Our Curriculum Vision

Our curriculum offers exciting opportunities that our children would not normally have access to in their day to day lives. 

This year we are excited to be reviewing the Bishop’s Curriculum and the teachers have been working hard to create a bespoke curriculum that meets the needs of the learners in our school and takes them beyond the national curriculum to an exciting and ambitious world of learning.

Curriculum Intent

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

John 10:10

Inspired by Jesus’ promise to his people, it is our vision that the curriculum at Bishop’s Church of England Primary Academy will develop the whole child in the fullest sense to enable them to thrive and maintain their well-being through all the opportunities and challenges that life brings.

We promote high standards of attainment and progress throughout the school whilst also broadening children’s experiences, exciting them about learning and engendering curiosity and a desire to learn more. At The Bishop’s CE Primary Academy we hold the children at the heart of every decision made regarding the curriculum. We recognise each child as an individual, ensuring our teaching specifically targets their learning needs, develops their social skills and nurtures their unique talents.

We believe that if children feel SAFE and HAPPY, they will LEARN well. We understand the community we serve and know that many of our children can begin their school career with lower than expected social and emotional skills. For this reason we focus on relationships, are attachment aware in our interactions and ensure that the children receive a high quality PSHE/RSHE curriculum woven throughout all areas of learning. Our school is a family with strong core beliefs, developing in every child our key values of respect, service, friendship, forgiveness, courage and perseverance.

We know that on entry to school many of our children present with limited or below age expected language and vocabulary skills. For this reason our curriculum design ensures that every possible learning opportunity in school is enriched with models of high quality spoken language, the sharing of subject specific vocabulary and the use of high quality texts and resources.

Our curriculum:

• focuses on English so every child will become an avid reader, a fluent writer and a confident speaker.
• focuses on mathematics so every child will become a confident, skilful mathematician.
• begins with the children’s current knowledge and what they wish to learn throughout a unit or topic. This ensures that our children ‘buy in’ to their learning; feel valued within the class and recognise their successes.
• puts thinking and questioning at the heart of our curriculum so that children are encouraged to explore, enquire and extend their learning by talking, linking ideas and understanding.
• identifies gaps or misconceptions in learning and works tirelessly to address these, revisiting skills over time to ensure that learning is relevant and that every individual achieves their full potential in time.
• aims to provide a wide range of outstanding teaching and learning experiences rooted within a rich language curriculum so that every child learns new things every day and is motivated to attend school.
• provides opportunities to work with our community to develop knowledge and understanding using our unique and diverse local environment to celebrate where we live and how events here have impacted on the county, the country and the wider world.

The intent of our curriculum design and delivery encourages our children to develop a lifelong love of learning so they are able to have greater choice as they move on to secondary school and beyond. High quality teaching and learning experiences provide our children with the best opportunity to reach their academic potential and learn key skills for success.

We work to ensure that every child in our school is happy, safe and protected from harm. We will always work together within the school community, with universal services and with wider professionals to protect children from maltreatment and ensure they grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care. We have a Safeguarding Policy which sets out our legal responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children, stating our legal duty to refer our concerns to other services, if we suspect a child is being harmed in any way.

Please click the link below to view our SEN  provision

If you would like further information on the curriculum we teach, please contact the school directly.

The Right of Withdrawal From RE

DNEAT academies are inclusive communities but recognise that parents have the legal right to withdraw their children from religious education on the grounds of conscience. However, the right of withdrawal does not extend to other areas of the curriculum when, as may happen on occasion, spontaneous questions on religious matters are raised by pupils or there are issues related to religion that arise in other subjects such as history or citizenship.

We would ask any parent considering this to contact the head teacher of the academy to discuss any concerns or anxieties about the policy, provision and practice of religious education.

DNEAT Academies will record any requests of withdrawal from RE and the reasons for this as they are required to report this as part of the Section 48 inspection process.

Managing the right of withdrawal

• Each academy will ensure that parents who want to withdraw their children from RE are aware of the RE syllabus and that it is relevant to all pupils and respects their own personal beliefs.

• Parents should be made aware of its learning objectives and what is covered in the RE curriculum and should be given the opportunity to discuss this, if they wish.

• Each academy may also wish to review such a request each year, in discussion with the parents. 

• The use of the right to withdraw should be at the instigation of parents, and it should be made clear whether it is from the whole of the subject or specific parts of it. No reasons need be given. 

• Parents have the right to choose whether or not to withdraw their child from RE without influence from the academy, although an academy should ensure that parents or carers are informed of this right and are aware of the educational objectives and content of the RE syllabus.  In this way, parents can make an informed decision. 

• Where parents have requested that their child is withdrawn, their right must be respected, and where RE is integrated in the curriculum, the academy will need to discuss the arrangements with the parents or carers to explore how the child’s withdrawal can be best accommodated. 

• If pupils are withdrawn from RE, academies have a duty to supervise them, though not to provide additional teaching or to incur extra cost. Pupils will usually remain on academy premises.

• Where a pupil has been withdrawn, the law provides for alternative arrangements to be made for RE of the kind the parent wants the pupil to receive. This RE could be provided at the academy in question, or the pupil could be sent to another academy where suitable RE is provided if this is reasonably convenient. 

• If neither approach is practicable, outside arrangements can be made to provide the pupil with the kind of RE that the parent wants, and the pupil may be withdrawn from academy for a reasonable period of time to allow them to attend this external RE.

• Outside arrangements for RE are allowed as long as the LA is satisfied that any interference with the pupil’s attendance at academy resulting from the withdrawal will affect only the start or end of an academy session.

Please contact the school office to arrange a meeting with the head teacher if you would like further information.