Early Years and Foundation Stage Curriculum

Areas of Learning

Autumn 1 Settling in-All

about me

Autumn 2 Light &Dark/Xmas

Spring 1 Traditional Tales

Spring 2 People who

help us/Easter

Summer 1 Growing

Summer 2 Animals & Habitats/

Superheroes

PSED

Settling in

Making friends

Rights respecting children

Negotiates and solve problems independently with familiar settings and playing with their peers.

Developing sensitivity to the needs and feelings of others and forms positive relationships with peers and adults.

Understands and has appropriate behaviour, following the rules.

Change

Transition into Y1

Physical Development

(On-going throughout the

year)

Builds confidence in large and small scale movements by using the climbing and other sports equipment.

Learning the rules of games and what makes games fair.

Developing large and gross motor skills in Forest School.

Learning to hold a pencil correctly to form letters.

Healthy eating and exercise

Dressing and undressing independently

Communication & Language

Following instructions

Maintain attention

Can listen to a story

To share ideas in a larger group of peers.

Can answer questions, talk about and anticipate key events about a story.

Can verbally re-tell a story

Recount their own experiences.

Uses past and presence tense accurately

Can answer how and why questions.

Listening attentively in large situations such as assembly

Literacy

Mr Big, Beegu, Rainbow Fish and stories about

starting school.

Aliens Love underpants, Rocket man, Can’t you sleep Little Bear? and

Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, The Ginger Bread Man, The

three Billy Goats Gruff &

Non-Fiction books

Phonics phase 3

Features of

Titch, Six feet long, Jack and the Bean stalk and

Non-Fiction books

Phonics Phase 3

Percy the Park Keeper, Comics

Phonics phase 4

John Ball Whole School Curriculum Map 2015-16

Recognising & writing their name.

Independent mark making

Phonics Phase 1/2

non-fiction stories about space.

Phonics Phase 2 Drawing into

writing

Writing a letter Writing a passport

Labels and captions

The three Bears.

Phonics Phase 2/3

Drawing into writing

Retelling a story

Wanted posters

Lists

a non- fiction book.

Creating our own non- fiction book

Understanding what a fact is

Writing a diary

Drawing into writing

Instructions

Drawing into writing

Comics strips

Speech bubbles

Character description

Mathematics

Measuring

Counting songs

Counting to 20

3D/2D shapes

Money

Sequences and patterns

Weighing

Ordering numbers

Addition & subtraction

1 more & 1 less

Days of the week

Months

Doubling/halving/sharing

Problem solving

Understanding the World

Forest school

Observing change

Colour/light & dark

Space

Celebrations

Diwali

New year

Using a variety of Technology

Family traditions

Beebots Animal/plant and human growth

Forest School

Habitats

Environment

Expressive Art & Design

Colour mixing/Self portraits

Autumnal painting/Bonfire pictures/junk model rockets

Acting out & re-telling stories/ making up their

own stories

Role play different jobs

Clay insects/observational

drawings

Making a habitat box/designing a

superhero

Key Stage 1 and 2 Curriculum

AUTUMN 1 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6

Theme What is it made of? Super humans Scavengers and Settlers – Stone Age to Iron Age

Belonging & Community

Invaders and Settlers

What A Wonderful

World

English The Little Red Hen Captions/lists

Retelling stories

WMG sentences

Traction Man Change an event in the

story

Modelled-break the story up

Speech bubbles, freeze frame

The Iron Man List poetry Questions Persuasive letter Diary

Belonging Poetry

Persuasive writing

Newspapers –direct and reported

Beegu/ There’s a boy in the Girls’

bathroom Story writing

(adaptation)

Diary Entry

Wonder Focus: Persuasion,

diary writing and non-chronological

reports.

Autumn poem-adverbials

Firework poem-alliteration

speech

Character

descriptions

Wanted posters

Science Materials What things made of?

What do different materials do?

Animals including humans

Human and mammals

Exercise

Hygiene

Life-cycles

Rocks and Soil Exploring under our

feet

Researching volcanos

Types of Rock

Exploring Rocks

Fossils

Properties of Soils

Soil investigation

Living Things & their Habitats Classification

Food chain and food webs

Forces Force types: gravity,

friction etc.

Balanced and unbalanced forces

Mechanisms: levers, pulleys and gears.

