Working together and inspiring success

City Road Primary School

Our Curriculum

 

Our Curriculum: Why?

 

At INSPIRE, we work together as a community (staff, parents/carers, children, governors, trustees and members of the wider community) to inspire success for our pupils.

Our curriculum has been carefully planned and organised to ensure breadth, balance and depth of education for every child in our school. Our curriculum prepares our children for life in modern Britain.

Our curriculum is based on the National Curriculum but we have adapted it to meet the needs of our children.

In the design of our curriculum, we have considered knowledge progression and sequencing of concepts that enable pupils to build on what they have learnt previously.

With a very high proportion of children who have English as an additional language, early English language acquisition and the learning of phonics are prioritised.

Reading throughout school is also prioritised. The teaching of reading and promoting reading for pleasure are highly organised. Children are encouraged to come before school for additional reading. There is 100% commitment from all teachers who voluntarily give their time to support with this.

The school is highly ambitious for all children to be well-equipped with basic skills in reading, writing and maths needed across the curriculum and to prepare them for the next stage of their education.

Mathematical fluency and confidence in numeracy is regarded as preconditions of success across the school’s curriculum.

We strive to ensure that our curriculum is accessible to all, including for those children who have special educational needs, in line with Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014.   Children with special educational needs or disabilities also receive additional interventions e.g. speech and language.

Our curriculum has been designed to: activate children’s prior knowledge, provide first hand learning experiences, build resilience and become creative, critical thinkers.

We promote equal opportunities to all of our pupils in line with the Equality Act 2010 throughout our practice.

We promote diversity, celebrate difference and encourage respect for all through our curriculum. This enables our pupils to embrace the world around them and encourages adherence with fundamental British values.

The school values of ‘Learn, Care, Respect and Be Safe’ underpin the work of our school.

Our ‘Wheel of Well-being’ promotes the spiritual, moral, social, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at our school.

Children’s mental health and well-being are important aspects of our curriculum.

Our free extra-curricular provision is heavily weighted towards sport and physical activity. This is to promote the health and well-being of our pupils and to help towards reducing the high levels of obesity amongst children in this community.

Inspire Education Community Trust fully supports Birmingham City Council’s Curriculum Statement which is reproduced below.

 

BIRMINGHAM CURRICULUM STATEMENT

 

1. PREAMBLE

 

In  Birmingham  community  cohesion  means  working  towards  a  society  in  which  strong  and positive  relationships  flourish  and  continue  to  be  developed  in  schools,  the  workplace  and wider community.  This is achieved through our shared values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, tolerance and mutual respect for people.   The Equality Act 2010 places a duty on us to eliminate discrimination, advance  equality of  opportunity  and  to  foster  good relations. To achieve this, every child in Birmingham should have the best opportunity to go as far as they can in life and education is the key to that success.  This is our commitment to equip children and young people to be happy, talented, confident and ambitious citizens of Birmingham and of the world.

 

2. THE STATEMENT

 

A statement for our children in Birmingham: a guarantee for their future.

 

ALL children in Birmingham will experience a broad and balanced curriculum enabling them  to  grow  and  learn  in  an  environment  without  prejudice  or  inequality.  It  will prepare them for adult life by:

 

enabling them to play an active role in their school and community

experiencing a culturally rich and diverse life

developing and benefitting from a range of positive relationships

 

The curriculum will:

 

promote   children’s   engagement   in   learning   through   enquiry-led   approaches   that develop skills, dispositions and attitudes to learning

equip children for their futures in a rapidly changing world recognising the importance

of technology, science, languages and communication for dialogue and understanding between different groups

value, celebrate and build on children’s religious and cultural heritage and develop a sense of identity, honouring the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)

promote the fundamental shared  values  of  democracy,  the  rule  of  law,  individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs

 

 

 

 

help  children  develop  an  understanding  of  all  faiths  and  none,  and  participate  in  the celebration of different religious events in understanding and accepting differences

develop children  holistically: their intellectual, practical, aesthetic, spiritual, social and emotional capacities

ensure  an  understanding  of  protected  characteristics  of  the  Equality  Act  and  how through diversity they can be celebrated

develop children to take the lead, accepting responsibility for their behaviour, to show initiative and compassion for others, to make a positive difference in their own lives and in the lives of those living and working in their local, national and global communities

 

At school, all children and young people will be given the opportunity to learn the benefits of physically and emotionally healthy lifestyles,  by participating  in high quality personal,  social and health education including sex and relationships education. Opportunities will be provided for children to explore their talents and abilities through:

 

developing an appreciation of the arts

taking part in a wide range of physical activities, sports and games

developing a sense of self in a non-judgemental, mutually supportive environment

experiencing  music  and  its  intrinsic  value  for  enjoyment  and  self-expression  through performing, singing and the playing of instruments

experiencing  social,  moral,  spiritual  and  cultural  education  that  broadens  children’s awareness and understanding of the world and their place within it

independent careers advice that inspires and motivates them to fulfil their potential

 

The UNCRC, Article 29 states that education must develop every child’s personality, talents and  abilities  to  the  full.  It  must  encourage  the  child’s  respect  for  human  rights,  as  well  as respect for their parents, their own and other cultures and the environment. We will not allow any attempts to narrow the curriculum, or to deny our children and young people their right to education.

 

Signed

 

Councillor Jayne Francis

Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Culture

 

 

Councillor John Cotton

Cabinet Member for Social inclusion, Community Safety and Equalities

 

Date:  March 2019