Curriculum Subjects
Through our curriculum provision we aim to:
- Provide exciting learning experiences that will engage, challenge and inspire children to ‘reach for the stars’.
- Ensure that children take a greater responsibility for their learning experiences through reflection and self-evaluation of their strengths and areas for improvement.
- Ensure children develop confidence and a high self-esteem and understand how this relates to their commitment to learning and building a school community.
- Create learners develop a love of learning and commitment to excellence in that learning.
- Ensure learners can articulate their thoughts and thinking clearly with a well-developed range of vocabulary.
- Ensure children are always using key skills across all subjects.
Curriculum intent
At Baden Powell School we seek to provide a broad and balanced curriculum that will allow our children to flourish academically, socially and emotionally. Our curriculum will ensure that our children will develop strong subject knowledge with relevant subject specific skills that will provide them with a strong foundation for the next stage of their educational journey. Across all curriculum provision we will ensure that children experience the intrinsic joy that comes from the learning process.
The Baden Powell Curriculum will provide opportunities for children to become independent, confident learners with a strong commitment to learning and self-improvement. Through their engagement with the curriculum the children at Baden Powell School will develop their empathy, resilience, tolerance, respect and commitment to being an active and positive member of the diverse community we live within.
The curriculum will be driven by the high aspirations of both staff and children with the underlying school commitment to ‘reach for the stars’ displayed through our commitment to our learning. These high aspirations will be reflected in our inclusive environment that allows all children, whatever their need, the right to access the breadth of the curriculum along with their peers.Implementation
All staff have high expectations for the children in relation to both their intellectual growth and their learning behaviours. The curriculum will be implemented with the underlying commitment to ensuring that children acquire the specific subject knowledge that will allow them to then develop the subject specific skills which will enhance both their understanding and knowledge application.
The curriculum is taught in blocks related to specific subject areas and these blocks will deliver the identified key subject knowledge that each child should have as they progress across each year group and key stge. Teachers should have secure subject knowledge and be able to use this to assess children and ensure their progress across all areas of the curriculum.
Effective pedagogical practice is the cornerstone to successful curriculum implementation and the school will derive professional development programmes that ensure teaching staff continually improve and fine tune their pedagogical knowledge and practice.Impact
Curriculum impact is measured in a range of ways using summative and formative assessment; book scrutiny carried out by subject leads and senior leaders; learning walks; display checks; children’s feedback and focus groups – all of these should show evidence of clear learning and progress across each term, year and key stage.
The school has clear outcomes for each specific subject and this learning should be evidenced in children’s books and in conversations with them. The clear impact should be reflected in the children being fully prepared for the next stage of their education or having made clear progress from their starting point upon entry into the school and across each year group and key stage.
Phonics
The school uses Read, Write, Inc to teach phonics across Foundation Stage and Key Stage One.
Reading
“If you are going to get anywhere in life you have to read a lot of books.”
Roald Dahl
Reading is effectively using the dual competency of fluency in word reading and understanding the message the words on the page are giving. At Baden Powell School we will provide a curriculum that allows a strong foundation of phonics to be supplemented by whole word recognition which will give children the essential tools and skills to not only read fluently but also contribute toward the children understanding what they have read.
Comprehension will be developed through effective discussion of texts that children are engaging with across all subjects and through deliberate teaching of the skills required to fully understand a text that is being read. Children will develop their reading skills through experiencing a wide range of poetry, fiction and non-fiction texts.
Through a range of strategies including adults reading to children will be a cornerstone of promoting a reading for pleasure culture that will allow children to experience the imaginative process that brings reading to life for those engaged with texts.
By the end of Key Stage 2 children should be able to read fluently and confidently with full understanding so that they can engage with the range of subject specific texts they will encounter in secondary school.
Writing
“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”
Toni Morrison
An effective writing curriculum should be sequenced to ensure that children develop both transcription and composition. At Baden Powell School children will be given the opportunity to develop these two key skills. This will be achieved developing key writing skills such as letter formation and legibility in transcription and planning, revising and improving in composition.
A strong base in phonics allows for the development of effective transcription and this will contribute to children developing their formal ideas and expressing these confidently with articulation in both written and oral form.
Clear teaching of text structure will ensure that children can create well organised and structured texts that meet requirements for different genres, audiences and a range of purposes.