Living Things and their Habitats?

History / Geography

Windmills and Farming

How things have changed

10 Things I like about the world

History. Characteristics and

lives of people and

cultures that existed

during the Stone Age,

Bronze Age and Iron

Age

Similarities and

differences between

societies that existed

during the Stone Age,

Bronze Age and Iron

Age

Geography Key Aspects of

human

Geography.

How local communities create a sense

of belonging.

Anglo Saxons Roman withdrawal

Saxon settlers

Art and culture

Christian conversion

Anglo-Saxon laws and justice

What A Wonderful

World Key features

within each country- volcanoes, mountains and also extreme weather.

Map reading.

OS sessions.

Art & Design / DT

Making farms/ windmills/ making

bread

Making key organs out of clay

Colour mixing

Autumnal leaves

Art Stone Age to the

Iron Age used forms

Materials and processes

to suit their purpose.

Belonging Who am I?

Collecting, recording and evaluating ideas

Portraits/Pop-up bathroom

Proportions of a face

Folding techniques

Pull tab mechanisms

What A Wonderful

World- Calendars

Focus on 3 different artists

from around the world.

(child led- continent assigned)

AUTUMN 2 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6

Theme Materials (continued)

Human Body Scavengers and Settlers

Continued

Ancient Mysteries

Vikings What a Wonderful World and Full Power (2 weeks)

English The Three Little Pigs

Instructions for wolf soup

Wanted posters

Non-fiction Information about the

keeping the body healthy

Instructions for a healthy sandwich

KS1 CHRISTMAS PRODUCTION

There’s a Pebble in my Pocket

Poetry

Writing in role

Narrative description

Fact file

Varjak Paw Adventure

writing

Characterisation

Dialogue

There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom

Diary Entry

Character descriptions

Story writing

Wanted posters

Explanation writing

Wonder / Lady of Shallott /

The Highwayman

Poetry

Historical based texts

Explanation Texts

Non-Chron reports

Science Testing different materials

Making houses. Describe the simple

physical properties of a variety of everyday materials

Uses of everyday materials

Properties.

Squashing, bending, twisting and stretching.

Light and Shadows

Sources of light How do

shadows change?

Why do they change?

Animals including humans

Skeletons and muscles!

How we move

Changes in Materials

Grouping and classifying materials

Reversible and irreversible changes

Dissolving materials

Separating materials

Animals & Humans

Human circulatory system, and describe the functions of the heart, blood vessels and blood

Diet and Exercise

Nutrients and

water

Electricity Bulbs, buzzers

and voltage.

How components function

Symbols and circuits

History /Geography

Guy Fawkes 5th November

Celebrating event in assembly

Significant events in the past-Guy

Fawkes

Stone Age to Iron Age Britain.

(continued from last term)

Ancient Egypt The Nile

Hieroglyphics

Tomb and Mummies

Vikings Viking raids and

invasion

Resistance by Alfred the Great and Athelstan, first king of England

Further Viking invasions and Danegeld

What A Wonderful

World- (continued from

previous term)

Art & Design /

DT

Using clay to make a textured tile for a

house

Designing and making a

sandwich box

Pin hole cameras

Machines Pulleys and levers –

making the pyramids!

Cooking - Making a Viking meal

Electric circuit boards for

cards

Toys

SPRING 1 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6

Theme Time Travellers Rainforest/ Habitats

How Humans Work

Rock, Paper, Scissors

Earth and Space History AD900

English Beegu Instruction writing

Story writing

Non-fiction- research

Animal information – adjectives, food, habitats, commas in a list, Professor Know it all

See Inside your Body

Information poster

Instruction writing

Explanation writing

Air What is the

World Made of and Change it

Cosmic Non-chronological

reports

Poetry

Persuasive writing

Goodnight Mr Tom and

James Berry Poetry and

sentence openers, adverbs

Sloth leaflets

Spring Poetry

Report – Science writing- science

based

Benjamin Zephaniah Poetry

Diary entries

Debate texts

Authorial voice

Accents

Colloquialisms

Science Seasonal changes How the seasons change? (On-going throughout the

year)

Living things and their habitats

Being alive

Habitats

Different plants and animals in their habitats.

Food chains and sources of food.

Pupils’ investigations

What do Sloths eat?

Humans Nutrition.

Digestive system

Teeth

Healthy eating

How do I digest my food?

Types of teeth

Omnivore, carnivore, herbivore

States of Matter

Solids, liquids and gases

Heating and cooling

The water cycle

Earth and Space Sun and Moon

Shadows

Earth’s rotation

Moon phases

Eclipses and seasons

Moon

The solar system

Light Light appears to

travel in straight lines

use the idea that Reflection light into eye

How we ‘see’ something

Shadows

History /Geography

Atlas work Comparing Greenwich now

and then Queen’s House in

Greenwich

Rainforests Locating rainforests

on maps map

Naming and locating the 7 continents and 5 oceans of the world

Local Studies A local history

study Map work

Climate Oceans, rivers,

mountains, water cycle.

British Geography

History AD900 Maya buildings and artefacts left behind

Mayan worship

Mayan empire

Why the Maya empire declined

Benin culture

How the Edo/Benin

What happened to the Kingdom of Benin

The

Golden Age of Islam

Art & Design /

DT

Colour mixing Close observation drawing

Plants, sloths, minibeasts

Technique Mastery of techniques

such as drawing, painting and sculpture with varied materials

Technique Mastery of

techniques such as drawing, painting and sculpture with varied

materials

Designing rockets/

spaceships

Julian Opie Self portraits

Digital animation

Artist focus.

Sketching

How to make West African masquerade masks and costumes

How to create Islamic art

SPRING 2 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6

Theme Time Travellers continued

SATs build up How Humans Work

Our World-New World

Climate Change Out of Africa

English Where the Wild Things are

Letter writing

Keeping a captain’s log

Information book about the wild things

Magic Bed Stories in imaginary

settings

Postcards

Letter writing

The Lion and The Unicorn Diary entry Short story –

changing the ending

Character description

Report - Science

Tin Forest Stories in

Imaginary settings

Persuasive writing (environment)

Tuesday This morning I met a whale

magazine articles writing in role descriptive

passages hot seating corresponding

with book character

Story Writing Drama

Ghost week Non-Chron

reports

Persuasive and debate

writing

Newspapers

Science What do plants need to grow

Plants How seeds and bulbs

grow into mature plants.

Forces and Magnets

Electricity electrical

appliances

Living things and their habitats

Evolution and Inheritance

Different leaves

The water cycle How plants need water,

light and the right temperature to grow and stay healthy.

Pupils’ investigations

Attract and repel

Forces at a distance

Poles

Magnet and materials

circuits and parts

conductors and insulators

Flowering and non-flowering plants

Mammals and birds

Amphibians and insects

Fossils

Living things produce offspring of the same kind, but normally offspring vary and are not identical to their parents

Animals adaption and interdependence

Revision

History /Geography

Orienteering Difference between

locations – using maps to travel through different seas

Significant historical event

Local Studies (continued)

Our World Locate world’s

countries, focussing on Europe & Americas

Weather and climate

Identifying different climates

Weather forecasting

Seasons

Climate study

History AD900 Continued from last

term

Art & Design /

DT

Cross hatching to make

A wild thing

Georgia O’Keefe Technique Mastery of techniques

such as drawing, painting and sculpture with varied materials

Making use of motors

Use research & criteria to develop products which are

fit for purpose

Making weather vanes

Out of Africa- Kente cloth

making

SUMMER 1 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6

Theme Our World People of the past Different Places Similar Lives

Romans in Britain

Ancient Greece SATS

English The Enormous Turnip

Victorians Explanation text – causal

Hot Like Fire – Valerie Bloom

Mouse, bird, snake, wolf

Odysseus Writing in role

Revision

Changing the characters/object in a story

connectives Newspaper report

Florence Nightingale Thomas Barnardo

Performance Poetry

Debating Note taking

Poetry Stories which raise dilemmas

Arguments/ discussions

Poetry

Science Planting Beans/herbs to

grow/understand where food comes from

Plants Flowers, plants and Trees in the local environment.

Revision

Flowering plants Seeds and seed

dispersal

Reproduction

Parts of a flowering plant

Sound how sound is

made

vibrations

pitch, volume

sources of sound and distance

Animals including Humans

Life cycles

Babies

Growth

Puberty

Revision

History /Geography

Compass points

Researching people from the

past

Countries Locate world’s

countries

Use 8 points of compass, symbols & keys

Climate rivers, mountains, volcanoes, earthquakes.

