Detailed curriculum information can be found in the individual subject documents at the bottom of the page.

 

At The Beaulieu Park School our aim is to develop our children into the scientists, historians, geographers and artists of the future with our carefully thought out content and ambitious curriculum design.  We understand it is vital for every child to succeed academically, but that they also need to develop well personally and socially if they are going to lead fulfilled and happy professional and personal lives.

 

At The Beaulieu Park School our definition of learning is children remembering more in the long term. We design, organise and plan our curriculum and teaching to ensure that children are not merely covering national curriculum content, but achieving a depth to their learning which enables them to use their knowledge skills and understanding in all areas of the curriculum.

 

Our careful curriculum design and planning means that we build in many opportunities for children to repeat and practise opportunities for essential knowledge, skills and understanding in every subject. This ensures that children are able to revisit and retrieve previous learning, which allows them to develop a deeper understanding of the key knowledge skills and processes within subjects.

 

At The Beaulieu Park School we understand our school context and the benefits and issues this creates for the children in our care. Careful analysis and discussion about our pupils’ backgrounds, life experiences and culture has helped us to design a curriculum that celebrates their strengths whilst helping them to overcome the potential barriers to learning. At The Beaulieu Park School we seek to ensure our children will be ready to successfully meet the challenges of the next stage of their education and their lives.

 

We have designed and planned our curriculum to offer a range of experiences which contribute to every child receiving a full, rich and broad curriculum. We do not narrow the curriculum at The Beaulieu Park School because we believe that every child is entitled to experience artistic and physical pleasures the range of curriculum subjects provide.

 

Highly skilled subject leaders have designed progressive curriculum maps which ensure children gain the key knowledge and skills in every subject.  Our knowledgeable and skilful teachers ensure that every child is included in all subjects by ensuring their needs are met in the classroom.

 

 

The range of experiences we offer supports our children academically, but also ensures that their spiritual, moral, social and cultural needs are met. We are incredibly proud of our curriculum and the experiences we provide children who in turn demonstrate how they are deeply proud of our school, their British values and diverse society to which we belong and play an active part. We are proud that our curriculum gives our children the knowledge, skills, confidence and self-belief to lead a happy and fulfilled life by encouraging them to always aim high and work towards following their hopes and dreams in life.

 

We have designed, organised and timetabled our curriculum to ensure every child receives an appropriate mix of academic and personal development which means that in practice our curriculum places equal importance on core and foundation subjects.

 

Curriculum fundamentals in the primary phase

English

In the primary phase of the school, we place reading at the heart of our curriculum. From the start of Reception through to the end of Year 1*, we teach a daily systematic synthetic phonics lesson. This is an evidence-based, structured approach to teaching children to read. The duration of these daily lessons increases over time to suit the needs of the children. From Year 2 onwards, students have a dedicated English lesson each day. The school has recently moved to using the Rocket Phonics programme as following an evaluation, we felt that this was both rigorous and suited our children.

In addition to Phonics/ English, we also have a handwriting or spelling session each day. 

From Year 2 (spring term) onwards, we teach a daily Whole Class Reading lesson (WCR). The focus of these sessions is comprehension.

For children that require extra support with reading, we make time throughout the week to listen to these students read (a minimum of 3 times per week). These sessions will also include tailored phoneme recognition and blending support.    

*If children reach the end of Year 1 and require more phonics support, this is given class/ small group lesson, depending on the needs of the children. 

In addition to teaching children the mechanics of reading, we aim to foster a 'reading for pleasure' culture across the primary phase. We do this by;

• Reading aloud to the children at least once a day (from Reception to Year 6)

• Weekly visits to our school library, where children can take a book home

• Sharing a poem or rhyme each day with every child in our school

• Opening our library after school so that children can share books with their family members and younger siblings. 

• Hosting events throughout the year such as World Book Day, bedtime stories and performance poetry events. 

• DEAR (Drop everything and read) time scheduled on to every class timetable. 

Maths 

At The Beaulieu Park School we follow the Mathematics Mastery programme. This is built on international evidence and best practice. We believe that all learners can succeed and enjoy mathematics. From Reception, all the way through to Key Stage 4, these daily lessons provide our students with a deep conceptual understanding of mathematical principles and the ability to communicate using precise mathematical language whilst becoming mathematical thinkers. 

In addition to daily maths lessons from Reception, the children also take part in 'Maths meetings' at least three times per week. These short 5-10 minute sessions give the children the opportunity to revisit and consolidate mathematical concepts previously taught. 

Topics

From Reception, our book-based topics give us opportunities to provide our children with an engaging, broad and balanced curriculum, whilst bringing a book/ story to life!  We ensure that age-appropriate knowledge and skills are taught throughout the year, whilst providing support and challenge for every one of our students. 

 

Here is a breakdown of how subjects are taught from Year 1-6

Science	Every week
PSHE	Every week
RE	Every week
PE	Every week
Computing	3 half terms per year
Music	3 half terms per year
Art	3 half terms per year
DT	3 half terms per year
History	3 half terms per year
Geography	3 half terms per year

* The paired subjects are taught on alternate half term blocks

Support and challenge 

We recognise that all children are unique. All children will require support at some point in their school career and this can be in several ways. Here are some examples of how we support children both inside and outside of the classroom. 

• Overlays or bigger font in books

• The same task broken into smaller steps or with more support

• Pre-teaching in small groups or intervention after a lesson. 

• Adapted/ different resources in lessons 

• Ear defenders or other personalised equipment 

• Adult support.

