The Curriculum at Barnby Road

Our Curriculum Rationale

At Barnby Road we have an overarching mission statement which drives our curriculum.

“To be a school where everyone is able to achieve their best. A place where academic, creative and sporting potential flourishes in a friendly, safe and attractive environment.”

Our staff are committed to developing the whole child through the following themes:

Along with British Values, these provide a framework for our curriculum and are the core aims of everything we do at Barnby Road. Our staff are devoted to this vision by providing high-quality learning opportunities, powerful, enriching experiences and bringing learning to life. Our school curriculum predominantly follows the National Curriculum. However, we embrace a bespoke local perspective to nurture a pride in our locality, whilst promoting and celebrating diversity and equality.

High quality relationships between all our stakeholders lie at the heart of our curriculum. Barnby staff prioritise getting to know the children, adapting their teaching to suit each child. Spending time on developing these relationships ensures high standards of behaviour for learning across the school.

Staff have created a bespoke and sequential curriculum that highlights key learning (golden nuggets) in each subject, informed by educational research. Through careful sequencing, and utilising retrieval practice, a focus is placed on committing learning to long term memory so that children know and remember more. Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction are at the heart of teaching and learning at Barnby Road, with reviews, small steps, questioning and guided practice at the forefront of teaching. Teachers meet the needs of all of their children (including those with SEND) through adaptive teaching, utilising a range of quality first teaching strategies.

English and Maths underpin our curriculum at Barnby Road and are taught discretely. Many of our children have poor speech and language skills as they start school. Our EYFS team have a focus on developing language and vocabulary through high quality interactions and specific intervention programmes. This is supplemented by language and literature rich learning for children across all curriculum areas, spanning the whole school. Reading is a priority at Barnby Road – both getting the children reading as soon as possible using the Read, Write, Inc. programme, and fostering a love of reading. Maths teaching follows a mastery approach using White Rose, where there are high expectations of all children, regardless of attainment. English and Maths are interwoven through foundation subjects where possible.

Within the Barnby curriculum, most foundation subjects are taught discretely. However, themes in History and Geography may provide links to Art and Design and Technology teaching. Subjects may be blocked within terms, or within the year, where this is beneficial e.g. Design and Technology focus week, Science focus week, Geography in autumn term. Subjects clearly detail, sequentially, the skills and knowledge children need to learn within their progression maps. Each subject has a bespoke curriculum intent and a dedicated subject leader who drives their area forward, monitoring and developing the teaching and learning of the subject across the school.

Many of our children have limited life experiences. Therefore, building children’s cultural capital is paramount at Barnby Road - each child has the opportunity for rich and fulfilling experiences. Visits and residentials are embedded in our curriculum offer, making full use of our local area and encouraging children to become invested in their community. These opportunities cover a wide range of experiences, including museums, parks, places of worship, environmental education centres and the seaside. We have half-termly visits from our local Vicar, and Years 1-6 visit a local church for our Carol Celebration each year. Children take part in a production for parents/carers in Years 1, 4 and 6. In addition to our rich offer of opportunities, we seek to give our children experience of cultural events, such as international sporting fixtures around the country.

Residential visits take place from Years 2-6, giving the children a range of experiences and opportunities to develop self-confidence, independence and social skills:

Year 2 – Evening event at school – Personal development focus

Year 3 – Perlethorpe Camp (1 night) – Outdoor education focus

Year 4 – Sherwood Forest (1 night) – Cultural/Environmental focus

Year 5 – Castleton (2 nights) – Geographical focus

Year 6 – Manor Adventure Norfolk – Outdoor adventure focus

Music is a vital part of our rich and rounded education at Barnby Road. It has been proven that music plays a key role in brain development, nurturing language, motor skills, emotional intelligence and collaboration skills. We prioritise music within our curriculum by providing weekly singing sessions for all year groups, and ukulele sessions for Year 5 and 6, with a specialist music teacher. Our extra-curricular offer for music is highly regarded with heavily subsidised lessons for a huge range of instruments. A 40-piece school orchestra, samba band and junior, senior and chamber choirs also form a part of our extensive musical offer for children. They perform at many local events, as well as at our own Carol Concert and Creative Arts Showcase.

Sports take high priority at Barnby Road. A wide range of inclusive sporting clubs are offered to children at Barnby Road, utilising specialist coaches and our own passionate teaching staff. In addition to this, competitive sport is highly valued to provide children with motivation to achieve a goal, demonstrate determination, perseverance to overcome a challenge, understand that hard work and commitment leads to greater chance of success, and linking to success later in life. There is an abundance of opportunities for children to take part in inter-school sport across many disciplines, such as Boccia, Netball, Hockey, Football, Swimming and Tag Rugby.

Please follow the links below to find out more about the learning in each year group or subject across the school. Should you have any queries about the curriculum at Barnby Road please contact Anna Woolridge, Head of Lower School, or Dave Webster, Head of Upper School, via the school office.

Further Information: