Castle Bromwich Junior School
Curriculum
At Castle Bromwich Junior School, we believe that the curriculum is a powerful tool that promotes a love of learning, willingness to explore, the opportunity to have rich memorable experiences and develop an inner confidence that will support our children to succeed. We are committed to developing the whole child. Our children will have the opportunity to be creative, to be physically active and to be academically challenged. Our curriculum underpins all the
learning that takes place and appreciates that an engaging and inspirational curriculum can foster curiosity and a passion for learning so that children may develop into life-long learners.
Castle Bromwich Junior School curriculum introduction
Our curriculum ethos is based upon:
I see and I forget, I hear and I remember, I do and I understand [Confucius].
At CBJS, we teach all the curriculum subjects as detailed in appendix 1. Our wider curriculum offers as listed in appendix 3 of our full policy. The curriculum is all the planned activities that we organise in order to promote learning, personal growth and development. It includes not only the formal requirements of the National Curriculum, but also the range of extracurricular activities that the school organises in order to enrich the experience of the children. It also includes the ‘hidden curriculum’, or what the children learn from the way they are treated and expected to behave. We aim to teach children how to grow into positive, responsible people, who can work and co-operate with others, while developing knowledge and skills, so that they achieve their true potential. We want our curriculum to be a skills for life curriculum based upon creativity, enquiry and all associated capacities.
Our curriculum Intent
At CBJS we aim to teach the children to do the best they can, so that they learn the most they can, and develop
academically, socially and physically to be as happy and as healthy as they can.
In order to meet our school aim and hence the needs of our pupils we ensure our curriculum focuses on:
- Developing our pupils’ curriculum and personal skills, vocabulary and knowledge;
- Creativity: ensuring lessons are engaging and give pupils the opportunity to be creative in their responses;
- Nurturing the whole child – academic, social, emotional and spiritual.
Our curriculum delivers a broad and balanced approach based on skills and knowledge, enabling children to make
sustained progress and reach their full potential. Children can thrive in a safe and caring environment whilst developing their imagination and creativity. We believe that effective learning takes place when there is considerable emphasis on active involvement and opportunities to talk and interact with each other.
In order to successfully deliver a structured, rich curriculum with clear progression of skills, we follow the statutory
requirements of the National Curriculum 2014 and draw from a varied selection of teaching and learning resources. We have our own devised progression documents, detailing the skills, knowledge and vocabulary expectation for each subject across our school to prepare them for the next stage in their learning and their futures.
The national curriculum is only part of the curriculum we provide for our pupils. We use our wider curriculum to develop an appreciation of how children perceive themselves, to build confidence and set aspirations and thus support our School Values: adapt, accept and aspire.
Our curriculum subject areas are carefully sequenced to enable pupils to build on previous learning thus deepening
their understanding. Subjects are generally taught individually whilst making cohesive links when they occur.
Our curriculum offers a range of experiences and opportunities providing children knowledge beyond that of our school. It aims to capture and inspire imaginations to engage and develop children’s leaning enabling them to be innovative and expressive.
We strongly believe, that for our community, we not only have to focus on academic achievements but need to focus on developing our pupil’s personal development, well-being and life skills. All these opportunities are evident in our wide curriculum offer, such as: well-being weeks, our life ready projects, as well as teaching and learning approaches, including: growth mindset and cooperative learning.
In our geographical area, where some pupils have limited aspirations and circumstances that could limit life chances, we know our curriculum must endeavour to improve these for our pupils. We do this by ensuring each child becomes:
• A successful learner, who enjoys learning, makes good progress and achieves well. A child who knows their strengths
are where they can shine and has resilience to face learning challenges as well as personal ambition.
• A confident individual, able to live a safe, healthy and fulfilling life. A child who believes in their self-worth and can
manage their own well being
• A responsible citizen, able to make a positive contribution to society. A child who is aware of others around them and the positive impact they can have
Reading is a key feature of our curriculum- without this skill the curriculum can be narrowed for pupils. Reading features strongly across our curriculum. We have re designed our library to develop a love of reading and have mapped out texts for each year to read.
We actively promote British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs to prepare our pupils for life in modern day Britain. We also use PSHE lessons and school assemblies as opportunities for children to learn about themselves.
