Bolsover Church of England Junior School

• A thematic learning approach that is flexible and adaptable to the meet the needs of our individual pupils alongside the discreet teaching of reading, writing, grammar, spelling and maths.
• Planned opportunities to teach and revisit key skills, knowledge and understanding in order to secure learning and ensure progress.
• An approach which allows for feedback to be provided at the point of learning.
• Memorable experiences to hook and engage our pupils into their learning.
• Thematic lessons which begin with a “big start” and end with a “big finish”
• Quality key texts that promote the use and development of rich vocabulary.
• Develop oracy skills through a range of exciting speaking and listening opportunities and challenges.
• Opportunities to develop pupils social and emotional skills
• High quality support and (wherever possible) same day intervention to meet identified needs including pre and post teaching.
• A strong community approach with pupils at the very heart.

Through the teaching of our curriculum, we aim for every child to grow and flourish and leave Bolsover with a strong sense of well-being as well as the knowledge, skills and understanding to help shape the society in which they will live.

Despite partial school closures in 2020 and 2021, our curriculum continues to be broad, balanced and include the essential knowledge, understanding and skills whilst at the same time working to recover missed learning that is essential for our pupils to progress. As a consequence, we have developed policies and practices, including a blended learning approach to ensure standards both in and out of school remain high and that learning time is maximized. The intentions of the curriculum are deeply rooted within the work of the school where approaches are adapted to meet the changing demands in society whilst ensuring we serve our children and community with a bespoke core.

Information about each of the curriculum subjects (along with policies and overviews) can be found under the "curriculum" tab and by selecting the subject.

Due to the potential need for working remotely at home during this academic year (due to pupils individually or a class/year-group bubble needing to self-isolate) we have amended our individual subject policies with the following addendum to outline how subjects are adapted and monitored while teaching and learning takes place virtually and at home: Curriculum Subjects' Policy Addendum

For further information about our Virtual Teacher Programme, please click here.

Our Teaching and Learning Approach

At the very heart of ensuring our children make excellent progress is quality first teaching and learning. The ‘Teach Simply’ model (Revisit/Review, Teach, Practice, Assess, Apply) is informed by current research and, very importantly, ensures that our children know and remember more whilst drawing upon the most pertinent principles of quality first teaching and learning.

Our curriculum is designed using the Cornerstones curriculum which is broken down into the following areas:

More information can be found out about this here.

Please find below our Whole School Curriculum Map, that covers all aspects of the Key Stage 2 National Curriculum 2014. Scroll down below to see the areas of learning we cover in each year group. To see how our curriculum covers the primary national curriculum, check it out here.

(Updated: March 2021)

The Progression of Knowledge, Skills and Vocabulary at Bolsover CE Junior School 

Click on each subject area below to discover the curriculum documents for each subject. These contain the overviews throughout Key Stage 2 - along with the units and areas covered - and the progression of knowledge, skills and vocabulary for each year group.

We have developed these in collaboration with our main feeder (Bolsover Infant and Nursery School) school's curriculum in mind. The Key Stage 1 objectives contained in these reflect their curriculum. This ensures there is a sequential build up of skills and knowledge from KS1 to KS2. For further information about their curriculum, check out their website here: Bolsover Infant & Nursery School - Curriculum (bolsover-inf.derbyshire.sch.uk)

Updated: March 2021

Knowledge Organisers

We recognise that when schools and parents work together, children’s outcomes are improved. With this is mind, we have created half termly ‘Knowledge Organisers’, which are used both in school and sent home for children and parents to refer to.

These relate to class themes and science work, and feature key facts, dates and vocabulary that children will need to learn in order to support their learning in class. They also identify knowledge our children should know before beginning each area of learning along with ideas for enquiry and further learning at home. 

Knowledge Organisers are referred to on a regular basis during lessons, and children complete a pre and post assessment work at the beginning and end of each area of learning to assess what knowledge and skills they already know and what they have retained.

Find the relevant year group and click on the area of learning below to access the relevant Knowledge Organiser.

Subject specific knowledge organisers can be found on the subject pages.

For further information about our school's curriculum, please refer to the individual subject pages under the "curriculum tab" on our school website.

Alternatively, if you have any further queries, please contact Mr Backhouse (Deputy Headteacher) at school on 01246 822324, or via email, at info@bolsover-jun.derbyshire.sch.uk.