BCCS Curriculum
At BCCS we provide a broad, balanced and knowledge rich education for all learners; our learning vision of ‘engagement, challenge and enjoyment in every lesson for every learner’ is rooted in a desire to bring out the best in all students and prepare them for success in life. We see a powerful knowledge rich curriculum as one which takes our students beyond their own experience and as a true lever for social equality and development. Whilst we cannot know the future, we believe the broad curriculum for all, and balanced for the individual, provides students with the knowledge, skills, social and cultural awareness to thrive in a global society. Our curriculum is designed by specialist leaders for our culturally diverse and significantly able student population. Subject Leaders design curriculum with careful consideration of scope, coherence & sequence. We aim to maximise our students’ cognitive development, to develop the whole person and the talents of the individual so that BCCS students become active and happy participants of society.
Our curriculum principles are rooted in our vision of “Gathered together that all may thrive” with opportunities taken to explore our core values of kindness, courage and hope. Teachers and students are encouraged to take opportunities to appreciate awe and wonder in the world around us.
At the heart of our curriculum lies a respect for the subjects and concepts we teach and for the insight that each provides into the world around us. We recognise the need for an expressive, active, creative and physical curriculum in a COVID recovery and post school closure environment. Furthermore, we recognise the responsibility we have as educators to prepare young people to shape a better world through the content of our curriculum, meaning we teach children how to be confident, how to think, how to criticise and how to be active, rather than passive recipients of information; but each of these skills are taught within the context of the rich knowledge each subject provides. By instilling our students with the best of what’s been thought, said, created, discovered and done in each subject we hope that our curriculum enables children to appreciate and positively participate in the full richness of the human experience.
The following are central to our curriculum:
- Communication - As we all gather together to thrive we recognise good communication is the gateway to learning, friendships, equalities, academic achievement and success in later life. In all areas of our curriculum we emphasise, explicitly plan for and model the skill of communication to our young people. Communication is particularly important for ensuring our students with SEND realise their potential.
- Concepts are mapped by schemes of learning – Our curriculum planning specifies the concepts and knowledge that should be taught, provides resources to assist with this and exemplifies successful learning. It leaves the job of bringing knowledge to life, of providing context, humour and memorable classroom moments to our teachers. This is because each of them is individually skilled and learning is, at its best, a personal experience founded on relationships between teachers and students.
- Coherence - Within a subject area we believe content should be sequenced to support a narrative that secures learning over time. Subject Leaders structure assessment to check that knowledge is persistently checked and secured. We know that interdisciplinary links help students to think hard, we do not force cross curricular projects but seek out interdisciplinary links as opportunities for deep learning. This coherence extends to local and national issues linking to our curriculum.
- Expertise – Powerful knowledge demands expert teaching. We adjust our curriculum as we work as intellectual educators who are committed to inclusivity through appropriate challenge and support.. Subject Leaders engage their teams in specialist discourse.
- Music Specialism - We provide inclusive, rich and memorable musical experiences for all our students both inside and outside the classroom, regardless of previous musical background or experience. Music is powerful at BCCS because it unites through shared experiences and inspires confidence, collaboration and risk taking.
For More information on Options Please - CLICK HERE
For More Information on Formal Curriculum Structure - CLICK HERE
For More Information On Cathedral Schools Trust Curriculum Principles - CLICK HERE
For more information on our improving literacy approach - CLICK HERE
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