At WBJS we believe that through incorporating drama within the curriculum we will increase children’s confidence, develop their sense of self-worth and further develop children’s understanding of the curriculum and the world. Drama provides many opportunities for children to use a wealth of language and knowledge from a range of cultures; it also broadens their horizons by providing aspects of theatre, by rehearsing and presenting the work of others. Through drama children are given the opportunity to see the world through others perspectives in order to develop compassion and empathy.

We teach drama to:

• Increase children’s confidence and sense of self- worth.
• Develop children’s respect and consideration for one another.
• Improve children’s well-being and personal development and behaviour.
• Engage parents in children’s performances to raise children’s confidence and foster good relationships.
• Develop children’s imagination and the creative process.
• Develop children’s ability to work as a team and group using skills of leadership, negotiation and blending of different ideas.
• Offer pupils the opportunity to experience aspects of theatre by rehearsing and presenting their work to others.
• Develop script reading and writing skills.

Our intention for our MFL curriculum mirrors that of our school’s all-embracing ethos of developing ‘the whole child’.

• To spark their interest and expand their enquiring mind.
• To provide a breadth of ‘cultural capital’ experiences that will broaden their horizons within the wider world.
• To foster a lifelong love of learning and promote long term life skills that will serve them well in the future.

In more detail, the MFL curriculum at WBJS formally introduces French in Year 3 and progresses throughout the school via a range of topics, where possible providing links to each year group’s main curriculum theme.  These topics are underpinned with the systematic teaching of phonics and an overarching appreciation of France itself and its position as one of our European neighbours.  The emphasis is on oral activities, allowing children of all abilities to fully access and engage with the language.  Children will then develop the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing a foreign language through a variety of activities, including games, role play, songs and puppet work.

It is our intention that children will develop the confidence and enjoyment of learning a foreign language as well as enabling children to communicate effectively in French, preparing them for their onward journey to secondary school and beyond.

At William Barcroft Junior School, we believe in the importance of science: we strive to encourage children’s curiosity, their creativity and to develop inquisitive minds. We want the children to be very curious and to experience ‘awe and wonder’, we want our children to believe that they are scientists now and that they could be the scientist of the future. We plan opportunities to encourage the children to ask questions, explore, to wonder and to answer their own questions. Our science curriculum allows for the children’s scientific knowledge to grow as we believe it is vital to help broaden their experiences whilst respecting knowledge and understanding of the world around them. Science is taught consistently and each key topic is repeated to ensure progression and retention, whilst being woven into topics where appropriate. Scientific enquiry objectives are carefully woven into our lessons to ensure all children develop their enquiry skills: observation over time, fair testing, research, identifying and classifying and pattern seeking.

Art at William Barcroft provides children with important skills in drawing, painting and sculpture which enhances their fine motor skills and prepares them for further development in all of these disciplines. The skills are fundamental however the children gain far more than skills alone in our art curriculum. At William Barcroft, we have a bespoke plan for art across the school which exposes the children to several key artistic practitioners linked to their topics, broadening their understanding of the subject as well as making vital links with other cultures and moments in time. Our art curriculum places an importance on art for self-expression, giving the children plenty of opportunity to use art as a means of expressing emotions, sending a message or telling a story. All of this is achieved by focused skills sessions, which allow the children to practice and refine their technique as well as attempting the styles of great artists, alongside a project week per term with their topic embedded. This allows the children to question societies, empathise with people from different cultures or periods of time and begin to understand the many different reasons art has been created in the past and is still being created now – all alongside their own project based on the theme of their chosen artist. By the time our children have left us, they will have learnt about, and attempted the styles of, a broad range of artists spanning different periods as well as developed key skills and an understanding of some of the purposes behind creating art. We endeavour to foster a passion for art, with our main intent being to broaden their understanding of the world and providing them with skills which give them choices in life.

Religious Education is an integral part of our curriculum at William Barcroft Junior School and plays a significant role in the development of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. It promotes respect and open-mindedness towards others with different faiths and beliefs and encourages pupils to develop their sense of identity and belonging through self-awareness and reflection. The principle aim of RE is to engage pupils in an enquiry approach where they can develop an understanding and appreciation for the expression of beliefs, cultural practices and influence of principle religions and worldviews in the local, national and wider global community.

