...I am amazed at what a broad and rich education my children are getting at Blackwell. Fantastic. They are well rounded and happy and school plays a big part in this... (Parent comment)

Our curriculum offers stimulating and creative learning with a focus on the basic skills of speaking and listening, reading, writing and maths. In order to equip the children for their whole lives, Blackwell develops well rounded children for the future through the development of personal and social skills, healthy lifestyles and skills for life, including SMSC (Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural education)  

We work as a school community on whole school topics, over a five year rolling programme, which focus strongly on the learning process and generating thinking as well as the acquisition of knowledge.  Each topic lasts for a few weeks and children work towards an outcome whilst developing learning and social skills during their project work.  Topics are designed to develop a sense of community and citizenship and an appreciation of the world in which we live.  Our Forest School work, based on a Scandinavian outdoor learning philosophy, supports this ethos as does our Philosophy for Children programme, Dilemma Based Learning application and SMSC work. We regularly invite visitors to enhance curriculum work and also participate in relevant educational visits.  

Click here to view our overview of curriculum.

Click here to view our overview of planning for the curriculum.

Click here to view our broad vision for each subject area of the curriculum.

At Blackwell First School, we have a Curriculum Strategy which guides our teaching and learning and is available on request. Please contact the school office for any further curriuclum information. 

Foundation Stage curriculum

This is the curriculum for children prior to and including the reception year in school.  The focus is on ensuring children develop in a safe environment that supports their well being, social skills and increased personal independence.  Skills and knowledge are developed through relevant and enjoyable planned learning experiences. 

A strong emphasis is placed on practical 'hands on' activities and the use of the outdoor areas in school.  The Foundation Stage has several areas of learning, centred around Personal and Social Education, Physical Development and Communication and Language. We use 'Little Wandle Letters and Sounds revised' for teaching early phonic reading skills and the children read a variety of books following the Collins Big Cat and Oxford Reading Tree systematic synthetic phonic reading schemes that adhere to Little Wandle. Teachers read other 'real' books with the children to help the children's language development.

All of the school staff are trained in bespoke Early Years practice, including the pedagogy of strong Continuous Provision centred around developing the child's learning skills and the school's values and key competencies. We operate Continuous Provision outdoors in Nursery, through a combination of indoor and outdoor play in Reception and move onto Continuous Provision centred around the National Curriculum into Year 1. As the children move through Year 1, a more formal approach to learning is implemented in line with children's stages of development in preparation for Year 2. Elements of child centred play based learning continue to be offered through our Continuous Provision at playtimes throughout the school. 

Primary curriculum

This is the curriculum for children from 5 to 11 years of age. The focus is on ensuring children make progress in the key areas of learning (basic skills) whilst developing the school's values and key competencies across the whole curriculum.  At Blackwell we foster a love of learning with an emphasis on developing skills for life (as outlined in our values and key competencies) through our topic work. We use 'Little Wandle Letters and Sounds revised' for teaching early phonic reading skills and the children read a variety of books, including real books, led by the Oxford Reading Tree and Collins Big Cat synthetic phonic reading schemes in Early Years and Key Stage 1. We use our 'Blackwell Reading Progression' of texts to ensure that children develop reading fluency and comprehension, as well as vocabulary, with appropriate continuity and progression.

The Primary Curriculum subjects taught are:

• English
• Maths
• Computing
• Science
• History
• Geography
• Religious Education
• Physical Education
• Personal Social Health Education
• Music
• Art
• Design Technology
• Modern Foreign Languages (French)

 

Please click below to view our curriculum policy (including compliance with the Equality Act 2010 and SEND Regulations 2014) and five year rolling programme, which outlines the subject focus for each topic and some of the skills developed through the projects. Particular projects are planned taking into consideration class needs. Learning needs for all learners are met through carefully tailored learning programmes.

CURRICULUM POLICY