The Learning Challenge Curriculum

At Butterstile we have adopted Focus Education’s ‘Learning Challenge Curriculum’ to help us deliver the foundation subjects and develop cross curricular links in English and Mathematics. This approach encourages children to take a greater role in designing their curriculum through the investigation of ideas and the use of questions as a starting point for learning.

The key drivers of the Learning Challenge approach are:

• Planned around distinctive needs of our children
• Enquiry based learning which promotes curiosity
• Outcomes driven to raise standards
• To embed the application of basic skills
• To allow writing to be meaningfully embedded
• Cross curricular (where meaningful)
• Interesting for the children as well as the teacher

We teach key skills through all curriculum subjects and we also develop them within the pastoral curriculum.  Progression in key skills is at the heart of our curriculum planning.  Children are given many opportunities to develop the application of these skills in as many different activities as possible.

Teaching staff are encouraged to enthuse the children and broaden their experiences through the ‘WOW’ factor e.g. off-site visits, visitors into school and shared experiences of the wider school community. This works really well at the beginning of an enquiry but can be used anywhere. Children’s achievements are celebrated regularly in the school through displays in classrooms and shared areas and in assemblies where children are encouraged to share their knowledge with the rest of the school.

Please see the class pages for further details.