Junior School Curriculum

At BHSA, we are incredibly proud of our curriculum provision, which is engaging and enriching. Our children are encouraged to share their interests, link their learning to solve problems, raise questions and follow lines of enquiry with independence and curiosity. We believe in preparing our children for the future by enabling them to acquire knowledge and skills, whilst developing attributes through a range of experiences both in and out of the classroom. National Curriculum statutory requirements are fulfilled and in addition to this, our BHSA curriculum is organised to address any social disadvantage, offering experiences and opportunities that are broad and balanced so that all children can develop the cultural capital to succeed in modern Britain.

High quality texts are integral to the planning process, allowing children to see the links between language, reading and writing. Core subject skills are promoted regularly across the week, through specifically timetabled phonics, reading and mental maths sessions. Handwriting and punctuation are integrated within the English curriculum and spelling is explicitly taught through a combination of ongoing phonics, orthography, and morphology to build deep, lasting word awareness. Presentational and communication standards, including public speaking, are practised regularly ​with opportunities to develop oracy throughout the year, but with specific events to promote this, such as our annual Poetry Competition, Science presentations and other performances.

At BHSA Junior School, the subjects of RE and PSHE are considered vitally important to children’s broader understanding and cultural awareness of the world. These subjects are prioritised within the timetable and taught as discrete lessons each week. Our core values of respect, forgiveness and kindness are explored in Monday and Friday assemblies and collectively as a class throughout the week. EDI is woven into each assembly and reflective activities are planned for each half-term relating to assembly themes. Our Welcome Club is also a hugely popular club, which promotes equality , diversity and inclusion, with the children exploring a variety of themes including accessibility, religious/cultural festivals and sense of belonging. Our weekly Bugle newsletter and monthly foyer displays are kept updated with religious/cultural festivals across the year with the aim being to build-up awareness, open up conversations at home and also ensure all members of the community feel recognised and welcome. 

Our values of being respectful, forgiving and kind, and learn without limits, are embedded in all that we do at BHSA Junior School, promoting the qualities of being a good learner, a good friend, a good global and online citizen and being the best that we can be, having no limits on what we can achieve. 

We have worked to develop a curriculum which our children enjoy: we celebrate their learning and the development of a thirst for learning to ensure lifelong learning behaviours such as oracy, resilience and collaboration. These are embedded throughout the children’s learning journey; at BHSA, children are encouraged to have a growth mindset and recognise mistakes as stepping-stones to learning.

We have an incredible and dedicated staff team who work together to ensure our curriculum provision goes ‘above and beyond’. We have specialist teachers in music, PE and languages and our children benefit from close links with the older students in our Senior School and also from the specialist facilities on our very own doorstep, including: the extensive library, theatre space, sports hall and swimming pool. Our curriculum ensures a commitment to learning about the world beyond school, arts, culture and creativity as well as mental health and wellbeing. We raise long term aspirations for our pupils by making explicit links to life beyond school, allowing children to see the relevance of their learning.