Roman Empire & impact on

Britain: Julius Caesar’s

attempted invasion

Roman Empire & successful invasion

British resistance

Ancient Greece Who were the

Ancient Greeks?

How they lived

Athens and Sparta

Theatre

Democracy

Out of Africa The beginning of

life Prehistoric food

and cooking Superbugs

Art & Design /

DT

Keep a herb diary Cross sections of

vegetables

Sketching of different trees

Vegetable printing

Portraits of the past/self portraits

Great Artists Learn about great artists,

architects & designers

Mosaic Making Greek Making Sandals/

designing Greek pots

Making and masks

Out of Africa

SUMMER 2 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6

Theme Our World Hooray…it’s a holiday!

Different Places Similar Lives

Roman Customs and

Cookery

London Production/ Transition

English How to help our World

information posters

fact file

The lighthouse Keepers Lunch

Character analysis Diary Re-writing the story but

changing an event

Amazing Grace Play script Character

analysis Diary Recount

Instructional writing

Playwriting- Roman plays -Achilles

The London Eye Mysteries Odysseus

Newspapers

Instructional writing

Skellig and My Name is Mina

Scripts

Characterisation

Figurative language

Science Difference between animals and

humans Common animals including, fish, amphibians, reptiles,

birds and mammals

Plants How seeds and bulbs

grow into mature plants.

How plants need water, light and the right temperature to grow and stay healthy.

Pupils’ investigations

Revision Pupil led

investigations

Revision and open

investigations

Revision and open

investigations

In depth long term

experiments. (Child led) and

Evolution supporting SRE

History /Geography

United Kingdom Name & locate the four

countries and capital cities of the United Kingdom using

atlases & globes

Creating a map for Grinling Island

using symbols/key

Caribbean Comparing locations

(Caribbean and London)

Geographical and physical similarities and differences

Trade

Romans (continued)

History of London

History of the theatre

Research based project.

Historical and

country comparisons.

Art & Design /

DT

Andy Goldsworthy Landscapes Clay salad

Cooking (Caribbean Cuisine!)

Cooking (Roman cuisine!)

London Sketching and representing

Production Stage design Prop design

Costume design

Our Curriculum 2015-16

This year we have begun teaching the curriculum using the structure of the new National Curriculum as a basis for

teachers to plan a broad and balanced curriculum to meet the needs of our children while at the same time offering a

comprehensive curriculum, with a clear progression of learning and specific learning goals for every subject. Teachers

use a range of planning and teaching resources to support this, including the IPC (International Primary Curriculum)

where appropriate. This approach supports the development of a range of bespoke learning experiences for our

children.

Early Years and Foundation Stage Curriculum

EYFS is the Early Years and Foundation Stage (Nursery and Reception). In Nursery and Reception classes the children

follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. This involves activities and experiences for children in the following

seven areas (the three areas in bold are considered the ‘prime’ areas of focus:

• Communication and language development

• Physical development

• Personal, social and emotional development

• Literacy development

• Mathematics

• Understanding the world

• Expressive arts and design

Each of these areas has its own learning goals. By the end of Reception most children should have made significant

progress towards achieving these goals. The revised version of the curriculum can be downloaded below.

Link to information on the statutory EYFS Curriculum Link to the EYFS Framework

Specialist Teachers

At John Ball we have also developed the use of subject specialists. This ensures that our pupils receive the very best of

specialist teaching in some curriculum areas. At John Ball we have specialist teachers for dance and drama, music, PE,

French and Philosophy.

Modern Foreign Languages

All of our KS1 and 2 pupils receive teaching in French from a specialist French teacher. They attend a fortnightly lesson

with this teacher and their class teacher then follows up the key learning and vocabulary in class every second week,

using the French teacher’s plans and resources.

Music Education and the Performing Arts

All classes from KS1 and 2 receive a weekly music lesson from a music specialist teacher. In KS2 whole class

instrumental teaching is used such as ukulele and keyboard. As well as this, all pupils sing as part of a choir through a

weekly singing assembly led by our Performing Arts Leader. All of KS2 attend the Young Voices concert at the O2 every

two years. Every pupil in the school performs in some form of concert or production at Christmas, Years 3 and 4 put on

a dance concert in the spring term, with Years 5 and 6 putting on a full musical production in the summer.

