Building knowledge, working with purpose, aiming for success, and living our values
Our Curriculum
At Beckfoot Priestthorpe we have ensured that our curriculum is not only tailored to our pupils’ interests and needs, but also ensures that they are ready for life in the wider world. We believe in subject based lessons and want our pupils to have a passion for subject based learning. We want our pupils to dream of being a Historian, an Artist, a Scientist, or more, and have the knowledge and skills to enjoy, learn, and succeed.
Wider Opportunities
Early Years
What we teach each year
Click the buttons below to see what is taught in each term.
Find out more about subjects
At Beckfoot Priestthorpe we use Talk for Writing as a basis for our writing structure to support children to develop skills and raise standards in writing across the school. This strategy, developed by Pie Corbett, has been proven successful across the Beckfoot Trust because it is based on the principles of how children learn. It is powerful because it enables children to imitate the language that they need for a particular topic orally before reading and analysing it and then writing their own version. We work in close partnership with colleagues across the Trust to review, develop, and refine the teaching of writing across school by providing regular support and training for staff. We recognise how important stories are, reading stories to children can show them far-flung places, extraordinary people, and eye-opening situations to expand and enrich their world.
At Beckfoot Priestthorpe, we want to ensure that every child in our school gets the best support in learning to read and write. We encourage our children to read a wide variety of texts from a range of diverse authors.
At Beckfoot Priestthorpe, we believe maths helps us to understand the world and is an essential part of everyday life. We believe that our children have the right to high quality maths teaching to ensure that they have the knowledge and skills required to problem solve, have number fluency and see patterns and shapes in the world around them. We ensure children develop firm mathematical foundations in EYFS in a way that is engaging and appropriate for their age, through both adult and child led learning opportunities. We use the Ark Mathematics Mastery resources to support this.
The science curriculum at Beckfoot Priestthorpe aims to equip children with the foundations for understanding the world through a scientific lens. Pupils will be taught units work that cover above and beyond the requirements of the National Curriculum in the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. Pupils will encounter people who have made significant contributions to the field of science over time, understanding that science has been a quest for understanding for many years, and will continue to be so in the future. Pupils will build a body of key foundational science knowledge as they work their way through the curriculum, asking questions and developing a sense of curiosity about the world around us.
At Beckfoot Priestthorpe, we believe in art being at the heart of the children’s learning. We have weekly art lessons where children design, produce and evaluate art in a range of media. For this planning, we have chosen to use a published scheme, Kapow Art and Design Scheme of Work. This scheme enables our teachers to deliver creative, inspiring and engaging lessons and provides or progression in skills and knowledge. The scheme of work meets the requirements for the National Curriculum for Art and Design. The units focus around making, meaning that pupils are exposed to different approaches to creation, including painting , drawing, printing, crafting and creating 2D and 3D art. Resources are inspired by a diverse range of real artists and craftspeople who are experts in their trade. As part of teaching, pupils are encouraged to look at their own work and think about what they’re doing and how they have improved in reflection and evaluation.
At Beckfoot Priestthorpe, we believe that DT is a significant subject in the context of the wider world. With many technological advances taking places all of the time, children need to be exposed to this subject so that they can seek out careers in this field. Our aim is to give children opportunities to build skills which later in life, can help them contribute to society as a whole. We use Kapow Primary’s Design and Technology scheme to teach DT. This provides a clear progression of skills and knowledge within the five strands of the national curriculum (Design, Make, Evaluate, Technical Knowledge, Cooking, and Nutrition).
At Beckfoot Priestthorpe computing is taught using the Teach Computing curriculum. This curriculum is built around an innovative progression framework where computing content has been organised into interconnected networks that we call learning graphs. It has been created by subject experts, using the latest pedagogical research and teacher feedback. Children have the opportunity to manipulate sounds, images, and video through the use of a variety of software; they begin to enter code to control devices and software and learn how to use block coding in different ways. The curriculum also gives them the opportunity to experience a variety of different types of technology. We also take time in computing to learn about being safe online.
Our rich geography curriculum will allow children to understand more about the world around them, as they deepen their knowledge of both human and physical geographical processes, fostering curiosity and fascination for the world we live in. As children work through the curriculum, they will learn more about their local area, the UK, Europe and the world. They will gain an understanding of what geographers do, discovering explorers such as Ibn Battuta, Roald Amundsen, and Captain James Cook. They will look at the migration of both animals and people, studying the impact of migration and colonialism had on places such as Australia and New Zealand.
Our history curriculum allows students to develop a chronologically secure understanding of local, British and world history, as they will ignite a love for history while gaining a deeper understanding of causation in the history of Britain and the wider world. Children are encouraged to explore the connection between significant events and people and how they have influenced the modern world. Each year, the children will study at least one unit of British History, looking at significant ‘turning points’ that will help children understand modern Britain. We will create curious and knowledgeable young people, who have a deep understanding and appreciation of the discipline of history, and are able to sift and weigh evidence to formulate their own viewpoints and perspectives of the world.
At Beckfoot Priestthorpe we teach French in Years 3 and 4, and Spanish in Years 5 and 6 as modern foreign languages across Key Stage 2. We believe that learning a language provides an opportunity for our pupils to communicate more effectively with others and help them to become a global citizen. By teaching both main foreign languages of our local secondary schools, we are preparing them with a basic understanding of both languages to aid them in Key Stage 3. We teach both languages using the framework and resources provided by Oak Academy. This ensures progression of skills and allows pupils to hear the French and Spanish accents to help them with their own pronunciation.
At Beckfoot Priestthorpe, we believe that all children should be taught to develop their understanding of, listen to, evaluate, and play music through range of different methods. We teach our music curriculum using the Kapow website, ensuring children receive engaging and diverse music lessons. We embed instruments throughout this curriculum including dedicated instrumental tuition lessons in upper key stage two. Pupils have a weekly music assembly and a weekly music lesson across school; performances are planned throughout the year for pupils to perform what they have learnt.
At Beckfoot Priestthorpe we want our sports provision to inspire all children to reach their full potential. We want the children’s experience of PE to be positive and motivating. PE enables pupils to become physically confident. This supports their health, wellbeing, and fitness and provides the foundations for lifelong activity. We wan them to succeed and excel in competitive sport and physical activities. We offer all children chances to compete in sport within school or out of school. This helps them build character and learn values such as fairness and respect. Through PE, we develop the children’s knowledge, skills and understanding. They build confidence and competence in a range of activities. We use planning resources to help structure our lessons. These cover the many different sports and activities that are taught in our sessions. Children in Year 5 receive a term and a half of swimming lessons to ensure all children have the same opportunity to learn how to swim.
At Beckfoot Priestthorpe Primary School, we teach Sex and Relationships Education (RSE) as part of the Personal, Social, Health and Citizens Education (PSHCE) programme. We believe it is important that pupil’s can understand how to keep themselves safe and develop into well rounded members of society who can make a positive contribution to their community. Our PSHE curriculum is strongly linked to our wider curriculum and our pastoral care programme.
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At Beckfoot Priestthorpe Primary School we believe that teaching religious education helps our pupils to respect others and gain a broader understanding of views and beliefs, develop a stronger sense of wellbeing, ethical standards and personal happiness and helps society to avoid extremism and religious discrimination. Our RE helps to develop spiritual understanding and gives students valuable insights into the diverse beliefs and opinions held by people today. During our collective worship assemblies we recognise festivals across faiths.