THE PRIMARY CURRICULUM AT BSAK

The curriculum is a narrative, a journey that the children begin when they enter school in the Early Years and continue through the Primary School. It is, in effect, what the children are taught. The children are provided with engaging and diverse learning opportunities as part of a very carefully sequenced, cumulative curriculum. Teachers, knowing the curriculum narrative well, base current learning on what children have previously learnt and also forecast future learning for the weeks, months and years to come. Being able to make these ‘bigger picture’ connections, linking knowledge and concepts within a subject and between subjects, is very powerful and helps the children to contextualise what they have learnt, helping them to make many meaningful connections. The curriculum is carefully designed in order that children frequently revisit previous learning which supports them in transferring knowledge into their long term memory. Our teachers employ impactful, evidence informed and age appropriate teaching practices to ensure that the children learn and remember core knowledge with which they can then be skilful and creative, applying what they know and being challenged to think hard. Thinking hard is the engine for learning and teachers provide planned and considered opportunities for such thinking across the curriculum. Transitions between each phase of the Primary School are carefully planned in order that children move seamlessly from one stage of their learning to the next.

EARLY YEARS: NURSERY & RECEPTION

In the Early Years, staff pride themselves on a responsive teaching approach, where children learn through the joy of play and exploration. Enabling environments are thoughtfully designed to support children in feeling calm, safe and truly at home during their time in school.

During the school year, children are provided with opportunities to enable them to develop socially and academically, grow in confidence and engage with every aspect of school life. Employing a child-centred ‘in the moment’ approach to teaching and learning, staff quickly learn the unique attributes of each and every child and are able to interact compassionately with the children as individuals. As a result, staff provide learning opportunities which encourage and extend the children’s development across all areas of learning, driven by each individual’s particular interests and ideas. This is very powerful. The learning environment is crucial to success in the Early Years and is very carefully designed to support personalised learning and progress for every child.

KEY STAGE 1: YEARS 1 & 2

In Key Stage 1, staff build upon the solid foundations of Early Years and passionately believe that young children learn best through a considered balance of exploration within enabling environments and focused, instructional learning opportunities. Continuous and enhanced provision strategies enable the children to consolidate and use their knowledge, understanding and skills. They also enjoy regular opportunities to develop as independent and resilient learners. Within the environment, both inside the Key Stage 1 building and outside in the curriculum play areas, children actively engage in a wide range of self-selected activities. Enhanced provision provides the children with choices and encourages them to develop a lifelong love of learning and to pursue their personal interests.

The Key Stage 1 curriculum ambitiously challenges children to engage, explore and ask questions. Learning is made real, is contextualised and carefully sequenced. Spanish is introduced in Year 2 for all children as are Islamic Studies and Social Studies to those children for whom it is a requirement. By the end of Year 2, the children are more than ready for their move to Key Stage 2.

KEY STAGE 2: YEARS 3, 4, 5 & 6

In Key Stage 2 (Years 3 to 6), the children continue to develop their love of learning through a breadth of experiences and opportunities, building upon the strong foundations of their previous knowledge acquisition and experiences in Key Stage 1. All children continue to be taught by specialist teachers for Music, PE, Modern Foreign Languages and Arabic. Islamic Studies and Social Studies are taught to those children for whom it is a requirement.

As part of the sequenced curriculum, the children revisit learning from previous years and are challenged to retrieve the knowledge previously learnt which helps to solidify its place in the child’s long term memory. Ongoing repetition and retrieval of previously taught knowledge helps it to ‘stick’. Teachers then provide the children with generative learning activities; new knowledge is taught which the children then select from, organise and integrate with what they already know. The children continually develop rich schemas, organised units of knowledge for a subject or event.

Class timetables are arranged so that Maths, English, the UAE subjects, Modern Foreign Languages, PE, Music and Moral Education and Life Skills are taught each week. Computer Science is also taught every week to children in Years 3-6 by a specialist Computer Science Teacher in a dedicated Computer Science Lab. The rest of the subjects are taught in the time remaining in the class timetable using a modular approach e.g. Science for three weeks, Art for two weeks, History for two weeks and so on. The children and teachers have the opportunity to delve into the learning in that subject, making rich and meaningful connections within and beyond the curriculum area and in doing so, powering learning and progress.

Home Learning Activities are provided to support long-term retention of curriculum knowledge and to develop understanding and meaning. The amount, format and expectations of home learning will be progressive through the school. Home learning tasks will be varied and engaging for every child.

Children across the school have the opportunity to give feedback to teachers and leaders via Pupil Learning Studies where the children are questioned about their learning, what they enjoy, what they find impactful in helping them to learn and what they have remembered and can apply. This feedback is very powerful, alongside other methods of monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the curriculum, in helping staff continually amend and adapt the curriculum in the best interests of all children.

As the children progress through the school, they have the opportunity to enjoy trips across the emirate, listen to visitors to school including the Sixth Form students and experience a variety of special curriculum days and events. Alongside this, from Year 3 upwards, the children can enjoy a wide range of Co-Curricular activities including Sports, Music, the Arts, Academic, Wellbeing and many more, all which are in place to support and extend their learning beyond the curriculum delivered in the classroom.

The School aims to provide the very best learning opportunities across all areas of the curriculum, Early Years to Year 6; to ensure that the children love and appreciate the journey of the curriculum, immerse themselves in the excitement and the wonder of the narrative. This is then built upon as the children move into Year 7, which supports the children’s transition into the Secondary School and allows them to turn the page to the next chapter of their education.

Primary Insights

If you would like to find out more about our Primary School Curriculum, then please take a look at the ‘Primary Insights’ pages in our previous Primary Newsletters.

*PleasenotethattheCurriculumOverviewswillbeaddedtotheParentPortalatthestartofeachterm.