As well as the music specialist teacher, we have a team of peripatetic music teachers who visit the school each week.

These lessons are paid for by parents or subsidised by the school, i.e. Pupil Premium funding. We have peripatetic

music teachers teaching guitar, cello, West African drumming, singing, piano, violin and harmonica.

Physical Education

For a full break down of the PE curriculum and how we spend our PE Premium money please see the PE Premium

section of the website as well as our weekly PE newsletter.

Religious Education

The RE curriculum is taught in one off RE days, once every half term in cross curricular lessons.

The purpose of the RE days is to immerse the children in a religion for a day and for them to understand the importance

of the religion and its traditions on the multitude of aspects of life, hence the cross curricular approach.

The reason for teaching RE should be guided and informed by the substantial influence religion has had on civilization.

Whether our children are religious or not, human culture and history has been driven by religion, and for many the way

we see the world is guided by religious tradition and belief, so understanding this is paramount to embedding a holistic

world view that takes account of history and culture, including the beliefs of non-religious people.

Moreover, RE is highly important in the modern age when specific religious communities are often mistakenly used as

scapegoats, or a religion is misinterpreted and used as justification for terrible crimes. RE teaching, then, should dispel

myths and ground religion in our society as the force for good as it fundamentally should be.

In London, and more specifically, in our school, we have a range of religions and cultures that are shaped by religion. RE

teaching then, will provide an opportunity to embrace and celebrate our differences in culture and beliefs, including

those of non-religious people, with the result being a better understanding of each other as humans, and a more

harmonious community.

Also, RE teaches important thinking skills about some fundamental questions in people's lives. John Ball's provision for

Philosophy supports this development of these skills.

Philosophy

We have worked with the Philosophy Foundation for over 7 years now. Each of our Y4 – 6 classes receive a half term’s

worth of input from Pete Worsley, an internationally renowned educator in this field. Pete works with teachers to link

his input to the curriculum being covered at that time.

Maths

As a cornerstone of our primary curriculum we, at John Ball, aim to support all children to become confident and

creative mathematicians. Our teaching approaches are designed to support children to notice the key links and the

interconnectivity of this vast subject area. There are five facets that are integral to our approach of subject area they

are:

•To be fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics; this includes written calculation strategies and basic number facts

such as number bonds or times tables.

•To be able to reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry and using accurate mathematical language to

explain ones ideas. This often takes the form of talk maths lessons or collaborative maths sessions.

•To gain confidence when problem solving; quite simply there would be no fun without pitting our wits against a

problem. Much of the problem solving work we do at John Ball is based on discussion and links directly to our aim of

reasoning mathematically. Children in every year group are exposed to open ended problems that require creativity

along with mathematical understanding. We take great pride in our children’s ability to not only solve problems but

create them (mathematical problems obviously) and many of our maths displays reflect the investigative approach that

allows our children to see themselves as mathematicians.

•To have a strong understanding of mental maths strategies; in many cases this will be the most useful mathematical

tool that we can supply our children with. To help our children adopt mental approaches we use many visual models as

well as physical movement to understand the relationship between numbers and the four operations.

•To play; we always aim to have an element (or a whole heap) of playing within our maths curriculum. It is essential to

move our children away from the ‘old school’ view of mathematics, ‘that it is for a select few’. It is through playing with

mathematical ideas that we are able to engage a wide range of children into this fascinating and rewarding subject.

Our aim is for children to become confident mathematicians who choose to challenge themselves at every opportunity.

English

At John Ball Primary School we believe it is ‘a child’s right to be literate and to enjoy literature.’ We recognise that each

child needs good literacy skills in order to access the curriculum and to enable children to communicate effectively and

to think critically. English sits at the heart of the primary curriculum and is explicitly defined as the four strands of

language - reading, writing, speaking and listening.