To ensure all pupils are offered a broad and balanced curriculum for Religious Education, we follow SACRE designed by the Local Authority. Our curriculum allows for ‘cultural capital’ and empowers our children to celebrate the different backgrounds, religions, heritage and traditions of all children living in our country and to embrace this diversity.

We aim to develop our children’s:-

Knowledge and understanding of:

A range of religions and world views so that they can;

– Describe, explain and analyse beliefs and practices recognising that diversity exists among communities and individuals.

– Identify and investigate questions posed.

– Appreciate and appraise the nature, significance and impact of the different ways of life, expressing meaning.

– Explain reasonably their ideas about how beliefs and practices and forms of expression influence individuals and communities.

– Express with increasing discernment their personal reflections and critical responses to questions about identity, diversity, meaning and value, including ethical issues.

– Appreciate varied dimensions of religions or a world view.

We also want to give our children the skills to:-

Find out and investigate key concepts and questions of belonging, meaning, purpose and truth, responding creatively.

– Enquire into what enables different individuals and communities to live together respectfully for the wellbeing of all.

– Articulate beliefs, values and commitments clearly in order to explain

why they may be important in their own and other people’s lives.

Curriculum Organisation:

Our curriculum is organised to develop our children’s depth of knowledge over time. Children have the opportunity to revisit each religion ensuring that that acquisition of knowledge and skills are progressive over time. R.E. is taught as a blocked unit at the end of every term.

At William Barcroft, our DT curriculum teaches children skills in textiles, structures, mechanical and electrical systems as well as food technology. This is achieved via week long DT projects which are carefully mapped out across the year groups to ensure a full and in depth curriculum. Each year group has three DT weeks across the year which are well linked to their topics.  As a school, we aim for our children to learn the different skills in a safe way; learning how to handle tools, use sewing needles and understanding how to cook safely. We strive to equip the children with life skills and learning experiences which will be useful for them in the future as well as providing them with the basis for another avenue to explore for future careers should they choose to pursue it. At William Barcroft, we combine the important technical skills of DT with vital team building and problem solving skills which serve them well in many other areas of school and their wider lives. We support the children in making sensible, healthy decisions in food technology, enhancing their understanding of a balanced diet and how people benefit from it. In DT, everything has a purpose, our children are given the opportunity to research past and existing practitioners and designs in order to gain an understanding of their purpose and use this to propel their own learning and projects. By the time our children leave us in year 6, they will have experienced a wide range of design technology projects, learnt important technical skills, understood how professional practitioners and designs work as well as expanded their own design capabilities. Should our children take a keen interest in the subject, we believe we have prepared them well for future exploration of design and technology. 

P.E. is an important part of our curriculum as we recognise the role it has to play in promoting long term, healthy lifestyles. The intent of our PE curriculum is to provide all children with high quality sports provision so that every pupil can succeed and achieve their potential, regardless of starting points. We strive to inspire our pupils through fun and engaging PE lessons that are enjoyable, challenging and accessible to all. We also believe that children should have the opportunity to compete in sport and other activities that build character and help to embed values such as team-work and respect. We work tirelessly with the local SSP to do this and have been recognised for our efforts on a regional level. We are passionate about the need to teach children how to cooperate and collaborate with others, understanding fairness and equity of play to embed life-long values. A varied curriculum is in place to support this, with activities including: dance, athletics, gymnastics, invasion games, swimming and water safety and outdoor adventure activities.

Through the teaching of PE we intend to:

• Enable children to develop physical skills with increasing control and co-ordination.
• Encourage children to work and play with others in a range of group situations.
• Show children how to improve the quality and control of their performance.
• Teach children to recognise and describe how their bodies feel during exercise.
• Develop the children’s enjoyment of physical activity through creativity and imagination.
• Develop an understanding in children of how to succeed in a range of physical activities and how to evaluate their own success.
• Inspire an eagerness in the children to lead healthy, active lives.;
• Ensure that children appreciate the importance of fair play and of abiding by the rules and codes in all activities;
• Ensure that children will develop relevant skill, knowledge and understanding for future vocations in sport, recreation and dance and to open their eyes to these possibilities.
• Give all children a chance to participate in inter/intra school sports

