At Blaendulais Primary, we will aim to ensure our school is a safe, fun and happy learning environment.
Our goal at Blaendulais Primary School is to nurture, inspire, support and challenge all of our children. We will achieve this through enjoyable, meaningful and diverse learning experiences in a supportive environment, which places wellbeing and self-We have consulted with parents, staff, governors, and most importantly children to find out what our children need in their curriculum. This has been completed through parent/governor questionnaires, class discussions, assemblies, and staff consultations.
This will ensure our pupils at Blaendulais Primary become happy, confident and proud members of their community. This will enable our pupils to be literate, numerate, digitally competent and independent life-long learners.
Our curriculum is constructed to meet the requirements of the four purposes with learning opportunities carefully constructed to give pupils the opportunities to develop the skills, knowledge, and experiences they need through interconnecting meaningful concepts. We focus on real-life contexts which develop pupils ability to use their thinking skills to evaluate, analyse and create in different contexts when required.
The ‘what matters statements’ from the Areas of Learning and Experience have been carefully considered and, through our adapted ‘Cornerstones’ curriculum learning opportunities have been identified to provide meaningful learning activities. Pupils will be engaged, innovative, and expressive while they develop their knowledge, and their ability to learn and to understand these statements.
All learning and teaching throughout the school, will be underpinned by ‘The Four Purposes’. These four purposes will be taught implicitly and explicitly throughout each stage of your child’s education. There will be a driving concept behind each term of planning, although topics can be different. Your child will be taught that learning starts with them and their family and moves through into their community, their Wales and onto their view of the wider world, therefore developing their sense of belonging (CYNEFIN). They will learn about their effect on these and the affect they have on them. Learning and teaching across each stage will change and be adapted over time as the world we live evolves at a rapid pace.
The progression of your child will now be measured through progression steps. These steps will be based on a continuum of learning from ages 3-16, with learners being taught at their appropriate level of challenge along the continuum. At each progression step there will be descriptions of learning, differentiated to the needs of your child based on their personal development. We will no longer make one off judgements on the overall achievement of your child or undertake specific assessment activities to make a judgement about their progression at a set age. Instead, we will now monitor and assess your child throughout their learning, in order to create a rounded judgement on their progression.
We are developing a school based understanding of progression and understanding of how we use assessing of progress within learning. As a school we will dedicate time during weekly staff Professional Learning Meetings to discuss progression within and across AoLEs.
We will work within and beyond our cluster of schools to develop and refine a common understanding of progression and assessing of progression. This will be through regular cluster meetings with a focus on progression.
In Blaendulais Primary Primary School we characterised progress as:
. Progress through the curriculum by building on what they know and can do
. Developing the knowledge and skills specified in a planned curriculum, such as those in mathematics, science or the arts
. Developing thinking skills, and ability to think about what they have learned and to apply this in new ways.
. Develop personal attributes for learning, including independence, resilience and collaboration.
.Develop pupils own ability to manage their own health and well-being.
Pupils will be given effective feedback and time to reflect on the feedback so that they can have a clear idea of what they need to do to improve. Teachers will model self evaluation so that pupils can progress with their ability to self-evaluate.
A range of assessments will be used by teachers, both summative and formative, to record and evidence the progress pupils are making and to indicate where they need to go next on their learning journey.
This will ensure our pupils at Blaendulais Primary become happy, confident and proud members of their community.
