Our Curriculum Intent Statement

Our school Christian vision statement, Motto and Christian values are at the heart of our curriculum intent statement and everything we do at Bolton by Bowland Church of England Primary School:

In our school, we belong to each other and to God. We all feel welcome, valued and accepted for who we are.

We believe in ourselves and each other as we grow in confidence and skills every day.

We are all special in our own way, using the gifts that God has given us. We are blossoming into the kind, respectful, hardworking and trustworthy people that God wants us to be.

‘Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.’ Psalm 100:3

We are a very small, friendly rural Primary School (including Nursery) with a welcoming family feel. We work closely with families, friends and members of the parish and wider community to create confident children whose foundation is supported by the school's distinctive Christian ethos.

Our aim is to ensure the curriculum is tailored to the needs of our pupils; that it is ambitious, challenges the children out of their comfort zone and provides all our children with a love of learning and the knowledge, experiences and cultural capital they need to succeed in the modern world.

Our school is committed to ensuring that the curriculum is broad and balanced, in order that the needs of all the children are provided for, whatever their needs, gifts or talents. We will provide a curriculum that offers exciting, challenging and stimulating opportunities in a vibrant environment, enriched by visits and visitors linked closely to the topic we are studying. Visits and visitors change year on year depending on the topics being taught.

However, some of our experiences, visits and visitors are regular, for example:

• Engaging and educational before and after school clubs
• Peripatetic music lessons
• Absolute Football PE Coaching
• Year 5/6 Residential visit to Lower Bank Ground Outdoor Activity Centre in Coniston, Cumbria
• Links with our feeder schools
• The Hyndburn & Ribble Valley Sports Partnership
• Strong links with the church and the village community
• Book fairs

We aim to nurture children so they can plan tasks independently and reflect on their success; children who can engage and talk about their learning are children who are not afraid to make a mistake. We make provision for academic achievement and spiritual, moral, cultural, physical and creative development whilst being underpinned by Christian and British Values.

Children will be encouraged to become:

• Respectful, with love for one another and who embrace the differences in modern society regardless of gender, race, religion or sexual orientation
• Ambassadors for looking after the environment
• Confident in the basic skills of English, Maths and IT
• Able to work independently and collaboratively
• Aware that learning is a lifelong process and there is always room for improvement
• Enquiring, through questioning, investigating and reasoning
• Engaged in physical activities that enable them to enjoy and make the best use of their time both in and out of school
• Knowledgeable about the world in which they live

All children follow the statutory requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and the National Curriculum for Key Stages One and Two. All pupils, no matter what ability they are, are ensured quality access to the whole curriculum where knowledge is cumulative, prior learning is built upon in a sequence of  learning that ensures the teaching of sufficient knowledge, and skills are gained for future life. This gives the opportunity for all pupils to learn effectively, make good progress and attain levels at least in line with, but ideally better than their prior attainment. As a team of teachers and support staff, challenging targets are set in order to help pupils achieve this.

The school ensure all children have access to the Blackburn Diocese Syllabus for Religious Education, ‘Questful RE’, that develops an enquiry based approach to the way Religious Education is taught. It embraces the explicit teaching of Christian concepts and together with the supporting resource ‘Understanding Christianity’ which explores God’s big Salvation story, both give a deeper understanding of Christianity and other leading world faiths. Through an open investigative enquiry approach, the pupils will be given the sense of being on a quest of discovery.

A love of reading will be at the centre of all we do. Reading books on offer in EYFS and KS1 are linked closely to the phonics knowledge children are taught when learning to read. Reading will continue throughout and across the curriculum ensuring children access appropriate vocabulary related to the topic, their age and their ability. This can then be used in their own speech and writing across the whole curriculum.

Each teacher makes sensitive links between subjects that make the learning more cohesive for the children. Learning is therefore strengthened by allowing children to revisit concepts and understanding in meaningful contexts. The whole staff work together to plan ‘themes’ under which they deliver the linked subjects. Although the skills progression remains the same (subject to curriculum review), the themes change to reflect the interests of the particular class or particular events in the calendar.

We want all children to leave Bolton by Bowland with a range of skills and knowledge that equip them for the next stage of their education. They will have had the opportunity to access a range of learning experiences, met aspirational people and visited places that will inspire them as to the way they want their lives to take shape. With our Christian faith being the golden thread that holds together all we do, children will have grown wholly and become the best they can be.