Our aims in teaching English at John Ball School are that all children will:

•develop a positive and confident attitude towards learning in English

•enjoy reading for pleasure, leading to reading for life

•develop the understanding, knowledge and literacy skills required to participate in a constantly changing society

•understand how literacy is useful to them

•use language to communicate in a variety of ways

•learn to work collaboratively and independently

•foster and develop language and literary talent

•review their own learning using skills and information to manage their own language and literacy development

Speaking and Listening

We value the importance of speaking and listening skills in helping to shape children’s social and emotional

development. We firmly believe that if a child cannot speak it – they will not be able to write it. In EYFS and Key Stage

1, this is strongly facilitated by approaches such as Pie Corbett’s ‘Talk for writing’. Over the course of the year children

learn a selection of stories to retell aloud. This supports them in internalising reading patterns and to rehearse the tune

of the language they will need. They can then magpie these ideas to help them to craft their writing, as well as giving

them the confidence to embellish their own writing. These speaking and listening skills continue to be taught and

fostered across the school through a variety of ways such as drama, presentation, conversation and discussion

activities.

Reading

We aim to develop a strong community of readers amongst both the children and staff at John Ball School. We value

the importance of books and literature in enabling children to become confident, happy and enthusiastic readers and

writers. We thrive to ensure that children experience high quality literature and hear a wide range of ambitious and

challenging language. We use ‘quality texts’ in our teaching sequences that are promoted through the ‘Centre of

Literacy and Primary Excellence’. As a school we continue to celebrate a ‘love of reading’ through assemblies and

various book week activities.

Children at John Ball learn to read through a mixture of individual, shared and guided reading. At John Ball the teaching

of reading is personalised to the individual child and the appropriate strategy adopted. We insist that each child must

read with an adult at least once a week. Guided reading sessions following the established teaching sequence take

place every day across the whole school and every class has at least one story read aloud to them daily.

We expect the children to have a ‘Book in the Bag’ at all times that they bring into school and take home every day. In

Key Stage 1 the children take home a ‘free choice’ book in addition to our ‘Oxford Reading Tree scheme.’ This

encourages children to develop their reading for pleasure and to choose the genre of books that they enjoy reading.

This is also a great opportunity for parents to read stories aloud to their children.

Phonics and Spelling

To support children with their decoding skills for reading, From EYFS to Key Stage 1 we provide the children with daily

phonics sessions that last around 20minutes. We use the government scheme ‘Letters and Sounds’ and ensure that the

handwriting is linked to our phonics teaching through the use of the Ruth Miskin patter for letter formation.

In KS2 spelling is taught using ‘Support for Spelling’ and is linked to handwriting taught according to The John Ball

Handwriting policy. Spelling and handwriting are planned on a fortnightly basis, so that each takes place 5 times in that

period on alternate days. In KS1 handwriting is modelled and practised daily for 10 minutes, according to the sequence

in the John Ball handwriting policy.

Writing

At John Ball we believe in providing the children with exciting and purposeful stimulus for writing. We aim to link our

writing outcomes with our curriculum themes where meaningful, with skills relating to grammar, punctuation,

handwriting and spelling taught discretely then applied and practised through a contextual theme. This means that the

children are writing for both audience and purpose, with much of their writing being published and presented to

parents and the wider school as part of the Exit Point of their unit of study. Presentation is valued highly and children

are encouraged to feel proud of their written outcomes.

Science - Our ethos

Physicians take an oath that commits them to ‘first do no harm’; the best science teachers, set out to ‘first develop and

maintain curiosity’ in their pupils. Without curiosity and wonder children lose their natural inclination to observe the

world, ask questions of it and investigate to find answers. Like this, primary science should be child-led and enquiry

based and saturated with curiosity and wonder for both teachers and pupils.

The Purpose of Study

A high-quality science education provides the foundations for understanding the world through the specific disciplines

of biology, chemistry and physics. Science has changed our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity, and all

pupils should be taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science. Through building

up a body of key foundational knowledge and concepts, pupils should be encouraged to recognise the power of rational

explanation and develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. They should be encouraged to

understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave, and analyse causes.

Above all science should be interesting and fun.

