• Curriculum Overview

Curriculum Overview

 

At Bowness-on-Solway Primary School, your children are at the heart of what we do.  We are very fortunate to be able to teach in small classes and this genuine family feel means that every member of staff knows every child well.  

We believe all children are entitled to a broad and balanced curriculum which is right for them.  At Bowness, we use our fantastic surroundings to stimulate and engage our children, instilling pride in our rural location of outstanding natural beauty.  We are also determined for our children to be aware of the world outside our village and we ensure that they have a range of experiences instilling a lifelong love of learning and an ambition for their future. 

We utilise the outdoors and have a purpose-built outdoor classroom as well as a forest, fields, nearby shore and local buildings.

Bowness-on-Solway Primary is a Busy, Exciting School.

In order to ensure breadth, balance and depth as well as a rich curriculum, we offer children a range of experiences including visitors and specialist teachers.  This is in recognition of our remote location and our passion for ensuring that our children have as many prospects as possible despite being relatively isolated.  For example, Hayley came to provide opportunities for reflection in our prayer spaces as well as the Easter story as an interactive journey.  The music service brought the Carnival of the Animals and the Mighty Zulu Nation brought drums, singing and dancing. 

Music is huge here: every child learns a tuned instrument due to our work with Cumberland Music Service.  There are many visiting sports coaches in cricket, tennis, multi-skills and football, with a regular weekly session for all in school - including a lunchtime club - from Carlisle United Football Club.  Our staff boasts a range of further qualifications including dance.  We enjoy themed weeks, enriching our curriculum focused on science, art, poetry and books. Authors are invited as are local businesses and crafts people. 

Although we are a small school, members of staff take responsibility for the different subjects of the National Curriculum.

In designing our curriculum, we began with an overview of what we felt the curriculum should be like, what we felt was important for the learners who attend Bowness.  We asked the staff, the governors and the children for their ideas.

Then we considered what the needs of the children were, how to engage our pupils and to ensure a range of learning experiences that were tailored to individuals.  We wanted progression and achievement as well as real depth in learning.  Again, we opened up the context of learning as well as the skills and knowledge to our pupils.  What would they like to learn?

In order to ensure progression of skills, we used the National Curriculum as the basis for our learning objectives to develop a cross-school framework for learning, with each one building on the last.  Our foundation subject leaders generated matrices to aid planning, developing clear steps in attainment and achievement that were agreed by our teaching staff.

In our drive for depth of learning, the 'teach, practise, repeat' process means knowledge and skills are revisited in a number of different contexts, such as working on the continents and countries of the world as seen below.

Classes

Visit our class pages to see what we are doing now!

Unusually, the Owls class has Nursery/Pre-School, Reception and Year 1 children, allowing for a rich Early Years and lower Key Stage 1 curriculum and solid foundation for later learning.  Miss Story and Miss Paisley work tirelessly to ensure that children have every opportunity to lead their own learning.

The Osprey class covers Years 2, 3 and 4, where Miss Edwards, Mrs Misselbrook, Mrs Servanté and Pat support our children in the tricky transition to KS2 and more challenging work.  The small class allows for individual support and intervention programmes are run to accelerate our children's understanding.

The Kestrels class is currently for Years 5 and 6 where children's creativity is still fostered while lifelong learning skills are utilised.  Miss Graham Mrs Misselbrook and Mr Walsh have the time and space to get to know each child and address weaknesses to turn them into strengths.

The curriculum at Bowness-on-Solway Primary School follows statutory requirements.  Our mixed-age classes require careful planning, especially in the crossover from the Early Years curriculum to Key Stage 1 (Reception to Year 1), but staff are vigilant in ensuring the coverage of skills and ensuring children are taught appropriately for their level of understanding.

We are keen to choose topics of interest to our children and many of these have been chosen by them.  In the Ospreys, a recent topic of 'Robots' was the children's choice and Miss Edwards has said it was one of her favourites to teach!

Overviews of the year's curriculum are published below.  They may be tweaked according to the children's needs.  Termly topic webs and curriculum letters are on the individual class pages.  If you have any questions regarding the curriculum we teach, please contact the school directly.