Curriculum (Introduction)
Welcome to our school curriculum. On the pages below you will find an overview of each subject and a curriculum roadmap which plots the content, skills and concepts that move throughout our curriculum.
Who and what has shaped and inspired our curriculum?
Other than the national curriculum - a number of people and organisations have inspired and shaped the curriculum presented below. We'd like to credit and acknowledge the following people and organisations:
Our focus on knowledge, as a means of promoting social mobility and equality, was inspired by E.D. Hirsch J.R. 'Cultural Literacy' (Hirsch 1988)
Our curriculum vision - 'know & do; question, reason and explain; create, communicate and share' was inspired by Martin Robinson's work 'Trivium 21c - preparing young people for the future with lessons from the past' (Robinson 2013)
Our training in Pupil Book Study, to quality assure our curriculum, was provided by Alex Bedford (Unity Research School - Unity Schools Partnership) Alex also had a significant influence on our approach to task design and lesson structure, in particular the lesson structure model: 'connect, explain, model, practice, apply and extend', as well the concept and use of a 'knowledge note' to support pupil learning and staff subject knowledge - 'Pupil Book Study - an evidence informed guide to help quality assure the curriculum.' (Alex Bedford 2021) Likewise, we acknowledge the significant impact of the ethos of the Unity Schools Partnership curriculum 'CUSP' https://www.unity-curriculum.co.uk/more-information upon our curriculum design and approach to learning. Our learning with Alex and the Unity Research School was part of a Newcastle Research school funded project throughout 2021-22.
The shape, content and purpose of our curriculum were inspired by the work of Mary Myatt in particular her focus on using beautiful texts to inspire pupil learning - https://www.marymyatt.com; additionally, the series 'Primary Huh - primary leadership conversations' (Myatt & Tomsett 2022)
Likewise the work of Tom Sherrington and WALKTHRUS have supported our curriculum design and classroom delivery https://walkthrus.co.uk (Sherrington & Caviglioli 2021) as has the 'In Action' series - a Walkthrus production published by John Catt https://www.johncattbookshop.com/collections/all/in-action-series
Our thinking around disciplinary knowledge was significantly impacted by the work of Ruth Ashbee, in particular 'Curriculum - Theory, Culture and the Subject Specialisms.' (Ashbee 2021)
Our focus on the importance of vocabulary was influenced and inspired by the work of Christine Counsell https://thedignityofthethingblog.wordpress.com/author/christinecounsell
Our approach to task design was influenced and inspired by Anne Edward's 'Task Design Model' (Edwards 2014) Oliver Caviglioli & David Goodwin 'Organise ideas thinking by hand, extending the mind.' (Caviglioli & Goodwin 2021) Alex Bedford (Pupil Book Study - an evidence-informed guide to help quality assure the curriculum.' (Alex Bedford 2021); Katie Jones 'Retrieval Practice' series (Katie Jones 2019); In Action Series (John Catt publications) in particular 'Forella & Mayer's Generative Learning in Action' (Zoe and Mark Enser 2020) and 'Murphy Paul's The Extended Mind in Action' (Turner, Goodwin and Caviglioli 2022)
Andrew Percival, Jess Rennie and Stanley Road Primary School shaped our approach to feedback. in particular whole class feedback and helped us to develop the structure of our writing curriculum.
Dr Julian Grenier & Caroline Vollans (eds) 'Putting the EYFS Curriculum into Practice' (2023) helped shape many of our ideas about EYFS provision and curriculum design.
The following subject association and or local advisory guidance, informs our curriculum design in certain subjects:
- Projects on a Page (Design Technology Association)
- Local agreed syllabus for RE (Newcastle SACRE)
- PSHCE (Programme for scheme of work - PSHCE Association)
The following schemes of work are used to inform and support the delivery of the following areas of curriculum provision:
- Music (CUSP curriculum Unity Schools Partnership)
- French (Language Angels)
- Physical Education (Get Set 4 PE)
- Floppy Phonics (Oxford Reading Tree)
- Handwriting (Kinetic Letters)
- Online safety (Project Evolve)
Icons used in curriculum documentation are done so under licence from the Noun Project
An overview of our school curriculum
Curriculum Policy Documents
Curriculum Policy Key Stages 1 & 2
Curriculum Policy HIARP - deaf resource base
What are the elements of a typical lesson @BentonParkPrimary?
Elements of a typical lessonOrganising (Substantive) Knowledge to support pupils
Knowledge Notes, Sequences & Flows
Knowledge Note Sequence Example (used within Science, Art and Humanities subjects)
Knowledge note exampleKnowledge Note Sequence Example adapted for younger children (used within Science & Humanities)
Knowledge Note example adapted for younger childrenFlow Diagram Example (used within design technology curriculum)
Design Technology Flow Diagram Example
Learning Sequence Example (used within computing curriculum)
Computing Learning Sequence Example
Understanding Disciplinary Knowledge
The foundations and development of 'Disciplinary Knowledge'.