Science Curriculum

At John Ball pupils learn science through the structure of the new National Curriculum and through cross curricular links

with other subjects wherever possible. Science is still divided into two: the three bodies of knowledge, which are

biology, chemistry and physics, and then ‘working scientifically,’ which focuses on scientific skills. Much of the factual

science knowledge learning is learnt through investigations and ‘finding out’, but also by children having

misconceptions challenged. The easiest way to find out whether children have learned all these facts is through regular

self, peer and teacher assessment whether written or oral. This is why dialogue and discussion should be at the heart of

science learning. Teachers need to ensure that discussion and debate are a central theme in science lessons so that

pupils share and debate science knowledge. Skills are practical and experiential. They are not right or wrong; they are

developmental so that children build their scientific skills over time. Scientific skills should be developed in the pursuit

of ‘finding out’ so that children learn to apply their skills in order to investigate science questions. Like this, science

skills and knowledge are not taught separately, but science skills are used in order to acquire knowledge. Through the

five different types of investigation: Identifying and Classifying, Observation over time, Pattern Seeking, Fair testing and

Research, children should find answers to their science questions. It is important that children begin to understand

these five different types of investigation and which types of question each type will answer.

Computing in the National Curriculum

Computers are now part of everyday life. For most of us, technology is essential to our lives, at home and at work.

‘Computational thinking’ is a skill children must be taught if they are to be ready for the workplace and able to

participate effectively in this digital world.

All children at John Ball School will be taught how to:

•understand what algorithms are, how they are implemented as programs on digital devices, and that programs

execute by following precise and unambiguous instructions

•create and debug simple programs

•use logical reasoning to predict the behaviour of simple programs

This will be done though software like 'Scratch' and 'Espresso Coding' and a number of iPad apps like BeeBot, Robo

Logic and Daisy the Dinosaur.

KS1 and EYFS will also use Bee-Bots, the award winning programmable floor robots that are perfect as a starting point

for teaching control, directional language and programming to young children.

All classes have access to iPads, laptops and these will be used regularly both to teach specific computing skills and as a

learning tool for the wider curriculum, for example publishing written work in English, creating graphs or tables in

Maths and undertaking research in curricular topics.

Rights Respecting Schools Award

We are very proud to have been awarded, by UNICEF, the prestigious Rights Respecting Schools Award (RRS).

Respecting individuals and groups rights is at the very heart of everything we do at John Ball. We actively teach our

children about the United Nations Conventions for the Rights of Children (UNCRC). This means that our children

become knowledgeable about human rights and the responsibilities, we each have, that underpin our local and global

communities. By learning about the Convention, our children discover that:

• They have rights

• They should be informed about their rights

• They should be helped to exercise their rights

• They should be able to enforce their rights

• There should be a community of interest to advocate young people’s rights

This ethos has helped us to provide an ‘outstanding’, supportive and positive learning environment.

Each school year begins with classes drawing up their own class charters reflecting upon the articles of the UNCRC. Our

children learn from a young age that their voice matters and that together we can create a better society for the future.

Throughout the school year campaigns are run raising awareness for many fantastic causes and charities. Over the past

year we have had clothes collections (for children in Syria), numerous cake sales and a UNICEF fair (designed and run by

year 6).

In the classroom we explore rights themes through our choice of class books; during our topic work we research

influential historical figures such as Janusz Korczak and Rosa Parks and we explore both our local and global community

through our society and international themes in our International Primary Curriculum work. Our Year 5 and 6 team of

‘Rights Ambassadors’ are always on hand during play times to discuss any issues that arise in a rights respecting

manner. Along with the Rights Team, Eco Committee and School Council we ensure that our children’s voices are heard.

Make sure you look out for our rights respecting discussions that you will find in J-Buzz; that link to our assemblies, and

join in with our whole school conversations on rights.

SMCS and the promotion of British Values

The Unicef Rights Respecting schools has values at their centre. We believe as a school that these values are very much

in line with those at the centre of the DfE guidance

Link to DfE SMCS guidance

Through our provision for SMSC, we believe that our children should:

• develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence;

• be able distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England;

• encourage students to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative, and to understand how they can

contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality of the school and to society more widely;

• acquire a broad general knowledge of and respect for public institutions and services in England;

• develop further tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions by enabling students to acquire an

appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures;

• encourage respect for other people; and

• encourage respect for democracy and support for participation in the democratic processes, including respect for the

basis on which the law is made and applied in England.

We have a full SMCS evidence grid which is available on request. This shows many of the different ways that we provide

the opportunities for our children to develop all of the above.