At William Barcroft Junior School, we believe that geography is a key part of the understanding that children have of the wider world. We aim to inspire children’s curiosity about the world, diverse cultures and their people. Our broad and creative curriculum follows an enquiry led approach, giving the children many opportunities to develop their own independence and reasoning skills. Through this approach, we embed a culture of asking questions, problem solving, higher order thinking skills, including modelling and using geographical vocabulary with confidence. As a result, children are encouraged to ‘think like geographers’, ensuring a development of mastery skills in geography such as compare and contrast, summarise, demonstrate understanding, justify apply and evaluate. Our geography curriculum has been developed through the use of a skills progression; ensuring the challenge and support of each pupil so they are able to reach their full potential. The skills progression has been carefully orchestrated in order to ensure all children are progressing.  In their learning, children are actively encouraged to compare their knowledge of different scales; local, regional, national, international and global. With this in mind, the children are given multiple opportunities to explore different places and environments through the many strands of physical geography, human geography and fieldwork. Throughout their journey, children learn how to interpret, understand and draw maps and develop geographical skills such as researching and investigation. We ensure that geography is taught through a range of exciting and innovative lessons to inspire the children to see the world through the eyes of a geographer; including recent and relevant global issues in sustainability and how it affects humanity; following alongside the strands of SMSC and PSHCE.

Here at William Barcroft, we are passionate about history and provide a high-quality curriculum which inspires the children to achieve their potential. We teach history in a way where chronological understanding and skills develop year-on-year, with each year group using skills and chronological understanding developed beforehand as a springboard for further learning. Furthermore, our way of teaching history allows our students to gain a broad and balanced understanding of how contrasting eras and events have helped to shape the world as we know it.

In our school we are constantly striving for hooks and our history topics reflect this ethos, allowing us to explore the National Curriculum in a creative, innovative and enquiry-based way which captivates and interests the children. As well as this, history at William Barcroft encourages the children to hone and develop their critical thinking, judgement and analytical skills.

Through our curriculum, we investigate the ancient civilisations of the World (the Ancient Greeks and Neolithic Britian), the expansion, dominance and decline of empires (The Romans), the features of non-European societies (The Ancient Egyptians and Mayans). Additionally, we undertake a local history study which interrogates the powerful roles which the fishing industry and railways have historically played within the local area (Grimsby and Cleethorpes). Similarly, we also interrogate the role which the Victorians played in developing society as we know it today.

Moreover, in year 6, there is a large amount of overlap between our history and literacy curriculum’s, with skills transferring and interchanging seamlessly between the two subjects. Here, the children investigate the two World Wars (as well as the Saxons, Scots and Vikings), supplemented with a valuable trip to the National Holocaust Museum – one of a range of experiences which the children across school are given access to embed and supplement learning within the subject.  

ICT

William Barcroft Junior School understands that ICT is an integral part of the National Curriculum and that ICT skills are important to everyday life. Technology is a valuable resource in the classroom, benefiting the way pupils learn and helping teachers maximise their role as educators. In light of this, the purpose of our ICT curriculum is to ensure that both staff and pupils have access to the correct technology which will enable them to be confident and competent users of computers, I pads and other necessary technology by the time they leave our school. We want to equip our children with a comprehensive set of skills ready to aid them on their future career journey. To do this, our curriculum has three main focuses:

• Information Technology
• Computer Science
• Digital Literacy

Our curriculum is shaped to support our schools key values and provide a safe environment for children to flourish. The skills progression is carefully planned to ensure all teaching staff are fully aware of how to move children forward and make maximum progress with all groups of children in school.

At William Barcroft, we want children to enjoy music as listeners, performers and composers. We want them to develop an enthusiasm for music and experience the sense of fulfilment and joy that music can bring. We want to equip all children (whatever their backgrounds or abilities) with the confidence to engage with music, being able to demonstrate the breadth of skills, knowledge and understanding suggested in the national curriculum. We feel this is best achieved practically, by making and creating music through using voices, singing, playing instruments and using technologies. We want children to have the opportunity to learn a variety of musical instruments.

We seek to develop musical skills alongside and intertwined with their curriculum topic, so where appropriate, musical content will extend and enrich the children’s understanding of the topic they are studying. Equally, children are given the opportunity to bring their knowledge and understanding of the topic they are studying, and draw on it in a musical context.

