Curriculum Intent

Intent (what we aim to provide)

At Benthal, we view Art and DT (Design & Technology) as an important part of children’s learning, stimulating our children’s creativity and imagination and providing a range of sensory experiences through which to understand and respond to our world. Children are provided with the opportunity to explore and evaluate styles and concepts from artists and designers from a range of diverse backgrounds and historical periods alongside developing essential skills. Children explore their inventive and design capabilities through learning via a range of colours, tones, forms, etc whilst developing skills in drawing (including observational studies), collage making, sculpture, painting and printing. The children are also given opportunities to begin and build skills in sewing, 3D modelling and game making.  Not only does this allow them to fully express themselves in a variety of ways but it prepares the children for the wider world and future creative career paths.

Implementation (how we provide teaching & learning)

Through our learning program, children develop their skills through drawing, painting, sculpture, collage and printing. Children learn through making links to studying the work of individual artists, school topic work (Humanities), gallery projects and stand-alone ‘strand’ lessons. Children record their work in sketchbooks through their school journey which builds a profile of each child’s ability to record their ideas and experiences. Each piece of work is analyzed and evaluated using the language of art, craft and design. At Benthal, we are working hard to decolonise our curriculum; children are taught about great artists from a wide range of backgrounds across different centuries, craft makers and designers and the historical and cultural development of their art form, from aboriginal art to Cathy Read and her cotemporary architectural designs.

Impact (the impact for our pupils & enrichment opportunities)

We want our children to be inspired, engaged and challenged from their experience of Art & Design and DT. We want every single child to leave Benthal with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and designs and be able to express themselves as creatively as possible alongside having the knowledge of how these subjects have shaped our rich history and contributed to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation and the wider world.

Intent (what we aim to provide)

At Benthal, we recognise that computing is an integral part of the curriculum and essential to learning about, understanding and interacting with today’s world. We aim to provide an exciting, rich and challenging computing curriculum for our children. We use practices that promote and nurture our children’s ability to be reflective, think critically and stay safe when engaging with offline and online technology. We are also inclusive and ensure that computing is adapted to the learning needs and style of the individual learner where necessary.

Implementation (how we provide teaching & learning)

Through weekly sessions, we deliver our computing curriculum through ‘Purple Mash’ where pupils develop their knowledge and skills of the (strands) through using quality software. We also deliver computing across the curriculum through the use of computers, interactive white boards and speakers, visualizers, i-pads, microphones, TVs and projectors. Children’s progress in KS1 and KS2 is monitored regularly through tracking provided by ‘Purple Mash.’ In Early Years, appropriate activities are provided to engage children with the early experiences of technology through the area of ‘Knowledge and Understanding of the World.’ 

Impact (the impact for our pupils & enrichment opportunities)

We want our children to be able to use the internet and technology with confidence, competence and safely for both their recreational and study needs.

Intent (what we aim to provide)

At Benthal, our English Curriculum is designed with the intent to aspire all our children, regardless of their needs and backgrounds, to become confident, fluent and creatively skilled readers and writers in their use of the English Language. Every child will engage in their abilities to read, write, speak and listen through a range of genres and contexts whilst developing their talents for different purposes and audiences and to do so expressively and freely. We have established a curriculum that supports and harnesses our children’s literacy to the rest of the curriculum and enables them to connect with each other and the wider world.

Moreover, we strive to instil and nurture a love of reading and writing in all children knowing the importance of having a firm, clear understanding of the English Language is key to the entire curriculum and children who are assured and self-reliant readers and writers will feel liberated and determined to prosper in all other areas.   

Implementation (how we provide teaching & learning)

At Benthal, we provide a learning programme, which enables children to develop their language skills from the Early Years all the way up to year 6 and is regularly monitor, evaluated, and reviewed by the English Lead and members of SLT. Through topic-based learning, phonics, talk time and play, children develop the ability to communicate through reading, writing, speaking and listening which develops their understanding of themselves, others, their family and the wider world. During everyday teaching, formative assessment is taken place to ensure teachers are thoroughly aware of children’s progress and are well-informed for next steps. 

