Our Curriculum
Teaching and Learning: Leader Mrs Hemmingway
Our Curriculum
At Balby Central we want to provide a broad and balanced curriculum that meets the needs of all children. Through our curriculum, we want to enable children to meet their full potential, make progress through their learning journey and develop into well-rounded citizens.
Curriculum Rationale
Our approach
At Balby Central we recognise the importance of developing children’s general knowledge and understanding of the world. The school’s curriculum is developed from evidence-based research on how children learn and how knowledge is transferred into the children’s long-term memory. We believe that our children deserve and need us to provide more than just the National Curriculum. The journey through life is a wonderful thing and the children have so much more to learn and experience through each stage of their school life. With this in mind, we have prioritised the things we wanted our children to experience during their time with us. Our ambition is to ensure knowledge from the whole curriculum is deliberately retrieved and transferred into a literacy environment.
The curriculum at Balby Central Primary Academy is organised into discrete subjects. The subjects are categorised as core subjects, curriculum-based subjects, and ‘other‘.
- The core subjects, which hold a priority position in the school day, are English and maths. English is taught through high-quality texts to immerse children in imaginary worlds that provide the basis for stimulating and connected learning. Maths is taught using the Mathematics Mastery and White Rose principles.
- Curriculum-based subjects are history, geography, science, computing, MFL, art and design technlogy. The teaching of these subjects is focused on the teaching and learning of key knowledge and vocabulary supported by the CUSP Curriculum.
- ‘Other’ subjects are those that are unique in their approach and have specific guidance for their implementation (religious education, music, and PSHE)
As a school we use a 'big picture' approach that provides an overview of what will be taught. An example can be found below.
Overviews for each area of learning are provided to ensure that it is clear what children will be taught, how this links to thier previous learning and any potential misconceptions that children might develop. The diagram below shows how we plan sessions and take into account the possible errors children may make.
Children are provided with knowledge organisers at the start of their learning. In the knowledge orgnaiser key vocabulary is highlighted and pictorial representation is used as a form of dual coding. The knowledge organisers are done in a way that ensures that all children can access them.
Within a lesson children are given knowledge notes. The aim is for the knowledge note to reduces the load on the working memory as all essential information is kept in one
place. Vocabulary is clearly identified and the key knowledge is supported by icons.
Strategic long-term plans
Subject coverage is planned sequentially and with a clear rationale for making connections with prior learning.
