Curriculum

Learning and achievement drives everything we do at Hillbrook School. Our school aims are:

To provide a warm and welcoming environment which is clean, safe and secure and allows everyone to learn
To develop a whole school community that values positive attitudes, relationships and mutual respect and where high standards of behaviour are demonstrated and expected
To have the highest possible expectations of all children so that every child can achieve their maximum potential
To be a fully inclusive school that celebrates and recognises the needs and abilities of our community, valuing everyone and ensuring everyone is of equal importance
To offer a rich, relevant and meaningful curriculum, full of memorable learning experiences that develops enquiring minds and fosters a life-long love of learning
To promote and inspire a collaborative community spirit where parents and carers are supportive, engaged and involved in their child’s learning journey
To foster and develop children’s emotional wellbeing, their resilience and their mental and physical health

A crucial part of achieving these aims is that we have an ambitious and carefully designed curriculum. We understand it is vital for every child to succeed academically, but that they also need to develop well personally and socially. We aim for them to grow into well-rounded individuals who are interested in the world around them and can contribute to their community.

At Hillbrook Primary school we define learning as “the acquisition of new knowledge and skills, which build on prior understanding and experiences to have an effect on long term memory.” We design, organise and plan our curriculum and teaching to ensure that children are not merely covering national curriculum content, but achieving a depth to their learning which enables them to use their knowledge, skills and understanding across a broad range of subjects.

Our careful curriculum design means that we build in many opportunities for children to revisit essential knowledge and practise skills to deepen their understanding in every subject. This ensures that children are able to retrieve previous learning, so that key knowledge skills and processes are embedded and can be applied in different contexts.

At Hillbrook, we understand our school context and the benefits and challenges this brings for the children in our care. Careful analysis and discussion about our pupils’ backgrounds, life experiences and culture has helped us to design a curriculum which celebrates their strengths whilst helping them to overcome the potential barriers to learning. We believe that by focusing on the following key priorities, our children will be ready to successfully meet the challenges of the next stage of their education and their lives:

Provide all children with a wide range of learning experiences
Develop children’s language skills, with a focus on vocabulary development
Personalise learning, where necessary, to meet the needs of individuals
Ensure our curriculum reflects the diversity within school

We have designed and planned our curriculum to offer a range of experiences which contribute to every child receiving a full, rich and broad curriculum. We do not narrow the curriculum because we believe that every child is entitled to experience the full range of subjects during their time at Hillbrook.

Highly skilled subject leaders have designed progressive curriculum maps which ensure children gain the key knowledge and skills in every subject. Our knowledgeable and skilful teachers endeavour to ensure that every child is included in all subjects by making necessary adaptations.

The range of experiences we offer supports our children academically but also ensures that their spiritual, moral, social and cultural needs are met. We are incredibly proud of our curriculum and the experiences we provide children, who in turn demonstrate how they are proud of our school and the diverse community to which we all belong. We are proud that our curriculum gives our children the knowledge, skills, confidence and self-belief to lead a happy and fulfilled life by encouraging them to always aim high and work towards being responsible, resilient and reflective members of society.

Year Group Curriculum Overview

For more detailed curriculum information, please see the subject pages.