help you judge this?
Will these questions help to answer our key question? What do we already know? What do we want to know? How could we find the answer? Why is this important? How will it affect your life? This enquire step may take place as a whole class.
Explore – Step 3 – pupils explore the concept (see plan) through the process of enquiry using appropriate content. Two hours
Teachers may wish to use direct teaching lessons for some content. Ensure everything you study links back to the questions. Have you come any closer to answering your question? Here you might use texts, video clips, research, quotes from religious text, stories etc.
Evaluate – Step 4 – pupils respond & analyse and evaluate understanding of the concept. 1 hour
Evaluate what you have found out, can you offer any alternatives? Opportunity for robust and challenging discussion. Teachers may pose questions. Use of dialogue and debate, agreeing to disagree, further questions. What can we learn from this religion?
Have we answered our questions? What do we understand about the concept? How far have we answered the key question? Does it matter if we have conflicting views? Are there questions that still need resolving? This evaluation step may take place as a whole class.
Express – Step 5 – pupils express knowledge and understanding they have gained to answer key questions (a final piece of work). One hour.
Draw together what they have learned. Use different approaches at this stage. Could involve presentations, webpage, debate, leaflet, written work, art, drama, music etc.
For example, an annotated stained glass window to express learning about Easter, or a matching pair’s game to show understanding of key Hindu ideas, or a board game showing how to reach Buddhism enlightenment or a heart shaped poster showing what Christians can learn from the Bible.
Pupils’ progress is assessed in relation to the purpose and aims of the subject. Therefore, this primarily concerns how well pupils are able to hold balanced and well-informed conversations about religion and worldviews. In other words, are pupils becoming more religiously literate? Attainment and progress are therefore linked to the multi-disciplinary approach to RE advocated throughout the agreed Norfolk syllabus.
Teachers are encouraged to use the non-statutory age-related expectations as a starting point for planning alongside the suggested core questions for our key stage. This ensures that expected outcomes are at an appropriate standard and that the learning journey for each enquiry is clear. The non-statutory age-related expectations ensure that the RE provision is balanced and that pupils become more religiously literate through their time in school.
Appendix 2: Non- Statutory age-related expectations showing examples for Key Stage 1-325
It is a statutory requirement for schools to provide, at least annually, a written report to parents on their child’s progress in RE.
Useful Links
Links to Reading
- Religious stories/fables
- Religious texts
- Information texts
- Subject specific vocabulary
- Discussion & debate
Core Knowledge
Retrieval Practice – RE:
- Through reflect and review practices at the start of each lesson prior learning and key vocabulary are revisited to ensure maximal retention of key knowledge;
- The use of CLIPs within lessons allows for discussion and linking of learning;
- Core vocabulary has been identified and this is a continued reference point for pupils across their RE learning journey.
The Physical Education curriculum at BVS aims to deliver a high-quality PE experience which inspires all pupils to succeed and excel in competitive sport and other physically-demanding activities. It provides opportunities for pupils to become physically confident in a way that supports their health and fitness. Opportunities to compete in sport and other activities build character and help to embed values such as fairness and respect. The school uses a variety of teaching and learning styles in lessons including practical lessons, with drama and exploration. Children also have the opportunity to use an extensive range of materials and resources. The school uses the ‘Real PE’ scheme of work, which is delivered by each class teacher once a week to their class. Real PE targets the skills our pupils need in order to succeed in life both at and beyond BVS. These fundamental skills include: personal, social, cognitive, creative, physical, and health & fitness. We also offer a second lesson each week for pupils that is delivered by a PE specialist. These sessions have more of a sports focus where pupils will have an opportunity to experience a wide range of sports, from invasion games, to athletics, to gymnastics and dance. We hope this will give our pupils a desire to take up these sporting activities outside of school. Wherever possible of course, trips, competitions and visitors will be used to enhance the Physical Education curriculum.
The National Curriculum for Physical Education aims to ensure that all pupils:
- develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities
- are physically active for sustained periods of time
- engage in competitive sports and activities lead healthy, active lives.
Pupils should arrive in KS2 being able to:
- master basic movements including running, jumping, throwing and catching, as well as developing balance, agility and coordination, and begin to apply these in a range of activities
- participate in team games, developing simple tactics for attacking and defending
- perform dances using simple movement patterns.
