Leigh Academy Bearsted Curriculum Maps

Curriculum Statement

Curriculum Intent 

• The LABear curriculum is delivered within relevant and purposeful contexts, is built upon prior learning and is designed to be challenging, ambitious, interesting and motivational to all pupils and is rooted in research and current thinking.  

• Every child is recognised as a unique individual and we celebrate and welcome differences within our diverse school community. 

• We aim to create happy inquiring, lifelong learners who respect and care for the world they live in and all those who live in it. 

• LABear will understand how they are connected to the world in order to take action to improve their own lives and the lives of local and global communities.  

• The LABear curriculum celebrates diversity and utilises the skills, knowledge and cultural wealth of the community while supporting the children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, ensuring that children are well prepared for life in modern Britain. 

• Community involvement is an integral part of our curriculum, learning about, with and from it.  

• The curriculum will be underpinned by the National Curriculum (NC), the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB PYP) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It will be entrenched through conferencing and an effective cycle of  evaluation by all stakeholders.  

• Teaching staff will not only plan and deliver the curriculum, they will be responsible for monitoring and driving the impact and effectiveness of all subjects and opportunities for learning for all pupils, overseen by the Curriculum Lead.  This will ensure that the curriculum is not only broad, balanced and inclusive but that all pupils learn the skills, knowledge and understanding significant to their stage of learning and for achieving their ambitions in life, building upon and augmenting these year on year. 

• Everything about the curriculum is designed to be aspirational through experiences and opportunities for all pupils to enrich their learning.

• Inclusion and well-being are at the heart of Leigh Acaedmy Bearsted to be certain that all pupils know and understand how they are a valued member of society, how it is their right to feel and to be kept safe and how to maintain their own positive well-being.

Curriculum Implementation

• At the heart of the curriculum is the skills, knowledge and personal development pertinent to each stage of a child’s growth as organised in the NC, the IB PYP and the SDGs.

• The NC provides the core requirement of academic skills and fundamental knowledge across a wide range of areas of learning.  The national curriculum provides pupils with an introduction to the essential knowledge they need to be educated citizens. It introduces pupils to the best that has been thought and said, and helps engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement (The National Curriculum in England: Key Stages 1 and 3 framework document, 2013).

• The aim of all IB programmes is to develop internationally minded people who, recognising their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more peaceful world (International Baccalaureate Organization 2013). 

• The Sustainable Development Goals are a call for action by all countries – poor, rich and middle-income – to promote prosperity while protecting the planet. They recognize that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and address a range of social needs including education, health, social protection, and job opportunities, while tackling climate change and environmental protection. The Goals interconnect and in order to leave no one behind, it is important that we achieve each Goal and target by 2030.

(https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/).

• A primary focus of our curriculum is to raise aspirations, engender a sense of personal pride in achievement, and provide a purpose and relevance for learning.  Knowledge will be developed and skills appropriately applied through lines of inquiry, all the time widening and deepening knowledge and understanding through a well-resourced, truly broad, balanced and relevant curriculum. This will be further enhanced and complemented by challenging and collaborative projects for all pupils procuring ‘Agency’ (Voice, Choice and Ownership (IB PYP,  2018)), cultural capital and international mindedness. 

• Teaching and learning will be delivered through a range of traditional and contemporary resources with a particular focus on the most current applications in Computing to deliver the digital curriculum and blended learning.  Interventions will be specific, regularly reviewed and revised and delivered within the daily teaching and learning unless agreed otherwise with the Inclusion specialists.

• Skills will be taught in context based conceptual learning and discreet lessons as appropriate.  

• Strategies will be used to enhance the development of long term memory and embed learning. This will include, but is not exclusive to,  low-stakes testing, interleaving, inquiry and regular application of skills and knowledge.

• The effectiveness of the curriculum implementation will be evaluated through subject leadership, monitoring and assessment. Pupils will have ownership and understanding of the progress and focus of their learning through the high quality questioning and scaffolding approach of conferencing and together with Curriculum Leads will be responsible for ensuring appropriate sequencing and delivery of the National Curriculum. 

• The PYP Coordinator will ensure the philosophy and ethos of the IB and the PYP are maintained and that inquiry led learning is at the heart of the learning and teaching.

• The well-being of pupils and the Academy team will be integral to the inspirational LABear curriculum and culture and will be supported through conferencing feedback together with mutually rewarding engagement with and by the local and wider community.

• A varied timetable for extra-curricular activities is offered by the school, with clubs that support the core curriculum offer, as well as those which develop specialist skills, whilst also further extending the range of children’s experiences. 

• Pupils will progressively learn techniques and strategies for completing tests and assessments, including Government statutory assessments, as they continue through the school, mastering previously learned skills and acquiring new ones as appropriate.  As knowledge and understanding will look different for each subject and in each stage of learning, so will the evidence of this learning

• This curriculum design ensures that the needs of individual and small groups of children can be met within the environment of high quality teaching, supported by targeted proven interventions where appropriate, having significant positive impact upon the outcomes of all pupils. 

• Enjoyment of the curriculum promotes high achievement, confidence and appropriate learning behaviours in an environment where the safeguarding of pupils is paramount and they feel safe to try new things. 

• High quality enrichment activities and visits enhance the curriculum, particularly providing opportunities for writing for a purpose.  

• Pupils have opportunities to share their learning with each other, their parents and carers and other learners through school-based and external exhibitions, performances, competitions and events involving other schools. 

Curriculum Impact

• All pupils of Leigh Academy Bearsted will have equitable learning opportunities to achieve high attainment and progress by the end of key stage 2 across a broad and balanced range of subjects and associated knowledge and understanding. 

• Highly effective learning and teaching rooted in expert pedagogical research will ensure all pupils will make progress and achieve personally and academically enabling them to be healthy and successful in employment and in life.

• Impact of academic progress and attainment will be evident through outcomes for GLD, Phonics, KS1 and KS2 SATs.

• Through the use of context based learning and low-stakes testing, pupils will have a wealth of skills and knowledge that will remain a foundation throughout their lives.  Further to this, through the LABear curriculum, pupils will be equipped to manage positive relationships and transitions through all stages in their lives.  

• Pupils will have due respect and consideration for the local and wider community and will be resilient, inquisitive, confident communicators with a strong work ethic and the desire and capacity to be responsible,  principled, successful citizens.