Our Curriculum
We want all of our children to LIVE - life in all its fullness (John 10:10)
At Bickerton Holy Trinity CE Primary School, our curriculum is rooted in our Christian vision:
“Life in all its fullness” – John 10:10
As a Church of England school, our Christian vision and values are at the heart of all that we do. They shape our relationships, our decisions and the curriculum experiences we provide for our children.
Our Christian Values are:
Love & Kindness • Friendship • Respect • Justice • Freedom & Responsibility • Equality
These values form the bedrock of our attitudes and approach. Through them, we want every child to feel known, valued and supported to flourish academically, personally and spiritually.
We believe that primary education should give children strong foundations for the future while also ensuring that their childhood is filled with curiosity, discovery, challenge, creativity and joy.
Our ambition is therefore simple:
We want every child to LIVE – Life in All Its Fullness.
Our curriculum is built around four principles:
L – Life-Long Learners
I – Immersive
V – Valuing Diversity
E – Enquiring Minds
Together, these principles define what we want our curriculum to provide and the children we want to develop.
L – Life-Long Learners
We want our children to develop a genuine love of learning that continues long after they leave Bickerton.
Our curriculum is carefully sequenced and progressive, enabling children to build secure knowledge and understand the connections within and between their learning.
We describe our curriculum as being anchored by vocabulary and bridged by repeated encounters. Important knowledge, concepts and vocabulary are deliberately revisited so that children have opportunities to remember, connect and apply what they have learned.
We want our children to become brave learners who are not overwhelmed by challenge or unfamiliar experiences. They learn that mistakes are an important part of learning and develop the resilience to persevere, problem-solve and try again.
Through our learning behaviours, children are encouraged to:
Try New Things • Work Hard • Understand Others • Push Yourself • Imagine & Concentrate • Improve & Don't Give Up
By the time children leave Bickerton, we want them to have strong foundations and the confidence, knowledge and learning behaviours they need to thrive in the next stage of their education.
I – Immersive
We want children's time at Bickerton to be filled with experiences that spark curiosity, create memories and bring learning to life.
Learning should extend beyond a textbook or classroom. Our broad and ambitious curriculum incorporates educational visits, visitors, practical experiences, performances, outdoor learning and opportunities to engage with our local community and the wider world.
Our rural location provides rich opportunities to explore and understand our immediate environment, while our curriculum deliberately takes children beyond their everyday experiences.
We recognise the importance of cultural capital and our responsibility to broaden children's horizons. We provide opportunities for children to encounter people, places, cultures, ideas and experiences that prepare them for their next stage of education and life in modern Britain.
We encourage our children to be brave, participate fully and make the most of the opportunities available to them.
We want learning to be memorable because children have had opportunities to see it, experience it, question it, talk about it and connect it to what they already know.
V – Valuing Diversity
We want our children to understand themselves as part of a diverse local, national and global community.
Our curriculum deliberately looks beyond our immediate school community and provides opportunities for children to encounter different countries, cultures, faiths, beliefs, families, communities and ways of life.
We celebrate difference while helping children recognise what connects us.
Our Christian values of Equality, Justice, Respect and Love & Kindness support children in recognising the dignity and worth of every person.
We want our children to develop the confidence to consider different perspectives, engage respectfully with ideas that may differ from their own and challenge stereotypes and injustice.
Through our curriculum, collective worship and wider opportunities, children encounter Big Questions about themselves, other people, the world and belief.
We also provide opportunities for courageous advocacy, enabling children to recognise that their voices and actions matter and that they can make a positive difference within their school, community and wider world.
E – Enquiring Minds
We want our children to remain curious about the world and confident enough to ask:
Why? How? What if?
Enquiry runs throughout our curriculum. Children are encouraged to investigate, question, reason, debate, collaborate, problem-solve and reflect.
Our curriculum design enables children to make connections between areas of learning and develop transferable skills including critical thinking, communication, organisation, collaboration and problem solving.
We encourage children to think about the “why” behind their learning.
At Bickerton, we talk about “ripples of significance”. These help children recognise the important knowledge, people, events, ideas and connections within their learning and consider why they matter.
We want our children not simply to acquire knowledge but to think deeply about it, make connections and understand its significance.
Our Curriculum Design
We use the Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework and the National Curriculum as the foundations for our curriculum.
From these statutory frameworks, we have designed a broad, ambitious and carefully sequenced curriculum that reflects the needs of our children and our distinctive small-school context.
Our curriculum identifies the important knowledge, vocabulary, concepts and skills children need to develop. Learning is sequenced so that children can build upon secure foundations and increasingly make connections within and across subjects.
Subject leaders consider the journey children take through their subject from their earliest experiences in Reception through to the end of Year 6. This helps us ensure that learning is progressive, coherent and ambitious.
Mixed-Age Learning
Different Routes, One Destination
As a small rural primary school, mixed-age teaching is an important part of our curriculum design.
We recognise that children within the same class may be at different points in their learning journey. Our curriculum therefore provides flexibility in the route children take while maintaining high expectations and ambitious destinations for everyone.
