Curriculum

We believe learning is for life: a dynamic journey of discovery, bringing rich rewards and a sense of success and fulfilment, ensuring children can make the most of every opportunity that life has to offer.

Below you will find our Curriculum Intention for the children of Blackfield Primary School. There is also a brief explanation of our Integrated Learning Units (ILUs) which is how we deliver the majority of the curriculum. You can see what each year group specifically covers in the year group tabs on the right of the page.

Curriculum Intent

The curriculum is the totality of experiences which are planned for the children as they progress through all of our schools.

The curriculum will have at its heart the learning behaviours that will support all children to be successful learners for life.

We will ensure that the curriculum is literacy rich, raises aspirations, drives ambition, and maximises high rates of progress in all areas.

Our curriculum will be broad, balanced, meaningful and relevant and build upon children’s prior knowledge

It will be equitable, providing children with essential knowledge, skills and experiences to reduce the effect of disadvantage

It will support all children to develop healthy attitudes to their physical and mental health and support them in their development as respectful and courteous members of the local community and society at large.

It will teach children to understand and respect their own and other cultures

New Technologies will be used creatively to engage and support children in their learning

All schools within our Trust will provide a curriculum, which inspires, challenges and safeguards all our children, and enables them to become

Active participants, constructing their own knowledge and holding the key to being the architects of their own learning;
Motivated to enjoy new learning, experiencing personal satisfaction, success and high quality outcomes;
Curious, constantly seeking answers through thinking critically and creatively;
Confident to use their emotions productively, as they encounter new experiences and work with a diverse range of people;
Eager to engage with others, learning from each other and building on each other’s strengths;
Resilient, determined and able to persevere in the face of obstacles;
Risk takers, who can work with uncertainties, looking for new possibilities;
Reflective: confident with who they are and inspired by the world around them;
Responsible for explaining their learning by being classroom ambassadors

The overarching intent for the curriculum has been organised into three strands of focus for each subject:

Strand 1: For our children to master key knowledge and skills

To master the appropriate subject specific knowledge, skills and understanding as not only set out in the National Curriculum, but also by identifying what is relevant to our children’s context and the challenges and opportunities they are likely to face.

Strand 2: For our children to have effective learning behaviours and characteristics

To prepare our children for an ever- changing world they will acquire the following learning behaviours that can be transferred across all learning:

Thinking
Collaboration
Independence
Spirituality
Emotional Intelligence
Creativity

As well as this, they will have a clear understanding of the characteristics required in each subject, for example: I am a scientist, I observe.

Strand 3: For our children to have a strong moral compass

To build a personal set of moral values through teaching our children to: self-care; be self-aware; have effective social skills; engage positively within the community they live; contribute constructively to issues facing the wider world; and respect the cultures of others.

Integrated Learning

At Blackfield Primary School we are very proud of our highly engaging integrated curriculum. Our integrated curriculum, which is driven by our learning behaviours, combines subjects into a project which has purpose for children to learn.

Although most areas of the curriculum are fully integrated, with English always being a key subject, there are a few subjects which need to be taught discretely such as: Mathematics, PE, Music and French.

We believe in the following principles for our integrated curriculum.
Our curriculum is…

Engaging and motivating: Our integrated learning units are designed to engage and motivate our children in their learning, igniting their curiosity and providing them with inspiring learning units where they have a passion for following their own lines of enquiry.

Purposeful: Exciting hooks at the start of projects provide children with a purpose for learning as well as establishing a clear intended audience and outcome, enabling children to learn in a meaningful and purposeful manner.

Lead by our learning behaviours: All projects are driven by our learning behaviours, providing children with skills and dispositions that will enable them to be successful lifelong learners.

Memorable: Our integrated learning units provide children with memorable, real-life experiences that inspire them to produce high quality outcomes that they are proud of and may not otherwise experience.

Contextualised: The design of the curriculum enables learning to be contextualised through other subjects and a depth of experience is gained through the application of learning skills in these areas.

Projects are variable in length according to the learning and the outcome.

All projects have three subjects allowing for in-depth, rigorous and focused learning. The lead subject determines the nature of the project: English will either lead the project or be the second subject.

Each project has two learning behaviours. The first leads the project and determines the shape and nature of the outcome. 'Thinking' is a constant behaviour in all subjects.

Within each ILU opportunities are created to apply learning from other subjects in this new context. Computing (including digital literacy) will always be an applied subject.

The project culminates in a significant project outcome. This is the driver for all learning throughout the project and is a result of the first lead subject combined with the lead behaviour. The children know the outcome soon after the project starts and use it to see how the learning is necessary to achieve it. The overall outcome is usually an event (for example, a living museum, or an art workshop) or the publication of learning (for example, a website or a book).

The hook is the last thing to be decided in the project. It gives a purpose and a context for the outcome. It excites the learning and ignites the desire and curiosity to learn.