SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2023/2024 - Key Priorities and Curriculum Intent

Introduction

In July 2021 an OFSTED school inspection judged Banks Methodist Primary School to remain a good school.

Areas of celebration were:

• The school is a caring and nurturing community. Pupils are happy and eager to start school in the morning. Staff have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour. Pupils respond by behaving well. In lessons, pupils listen attentively and support each other well. Pupils are polite. They are proud of their school.
• Pupils told inspectors that they feel safe. They know that they can tell a trusted adult if they are worried about something. Pupils said that bullying is rare and when it does occur is dealt with quickly by adults in the school.
• Many pupils join and leave the school during the academic year. Staff get to know new pupils very quickly. This helps pupils to settle and swiftly become part of the school community.
• Pupils enjoy the wealth of activities that are available at break and lunchtime in the newly developed play areas. Pupils also access some exciting outdoor educational trips to broaden their experiences beyond the local area. Their musical understanding is enhanced by attending professional concerts and performances.
• Parents and carers are very positive about their children’s experience at the school. A typical comment was, ‘The family environment offers a safe place for my child to learn and develop beyond my expectations.’

Areas of improvement were:

• In most subjects, leaders have identified the knowledge that they want pupils to learn and the order in which they will learn it. However, the curriculum plans in some other subjects are not as detailed. This means that sometimes pupils cannot build on their learning as they move through the school. Leaders should ensure that all subject curriculum plans identify exactly what knowledge they want pupils to learn and remember from the early years through to Year 6. 

• Some subject leaders are new to their roles and do not have a clear enough understanding of their subject. As a result, they do not know whether their curriculum plans are being implemented effectively. Senior leaders should ensure that these subject leaders develop their subject knowledge so that they can monitor the effectiveness of the curriculum for their area of responsibility.

Our Curriculum Statement of Intent

Our aim is to provide our children with an engaging, exciting and empowering curriculum that equips them for today and tomorrow.

At Banks Methodist Primary School the curriculum is designed to recognise children’s prior learning, provide first hand learning experiences, allow the children to develop interpersonal skills, build resilience and become creative, critical thinkers.  Our curriculum is designed with children at the heart and pupil voice is paramount.

Every child is recognised as unique – we celebrate and welcome diversity and individuality. The ability to learn is underpinned by the teaching of skills, knowledge, concepts and values with a vision to prepare them for life, beyond primary school.  We constantly provide enrichment opportunities to engage learning.  We believe that childhood should be a happy, investigative and enquiring time in our lives, where there are no limits to curiosity and there is a thirst for new experiences and knowledge. 

We use our Christian Values of: thankfulness, love, truthfulness, forgiveness, friendship and trust alongside British Values to promote positive attitudes to learning which reflect the skills needed to promote responsibility for learning and future success.  Community involvement is an integral part of our curriculum, inviting families and visitors to facilitate learning new skills and sharing experiences such as assemblies, collective worships and whole school events ensures links are fostered and nurtured.

Our intention is that children leave Banks Methodist with a strong sense of personal identity and belonging to a tightly knit family where they aspire to make decisions, self-evaluate and become lifelong learners.

A number of children arrive at our school with a poverty of ambition and aspiration and therefore we know we have to challenge and overcome this by adopting an appropriate curriculum that addresses the gaps in children’s basic skill.

We intend to develop pupils who are articulate in both written and spoken forms, who have the knowledge and skills needed to allow them to achieve highly in the next stage of their education. All children, including those with SEND, are taught through an enquiry-based curriculum. A progression of expected skills for the end of year in each subject has been created. Class teachers are aware of the expected coverage and important key skills through various training sessions.

Extra-curricular clubs also form an important part of the school’s provision, especially in sports and the arts. As a Methodist school, RE is a core part of our curriculum.

The teaching of reading is based on the desire that children will read widely, read fluently, fully understand what they are reading and develop good reading habits, based on a love of books.

Statement of Intent for EYFS:

Within the Early Years our curriculum is designed to provide all children with the opportunities and experiences that they need in order to develop positive dispositions and attitudes to be able to succeed as learners and in life.  We take into account the challenging backgrounds that many of our pupils come from and, as a result, within FS1 planned learning opportunities are heavily weighted around Personal, Social and Emotional Development and upon developing pupils’ ability to communicate effectively and interact positively. Once these foundations to learning are embedded then other areas will be focused upon. We aim to foster excellent attitudes to learning by providing effective and timely adult interactions to ensure that learning is instantly captured and enhanced.  All staff have high expectations and the enhancement of skills for learning is achieved through a well-resourced, stimulating environment that allows children to repeat and consolidate their own learning. Children are encouraged to take an active part in their learning and become independent learners. We foster a love of learning by ensuring that we capture and learn through the children’s interests as much as possible. Every opportunity is a learning opportunity!

The aim within Reception is to ensure that children are ready for the next phase of school life and we focus in particular in ensuring that all have developed a sound base of early reading skills and phonics.

School Development Priorities for 2023-2024 are:

1.To increase achievement and progress in writing throughout the school.

2. To ensure the foundations of maths, ie the four operations are fully embedded.

3..  To develop prior learning and embedded knowledge to enable all children to make good progress in science

4. To continue to develop and maintain our church links within the community and beyond