Pupils should leave KS2 6 being able to:
- use running, jumping, throwing and catching in isolation and in combination
- play competitive games, modified where appropriate [for example, badminton, basketball, cricket, football, hockey, netball, rounders and tennis], and apply basic principles suitable for attacking and defending
- develop flexibility, strength, technique, control and balance [for example, through athletics and gymnastics]
- perform dances using a range of movement patterns
- take part in outdoor and adventurous activity challenges both individually and within a team
- compare their performances with previous ones and demonstrate improvement to achieve their personal best.
- swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres.
- use a range of strokes effectively [for example, front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke].
- perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.
Physical Education is concerned with the promotion of positive attitudes towards physical activity and well-being. At Bure Valley we use the real PE scheme of work alongside our specialist provision.
Real PE is a unique, child centred approach that transforms how we teach PE to include, challenge and support EVERY child.
Real PE supports us with:
- Training and support – through training we can develop the confidence of staff and improve the skills they need to deliver an outstanding PE curriculum. Training also includes whole school initiatives, playground supervisors and subject leadership.
- Whole school curriculum & scheme of work – provide us with a flexible and progressive curriculum, that has clear Intent and progression of skills aligned to the National Curriculum. Through our real PE platform, we receive high quality, interactive PE Schemes of Work to support planning and lesson delivery. These come with video support, music and other supporting resources.
- Teaching and learning – real PE helps us to align our Implementation with Intent through a simple teaching and learning framework which outlines the essential teaching habits required to develop the positive behaviours, skills and knowledge of our pupils. Through this approach, EVERY child should feel valued, included, challenged and supported in their learning.
- Assessment and impact – the real PE Assessment Wheel supports us to quickly assess pupil progress, store evidence, report and inform planning. An impact report celebrates improvements in: staff confidence, pupil engagement, pupil progress and the broader impact of real PE across the school.
- real PE at home – helps us to change the culture around home learning in PE for every family. Real PE at home consolidates, reinforces and accelerates learning, while forging a stronger link between school and home.
- real PE membership – gives us ongoing support to make PE successful at BVS. We intend to help all children make better progress, have confident teachers and whole school impact. real PE membership gives us access to a whole range of benefits, including being a part of a community of 2,000+ other real PE member schools.
The values-led approach of real PE is very different to traditional PE approaches and allows every child and every member of staff to flourish, regardless of their own ability, and they demonstrated everything in action. The teaching resources and assessment materials will drastically cut workload and ensure we are delivering very high quality PE across school.
Core Threads
PE: Practice and Performance, Inclusion, Tactics
At BVS the impact of the PE Curriculum is assessed termly against the real PE progression framework and against unit objectives. Due to the holistic nature of our curriculum, children are assessed against a whole range of skills, not simply physical ones. Assessment informs planning.
When monitoring the impact of PE at Bure Valley, we believe impactful PE is:
- High levels of engagement and enjoyment
- Greater confidence
- Progress in physical and technical skills
- Progress in tactical awareness and understanding
- Positive behaviours for learning and for coaching and supporting others
- Increase in the confidence and knowledge of staff
- Broad range of activities and opportunities across the extended school day
- Increase participation in competitive sport, with strong community links and pathways
Useful Links
Links to Reading
- Rules/laws of games
- Equipment lists
- PE specific vocabulary
- Evaluation/analysis tasks
Core Knowledge
Retrieval Practice – PE:
- Retrieval and revisits of learning are built into the PE curriculum through revisiting key concepts, disciplinary skills and substantive knowledge;
- Themes of performance, practice, evaluation and tactics run through the curriculum and are revisited;
- Learning is revisited and built upon as pupils move through their PE learning journey.
http://www.burevalleyschool.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Core-Knowledge-PE-Yr3-6.pdf
Our Life Skills curriculum lays out the specific objectives (posed as questions) that the children will be taught during the 4 years that they are at BVS. The curriculum is divided into 6 areas: Relationships; Sex Education and my body; Personal Development; Healthy Living; Living in the Wider World (including, but not exclusively, citizenship, the environment and democracy) and Financial Literacy. The statutory element of Relationship and Sex Education is taught within PSHE.
The curriculum is spiral, with the children revisiting objectives each year. For example, keeping safe online is taught in age-appropriate lessons to every class, every year.
