At Bearwood Primary School, we have very carefully developed our curriculum and how we teach over the last few years. We have drawn from sound educational research and ensured high quality professional development for our staff to achieve our intent. When you come to visit our school, you will clearly see a consistent approach and a graduated progression from Nursery to Year Six. You will also notice that much of how we teach is unique to Bearwood when comparing us to other schools in the area. One example is our selection of Latin as the foreign language taught to our KS2 children because it offers strong links with vocabulary, grammar and spelling; as well as forming a strong basis for whatever modern foreign language the children go on to learn at secondary school.
We want our children to make secure progress in their learning, keeping up and even excelling, rather than a need to catch up. This means we carefully assess where children are and plan for their next steps in learning. We teach for mastery, with the expectation that all children will be at age-related expectations or above unless they have particular learning needs. All lessons are taught in mixed ability groups. Teachers are clear on what children need to learn and carefully assess each child during lessons and over time. Lessons are adjusted and learning is scaffolded with effective resources for individual children where required to access the learning. During lessons, teachers give feedback in the moment to address misconceptions.
We explicitly teach children how to think, learn and evaluate their own progress, so becoming competent, independent learners. Our classes are organised to facilitate collaborative learning, and we teach high-level oracy. Children therefore develop the skill of discussion; rehearse their ideas; and learn from others - honing the soft skills of interaction and empathy.
Our children are developed to be literate and numerate, and are given daily opportunities to apply key literacy and numeracy skills across the curriculum. We teach discrete daily phonics sessions from Nursery to Year One via the whole class mastery approach. As a result, virtually all of our children are able to decode, read fluently and move onto selecting real books from our well resourced library by the time they are in Year Two. We consider the teaching of reading to be the most important skill primary schools must teach, and implement a rigorous approach from Nursery to Year Six. Indeed, high quality texts form a very important part of our curriculum offer. We also enable our children to question and comprehend new information, and make important connections across the curriculum.
We want our children to have strong skills of collaboration, communication, creativity and high-order thinking, as we believe these are important for them to develop into confident, decent and compassionate citizens with the capacity to be flexible in an ever-changing world. We want our children to understand the world in which they live, and how it has become that way. We want them to understand their place in the world, and their interconnectedness with others. We will enable our children to have a firm grasp of time and place – locally, nationally and internationally.
Whilst journeying through Bearwood, our children will develop a rich cultural capital from the exposure they will have to the wide range of topics they encounter. In addition to an academic focus, we strive to deliver a high-quality arts curriculum, teaching children for mastery in skill and technique. We set high expectations and share high quality examples through artefacts and practice. Children engage in a variety of educational visits and interactive workshops which have been carefully selected to ensure all children have many experiences and to further enhance their learning.
Strong parental engagement is important to us. We have a flourishing and dynamic PTA that all parents are welcome to join. Regular parental workshops are delivered to share our curriculum approach and empower parents to effectively support their children at home.
We develop our children’s characters through our focus on values, also developing within them a growth-mindset. This will set them in good stead to be compassionate and productive adults with integrity - able to successfully adapt within our ever-changing world.
