Nurturing a love of learning

Ofsted 2019 “Reading has a high profile in the school. Pupils practise their reading daily and are supported in different ways to make progress in their reading. The rigorous curriculum in reading, writing and mathematics ensures that pupils develop key skills.”

Curriculum Intent Statement
Our aim is to provide our children with an engaging, exciting and empowering curriculum that provides them with all the skills they will need, both academically and personally, to progress onto their next stage of education and develop a fundamental love of learning.
At Gracefield School the curriculum is designed to provide a progressive and stimulating experience for children, which builds upon their existing knowledge with a clear structure of development and challenge. The curriculum should be adaptable and flexible to ensure it is suitable for all learners within our school.
We aim to develop the 'whole child' and provide a broad curriculum which provides unique, fulfilling opportunities that allows all children to develop in all areas of learning and leave Gracefield as confident, mature and well educated individuals who have the independence and responsibility to engage at any school they progress on to.

Children are at the centre of our learning programme which is designed to challenge, stimulate and inspire each child to succeed and be the best they can. Classes are small and children benefit from excellent teaching which focuses on helping them to become readers and writers, confident in early numeracy with well-developed social skills.

We understand that every pupil will have different strengths and talents. Each lesson plan is differentiated to ensure that everyone is challenged at the right level. We offer extension activities for our more able pupils to stretch their thinking and provide extra help for those who need it. We encourage all our children to reach their full potential.

We arm our pupils with the skills to succeed and reach their potential in any of the local Secondary Schools. We pride ourselves on our excellent success rate in preparing our children for entry into Independent Senior Schools.  Our Year 6 pupils are regularly awarded scholarships to Independent Senior Schools right across Bristol.

RECEPTION

Ofsted 2019 “Provision for children in the early years is good. They achieve well because they are well taught.”

In our Reception class, children follow a programme designed to help them achieve what is known as the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). This provides a firm foundation for National Curriculum work in Year 1. Teaching is through a balance of adult and child led activities, with lots of opportunity for learning through play. Classroom learning is supported by a range of trips and outside visitors to school.

The EYFS is based on three primary and four specific learning areas:

• Communication and Language
• Physical Development
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development

• English
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

Our children also enjoy specialist teaching in French and Music.

KEY STAGE ONE (YEARS 1 - 2)
Learning is developed in KS1 through many different creative experiences. We use topic work linked to the National Curriculum to ensure the process is fun and exciting and are able to enhance the education experience with various trips and special topic days, taking learning into the outside world to bring it to life.

KEY STAGE TWO (YEARS 3 - 6)
In KS2, children develop a deeper understanding in the three core areas and the foundation subjects. The children build on their learning experience, using a variety of information sources to support their work in other subjects. We encourage the children to develop intellectual curiosity, nurturing the individual talents of our pupils.

CORE AND FOUNDATION SUBJECTS

The English curriculum develops every child’s ability to communicate in written form and to speak and listen with knowledge and understanding. At Gracefield, each child is heard reading every day.

Our mathematics teaching develops every child’s thinking and reasoning skills and we encourage them to use mental arithmetic in many different fun and exciting ways.

Children begin exploring science in KS1 and are encouraged to learn the skills and processes; to ask questions; to communicate and share ideas; and to understand scientific concepts.

In addition to these three core subjects, children are also taught Foundation subjects:

• Design Technology
• Art and Design
• Computing —the children use a modern suite of networked PCs and each classroom houses an interactive whiteboard
• History
• Geography
• Languages
• Music and Expressive Arts
• History
• Physical Education (including swimming in Years 2 and 3)
• Religious Education
• Personal, Social, Health Education and Citizenship