Blakedown Church of England Primary School
Curriculum Overview
Please see the Curriculum page for more details and the attachments below. Subject specific information can be found on the individual subjects pages.
Blakedown CE Primary School provides a curriculum that covers both the statutory requirements and the needs of the children within the school. Our curriculum links closely to our Christian vision and supports the messages of personal individuality, the joy and love of learning and the ability to build and use learning skills to achieve and become the best version of themselves possible.
Our curriculum is carefully planned, we use a range of schemes to ensure progression across all subject areas and to ensure that the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum are met. Content is differentiated so that every child can access the curriculum at their own level to provide challenge and success. Learning groups are organised in a variety of ways to best suit the children's needs and the aims of the lesson and can vary between sessions and in relation to the children's age.
The curriculum is based on statutory guidance with core subjects: Literacy, Science, Numeracy and, as a Church School R.E. is also regarded as a core subject. Other foundation subjects are Art, Design & Technology, History, Geography, Computing and Online Safety, Languages, Music and Physical Education. Pupils benefit from studying PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Emotional Education) as the skills and content within this area underpins personal understanding, success and happiness. We also deliver a structured and age appropriate Sex and Relationships Education to all age groups.
We believe that children need positive learning behaviours to succeed - the 'Secrets of Success' which underpin how effective a learner we can be. Therefore, we also teach children that making mistakes is a step to succeeding and that we should persevere and try again. The 'Secrets of Success' are:
try new things
work hard
don't give up
understand others, and
push yourself
As a primary school, we are organised to include children from the ages 4-11 years old. The National Curriculum is structured in three key stages:
Early Years Foundation Stage: 3-5 years old - Reception
Key Stage 1: 5-7 years old - Class 1 & 2
Key Stage 2: 7-11 years old - Class 3, 4, 5 & 6
Please see below for guidance on the National Curriculum and what is taught in each year group and subject. Specific subject pages hold further information on each area.
Enriching our curriculum
To ensure our children's enjoyment of learning and to match different learning styles, we plan a range of different visits, visitors and events across the school year for each year group. All of our staff are visit leader trained and our Educational Visit Leader is Miss Low.
Please see the events plan below to see the range of planned experiences that the children have to add to their learning and personal development across the year.
Residential Trips
At Blakedown we have two residential trips during your child's time at school. In Year 4, children spend three days and two nights at the Pioneer Centre in Cleobury Mortimer, which is an outdoor adventure centre. Our Year 4 attend this residential with the Year 4 pupils from Clent Parochial Primary School, and it is a brilliant experience that helps promote independence and resilience, along with increasing social, physical and team-building skills.
In Year 6, children spend the week away at an Art's residential centre in Stafford called Ingestre Hall. This is a fantastic opportunity to make new friends with children in our pyramid of church schools, who also visit as part of the same trip. During the week, children become experts in new arts activities of their choice, including: animation, drama, dance, music and art. They have opportunities to specialise in two art forms and present their art to the whole group. They also get to spend time with peers whom they may go to high school with, socialise and spend time outdoors in the beautiful grounds of Ingestre Hall. It is an amazing and valuable experience that has proven very popular over the years we have been going.
If you would like to find out more about the curriculum, then please do not hesitate to come in and see your child's class teacher or speak to Miss Low who is our curriculum leader. There are also additional opportunities to view your child's work across the year during 'Open Book Nights' and 'Lessons with Parents/Play and Stay' sessions across the year.