In EYFS and KS1, children are taught using guided, shared and 1:1 approaches under the RWI scheme to ensure that all children access learning according to their needs and learning styles in order to make rapid progress in acquiring their language skills. They are regularly assessed through phonic based reviews which allows for accurate provision of streamed groups. If required, children are given additional support through interventions and tailored 1 to 1 support.

In key stage 2, pupils develop their reading skills and use of vocabulary even further through the Destination Reader sessions. Spelling is taught via the Oxford Owl scheme on a daily basis alongside high quality teaching of the statutory spellings. The Literacy Curriculum enables children to develop their understanding and appreciation of a range of genres and build their reading, writing and conversation skills through looking at Key Authors, writing genre focuses at the start of each term and opportunities for free writing. This is supported through the ‘The Hamilton Trust’ scheme which guides medium term planning and ensures full coverage.

At Benthal, we highly value every child’s efforts and strive to ensure that their writing is acknowledged. Through corridor displays, the school’s website/social media and class editing sessions, children’s work is continuously celebrated.

Reading

•          Children are given the chance to comprehend and evaluate what they read innovatively and accurately across a range of genres and topics.
•          Children are exposed to a wide range of high quality texts including, but not limiting to, different plots, styles and tones whilst covering many diverse authors and characters.  
•          Children will be exposed to classics as well as to lesser known works of literature from around the world.
•          Children from EYFS all the way to Upper KS2 develop and evolve their vocabulary given them more opportunities to express themselves using a range of literary and poetic devices.
•          Children are taught to read with expression, pace and fluency developing their ability to comprehend, analyse and evaluate different texts. 
•          Children are taught phonics progressively from EYFS to KS1, using the RWI model, as an effective and efficient way of increasing and developing children’s reading and spelling skills.
•          Children continue to implement their RWI skills alongside their established Oxford Owl spelling lessons to continue the high-quality practise given to them.  

Writing

•          Children are given many opportunities to reflect upon, edit and improve their writing. 
•          Children are continuously motivated and encouraged to be insightful and resilient learners.
•          Children are presented with a range of engaging experiences in and out of the classroom.
•          Children receive handwriting lessons to develop their stamina, fluidity and legibility whilst encouraging them to take pride in their presentation.
•          Children will be given the opportunity to read and write a variety of genres: different fictional styles, poetry, non-fiction.
•          Children will learn to adopt the appropriate tone and ‘voice’ for each genre. 

Speaking and Listening

•          Children are allowed to thrive through drama and role play will encourage children to develop their oracy skills.  

Impact (the impact for our pupils & enrichment opportunities)

Children graduate from Benthal with each and every effort valued and all opinions appreciated and heard from their teachers, peers and their whole school community.

Through pure encouragement, praise and inspiration, every child is given the opportunity to develop and find their ‘voice’ and carry this into the wider world with confidence and self-belief.

At Benthal, we ensure that our English Curriculum: 

 Develops children’s love of reading:

•          This expands their learning, creativity and imagination.
•          Through a range of different authors, from different literary backgrounds, genres and traditions, they are able to connect and reference a range of works. 

Advances children’s writing:

•          Children build confidence, are able to express their opinions and release their creativity.
•          Each piece becomes more structured, clear and organised with technical accuracy which make for interesting and intriguing reads. 

Ripens their verbal opinions:

•          Through expressing opinions, engaging in structured conversation, children develop the confidence to communicate with their peers on a high level.
•          They develop their ability to engage, agree and disagree with others in a constructive manner clearly and articulately.

Evolves their progress to the highest standard:

•          Each and every child at Benthal leave having made the best progress possible.
•          All children receive Quality First Teaching at a consistent and direct approach.
•          Interventions are given to children who need additional support and are well structured to match and develop their needs.

Flourishes their confidence for the wider world:

•          As their confidence grows so does their abilities to experiment with their own writing.
•          Benthal children are not afraid to take risks with different styles and genres as their reading experiences continue to emerge and blossom.

Intent (what we aim to provide)

At Benthal we want to foster in our children a secure knowledge, understanding and interest in the fundamentals of mathematics, nurturing and encouraging positive attitudes to mathematics and to find opportunities to use and apply these skills across the curriculum. In line with the national curriculum we want our children to become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, being able to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately. We also want our children to be able to reason mathematically, using appropriate vocabulary and demonstrate the ability to solve problems through a variety of problem solving skills.