Lessons are planned collaboratively by year group teachers, and may include a variety of approaches depending on the cohort and the nature of the lesson content. When written work is completed, it is done so in an exercise book, or learning may be presented in another form, such as group posters, drama and role play, discussion of suggested scenarios, art work etc.
Our aspiration is to have 10×1 hour lessons each term from the planned curriculum, but also allow 2 lessons per term for responsive lessons that react to local, national or international events that we feel need to have time devoted to them. A good example of this was the development of the war in Ukraine this year, which we felt needed to be taught to the children and to allow the children to discuss and process the information and images that they were receiving through different forms of media.
The nature of the content of this Life Skills curriculum means that all lessons are planned to be accessed by all pupils, in a mixed attainment environment.
We have 1 exception to this. In Y5 and Y6, one lesson is planned as part of the Sex Education curriculum where boys and girls are separated. This is to allow a Q&A session in a safe environment and to allow boys and girls to speak freely about gender-specific issues. We review this annually, and will be particularly conscious of this, if we have any pupils who identify as trans.
We do not follow a specific scheme, with the exception of our RSE lessons, when we use the RSE Solutions resources published by Education Solutions. A variety of resources, both printed and online, are promoted to teachers to use in their lesson planning, including resources provided by the PSHE Association of which we are a member.
The objectives of our PSHE curriculum are published, each term, to parents through year group newsletters. Parents are also informed when their child’s class is about to have some specific RSE lessons. Resources are made available to parents who wish to view them.
Core Threads
PSHE: Relationships, Living in the Wider World, Health and Wellbeing
Life Skills is not a curriculum area that requires a specific knowledge or skills base – although taught well and in a coherent manner, it does lead to children who are resilient and able to respond appropriately to challenging situations.
Children will know who can provide support and how to seek that support. Children will be articulate about mental and physical well-being and feel empowered to report if they are abused in any way by peers or others. PSHE & RSE teaching will ensure that children are aware of the physical and emotional changes that will happen to them during adolescence and how to seek support.
PSHE-Yearly-PlansWe aim to teach Life Skills (PSHE) lessons throughout the year. We may choose to teach objectives out of the above sequence in order to respond to class, school, local and national events. Several objectives may be covered by one session, or several sessions may be taken to cover one objective. We may also choose to teach lessons not listed above in response to need. Objectives may also be taught to complement learning in other curriculum areas e.g.) maths (finance) geography (environmental responsibility) science (naming parts of the body).
At BVS we monitor the effectiveness of teaching and the impact it has on learning and understanding. Through book looks, pupil interviews and lesson drop-ins we can see if pupils are learning and remembering the planned curriculum.
Useful Links
Links to Reading
- Articles
- Subject specific vocabulary
- News
- Information texts
- Stories
Core Knowledge
Retrieval Practice – PSHE:
- Reflect and retrieve activities at the beginning of sessions enforce learning and help pupils to retrieve prior learning;
- Use of CLIPs are built into the learning cycle to aid the revisiting of and discussions about prior learning;
- Use of core vocabulary within the subject as a foundation for future learning enables links and schema to be developed further.
http://www.burevalleyschool.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Core-Knowledge-PSHCE-Yr3-6.pdf
RSHE is learning about the emotional, social and physical aspects of growing up, relationships, sex, human sexuality and sexual health in an age and stage appropriate manner.
It is our intent that we will equip children and young people with accurate information, positive values and the skills to enjoy healthy, safe and positive relationships, within which they value their sexuality and take responsibility for their health and wellbeing both now and in the future.
We recognise the importance of RSHE in preparing children and young people to live safe, fulfilled and healthy lives. The objective of RSHE is to support children and young people through a journey of physical, emotional and moral development, through the teaching of essential knowledge, skills and values within the framework of the law, relevant provisions of the Equality Act, 2010 and through the teaching of relationships and sex.
Under the Children and Social Work Act 2017, the government committed to making relationships education (primary) and relationships and sex education (secondary) statutory in all schools, including LA maintained schools, academies, free schools and independent schools. All schools are required to have a Relationships and Sex Education Policy.
At Bure Valley School our RSE curriculum objectives are taught as part of our wider, PSHE curriculum. Lessons are predominantly mixed gender and taught by class teachers. However, on occasion, we may invite visitors in and may teach single-gender lessons. Lessons are always age-appropriate and collaboratively planned with other year group colleagues.
