Curriculum Intent:

At Bengeworth CE Academy, we provide a broad, balanced and knowledge rich curriculum which is underpinned by our values, core beliefs and an education for global citizenship taught through our Global Themes. Our intent and vision intends to:

‘Develop aspirational, confident learners and leaders of the future who have a deep understanding of the world around them and the impact they can have on it.’

It is our intention that our children are provided with inspirational learning experiences that will ignite sparks within the children and enable them to develop and build upon their long term memory by making links and connections that enable them to know and remember more. As confident, articulate and happy individuals we intend for our children to achieve academic excellence and who consider themselves as leaders within their own right. Leaders who can and will have an impact on the world around them. 

Our Global Themes are:

Through a deep respect of the traditions of each unique subject, our curriculum recognises the identity of the disciplines that are studied. We have taken great care to design a well-sequenced, well-specified and ambitious curriculum for all children to access, ensuring our values and global themes underpin it. We consistently strive to ensure that the curriculum is exciting and challenging and reflects and nurtures children’s interests, needs and celebrates the many successes of our children. 

Links between subject disciplines are made to ensure there is an engaging and relevant context within which to learn and globally themed questions are used as the driving forces for each half-term/term's focus. We strongly believe that the relationship between education and learning should not be shaped by narrow outcomes but that it should serve another purpose; a whole education, not defined solely by what is measured, but what is experienced, felt and used. Through our Global Themes' curriculum we are providing children with the skills needed to understand, challenge and tackle the social, political and economic challenges that are moving rapidly towards us.

Curriculum Implementation:

All learning starts with a globally themed big question that will challenge children's thinking, their perceptions and promote curiosity, awe and wonder about the ever-changing world around them. All staff draw on prior knowledge and skills to support and enable children to make long-lasting changes to their thinking, to make links and build connections.  Staff demonstrate a strong pedagogy across a range of subjects modelling subject-specific vocabulary, knowledge and skills relevant to the learning to allow pupils to integrate new knowledge into wider concepts and to confidently articulate their knowledge. 

Staff support children in deliberately practising new learning, drawing on their understanding of metacognition and utilising effective questioning for both understanding and to provide challenge to encourage children to think deeper and harder about their learning, check misconceptions and provide effective and swift, purposeful and impactful feedback. This allows all children to make progress at a pace appropriate for their needs whilst ensuring all children have full access to the curriculum, are challenged in their learning as well develop their self scaffolding skills. 

Our learning environments are utilised effectively by all staff to provide constant and clear models and resources to support children's acquisition of knowledge, skills and to further enhance children's abilities to self scaffold. Key vocabulary, key questions and facts to support learning are clearly displayed on our learning walls and displays to prompt children's abilities to make links and connections as well as prompt learning conversations during and outside of lessons. Children's achievements are also celebrated throughout the school through the creative and engaging displays showcased at both bases. 

Curiosity Cubes, used throughout the school, further promote children's curiosity, awe and wonder by providing them with opportunities to explore and consider what staff have purposefully placed inside to promote thinking. Oracy skills are further enhanced through opportunities for children to share their thinking, drawing on their prior knowledge and skills, their new learning and by making links and connections between their subjects. Hinterland activities, further enhance the links and connections made within children's learning by providing them with the opportunity to research and present on an area of interest linked to their topic that has not been explicitly taught within lessons.  

Assessment is ongoing throughout the relevant cross-cross-curricular themes to inform teachers with their planning, lesson activities and differentiation. Summative assessments are completed as required e.g. Reading Tests, Phonics Checks etc. and formative assessment is used live in the classrooms to provide purposeful feedback leading to improved progress which the children remember and act upon.

At Bengeworth, we also believe that there is so much to teach the pupils that is outside the formal curriculum. We are teaching the citizens of the future, and we aim to give them the tools they will need to succeed in all areas of their lives. Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC) can contribute to the development of the whole child and supplement and enrich the curriculum of our school by providing experiences which would otherwise be impossible. Spaces outside the classroom, including the outdoors, are vital, special and deeply engaging places for children and can provide learning opportunities that learning inside the classroom cannot.

LOtC encourages children to form positive relationships with each other and staff, to think creatively, to care for the environment and offers stimuli for learning across the curriculum. It gives children the chance to work differently, to make decisions about their learning, to use their social skills in a variety of ways and to explore learning opportunities that just cannot take place inside the classroom. As such LOtC takes place throughout the curriculum, throughout the year and throughout the children’s learning experiences.

Curriculum Impact:

We believe that, although the learning environment, pupils’ work and evidence within books may demonstrate how our pupils are exposed to our curriculum, the true impact of this can only be seen through the passion our children have to share their learning, their new knowledge and understanding and most importantly their views on important issues in the world around them and wider world.  By ensuring that all pupils have opportunities to meet concepts and learning in a variety of ways, over an extended period so that knowledge, skills and understanding are embedded fully awe provide our children with the tools needed to meet the demands of the world around them.  

To see the themes which are planned to cover National Curriculum requirements, please click the relevant link below to download the overview for each year group by term. To see each year groups curriculum map and evening visit the pages which can be found on the right-hand side.