Curriculum

When designing our curriculum at Barling Magna Primary Academy we began by asking ourselves, “What is it that the children at Barling Magna Primary need to learn to be successful both now and in the future?” We considered the traits we wished our children to develop and the skills they would need. In addition, we considered our local community with all it offers and how we could make our curriculum relevant to that.

As a result of our discussions, we produced a curriculum which is unique to our school and personalised to our children.

At Barling Magna Primary Academy, our curriculum is designed to:

• Offer children with experiences of the wider world outside their local community – ‘Broadening Horizons’.

• Provide a variety of learning experiences that will engage and motivate children.

• Provide opportunities for key skills to be applied across the wider curriculum with relevance to real life contexts.

• Provide experiences of a diverse community to develop the positive attitudes of respect and tolerance.

•  Provide children with a breadth of vocabulary to enable them to be articulate communicators.

• Promote ‘Reflective Learning Skills’ to develop children’s independence, perseverance and resilience.

• Provide all children with ‘challenge’ across all areas of the curriculum; recognising, developing and celebrating all children’s strengths.

• Opportunities to behave or think imaginatively.

• Provide children with the skills to lead a healthy lifestyle and to develop positive relationships.

• Provide purposeful teaching and learning that develops lively and enquiring minds which in turn develops a motivation for lifelong learning.

We operate a ‘theme’ approach, which makes relevant links between subjects and provides a meaningful context for learning, with relevance to real life made explicit. Themes are not ‘set’ but are chosen each half-term to meet the needs and interests of our current children.

At Barling Magna, we meet the requirements of the Primary National Curriculum whilst Early Years children follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. These curriculums offer our children a minimum entitlement, while still allowing room for personalisation.

Staff work in year groups to plan a comprehensive, cohesive curriculum which is enriched with a broad range of learning opportunities, designed to challenge all pupils.

In addition to academic opportunities, we offer a wider curriculum of sporting, cultural, musical, creative and social opportunities whilst the performing arts play an important part of the curriculum in every year group.