We want children to be open to enjoy and appreciate music from a variety of cultures and musical traditions, which they are exposed to through the musical, broader and enriched curriculum.

Finally, we want children to experience the celebratory aspect of music: through singing and playing as part of a whole school community; to mark religious and spiritual occasions; performing at a leaver’s assembly, or to be part of a successful school production.

At William Barcroft Junior School, we believe each child can develop and reach their full potential in a school where everyone is valued and we embrace both diversity and those things that join us together.
The teaching and learning of PSHCE aims to support and uphold the school’s vision and core values of mutual respect, trust, loyalty and cooperation.

Our PSHCE curriculum is combined of 3 core themes:
• Health and Well-being
• Relationships
• Living in the Wider World

With the aim to provide children with:
• The knowledge, skills and attributes they need to keep themselves healthy and safe to prepare them for life and work.
• To develop skills and attributes such as resilience, self-esteem, risk-management, team working and critical thinking
• A balanced and broadly-based bespoke curriculum which is essential to personal development, behaviour, welfare and safeguarding.
• To equip pupils with the necessary skills to apply their learning within the curriculum and beyond through enrichment opportunities that naturally shapes their character and prepares them to play active roles as citizens now and in the future.

The three themes broadly overlap, reflecting the rapidly changing world in which our pupils live and learn and fundamentally fulfills the schools responsibility to support pupil’s social, moral, spiritual and cultural (SMSC) development.

We believe that together all children, parents and the wider community can enrich opportunities to build positive and lasting relationships whilst engaging in a powerful learning journey that has a lifelong legacy.

At William Barcroft Junior School we enrich the skills in Numeracy in order for our children to be fluent, competent and inquisitive mathematicians by following The White Rose maths scheme. We base all of our learning on small steps fundamentals in order to secure confidence in all aspects of maths. We want to equip our children with the knowledge and skills that enable them to become confident and eager mathematicians throughout their learning journey.

To secure all of this we focus on consolidating number and place value in the Autumn term in each year group. This is also consolidated through the intra-school maths challenge.

We aim for 80% of children to secure their 4 operations at the appropriate standard by the end of the Autumn term, and track their further development with this across the year via termly audits. This has helped to underpin consistently high progress and attainment.

Literacy at William Barcroft Junior School is an engaging and exciting subject in which pupils are exposed to a range of high quality novels, picture books and non-fiction texts. All literacy teaching across the school uses a bespoke literacy curriculum to ensure that our children have regular opportunities to read and write across a range of text types and to ensure that they are developing a rich and varied vocabulary. This curriculum incorporates a range of strategies that enable our children to see writing as a means of expression and communication. A high standard of spoken language underpins all of our Literacy teaching and we are constantly striving to develop our children’s speaking and listening skills. Our mission is to ensure that we create a love of reading so that our children can engage with literature beyond the classroom that’s ever present in the world in which we live and work!
Through independent reading, reading skills lessons, shared reading in literacy lessons and cross-curricular sessions, guided reading groups and reading for pleasure, reading in Key Stage 2 develops and extends the skills acquired in Key Stage 1. Children explore a wide variety of genre, both fiction and non-fiction which allows them to access, input ideas and understand what they are reading. They are given opportunities to speculate on the tone and purpose of texts they explore as well as consider both the texts’ themes and audience.
We use the Read, Write, Inc Phonics program as an intervention for those that are still emerging readers when they join our junior school, alongside a book rich curriculum, used to develop our children’s spoken, reading and writing skills. Children have a daily GRASP session which comprises of spelling, handwriting and grammar before they begin their novel based work. Within Literacy, children write across a range of text types including but not limited to: narratives, explanations, descriptions, debates, reports and summaries. Purpose and audience is a key element of our teaching as well as the Alan Peat sentence continuum, which we have embedded across the school and curriculum. We use to support our children with sentence structure and to ensure that they become engaging and interesting writers. Accelerated Reader is used to target some of our children to ensure they are reading appropriate books that challenge and engage them. Action plans and policies can be obtained from the school.
To see literacy in action follow: #wbjsreading #wbjsliteracy #wbjsreadingforpleasure