The Brackenwood Mountain Range
(The Wider Curriculum)
At Brackenwood Infant School, we describe the wider curriculum as The Brackenwood Mountain Range. We use this comparison to clearly explain the different elements of teaching and learning of non-core subjects (the National Curriculum subjects excluding reading, writing, phonics and maths).
‘Our curriculum is designed and implemented in such a way that all children are able to retain knowledge and develop expertise that will support them in becoming positive members of our community. Their understanding of the world around them will deepen and they will become well equipped for the next steps in their lives.’
Mr Mervyn, Headteacher
“Although we like to think that we decide what to pay attention to, our minds have their own wishes and desires when it comes to the focus of attention.”
Teaching and Learning Explained
The Mountain Range
At Brackenwood Infant School we use the term, ‘Mountain Range,’ to describe The National Curriculum and The EYFS Profile documents that all schools must teach from.
The Mountains
The Mountains in our Mountain Range are the specific subjects and objectives set out in The National Curriculum and The EYFS Profile documents.
Sometimes, the wider curriculum subjects are taught together in ‘contexts,’ such as the teaching of geography and art & design in our Year 1 context of ‘Oceans,’ but sometimes we teach subjects in stand-alone, discrete lessons where the teaching of more than one subject is not appropriate.
For further information about our contexts and the wider curriculum subjects please click on the buttons below.
*Discrete subject maps can be found on Our Curriculum Page or on our specific core subject pages.
Walking Boots
As any mountain climber will tell you, a successful climb starts with walking boots.
Similarly for us, successful teaching starts with identifying which National Curriculum or EYFS objectives the children are going to be focusing on (the left boot). We will then identify the subject expertise (technical and disciplinary knowledge) that the children are going to be using (the right boot).
For Example
In the context of Oceans, children in Year 1 will work towards meeting the National Curriculum objective of , ‘using a range of materials creatively to design and make products,’ in art and design whilst developing the following specific subject expertise:
1) Using a combination of materials that are cut and glued.
2) Sorting and arranging materials.
3) Mixing materials to create texture e.g. torn.
Knowledge Rucksack
A rucksack is an essential piece of kit for tackling any mountain as it contains all of the important equipment that climbers will need.
At our school, we use the term rucksack to describe where children will ‘store,’ the disciplinary knowledge (facts about a context) from all of their learning. Children will use their rucksacks in a variety of ways, to retain and retrieve this knowledge.
Teachers will create a ‘Knowledge Rucksack,’ document for each context or group of lessons that will identify the key disciplinary knowledge that children will learn and the vocabulary they will use.
An example of this can be found below.
Journey Map
To ensure that mountain climbers do not get lost on their journey, they rely on a map to guide them on the correct path.
At our school, teachers create a planning document for each context or sequence of lessons, that sets out the teaching and learning for every individual lesson. This document is called ‘The Journey Map,’ and individual lessons are described as ‘steps.’
For example, in the Year 1 context of Oceans, there are 8 steps or lessons of geography and 4 of art and design.
For each ‘step,’ the ‘Journey Map,’ identifies The National Curriculum/EYFS Profile objective, the subject expertise, the vocabulary being introduced or practised and the fingertip knowledge being learnt, as well as what the children will actually be doing during that step.
An example of this can be found below.
The buttons below will allow you to see when all of the objectives from The EYFS Profile and The National Curriculum are taught, how we describe specific subject experts to our children and what subject skills we have identified for each subject and each stage of our children’s Brackenwood journey.
PSHE, SMSC, RSE
(Personal, Social, Health, Economic, Spiritual, Moral, Social, Cultural, Relationship, Sex Education)
At Brackenwood Infant School we are committed to providing Personal, Social, Health, Economic and Relationship, Sex Education that will support our children’s learning capacity and encourage them to become informed, active and responsible individuals who can play a positive role in contributing to school life and the wider community. All teaching is age appropriate and predominately taught through our Jigsaw scheme of work.
Our whole school approach provides consistency and progression to our children’s learning whilst having a significant impact on our children’s “behaviour and attitudes” and to their Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development. The structured progressive PSHE and Relationships Education lessons and daily opportunities to explore this learning will also contribute to the school’s safeguarding and equality duties and promote British Values. The learning from these discrete lessons is built upon through our wider curriculum contexts.
What Our Children Are Saying About Their Contexts
“That rucksack is where we put everything that we learn about plants.”
— Louis F2
“We are learning the subject of History with our context of The Great Fire of London .”
— Anna Y2