We provide a challenge in all subject areas for children who demonstrate that they are ready to deepen their understanding of a concept.  These are available to all students as we recognise that all children have the potential to excel in different subjects. These challenges are referred to as HOTs challenges and are based on the Higher Order Thinking Skills listed below. By using this method, we deepen a child's understanding, instead of moving them on to the next year group's work.  

 

 

 

EYFS

Our Early Years Curriculum is designed to provide a strong foundation for your child’s future learning, including developing a positive attitude to learning. In giving your child a broad range of knowledge and skills, we lay the foundation for excellent future progress throughout their school and life. To make this happen, learning and development opportunities are planned around your child’s specific needs and interests and regularly assessed and reviewed. Adults respond to those needs and interests, guiding their development through warm, positive interactions in an encouraging, stimulating and a well-resourced indoor and outdoor environment.

In the Reception Year, it is the adult’s role to extend and provide further challenge to your child’s learning. Here we seek to initiate and offer great depth to your child’s experiences. Our staff skilfully interact and sensitively scaffold, support and enhance your child’s knowledge, skills and understanding. In addition, we help them to develop their thinking through their participation in activities and with the skilled involvement of our staff. 

We meet your child's needs by: 

·caring for the ‘whole’ i.e. your child’s health, both physical and mental, their feelings and their thinking and emotional development 

·ensuring they have the opportunity to develop the skills, knowledge and understanding to achieve success and to build a thirst for lifelong learning 

·teaching the foundations of reading, writing and maths that will develop basic (essential) skills and to enable them to access the wider curriculum 

·providing a stimulating environment, indoors and out, with many opportunities to be curious, ask questions and to be eager to discover and learn 

·providing opportunities, time and space for them to pursue their own interests, and time to interact and share with others 

·providing opportunities for them to make choices and decisions to develop their independence 

·providing ethnically and culturally diverse experiences including resources and stories which reflect different cultures and values 

·creating a purposeful atmosphere, where teachers can focus on teaching and pupils on learning 

·working closely with you, the parents/carers and respecting the fact that you are experts in the knowledge of your own child. 

 

The content of the curriculum is planned in the seven areas of learning & development

 

THREE PRIME AREAS: 

·Communication and Language – developing skills of listening, attention, understanding and speaking.

·Physical Development – developing gross motor skills of co-ordination, control, and movement through being active. Developing fine motor skills including developing a fluent handwriting style and using small tools with accuracy.

·Personal, Social and Emotional Development – within clear boundaries and expectations, the building of positive relationships, developing skills to self-regulate, manage themselves and show respect for others and understanding appropriate behaviour. We ensure that teaching in this area is linked to our school values, ARRK.

 

FOUR SPECIFIC AREAS: 

·Literacy – developing skills of comprehension, reading and writing by encouraging your child to link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write. Providing access to a wide range of reading materials (books, poems, and other written materials) to ignite their interest. Opportunities are provided daily for developing fine motor skills and handwriting is formally taught and practised every day in reception.

·Mathematics – involves providing your child with opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, subitising, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems and recalling number facts.

·Understanding the World – finding out about the past and present, people, culture and communities and the natural word.

·Expressive Arts and Design – creating with materials by exploring a wide range of media and being imaginative through a variety of activities in art, music, movement, dance, role-play, and design and technology.

 

Your child will learn through: 

·Playing and exploring 

·Learning actively 

·Creating and thinking critically 

 

In the Foundation Stage, teachers make professional judgments about the balance between activities led or guided by adults and those led by the children. This balance will shift towards more activities led by adults as children move from early years and towards Year 1.

Adult directed activities are those which are directed by the adult and are useful in the teaching of specific skills such as demonstrating how to use tools or equipment. In our Reception class, daily teaching of literacy and maths starts from the outset and is a key part of our curriculum. Adult guided activities are those which the adult initiates. These activities are often playful or experiential. They are open ended and motivate a keen interest in learning.

Some examples include:

·         Cooking 

·         Nature Detectives (outdoor learning) 

·         P.E. indoors/outdoors 

·         Arts and crafts 

·         Regular writing challenges 

·         Reading

·         Literacy and Mathematics games

 

Child initiated experiences take place within an environment the adult has set up and planned but will be wholly decided upon by the child, based on the child’s own motivation and remains under the child’s control. Some examples include:

·         Role play corner activities

·         Games

·         Writing opportunities

·         Choosing to play with certain toys e.g. dolls house, cars, Duplo.

 

 

In Reception, our formal lessons are shorter at the beginning of the year a gradually get longer as the children’s attention span and focus increases. In between taught sessions, the children are set a range of independent learning tasks including a weekly mark making and writing challenge. They also have access to carefully planned play-based learning activities based around the prime areas of learning; Communication and Language, Physical development and Personal Social and Emotional Development.  

Each half term, we have a topic designed to engage the children and lead to many cross curricular learning opportunities. Over the course of a week, the children will take part in the following explicitly taught lessons: 

 

Daily Phonics lessons (including reading and writing) 

Daily Maths lessons 

Daily Maths meetings

Daily handwriting practise 

4 topic lessons 

1 PE lesson 

1 music lesson 

1 PSHE lesson 

 

The focus of the topic lessons will change each week to ensure coverage of Understanding the World (RE, History, Geography, Science) and Expressive Arts and Design (Art and DT). Within the topic lessons, skills from the prime areas of the Early Years curriculum are applied in different contexts.