Implementation (how we provide teaching & learning)

Through the ‘White Rose’ Learning program and our Calculation policy, we promote enjoyment of learning about mathematics through practical activities, discussion and open exploration. We provide learning progression through concrete, pictorial and abstract concepts about number, pattern, shape, space and data. Pupils are taught explicit and efficient methods, in line with our calculation policy, during allocated arithmetic time. Additionally, in Maths, children are provided with practical investigations through which they can develop logical thinking and participate through low threshold high ceiling activities, which support inclusive strategies, giving children access to learning at their level of need.

Impact (the impact for our pupils & enrichment opportunities)

By the end of KS2, we want our children to demonstrate the abilities to use appropriate vocabulary, think logically, reason, solve problems and work systematically and accurately. We want our children to leave Benthal with the confidence and competence to apply mathematical knowledge, concepts and skills within Maths lessons, across the curriculum and in real life.

Intent (what we aim to provide)

At Benthal, we believe that personal, social and health education (PSHE) enables our children to become healthy, safe, independent and responsible members of society. It aims to help them understand how they are developing personally and socially, and tackles many of the moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up. We are dedicated to ensuring that Benthal is a happy, stimulating and caring place and we expect high standards of behaviour and good manners throughout the school. Behaviour and attitude to learning is underpinned by values that are taught through PSHE lessons, making it integral to the success of the whole school.

Implementation (how we provide teaching & learning)

PSHE is at the heart of our school ethos. PSHE is taught as both explicit lessons, using the Twinkle scheme of work which is fully in line with both statutory guidelines and the PSHE association. It is also embedded in other areas of the curriculum and day-to-day life of the school such aa through our Benthal Values & Rules, Our Mental Health &Well-being policy, Lunch Time Code of Conduct, Circle Time and programs such as ‘Zones of Regulation’ and ‘Skills Builder,’ where children develop the ability to use and are celebrated for demonstrating the essential skills for Citizenship and Enterprise. Citizenship is also practiced through the work or our School’s Council Representatives and Year 6 prefects. We also foster international links with our partner school in Madrid. Through this our pupils learn to engage with another language, culture and way of life that will enhance their understanding of the wider world and their relationship to it and how they are connected.

Impact (the impact for our pupils & enrichment opportunities)

Through the teaching of PSHE, we aim to combine citizenship and personal well-being through a values-based education. We aim to give children the knowledge, confidence and self-awareness to make informed choices; to develop social awareness and social skills; to promote responsibility, good manners and a safe and healthy lifestyle. Through PSHE, we aim to give children the tools to make sense of their personal experiences and to understand and manage their feelings. It is our aim that children understand the context of British society and the rights and responsibilities that come with citizenship.

Our ultimate aim is that our PSHE curriculum will help young people to move with confidence from childhood through adolescence into adulthood. By the end of KS2 we want our children to have developed positive values and a moral framework that will guide their decisions, judgments and behaviour. Have respect for others regardless of race, age, gender, culture, disability or disposition. Be aware of how to keep themselves safe. Be positive and active members of both the school and wider communities. Have the confidence and self-esteem to value themselves and others.

Intent (what we aim to provide)

Science at Benthal is all about developing children’s ideas and ways of working, using investigation and application of skills to enable them to make sense of the world in which they live. Through teaching Science, we want to prepare children for life in an increasingly scientific and technological world, foster an awareness and concern for their environment and help them grow in acquiring and understanding scientific ideas and processes of the world.

Implementation (how we provide teaching & learning)

We deliver learning through using the ‘SNAP’ Science program. These learning sequences give our children a clear understanding of scientific processes helping them to acquire scientific approaches to problem solving. Investigations in each topic enable pupils to work scientifically, developing the skills of questioning, predicting, experimenting, observing, interpreting and evaluating. We also ensure that learning develops children’s computing and technology skills with the ability to use scientific vocabulary to communicate, record and present ideas, facts and data.

