Our Curriculum

To find our Curriculum Overview click here 

Our Curriculum Content

Here at Bradley C of E (VC) Primary School, we teach a broad and balanced curriculum, creatively planned to engage and excite our pupils. We seek to provide a wealth of opportunities, for pupils to practise and apply their English and Mathematics skills across the curriculum. We draw on a range of resources including the Inspire materials (Cornwall Learning), various ‘Online’ education packages, including Purple Mash and Mathletics, and we make use of our beautiful outdoor space as much as we can. Our Church School status, puts us in the fortunate position of being able to work closely with the diocese of Derby, our local church and vicar, to ensure that Christian values are embedded in our curriculum, and that our pupils benefit from the sharing of these values through daily collective worship (assembly).

We teach PSHE both explicitly in planned lessons, but also weave the strands of PSHE through everything we teach. We use a variety of resources, and try wherever possible to link activities to current issues, locally, nationally and globally. We use a variety of resources to teach children about staying healthy and safe, sex and relationships, and the threats associated with cyber-bullying, including child sexual exploitation. We teach our pupils about safeguarding, and visits from Childline and resources such as Barnardos  ‘Real Love Rocks’ materials, help us to deliver these programmes in a meaningful way for each age group. All resources are age-appropriate, and some topics are covered just with years 5 and 6.

It is our aim, in all that we do, to embed the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. In doing so, we hope to enable our pupils to develop and demonstrate skills and attitudes that will allow them to participate fully in and contribute positively to life in modern Britain.

In Reception, our youngest pupils follow the EYFS curriculum, which is integrated creatively into the KS1 program of study wherever possible.

Pupils in KS1 and KS2 study Mathematics, English, Science, RE (according to the Derbyshire agreed syllabus, 2014), PSHE & citizenship, PE (including swimming in both KS1 & KS2) Computing, History, Geography, Art & Design, Design Technology & French.  Subjects are woven in to themes, so that our pupils benefit from a rich tapestry of opportunity every day. The KS1 curriculum is taught on a 2-year cycle and a 4-year cycle is operated in KS2.

Pupils are taught in ability groups, rather than year groups, giving us the flexibility to ensure all pupils receive the correct level of support and challenge.

Phonics

Phonics is taught in EYFS & KS1 and across the school where necessary. We follow the Sounds Write program.  

Independent Enterprise:

KS2 pupils have developed their enterprise and business skills by running events such as a French Café to which they invited parents, governors and members of the local community and a Pizza Parlour – which is advertised to the school community and beyond. 

KS2 Residential visit

KS2 pupils will also encounter a diverse range of challenges, as they go on a week-long residential visit. In the past we have been to Norfolk, Wales, Lea Green and York. The children enjoy the independence of being away from home and visiting new places, often discovering things for the first time. 

Our Rich Curriculum

Our very small classes, enable us to tailor work closely to pupil need. We always try to group pupils by ability, rather than ‘year group’. In this way, we can ensure that pupils are both challenged and supported appropriately.

We offer a broad and balanced curriculum across all years. We work hard to ensure that subjects are taught creatively, with as many opportunities as possible for real-life learning, in real-life contexts. Above all, we aim to make learning fun for our pupils.

As we are a small school we are able to offer music tuition to all junior pupils, forest school and swimming from Reception all the way through to Year 6. The children are excellent cooks; we make pancakes to learn about fractions, scones to learn about weighing and measuring and dishes from around the globe, to learn about different cultures. We have taken part in Judo, Mountain Biking around Carsington Water, Climbing at the University of Derby, Tennis delivered by Ashbourne Tennis Club plus we regularly take part in tournaments at our feeder secondary school, Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School. 

We offer a wide range of visits and experiences to support pupils learning; as part of a topic on Warhorse, Year 5&6 visited the World War 1 Trenches near Lichfield. For a literacy topic on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the children visited Cadbury World. We often make visits out into the local community such as a visit to The Well Dressings at Tissington and Brailsford Ploughing Match. The children are very active and will walk around Carsington Water, along the Tissington Trail or to the top of Thorpe Cloud - it is important to our school that we take advantage of the local surrounding area. We also have our own Forest School a short walk from the school site. The children love pond dipping, building shelters and toasting marshmallows around the firepit.