At Balliol Primary School, we provide a creative, inclusive and ambitious curriculum that inspires children to become confident, resilient and successful learners. As a sponsored school of the North East Learning Trust (NELT), we follow the NELT Curriculum, a carefully sequenced, knowledge-rich curriculum that enables all pupils to develop secure knowledge, strong skills and a love of learning.

Our curriculum is designed to help every child achieve their potential academically, socially, emotionally and spiritually. Through engaging, thematic learning experiences, pupils revisit and build upon key knowledge, skills and vocabulary over time, making meaningful connections across subjects and developing an increasingly deep understanding of the world around them.

We recognise the importance of preparing children for later life while celebrating our local community and heritage. By working in partnership with families and the wider community, we nurture curiosity, aspiration and independence, ensuring that pupils leave Balliol Primary School as responsible, confident and lifelong learners.

The curriculum is accessible to all and is delivered in line with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 and Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014, supported by our Equality Objectives, SEND Policy and SEND Information Report.

The Teaching of Reading

At Balliol Primary, we are passionate about reading! We try to share what we most enjoy about reading and encourage our children to read new genres and ever more challenging texts. Our children learn to read for enjoyment every day to develop a broader vocabulary, increased general knowledge and a better understanding of other cultures.

In Early Years and Key Stage 1, we use the Read Write Inc. reading scheme both in school and for home reading. This ensures home reading books match the phonics children have learned so, early on, they experience success and gain confidence. As children complete Read Write Inc., they follow accelerated reader with a focus on comprehension, engaged reading time and complexity. 

Reading enables children to transform the way they see the world outside of school. Our children are encouraged to see that the written word can compete with electronic media. Reading requires the creative participation of the individual - that is what makes it so rewarding and special - but we also ensure a daily class story or novel is shared in all year groups. We hope you agree that our creativity will help children to share our own love of reading.

The Teaching of Writing

At Balliol Primary we really enjoy writing as it gives us the opportunity to express our thoughts and opinions, and be truly creative with our imaginations. Writing has endless possibilities.

When our children leave us, we want them to have developed a love for all elements of the English curriculum; reading, writing and the spoken word. We aim for out pupils to write with confidence and accuracy for a variety of purposes and audiences whilst developing their own individual flair. We intend for our children to be able to write with grammatical accuracy and be able to apply spelling patterns correctly using a neat handwriting style. 

We aim to expose our children to a wide range of vocabulary so that they are able to decipher new words and use them when speaking both informally and formally. We recognise the importance of purpose and audience in our writing and want our children to develop a love for producing independent written work that they are proud of. We also aim for our children to apply all of these English skills to all areas of the curriculum. 

The process of writing is challenging and exciting, but when we are finished, we have the reward of a story or a report that has been brought to life. Writing is a great form of escape and allows our imagination to flow. We write to tell stories with amazing characters who face dilemmas, to inform and report on the world around us and to persuade adults and friends to listen to a cause close to our hearts.

Our pupils are very proud of their writing and love to share it with friends, family and visitors.

The Teaching of Maths

At Balliol Primary School we love maths! Our lesson approach in all year groups enables children to work independently and with a partner, to discuss the maths they are learning to solve problems and challenges. We believe every child can succeed in maths.

We use the concrete, pictorial, abstract approach, allowing pupils plenty of time with objects and manipulatives to build their understanding of a concept, looking at the why and how initially. Building to pictorial representations to aid pupils' reasoning and problems-solving before moving onto abstract methods for more complex calculations.

Maths planning is set out as small sequential steps necessary for a deep and lasting understanding. These steps are taken at the necessary pace of the class, teachers will use their judgement and only move on when they are confident that pupils have grasped the small step. We believe these small steps will avoid cognitive overload and help us to cover the depth necessary for a greater understanding. 

Our maths lessons also show the connections or links between topics that are necessary for understanding and building on key skills that are essential for fluency, reasoning and problem solving. We encourage pupils to ask, ‘What do I know already?’ before tackling any problem and look for efficient methods of calculations, as well as, being able to check their own work and prove their thinking. 

Fluency, reasoning and problem-solving should be an integrated part of every lesson. Allowing plenty of time for children to talk and explain their thinking. Pupils need to be aware that the journey in maths is the most important, the process and strategies used to solve a problem, drawing on known facts. It is not always essential to find a solution or, on occasions, many solutions may be possible. 

Maths helps us in the everyday world but also allows us to describe, investigate, create, reason and explain.

The teaching of RE

The current 2014 curriculum for schools in England and Wales states that “All schools are required to make provision for a daily act of collective worship and must teach Religious Education to pupils at every key stage". Balliol Primary School uses this aim as a foundation to deliver an education that goes above and beyond these expectations.

RE is an important curriculum subject. It is important in its own right and also makes a unique contribution to the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils and supports wider community cohesion. 

Religion and beliefs inform our values and are reflected in what we say and how we behave. RE is an important subject in itself, developing an individual’s knowledge and understanding of the religions and beliefs which form part of contemporary society. Religious education provokes challenging questions about the ultimate meaning and purpose of life, beliefs about God, the self and the nature of reality, issues of right and wrong, and what it means to be human. It can develop pupils’ knowledge and understanding of Christianity, of other principal religions, other religious traditions and worldviews that offer answers to questions such as these. 

RE also contributes to pupils’ personal development and well-being and to community cohesion by promoting mutual respect and tolerance in a diverse society. RE can also make important contributions to other parts of the school curriculum such as citizenship, personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE education), the humanities, education for sustainable development and others. It offers opportunities for personal reflection and spiritual development, deepening the understanding of the significance of religion in the lives of others – individually, communally, and cross-culturally.

In Early Years we focus on three key themes: special people, special places and special times. Special people theme explores children’s a sense of belonging: what is special about me, who do we think are special and how can we make others feel special.  Special place’s theme explores what makes certain places feel special, what is a place of worship and why is our world a special place.  Finally, special times studies the special times of a school day, special occasions throughout the year and does everyone celebrate in the same way.  

In Key Stage 1 and 2, the areas of Religious Education covered include the faiths of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, World Views, Sanatana Dharma, and Buddhism (the largest worldwide religions, in order to encompass the culturally diverse experiences and population of our society today. In addition, each year group looks at similarities and differences within and between religious and non-religious worldviews.

Parents and carers have the legal right to withdraw their child, wholly or partly, from Religious Education in accordance with Section 71 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. If you wish to exercise this right, we ask that you contact the Headteacher to discuss your request.