Subject Intent and Curriculum Maps - Millbrook Primary School

Each July we review our curriculum and make changes to our subject specific topics for the coming year. Subject leaders reflect on areas of their subject that are taught well and areas that need development. Leaders will talk to children, staff, look in books and observe lessons to help them build a picture of their subject within our school.

The subject specific topic maps for each National Curriculum subject can be found on the links below:

At Millbrook, our Art and Design curriculum aims to nurture confident, resilient, ambitious and knowledgeable artisans. Our Art curriculum provides children with the opportunity to learn the skills of drawing, printing, collage, textiles, 3D work and digital art and provides the opportunity to explore and evaluate different creative ideas. It provides them with opportunities to develop a range of ways in which they share and express their individual creativity, whilst learning about and making links with a wide spectrum of different types of art in our society. Art contributes to children’s personal development in creativity, independence, judgement and self-reflection. Moreover, it enables pupils to develop a natural; sense of wonder and curiosity about the world around them and therefore links strongly to our school values. We are regular visitors to and friends of the fabulous Kirkby Gallery which is situated in town.

At Millbrook, Design and Technology should provide children with a real-life context for learning. We want to allow children to aspire to be more; creating opportunities for them in the wider world. Through the Design and Technology curriculum, children should be inspired by engineers, designers, chefs and architects to enable them to create a range of structures, mechanisms, textile, electrical systems and food products with real life purpose. Regular visits to Liverpool City Centre enables our children to appreciate the fantastic chefs, designers etc. we have close to our Kirkby home.

Through our Computing curriculum at Millbrook C.P School, our aim is for every pupil to become confident, independent users of technology; equipped to meet developing technology with resilience, confidence, enthusiasm and the skills that will prepare them for a future in an ever-changing world. The progression of skills throughout school allows children to build on prior knowledge and allows, as children progress through the curriculum, for children to be able to express themselves in many different media using technology. We aim to inspire children to think about how their computational skills, can be used in the real world. For example, a green screen is used in some filming by the media and programming is how the games and software children use are made.

We aim to provide our pupils with the life-skills that will enable them to embrace and utilise new technology in a socially responsible and safe way in order to flourish. We want our pupils to be able to operate in the 21st century workplace. We aim for our children to leave Millbrook being digitally literate by being able to use, express themselves and develop their ideas through information and communication technology. We aim to ensure that the children have begun developing a skill set which would be suitable for employment in later life.

We want children to become autonomous, independent users of computing technologies, gaining confidence and enjoyment from their activities. We strive to provide opportunities in all subjects to motivate and inspire pupils and raise standards across the curriculum through the use of information and communication technology. We want to ensure that our curriculum is fully inclusive to every child. Not only do we want them to be digitally literate and competent end-users of technology but through our computer science lessons we want them to develop creativity, resilience ,communication, problem-solving and critical thinking skills. We want our pupils to have a breadth of experience to develop their understanding of themselves as individuals within their community but also as members of a wider global community and as responsible digital citizens. We want all children to understand the importance of being ready, respectful and safe at all times, both in the real world and online. We actively engage the children in developing their understanding of how to use the internet safely. We aim to stimulate children’s curiosity but ensure that they are equipped to be safe explorers and users of the online world. We believe children need to be aware of the world around them and be able to make smart decisions.

At Millbrook, we aim to ensure that our children are confident, resilient, ambitious and knowledgeable learners. Our Geography curriculum nurtures responsible global citizens who are confident in their knowledge and understanding of place and appreciate, and respect, the diverse cultures and traditions of our world. This will be achieved by promoting the children’s interest and understanding about places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes.

At Millbrook, we aim to ensure that our children are confident, resilient, ambitious and knowledgeable learners. The History curriculum at Millbrook intends to offer each a coherent knowledge and understand of Britain’s past and that of the world. It aims to inspire curiosity and nurture their respect for the complexity of people’s lives – both now and then. History helps Millbrook children to gain a sense of identify whilst recognising the importance of making a responsible contribution to the world.

At Millbrook, our Music curriculum aims to nurture confident, resilient, ambitious and knowledgeable musicians. The Music curriculum provides children with opportunities to compose music using transcription and to experience a wide range of music in order to describe and perform through singing and playing musical instruments. The curriculum enables pupils to experience a vast range of music through a carefully sequenced curriculum. Younger pupils are able to experience songs, rhymes and chants alongside listening to high quality music. This is built upon, in order to develop their individual creativity and enjoyment through making sounds, leading to playing and performing. The Music curriculum aims to enable pupils to celebrate different traditions and composers and understand the history of music and the impact of it on the musicians of today.

PSHE is embedded across the whole curriculum. We aim to promote 9 key drivers through our curriculum. These are: resilience, responsibility, respect, independence, communication, inspiration, unity, inclusion and mindfulness. All classes have PSHE within their timetable and this takes different forms were relevant, for example building friendship skills in the early years, to circle time in Key Stage 1, leading to debates and ethical discussions in Key Stage 2. Personal development permeates all areas of our curriculum and all areas of our school day.

At Millbrook, we aim to grow confident, resilient, ambitious and knowledgeable athletes. Throughout the PE curriculum we aim to deliver inclusive lessons for our highly diverse students. We provide focused sessions for children who need support or extra motivation to access their PE lessons, this works very well. We are active in local competitions, taking advantage of excellent local facilities such as the Kirkby leisure centre, LFC academy & Finch Farm; partaking in a variety of sports such as football, swimming and dodge-ball. The experiences our children have at these sessions prepares them up for their future, having either success or building on their resilience. Through a rigorous approach to the Sports Premium Funding, we have an excellent array of equipment to ensure that all teachers have the equipment to ensure that excellent PE lessons are possible. Over the past few years we have allowed children to meet professional sports people such as Laura Fachie, a blind paralympian cyclist, through her story of resilience and success it gives our children the chance to see what they can achieve in their lives and to increase their ambition.

At Millbrook, we aim to ensure that children know about and develop an understanding of different religions. In doing so, our intention is that they grow up to be tolerant citizens, who recognise the diversity which exists within and between communities and amongst individuals. Religious Education plays an important part in helping children to engage with challenging spiritual, moral, social and cultural questions that arise in their lives.

At Millbrook, our Science curriculum aims to nurture confident, resilient, ambitious and knowledgeable scientists. We encourage children to be inquisitive throughout their time at the school and beyond. The Science curriculum fosters a healthy curiosity in children about our universe and promotes respect for the living and non-living. We believe science encompasses the acquisition of knowledge, concepts, skills and positive attitudes.

Throughout science children will acquire and develop the key knowledge and vocabulary that has been identified within each topic and across each year group, as well as the application of scientific skills.

We ensure that the Working Scientifically skills are built-on and developed throughout children’s time at the school so that they can apply their knowledge of science when using equipment, conducting experiments, building arguments and explaining concepts confidently and continue to ask questions and be curious about their surroundings.

At Millbrook, the core language taught at Key Stage Two is Spanish. We aim to lay the foundations for the future study of languages, equipping pupils for life in the workplace and at leisure. The learning of a language allows our children to become good, global citizens by providing them with the appreciation of the similarities and differences between English and Spanish culture and language. The learning of a language instils confidence and is a life skill.