Children will work through a sequential curriculum that develop their tier one and two vocabulary and allows them to use more ambitious grammatical structures.
Children should be taught to produce all written pieces of learning in a fluent and legible handwriting style.
Spoken Language
“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein
A reading and writing curriculum cannot be fully effective without the development of the spoken word. At Baden Powell School we will develop our children’s spoken word so that they can develop as effective readers and writers. Baden Powel School will have a curriculum that allows for children to develop this spoken language and use this development to improve their vocabulary and grammar in both speaking and writing.
Baden Powell school will also develop spoken language so that children can engage fully with others in quality discussions about texts and writing.
Maths
“Without mathematics, there’s nothing you can do. Everything around you is mathematics. Everything around you is numbers.”
Shakuntala Devi
A well sequenced mathematics curriculum should develop and deepen children’s fluency in conceptual frameworks and different mathematical domains. At Baden Powell School we will develop this mathematical fluency and use this to ensure that children can apply it to solve complex mathematical problems that require clear reasoning steps that allow children to see the clear connections between the different domains of the mathematics curriculum.
Children should also understand the connections between the mathematics curriculum and other subject areas and be given opportunities to transfer their conceptual understanding to these subjects – Science, DT, Art and Design and Computing.
By the end of key stage two children should be able to rapidly recall a range of mathematical knowledge that can be suitable applied to solving complex mathematical problems.
Science
“Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.”
Marcus Aurelius
A well sequenced, quality science curriculum provides a solid foundation for an understanding of the world around us. At Baden Powell School the science curriculum will build strong sequential knowledge that will build on previous learning. This will allow students the opportunity to deepen their understanding across the three conceptual frameworks of biology, physics and chemistry.
The curriculum will build upon a solid knowledge base to develop the key skills of scientific enquiry and will give clear opportunities for children to apply these skills – skills such as collecting, observing, analysing, hypothesising and drawing conclusions using evidence-based outcomes.
To communicate the application of this knowledge and these skills, students will develop their scientific language and be able to use this confidently in both written and oral form.
Computing
“Computers themselves, and software yet to be developed, will revolutionise the way we learn.”
Steve Jobs
A sequential computing curriculum should provide children with the opportunity to develop and deepen their understanding of computer systems, information systems and digital technology at a more complex level as they progress through the curriculum.
At Baden Powell School we will provide a curriculum that allows children to progress through ever more complex applications of computational knowledge and will allow them to experience creating computer programs; create different digital tools and use information technology for a range of purposes. They will experience how computational technology can aid us in solving complex problems and how we can apply different domains such as information technology to help us in our problems solving.
They will develop knowledge and skills in relation to programming, coding, algorithms and data and apply this knowledge in practical experiences with computational technology.
Children will fully understand how to stay safe when engaging with al forms of digital technology.
Geography
“Geography is the study of earth as the home of people.”
Yi-Fu Tuan
The study of geography should foster a curiosity and fascination of the world that will last a lifetime for our children. At Baden Powell we seek to light this passion within our children and seek to achieve this by providing a wide curriculum that allows children to develop and deepen their understanding of key geographical knowledge and skills.
The curriculum seeks to provide children with opportunities to develop and then deepen their knowledge of the diversity that we find within places, peoples, resources and environments around our ever-changing world.
Through a curriculum that has clear links to previous and future learning our children will gain knowledge of place and location both within the UK and the wider world. They will use this knowledge to compare and contrast different locations, places and environments while also applying their knowledge of human and physical geography to explain the benefits and challenges that these locations, places and environments may place upon individuals or communities who live there.
They will develop key geographical skills such as mapping, analysing, researching and practical fieldwork to communicate effectively as geographers using correct technical terms and vocabulary.
History
“You have to look at history as an evolution of society.”
Jean Chretien
The study of history should inspire curiosity through the use of perceptive questioning and critical thinking. It should allow us to assess and evaluate the impact of previous historical periods impact on our present through a process of continuity and change.
Students at Baden Powell should experience a well sequenced curriculum that allows them to see the inter-connections between historical periods and allows them to develop evidence-based judgements through an analysis of the changes that have occurred within the complex societies and group relationships that they study.
