National Curriculum
We teach the National Curriculum to Years 1-6 and the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum to our children in Reception and Nursery. We want our children to learn and have fun whilst they are learning and that's what we aim to do at Barnet Hill Academy; make learning fun, enjoyable, inquisitive and a creative process so that our children develop a love for learning, reading, mathematical enquiry and everything else a rich curriculum has to offer...we regulalry upload our plans; Annual, Half-Termly and even fortnightly targets (English & Maths) to enable parents to track, engage and support their child's learning journey whilst at the Academy. |
Our Curriculum
At Barnet Hill Academy we utilise an innovate curriculum planning tool, Cornerstones, to design and plan our curriculum from EYFS through to Year 6. We integrate our Islamic Studies curriculum with our National Curriculum planning and this planning is shared with our parental community to empower parents to assist and help with their child's learning.
Our Annual Curriculum Plans are available online, alongside our Half-Termly planning and Fortnightly Learning which is shared via our website under the 'Curriculum' menu.
The Creative Curriculum
At Barnet Hill Academy we use the Cornerstones Curriculum as a basis for our topic work. We have customised Cornerstones to meet the needs of all our groups of learners and provide a broad, rich and deep curriculum. Each topic is split into the four cornerstones; Engage, Develop, Innovate and Express.
Engage: we feel this is a highly valuable stage of learning as it provides our pupils with first hand experiences and overcomes some of the barriers to their learning:
- Gain memorable first-hand experiences, such as going on a visit or inviting a special visitor into school
- Enjoy ‘WOW’ experiences
- Get an exciting introduction to a topic or theme
- Begin researching and setting enquiry questions
- Get lots of opportunities to make observations
- Develop spoken language skills
- Take part in sensory activities
- Have lots of fun to fully 'engage' with their new topic
Develop: At the ‘Develop’ stage, children:
- Improve their knowledge and understanding of the topic
- Develop and practice their new skills
- Compose, make, do, build, investigate, explore, write for different purposes and read across the curriculum
- Research their own questions and those set by others
- Follow new pathways of enquiry based on their interests
- Complete homework activities that support their learning.
Innovate: at the ‘Innovate’ stage, children:
- Apply skills, knowledge and understanding in real-life contexts
- Solve real or imagined problems using everything they’ve learnt
- Get inspired by imaginative and creative opportunities
- Revisit anything not fully grasped at the ‘Develop’ stage.
Express: at the ‘Express’ stage, children:
- Become the performers, experts and informers
- share their achievements with parents, classmates and the community
- evaluate finished products and processes
- link what they have learnt to where they started
- celebrate their achievements!