Within our RSE teaching, we aim:
- To deepen children’s understanding of good and not so good feelings and to extend children’s vocabulary to enable them to explain both the range and intensity of their feelings to others.
- To recognise what constitutes a positive, healthy relationship. To develop the skills to develop and maintain positive and healthy relationships.
- To realise the nature and consequences of discrimination, teasing, bullying and aggressive behaviours (including use of prejudice-based language including LGBT)
- To refresh knowledge of names for the external genitalia (including clitoris). How their bodies will change as they approach and move through puberty.
- To know that bacteria and viruses can affect their health and that following simple routines can reduce their spread.
- To know that differences and similarities between people arise from a number of factors, including sex and sexual orientation.
- To be able to judge what kind of physical contact is acceptable or unacceptable and how to respond.
- To know strategies for keeping physically and emotionally safe online, including social media, the responsible use of ICT and mobile phones.
- To know the importance of protecting personal information, including passwords, addresses and images.
- To understand the concept of ‘keeping something confidential or secret’, when we should or should not agree to see this and when it is right to ‘break a confidence’ or ‘share a secret’.
- To recognise that their increasing independence brings increased responsibility to keep themselves and others safe. To recognise when and how to ask for help using basic techniques.
- To know about people who are responsible for helping them stay healthy and safe, and ways that they can help these people.
- To know about human reproduction including conception (and that this can be prevented).
- To recognise how images in the media do not always reflect reality, and can affect how people feel about themselves.
We believe that effective RSE can make a significant contribution to the development of personal skills needed by pupils to establish and maintain relationships. RSE will ensure children and young people are encouraged to understand the importance of stable, loving relationships, respect, love, and care in line with our ethical and cooperative values. It also enables young people to make responsible and informed decisions about their health and wellbeing.
RSH will be approached through evidence-based, best practice principles to ensure the highest impact on improving pupil health, wellbeing, safeguarding and lifelong outcomes.
Core Threads RSE: Relationships, Living in the Wider World, Health and Wellbeing
The majority of elements of the RSE curriculum are a statutory requirement to teach to meet the June 2019 Government RSE guidance and The Equalities Act, 2010.
RSE will be taught through a ‘spiral curriculum’. This approach means that pupils will gain knowledge, develop values and acquire skills gradually during their school years by re-visiting core themes to build on prior learning. RSE will support the school’s commitment to safeguard pupils through an age-appropriate curriculum that prepares them to live safely in the modern world.
Our intended RSE curriculum is detailed below, but may vary in response to emerging issues and to reflect the rapidly changing world in which our pupils are living and learning. If this is the case parent/carers will be provided with appropriate notice before the amended programme is delivered. Where possible the curriculum will be complemented by themed assemblies, topic days and cross curricular links. We will be following ‘The Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) Solution’ Curriculum which has been developed by Educator Solutions. The children will have at least 6 lessons spread out over the course of the school year. Lessons will be taught in Year Groups and not classes so the material is age appropriate.
RSE-Yearly-PlansPupils’ learning will be assessed at the end of every topic to ensure that pupils are making sufficient progress to build on prior teaching and learning and that teaching strategies and resources remain relevant and effective. Assessment activities will be implicit, forming part of a normal teaching activity to ensure that pupils do not feel under pressure. There will be self-assessment tasks throughout the programme that will confirm pupils understanding of the topics. The evaluation of teaching and learning assessments will be shared with pupils and parents as appropriate.
The quality of RSE teaching and learning will be monitored through RSE learning walks, team teaching and informal drop-ins conducted by subject leads and/or members of the senior leadership team. Governors will monitor the quality of provision, pupil progress and accessibility of the RSE provision. Specific governor responsibilities are in section 38 and 39 of the RSE Guidance. The observations and findings of which will be used to identify and inform future staff training and resource needs.
Useful Links
Links to Reading
- Articles
- Subject specific vocabulary
- News
- Information texts
- Stories
Core Knowledge
Retrieval Practice – RSE:
- Reflect and retrieve activities reinforce learning and help pupils to retrieve prior knowledge;
- Use of CLIPs within learning cycles enable children to revisit and discuss prior learning;
- Use of core vocabulary within lessons acts as a foundation for future learning.