They should develop a clear chronological understanding and how both internal and external influences shaped modern Britain. To achieve this, they should understand abstract concepts such as Empire, Civilisation, political history and social history and study these concepts through topics that cover historical periods from the ancient world to world war 2. Through this study they should use historical enquiry skills such as evaluating primary and secondary sources; researching and asking key questions; evaluating evidence; making connections and reviewing and discussing different interpretations of the past.
By the end of key stage two students should have developed both the knowledge and skills to understand how local, regional, national and international historical events and periods have impacted on our modern life and know how cultural, political, social and economic influences have not only impacted on the past but continue to impact on our present and our future.
Music
“Where words fail, music speaks.”
Hans Christian Andersen
Music is one of the highest forms of human creativity and at Baden Powell we seek to ensure our children experience this life enhancing opportunity at a deep and transformational level. Through a well sequenced and connected curriculum students will develop a love of music and its performance and will gain the ability to express themselves through musical performance and composition.
They will develop the skill and knowledge to critically evaluate a wide range of music and hence be able to identify and appreciate what is best within the musical cannon.
The curriculum will provide a range of opportunities to perform, listen to, and evaluate a wide range of musical styles genres including traditional and classical music. Students will develop an appreciation of composers and the creative process involved in producing a piece of music. They will explore through musical interludes concepts such as pitch, tempo, tone, dynamics and structure and use this in application when creating their own solo or ensemble performances and compositions. They will also understand that music can be recorded in written form and that musical interludes reflect the cultural influences of the historical period they were created in.
Art and Design
“If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.”
Edward Hopper
Art and design is a creative process that allows full expression of our own individuality through both artwork and design products. Each piece of art or product design is a celebration of our ability to express ourselves through a median other than words.
An art and design curriculum should engage, inspire and challenge students to reach the pinnacle of that self-expression. A well sequenced art and design curriculum should help students to develop the skills and knowledge that allows them to explore, invent and express themselves creatively.
Students should develop their own critical thinking in evaluating pieces of artwork and design and understand the cultural impact of historical periods on these processes. Children should understand how economic aspects of a nation or historical period can also impact on the process of the creative process in both art and design.
Students should develop a proficiency in drawing, painting, sculpture and craft and design. They should experience the creative process in each of these aspects using a wide range of materials and develop the technical language that they can use to evaluate their own works.
The curriculum should also give opportunities to study and learn from the great artists and how the historical and cultural period they lived within influenced their work and how this work continues to impact on art and design today.
DT
“Design is intelligence made visible.”
Alina Wheeler
A successful DT curriculum should be inspiring and practical in its application. Its content should be rigorous and relevant to the modern world that our students find themselves living in. It should allow all students to use their imagination to solve a range of real-life technological problems and draw on knowledge accumulated in other subjects such as math, science, computing and art – allowing students to see the interconnectedness of different curriculum subjects.
The curriculum at Baden Powell School will allow students to develop a critical understanding of the impact that technology has on modern life and the everyday experiences that they encounter.
The curriculum at Baden Powell School will allow students to develop creative, technical and practical thinking that will enable them to develop the expertise needed to participate in an ever-changing technological world that they will encounter as they grow and mature.
They will develop clear knowledge and design skills that will allow them to develop their own products suited to a particular purpose and user. Through these experiences they should develop their own critical evaluation process which will allow them to assess not only their own but also others products.
A wide DT curriculum should also provide opportunities for children to develop their understanding of nutrition and how to apply this in the process of cooking meals and this will be a part of the provision at Baden Powell School.
Modern Foreign Languages
“He who knows no foreign languages knows nothing of his own.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The learning of a modern foreign language is an opening to other cultures and should foster curiosity about that culture. The curriculum at Baden Powell School will offer opportunities to develop this curiosity and deepen our students understanding of different cultures.
The curriculum will provide ample opportunity for students to develop both oral and written expertise in their understanding and application of Spanish. It will provide a foundation on which can be built the skills and knowledge to engage with other languages as they progress through their educational journey and into adult life. The curriculum will provide opportunities for students to develop confidence and fluency in Spanish and allow them to communicate with others clearly and effectively.
Language development will focus on developing clear pronunciation, intonation and how to communicate with different audiences for different purposes in both written and spoken form using the correct grammatical structures.
We teach Spanish from year three to year six and follow Hackney Education designated scheme of work.
