Our Bespoke Hartburn Curriculum
The Hartburn Curriculum is successfully designed to be ambitious and meet the needs of pupils, developing their knowledge, skills and abilities to apply what they know and can do with increasing fluency and independence. All pupils make progress; they know more, remember more and are able to do more.
Leaders at Hartburn have constructed a curriculum that is ambitious and designed to give all pupils, particularly disadvantaged pupils and including pupils with SEND, the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life. The National Curriculum objectives are the foundation of our Hartburn Curriculum which demonstrates breadth and ambition. Hartburn Curriculum is coherently planned and sequenced towards cumulating sufficient knowledge and skills for future learning and employment.
All pupils study the full curriculum; a broad range of subjects are taught including English, Maths, Science, Physical Education, Computing, Design and Technology, Art, History, Religious Education, Geography and Personal Development. Many of these subjects are delivered through a topic-based approach, where relevant, to make learning meaningful and to provide opportunities to transfer skills across the curriculum; pupils can make relevant links between topics and subjects.
The Hartburn Curriculum is annually reviewed and refined; the local context and typical gaps are carefully considered to ensure high expectations for progress and attainment for all pupils. Our bespoke Hartburn curriculum is underpinned by three main principles:
- High Expectations
- Resilience
- Local & Global Responsibility
At Hartburn we provide a safe, caring and friendly environment for all our pupils to allow them to learn effectively, maximise their potential and be proud of the area they live in. Leaders foster pride in our local area and pupils develop a strong sense of place and history through annual heritage celebrations; in fact heritage and future opportunities are weaved into all aspects of our curriculum. Local and global responsibility is promoted across school. The Hartburn Curriculum fosters a deep knowledge and love of our local heritage; pupils at Hartburn are very proud and respectful citizens of Teesside. We enjoy lots of strong links with local schools and businesses. Pupils can recognise and talk about local landmarks, the development of our region and the opportunities it can offer. Hartburn Primary School is a Rights Respecting School and our ethos actively promotes British Values and Global Learning. Everything we do is child centred. We are proud of our heritage and incredibly proud to be part of the larger Stockton community.
At Hartburn, our curriculum is very rich and engaging. Pupils have a wide range of opportunities to excel in lots of areas including academic subjects, performing arts and competitive sport. A broad range of subjects are studied; learning is sequential and progressive. We challenge the pupils to aim high and to be ambitious. Developing reading skills and fostering a love of reading underpins all aspects of our curriculum.
Reading is prioritised at Hartburn Primary School; it is key to accessing a broad and balanced curriculum and ensuring pupils are pursuing interests to read for information and pleasure. All staff are experts in early reading, higher order thinking and debate; they foster a love of reading and are reading role models. School leaders and a group of pupils – ‘Hartburn Reading Champions’- and Reading Star Awards constantly raise the profile of reading across school. The content and sequence of our Hartburn Phonics programme supports pupils’ progress. Reading books are matched to the sounds pupils know. Pupils are taught phonics from Nursery and pupils who fall behind are supported to catch up quickly and keep up.
Systematic, synthetic phonics work is the prime approach to decoding print. Pupils become fluent readers having secured word recognition skills by the end of Key Stage One. Discrete daily sessions which include a multi-sensory approach, progressing from simple to more complex phonics knowledge and skills, ensure rapid progress which is assessed regularly. Reading is not just phonics. Hartburn curriculum offer ensures language comprehension, fluency and inference are developed thoroughly.
Our school is regarded as an integral part of the local community and we all work in partnership to ensure our pupils are a credit to us all. Hartburn Primary School is a highly effective organisation, but we will never be complacent. The school works collaboratively with Trust and Partnership schools; we are forward facing and determined to provide a bespoke curriculum to meet the needs of the pupils we serve. We have high expectations; leaders and staff are relentlessly ambitious and consistently aim for outstanding outcomes for all pupils.
Personal development is carefully sequenced and underpins all aspects of pupils learning and their experiences at school. This is evidenced in the high standards of behaviour throughout the school, the high levels of engagement and enjoyment seen in lessons and the positive relationships between all members of the school community. Our curriculum also fosters positive character qualities which are encompassed in our Hartburn Hopes. Pupils at Hartburn endeavour to be courageous, honest, compassionate, respectful, resilient, and ambitious and they understand the importance of these virtues. Our pupils are shining examples of our school ethos; their conduct is exemplary and they demonstrate impeccable manners on a daily basis.
We provide a stimulating wider curriculum where all pupils benefit from a diverse range of experiences. Pupils enjoy a raft of educational and residential visits during their journey through primary school to enrich learning and to promote personal challenge, independence and teamwork. Our pupils enjoy an engaging curriculum filled with real life experiences which foster independence, collaboration and determination to succeed; essential skills for life.
Teaching and learning at Hartburn promotes growth mind-set. We actively foster a culture of resilience where pupils feel safe and encouraged to problem solve, question, debate and express opinions. In order to build resilience, teachers and pupils are encouraged to embrace challenge; mistakes are expected, respected, inspected and corrected. Pupils demonstrate resilience and determination every day and are really keen to reach and exceed their targets. Challenge is embedded in the learning culture of our school and pupils demonstrate highly positive attitudes to their learning, exploring problems with their learning partners and regularly reflecting on their learning.
There is a demonstrable energy and purpose to learning in our school. Our classes enjoy learning through themed topics. These include lots of rich experiences which are lots of fun and memorable. All pupils throughout school learn in and outside the classroom. The Hartburn pond and outdoor classrooms form part of our eco area where pupils enjoy learning about plants, animals, conservation and growing their own food. We are very proud to announce that we have achieved our Bronze Eco Award and are working hard to achieve our Green Flag Award.
We are an incredibly health conscious school; healthy eating and fitness is very important to us. Skilled sports coaches lead lessons in a wide range of sports from gymnastics to cricket. Pupils also participate in weekly high intensity training to improve our physical performance. We also offer daily sports clubs; this after-school provision caters for all interests. We are proud to announce that we have been awarded the Gold Award for competitive sports again! Our delivery of the teaching of PE is underpinned by The School Games values (Determination, Respect, Self-belief, Passion, Teamwork and Honesty) and these values are an integral to our PE curriculum. Research shows that there is a direct correlation between physical confidence and academic progress. Regular physical activity promotes growth and development and has multiple benefits for physical and mental health that undoubtedly contribute to learning; pupils achieve well in physical education and this positively impact on their progress in other subjects.
As well as our academic achievements, we encourage our pupils to excel in all areas including the arts, sport and languages and we have some extremely talented pupils. By the end of Key Stage 2, our experienced performers bring audiences to tears with their maturity and empathy. Our weekly ‘Live Lounge’ social media posts are examples of how we nurture performance skills for a real audience to foster confidence and bring the community together to celebrate success.
At Hartburn we develop leaders for the future and there are many opportunities for pupils to develop in this area: pupil leaders such as The Sports Leaders, Playground Friends, School Librarians, Rights Knights and the Digital Leaders , to name a few, demonstrate role model behaviour. The Skills Builder Partnership has been introduced to the Hartburn Curriculum in October 2020. Pupils master essential skills to make the most of their time in school, and to thrive in their wider lives and employment. Working with the Skills Builder Partnership supports every child to develop listening, speaking, problem solving, creativity, staying positive, aiming high, leadership and teamwork, as a core part of their learning.
At Hartburn we are learning for life!