Subject Visions

At Glory Farm School, we believe in the importance of Art and creativity. We are proud to have achieved the Gold Arts Mark award and continue to use their values in our school. We strive to provide a cross curricular approach to art lessons in a practical way and use this to develop our pupils’ art skills and knowledge. Creativity is an important skill and we aim to develop this by inspiring our pupils to experiment, invent and create artworks through drawing, painting, sculpture, printing and textiles. We encourage the importance of using a sketch book to record their ideas as they invent and create. We also introduce our pupils to artwork by a range of artists, craft makers and designers and encourage them to think and talk about their response to the artworks. We teach our pupils to think about how art has affected (and continues to affect) the world around them in their local and wider community historically, culturally and emotionally.

At Glory Farm Primary School, we recognise the importance of Computing education, especially as our ever-growing technological world broadens. We passionately believe that our opportunities allow children to become creators, rather than consumers of technology. Children are motivated to succeed in the subject, as they are exposed to opportunities where this skill set may take them in the future. Perhaps they could design their own website, video games, become a documentary maker, animator, sound engineer or even a graphic designer.

Computing is a valuable part of our curriculum that is embedded across all areas of learning. Lessons offer a range of inspiring and progressive experiences to explore technological devices. Children love the opportunity to take apart and see inside a computer, be a robot and program their own robot! All year groups are immersed in creating their own digital artwork, animations, films and music!

E-Safety is of huge importance as the whole school celebrates ‘National Internet Safety Week.’ The curriculum covers a range of topics that allow the children a chance to think and discuss issues linked to health, wellbeing and technology, online bullying and reputation, managing information and protecting themselves online. Children know who their trusted adults are, who they can turn to if they have an issue online and ultimately, what they can do to keep themselves safe when using technology. E-Safety is current and constantly revisited in all we do to ensure our children at Glory Farm are safe.

At Glory Farm Primary School, we value Design and Technology as a ‘hands on’ subject in which children evaluate, design and create products to suit a purpose (and enjoy doing so!) across three immersive, DT days per year. We strive to equip every child with the skills, knowledge and understanding to investigate their environment, question the world and to develop interest and excitement about how and why things work. On a progressive journey through nutrition, textiles and construction, we aim to open doors to enterprise and culture, and develop an understanding of technological processes and products, their manufacture and their contribution to our world. We passionately believe in developing evaluative thinking in our children and giving them the tools to express their opinions and ideas through talk, drawing and modelling. Ultimately, we aim for our children to become confident, imaginative and resourceful learners, who are equipped with the skills, knowledge and cultural capital to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world.

English is at the heart of all children’s learning. At Glory Farm Primary School, we value the importance of the English curriculum as key to developing the skills and knowledge required for children to become life-long learners by opening up opportunities for their futures.

Through well-modelled discussions and questioning, children will know how to apply the skills they have learned to a wide range of contexts including both formal and informal situations such as job interviews, debates and daily conversations which capture their interests. Our children will be immersed in an environment that is rich in language and encourages the children to articulate themselves confidently and independently as they grow as learners.

We aim to inspire the children’s love of literature through widespread reading for pleasure and information. Therefore, our children enjoy and are engaged with reading. We strive to ensure that children can read competently and fluently through quality texts that are relevant to our school community. Through regular shared reading experiences, our children have the opportunities to listen to adults read, which enables them to acquire a wide range of vocabulary, knowledge of grammar and linguistic conventions.

Our children will use a range of strategies such as role play and hot seating to explore and develop their creativity. In turn they will become writers who are able to communicate and explain their ideas, thoughts and feelings through effective writing for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. Children will have the confidence and stamina to revisit and edit work by drawing on the progressive skills they have acquired.

English is central to children’s intellectual, emotional and social development. We strongly believe that the teaching of the English curriculum will be inclusive to all children, inspiring them through learning experiences which will enable them to make good progress and leave us as responsible and happy citizens.

At Glory Farm Primary School, let’s explore the world! Within school, we believe that Geography should inspire every child to want to discover and understand the Bicester area and its location within the national and international context. Children will grow to understand not only the names and locations of significant places around the world but also why they are important to them as they grow into the globally-aware adults of the future. By teaching inside and outside the classroom, using ICT and visiting areas of geographical interest, we are able to engage a child’s curiosity and thirst for knowledge about the world. Our geography lessons allow every child to develop and utilise a whole range of skills including the ability to: communicate, problem solve, observe, work as a team and interpret data in different forms. Exploring atlases, watching film clips, discovering information in books and researching on the internet are some of the ways we encourage children to develop their understanding of different aspects of physical and human geography. Spending time outdoors – on the school grounds and further afield – enables children to understand how to read maps or record data to explore when they return to school. Leaving Glory Farm Primary School with a secure understanding of human and physical geography will enable every child to continue their exploration of their world.

