The Curriculum

English

Our aim is for our children to be able to read and write, and speak with confidence, fluency and understanding. Through reading and writing they should develop their powers of imagination, inventiveness and critical awareness.

The school follows the National Literacy Strategy Framework for Teaching, and teachers endeavour to make their lessons lively and interesting. We aim to encourage creativity and self-expression both within writing and oral work including drama. Many dramatic productions are staged every year and we aim to include all children- they gain so much from working together to demonstrate their many talents! Recent productions include "The Gigantic Star", "Sleeping Beauty", "The Pied Piper", "Return of the Bumblesnouts", Robin Hood and Hamlet.

We aim to foster a love of reading and to this end we encourage the children to read widely. We have an excellent, well-resourced library, which the children are encouraged to use- they may change their books whenever they wish. Annual "Book Week" has become a popular event and usually includes a "dressing-up" day, when the children and staff dress as favourite characters from books! We have a visit from a children's author and the list of past visiting authors is very impressive- Anne Fine, Michael Morpurgo, Kaye Umansky among them.

We are a school with a lively and enthusiastic approach to the teaching of English and are constantly updating teaching techniques in order to deliver the curriculum in the most effective and exciting way.

Mathematics

Within the framework of the National Numeracy Strategy, we encourage children to:

• Acquire knowledge, skills and understanding through practical work, through tackling problems and through using physical materials
• Apply Mathematics to the solution of a range of "real life" problems and to problems drawn from the whole curriculum
• Explore and investigate within Mathematics itself

Through our teaching, we provide many opportunities for children to apply their number skills to practical purposes and to make judgements. They are encouraged (at the appropriate age) to measure and weigh practically, to interpret graphs and make graphs, to work with shape, to resolve problems and to think logically. We also aim to achieve:

• A thorough knowledge of basic skills/facts appropriate to the age of the child and these should be continuously reinforced at home as well as in school.
• Competence in the use of calculators

Our school mathematics scheme is "Abacus Maths", published by Ginn, with support from a broad selection of other resource material.

Science

Science at Balsall Common aims to enable children to explore the world around them, gaining a deeper understanding of scientific concepts, as laid out in the National Curriculum. Our emphasis is on practical, investigative opportunities and encouraging children to become independent learners, with enquiring minds.

Information and Communication Technology

The school is extremely well-resourced with computers. The Nursery Unit have their own clusters of computers, including touch-screen monitor. Our Information and Communications Suite is centrally based in the school. All pupils have access to this excellent facility which is timetabled for use in Reception, Key Stage 1 and 2, and is also available for use by individual pupils, groups and clubs throughout the school at all other times. All classrooms have their own networked PC's. Younger children often work in one-to-one situations with the class teacher or parent helpers but, as they become more confident, they also become more independent in the way that they use Information Technology to support their learning.

Computers are used to support learning in a number of ways:

• To develop logical reasoning and creative thought
• As word processors with which children can create and edit their own writing
• As information collators, by using database programs in cross-curricular work
• To support and stimulate learning by the use of simulations and adventure
• As tools for presenting work, on paper and orally
• To reinforce number and language skills etc. through the use of appropriate software programs.

History and Geography

These subjects are taught through a carefully planned topic approach. During the seven years the children will study the local environment, the British Isles, Europe and the EC and some aspects of world geography.

Through history topics, children are encouraged to develop a sense of time and an understanding of the past. They will study some local history and use primary source materials. They will also study a period of recent history, ancient history and some aspects of British and world history. This thematic approach helps children to evaluate past happenings in the light of the contribution they make to modern society.

Design and Technology

Design and technology prepares pupils to become autonomous and creative problem solvers, as individuals and as members of a team. They must look for needs, wants and opportunities  and respond to them by developing a range of ideas and producys. They combine practical skills with an understanding of aesthetics, social and environmental issues, function and industrial practices. Through design and technology, all pupils can become discriminating and informed users of products and become innovators. 

Music

Our school aims to provide a wide range of musical experiences for each child to discover his or her own potential in the field of music and to foster the developments of skills in each child as a performer, listener and creator.

Peripatetic music teachers provide individual and group instrumental tuition in brass, woodwind, saxophone, violin, cello and guitar. Within the curriculum, class music lessons offer children the opportunity to explore and create music and to appreciate music from different countries and cultures.

Lunchtime music clubs are available from Year 2 onwards and are a very popular part of extra-curricular activities.

Art

All art work is developed with a stimulus involving either observation or imagination. We believe the stimulation of an aesthetically pleasing environment for learning encourages good practice. Children are encouraged to acquire control of tools and equipment through a contrast of 2d and 3d work, to enable them to experiment creatively with a variety of media. Lessons are designed to follow a range of learning processes and skills development throughout their school life. All art work incorporates essential elements of design and making and children are encouraged to evaluate their artistic efforts. Pupils are encouraged to identify different kinds of art and its purpose, art from different cultures and traditions, and have a good knowledge and understanding of the work of great artists and their contribution to the development of art today.

Physical Education

Physical education is a fundamental element of school life and is a compulsory part of the National Curriculum. Children are encouraged to participate fully in curriculum time PE while developing their ability to observe, evaluate and refine their performances. We aim to develop agility and physical co-ordination, confidence in, and pleasure through, physical activity. Each class is timetabled to have a P.E. lesson in the hall at least once a week and a games lesson outside. Physical expression through dance and drama is also encouraged. The school's own swimming pool is used for all children throughout the year, with the children being taught in class groups.

At lunchtime and after school staff arrange a variety of clubs and activities which include netball, football, athletics, cricket, rugby, hip hop, drama and short tennis.

Religious Education

Although Christianity has a central place in Religious Education teaching, it is important to remember that many world religions, other than Christianity, are now significantly represented in our society. A knowledge of these religions will enable pupils during the course of their school lives to appreciate the way that religious beliefs can shape people's lives and the way they conduct themselves. This appreciation will enable children to begin to make their own response to the claims of religion, and to respect religious convictions where they cannot share them. There will also be a progressive introduction to stories of people, past and present, whose lives exemplify qualities universally valued.

Throughout the curriculum, and as part of the whole school ethos, there will be a strong emphasis on moral education. The school community, like family life, provides a context for moral learning and experience in a number of ways. Children should be able to feel that their school has a clear, consistent and secure moral framework which will help them to explore these moral questions which affect them and often concern adult society as well.

The R.E. curriculum includes: