Curriculum Intent - Bunny C of E Primary School

An Overview of Curriculum Intent

Growing and Learning within a caring Christian community

A commitment to providing a Curriculum rooted in Christian values

Whole School Vision – In our school we believe every person is unique and valuable, created by God to flourish and thrive in community. We seek to provide the best education for all, enabling everyone to reach their potential. We aim to model a world which is peaceful, just and loving through our relationships with God and with other people.

As a Church of England School, the precepts of Christian education remain at our core. This includes the pursuit of excellence and preparing our children as world citizens of the 21^st century. In order for this to be achieved our children need to leave Bunny C of E Primary with high levels of literacy and numeracy skills. We recognise Religious Education as a core subject and adopt ‘Understanding Christianity’ as a key resource in the delivery of our Christianity element of the curriculum. Key values of love, honesty, peace, aspiration, courage and respect are woven into and throughout our hidden curriculum and are recognised as identifiable attributes in our pupils’ individual characters (hidden treasures).

We recognise that Parents are Primary Educators and we work closely with our extended community to foster an ethos of awe and wonder within our curriculum approach. Our over-arching curriculum and enrichment weeks provide valuable opportunities to discover, explore and create, underpinned by the need to develop character and personal well-being in every child. 

A commitment in providing a Recovery Curriculum that supports children emotionally and ensures any gaps in learning have been identified and closed over time

At Bunny C of E Primary we need time to fully understand the impact of repeated school closures on the mental health and well-being of children in our school. All staff require an understanding of what our children have experienced during lockdown in order to know how best we can support them. This understanding will inform our recovery curriculum as all stakeholders consider the short and long term impact of the pandemic on our children’s mental health and well-being. As stated in our vision and values statement, a commitment in rebuilding and strengthening our pupils so they have the ability to flourish and thrive in community will remain our priority.

As a school, we must also consider the academic gaps in learning across the curriculum. As part of our recovery curriculum, gaps in key knowledge will be identified by teaching staff and implemented into our long and medium-term curriculum coverage in the fullness of time. 

A commitment to providing a Curriculum specific to our own context

Bunny C of E Primary School is a small village Primary with approximately 100 pupils on roll. It serves an advantaged socio-economic community of two neighbouring villages, Bunny and Bradmore with approximately 30% of children attending out of catchment. The majority of our children speak English as their first language. The majority of our children are White British. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by Pupil Premium funding / LAC is well below average. We are an inclusive school who support children with additional needs to meet their full potential by adapting our curriculum and provision enabling fair access for all. 

Aspirational and supportive parents allow the majority of our children to be exposed to quality life experiences such as cultural trips and holidays. Many of our children are well-protected and thrive in a close-knit community where they feel safe and loved. As part of our Curriculum intent it is crucial that our children are exposed to the diversity of the wider world and learn how to build resilience and manage risks outside of their comfort zone. Promoting independence and confidence in our children is paramount, as they learn how to navigate their way around the world and make responsible choices.

We see the Curriculum as a tool that enriches the lives of our children and provides them with opportunities to explore and deepen their experience of the wider world.

Our curriculum will be delivered through a ‘What If …’ Approach to learning: a "distinctively Christian" approach that is based on the premise that a Christian understanding of life makes a difference to what happens in classrooms. The 'What if Learning' approach uses three brief phrases or steps (Seeing Anew, Choosing Engagement and Reshaping Practice) as a broad framework. Seeing anew refers to allowing Christian ways of seeing the world to inform what we do. Choosing engagement is about the ways we interact with one another, with the things we are teaching and learning about, and with the world outside our classrooms. Reshaping Practice refers to changing the habits and practice of teaching to work with a new perspective.

Our ‘What If...’ approach is designed to expose the children to the wider world: it is personalised, reflecting the background and experience of our pupils; it is outward facing, setting learning in global contexts wherever possible; it celebrates diversity to emphasise unity; it is rooted in authenticity and context so that learning is relevant.

The majority of our children enjoy reading for pleasure and in some circumstances they are exposed to commercial reading experiences that are often repetitive in style and humorous. These books certainly have their place in appealing to reluctant readers and providing a ‘lighter’ read, but as a school we are keen to deepen their experiences of literature and expose the children to high quality texts that are rich in vocabulary, imagery and imagination.  Where possible, we hinge our curriculum on high quality literature texts as a means of linking together foundation subjects in a creative way. Our curriculum implementation plan will provide further details.

A commitment to providing a Curriculum that holds ‘personal development and well-being’ as the central driver in the pursuit of excellence for all of our children

At Bunny C of E Primary School we see that Education is as much about developing young people’s character, strengths and virtues as it is about developing their academic knowledge and skills. Philosophers from Aristotle onwards have argued that the good of young people, and society as a whole, depends on developing both their minds and their characters.

At Bunny C of E School we fully engage with a robust PSHE programme which has a ‘Growth Mind-set’ approach. The PSHE / Relationships curriculum (SCARF) will support our children in promoting positive behaviour, mental health, wellbeing, resilience and achievement as well as providing a stable base to underpin all learning across the curriculum. At Bunny C of E Primary School we recognise how important these skills and attitudes are in unlocking pupils' potential, helping to raise achievement and closing the gap in educational attainment.

Find more information about the curriculum and topics on the class pages. If you are a parent or member of the public and would like to find out more about the school curriculum, please contact the Head Teacher on 0115 9212727. 

At Bunny C of E Primary School we are committed to ensuring equal opportunities, inclusion and freedom from discrimination for all our pupils including those with disabilities and SEND. We value all children in our school equally and strive to ensure that they enjoy equality of opportunity in all areas of the curriculum.