Belton All Saints Church of England Primary School

Aims/ ethos of our setting in helping children to develop and learn;

At our school our Values are at the heart of everything we do. In the Early Years Foundation Stage. Our broad and balanced curriculum provides all children with the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to be confident, resilient and independent learners. We believe that by providing an education that does all of this, we will give our children the best chance to become well rounded, lifelong learners, ready to succeed in an ever- changing world.

The Characteristics of Effective Learning underpin our curriculum. We use our ‘Learning Behaviours’ so the children can identify what makes a good learner. We aim to foster a growth mindset attitude by encouraging them to have a go and persist when challenges occur. If they find something tricky we say; ‘I can’t do it yet……but I’ll keep on trying’.

We aim to make a positive difference to every child’s life by providing a happy, safe and inclusive environment which supports all children to thrive. We plan for exciting, immersive learning experiences within and beyond the classroom. Every child in our setting is valued as a unique individual and teaching and learning is based on the understanding that every child develops at a different rate.

Children at Belton All Saints School will experience the seven areas of learning as outlined in the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework and we believe these areas are of equal importance and are inter-connected. Children learn best when they are engaged in practical, first hand experiences and we aim to provide our children with an education that is rich in awe and wonder.

Implementation

At Belton All Saints, the aim of our curriculum is to develop lifelong learners by:

• Providing a well-resourced, stimulating and clearly organised learning environment that enables children to independently access all areas of learning inside and outside.
• Carefully planning purposeful and sequential learning activities that build on prior learning and provide opportunities to learn new skills and knowledge across all 7 areas; CL, PSED, PD as well as Literacy, Maths, Understanding the world and Expressive Arts and Design.
• We deliver this through high quality continuous provision which includes a balance of purposeful play, adult- led and child- initiated activities, topics, themed texts and following the children’s interests.
• Direct instruction where appropriate through structured literacy/phonics, maths and topic-based carpet sessions. We follow ‘Little Wandle’ programme and ‘White Rose’ maths framework.
• Having high expectations of all children so they are able to reach their full potential.
• Ensuring children who may have special educational needs or a disability (SEND) have access to high quality differentiated teaching within the classroom environment and are supported to access the curriculum and achieve their own individual learning goals.
• Providing opportunities for our children to develop a positive sense of themselves and their emotions through our values-based activities and zones of regulation.
• High quality adult interactions and sensitive questioning to develop children’s speaking and listening skills, as well as checking understanding and scaffolding learning.
• Assessment for a purpose through careful observations which are recorded in leanring journals and reported to parents. These are used to inform children’s next steps.
• Building strong relationships with our families by suggesting home learning opportunities and running parent workshops, informing them of ways they can support their child’s learning at home.