We describe this approach as:
Different Routes, One Destination
Our curriculum identifies the essential knowledge, vocabulary, concepts, skills and end points children need to secure. Teachers then carefully consider the route that different year groups, groups of learners and individual children need to take to reach those end points successfully.
Mixed-age teaching does not mean simply giving every child the same work at a different level.
Teachers consider children's prior learning, starting points and individual needs. Teaching, questioning, scaffolding, resources and challenge are adapted appropriately while the ambition of the curriculum remains high.
Our mixed-age curriculum is carefully planned so that:
knowledge and skills are progressively developed across year groups;
age-related curriculum expectations remain clear;
prior learning is identified and deliberately revisited;
important vocabulary and concepts are progressively developed;
there are no unintended gaps or unnecessary repetition;
children can be flexibly grouped according to the purpose of learning;
appropriate support and scaffolding enable children to succeed;
children who are ready to deepen their learning receive appropriate challenge;
adaptations enable pupils with SEND and additional needs to access ambitious learning; and
assessment identifies what individual children know, remember and can do and informs the next steps in teaching.
Mixed-age learning also provides valuable opportunities for children to collaborate, communicate, support one another and learn from different perspectives.
Our approach reflects our Christian value of Equality. Equality does not always mean everybody receiving exactly the same thing. It means recognising individuals and ensuring that every child receives the teaching, support, opportunity and challenge they need to flourish.
Whatever route an individual child takes, our destination remains ambitious:
Secure knowledge. Strong foundations. Readiness for what comes next.
Different Routes. One Destination. Every Child Flourishing.
An Inclusive Curriculum for Every Child
We have high expectations for every child.
We recognise that children begin their learning journeys from different starting points and that some children will require additional support or adaptations to access learning successfully.
Our curriculum is adapted effectively for pupils with SEND and additional needs, removing barriers to participation while maintaining ambition.
Teachers consider what children need to access the same important curriculum concepts and make progress towards ambitious end points.
For some children, the route may look different – but our belief in their potential does not.
This commitment to inclusion reflects our Christian vision and values: every child is known, valued and deserves the opportunity to flourish.
Bringing Learning to Life
High-quality teaching sits at the heart of our curriculum.
Teachers choose approaches that are appropriate to the subject, the knowledge or skills being taught and the needs of the children.
Across their time at Bickerton, children have opportunities to:
investigate, research and find things out;
solve problems and reason;
ask and answer challenging questions;
work independently, in pairs and collaboratively;
discuss, debate and present ideas;
explain and justify their thinking;
design, make, create and evaluate;
use technology purposefully;
undertake fieldwork and educational visits;
learn through music, art, drama and the creative arts;
use our school grounds and local environment;
participate in sport and physical activity;
perform and present to different audiences; and
reflect upon their learning and consider how they can improve.
These opportunities are carefully chosen to enhance learning, deepen understanding and help children connect classroom knowledge with the wider world.
Personal Development and Wellbeing
Academic success is important, but our vision of Life in All Its Fullness means that education at Bickerton is about the development of the whole child.
Our curriculum supports children's personal, social, emotional, moral, cultural and spiritual development.
Through PSHE, collective worship and opportunities across the wider curriculum, children learn about healthy relationships, wellbeing, resilience, responsibility and making positive choices.
Children are given opportunities to reflect on themselves, others, the world and beauty, and questions of meaning and belief.
Our curriculum, Christian values and wider school life work together to develop children who are confident in themselves, respectful of others and ready to contribute positively to their communities.
Knowing Our Curriculum Is Making a Difference
Assessment is an important part of teaching and learning.
Teachers use assessment to understand what children know, remember and can do, identify misconceptions or gaps in knowledge and decide what needs to happen next.
We do not view curriculum impact as a single test or piece of work. We look at the wider picture of children's learning over time.
Teachers and subject leaders use a range of information, including children's work, assessment, discussion with pupils, observation of learning and curriculum monitoring, to evaluate how successfully the intended curriculum is being learned.
This enables us to continually reflect upon and improve our curriculum.
The Impact of Our Curriculum
Ultimately, the impact of our curriculum can be seen in what our children know, remember and can do – and in the people they are becoming.
We want every child to achieve their potential from their individual starting point and leave Bickerton ready and excited for the next stage of their education.
We want our children to become:
Knowledgeable and curious – developing secure knowledge while retaining their desire to discover more.
Confident – believing in themselves and being willing to embrace new experiences.
Independent and resilient – taking increasing responsibility for their learning and persevering when things are challenging.
Enquiring – asking thoughtful questions, thinking critically and making connections.
Creative and imaginative – exploring possibilities and confidently expressing their ideas.
Kind and respectful – developing positive relationships and recognising the dignity and worth of others.
Inclusive and open-minded – valuing diversity and respecting different cultures, religions, beliefs and perspectives.
Responsible – understanding that freedom brings responsibility and recognising their role within their school, community and wider world.
Courageous – recognising injustice and understanding that their voice and actions can make a difference.
Aspirational – recognising their potential and having the confidence to pursue their ambitions.
Above all, we want our children to leave Bickerton Holy Trinity having experienced a rich, happy, inclusive and ambitious primary education that has given them strong foundations for their future while allowing them to enjoy and flourish in the present.
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