Impact (the impact for our pupils & enrichment opportunities)

The ‘SNAP’ Science program enables our children to re-visit topics in order to build on prior learning and their natural curiosity. We are partnered with the Science department at Clapton Girls were our children have access to further resources as well as opportunities to prepare for transition. We also provide trips, both real and virtual as well as focused in-school events such as ‘Science Week.’ These all work together to provide our children with an enjoyable experience of Science, helping them to work independently and co-operatively with each other. By the end of their time at Benthal, we want our children to leave with a deep and lasting interest and the desire and motivation to study Science through further education and later life.

Intent (what we aim to provide)

At Benthal we support the view that learning a modern foreign language is an entitlement for all pupils during their time in KS2 and seek to develop our curriculum to ensure that teaching a foreign language is an integral part of this. Through teaching Spanish, we promote the early development of linguistic competence through conversation and writing and through an understanding of a different culture.

Implementation (how we provide teaching & learning)

We use the KS2 Framework for Languages and the Federation of Hackney Schools scheme of work. All pupils in KS2 are taught Spanish through a weekly timetabled session. Lessons are delivered by the language lead and in some instances by the class teacher who can follow up throughout the week, providing the constant revision needed for effective language learning. Class teachers also reinforce Spanish through agreed common approaches, such as writing the date and taking the register in Spanish. Classroom resources and areas are also labelled in Spanish and lessons are also delivered to year 2 pupils to aid transition into KS2. Children are taught to use a Spanish dictionary, understand basic grammar and ask and answer questions with correct pronunciation an intonation. The progress of all pupils are tracked and work is marked regularly with feedback.

Impact (the impact for our pupils & enrichment opportunities)

Our provision for Spanish is Silver Award standard and we want our children to continue to develop a positive attitude towards learning a foreign language and apply their knowledge and ability with confidence to reading, writing and conversational activities in Spanish. We provide enrichment opportunities through role-play, simulated experiences through ‘Spanish Week’, online learning and contact and annual visits to our partner school in Madrid where they can use their verbal skills and experience a different school culture.

Intent

‘Through Religious Education, all pupils are taught to develop spiritually, academically, emotionally and morally on a way that enables them to understand and value themselves and others and to better cope with the opportunities, challenges and responsibilities of living in a rapidly changing, multicultural world.’

Implementation

We deliver teaching and support children’s learning about the main world religions through following the LA’s SACRE scheme of work.

We teach about basic religious concepts and how they have been expressed in sacred books, symbols, language, arts, daily life and rituals through topic work.

We introduce our children to key figures in various religions through lesson sequences.

We link learning in RE to the Benthal Values and PHSE, wherever possible.

Impact

We want to encourage our children to value themselves as individuals and promote their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

We want to help our children understand and respect the religious beliefs, attitudes and activities of other people and to develop and express their own beliefs.

We want to foster understanding in all our children so that they value all beliefs and help to eliminate all forms of prejudice.

We want to nurture in our children the skills required to engage in examining and reflecting upon religious beliefs and practices.

We want to provide our pupils with opportunities to participate in various religious festivals and to have an experience and understanding of different cultures and traditions.

Intent (what we aim to provide)

At Benthal we understand that physical activity not only improves health and well-being but also has a positive influence on academic achievement and interaction with others. We provide a broad and balanced range of activities designed to be enjoyable, purposeful and present positive experiences that aim to nurture in our children a life-long interest for physical activity.

Implementation (how we provide)

Children receive 2 hours of learning each week. Through our learning program children develop their ability to use movement in isolation and in combination within disciplines of gymnastics, dance, competitive games, outdoor adventure and swimming. Children have regular opportunities to evaluate and improve on their performance.

Impact (the impact for our pupils & enrichment opportunities)

We want our children to regularly participate in and enjoy physical activities. Appreciate their importance in promoting their physical and intellectual development as well as social skills of demonstrating sportsmanship. We want them to experience enrichment through participating in clubs, external competitions and tournaments such as Hackney Cycling League and ‘Bike Around the Borough'. In addition, to experience healthy competition; cross-curricular focuses through visits to wider communities such as a residential to Kent (Kench Hill) and Outward Bound settings.