At Glory Farm Primary School we value our history curriculum as a subject that is inclusive for all pupils and helps our children gain a coherent and chronological understanding of Britain’s past. It builds a strong understanding of how people’s beliefs and actions have shaped our nation and of how Britain has influenced and been influenced by our wider world.

Children are inspired to want to know more about the past. Learning is hands-on and involves exploring real life artefacts, role-play, cross-curricular learning opportunities and specialised theme days to make history ‘real’ for them. Through these immersive days, we aim to deepen children’s understanding and create a learning space that puts the children right in the middle of what they are learning about.

History lessons encourage the children to be critical thinkers, develop chronological understanding, examine evidence and pose questions; all the while continually developing an understanding of concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, and similarities and differences.

Throughout their time at Glory Farm children will gain historical perspective by applying their own knowledge to a variety of different contexts and children will begin to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of society and the relationships between different groups. Lessons will broaden their horizons, challenge preconceived ideas and develop both their historical knowledge and historical skills.

At Glory Farm Primary School, we value Life Education (Personal, Social, Health and Economic, and Relationships and Sex Education) as a subject which underpins our children’s learning and development. We believe it is an integral thread woven into our ethos and drives our practices right from the Early Years. Through Life Education, we are committed to supporting our children on their journey to becoming independent, resilient and reflective learners and strive to deepen our childrens’ understanding of the ever-changing world in which we live. During our Life Education lessons, we aim to create nurturing environments where our children learn to express their emotions, take risks safely, become confident to make their own choices and feel that their views are valued. We are passionate about providing our children with real life experiences (enhanced by establishing relationships with the wider community) which allows them to increase their social awareness, their empathy for others and supports them to become independent and active citizens. We also equip our children to recognise and manage the benefits and risks associated with the online world, which is increasingly impacting on our lives. Ultimately, we aim for our children to be able to manage their own relationships, emotions, health and life choices effectively, and be able to participate positively in our society, both now and in their future.

At Glory Farm Primary School, we strive towards shaping assured, resilient mathematicians who relish the challenge of maths. We know that maths is essential to everyday life; it is critical to science, technology and engineering and is necessary for understanding finances, both personally and in many workplaces. A high-quality mathematics education therefore provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the power of maths and a sense of curiosity about the subject.

We follow the White Rose mastery scheme to ensure every child is able to recognise maths as an interconnected subject, in which they need to be able to move fluently between representations of mathematical ideas. The programmes of study (and our school maths curriculum) are, by necessity, organised into distinct areas, but our children make rich connections across mathematical ideas to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competence in solving increasingly sophisticated problems. They will also apply their mathematical knowledge to science and other subjects.

Children at Glory Farm regularly rehearse arithmetic skills through our ‘Fluent in 5’ sessions, developing conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge. Within our daily maths lessons, our children follow lines of enquiry, conjecture relationships and develop arguments and justifications.

The expectation is that the majority of pupils will move through the programmes of study at broadly the same time. However, decisions about when to progress will always be based on the security of pupils’ understanding and their readiness to progress to the next stage. Pupils who grasp concepts rapidly will be challenged through variation and opportunities to apply skills to increasingly complex problems. Those who are not sufficiently fluent with earlier material will consolidate their understanding using the 'Concrete - Pictorial - Abstract' approach, including additional practice or pre-teaching, before moving on.

Our aim is that our learners will leave primary school with a deep understanding of the fundamental areas of maths, ready to tackle the mathematical challenges they will face in the future.

At Glory Farm Primary School, we celebrate language learning as a way to help children develop a positive international outlook. Our international links have raised awareness of the world around us and have helped children understand the delight in being able to speak to another person in their own language. We aim for children to understand the importance of communication and to recognise why learning another language (in our case Spanish) will be useful for the future. Through interactive, exciting lessons, including cross curricular lessons, children will be encouraged to understand spoken language; speak with confidence and fluency including correct pronunciation; read a variety of texts and write for different purposes. Children will be encouraged to ‘have a go’ in a safe environment and go on to become enthusiastic, life-long language learners, equipped with knowledge and language skills essential for their futures as global citizens.

At Glory Farm Primary School, we believe that music is a universal language, which is inclusive and accessible to all. We aim to engage and inspire children to develop self-confidence and creativity through a variety of rich musical experiences. We believe that music can empower children to have a sense of achievement and a positive impact on wellbeing. We aim to inspire children to be able to perform, compose, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of musical genres, styles and traditions. Our children learn to understand and explore music through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations. Our music lessons are lively and interactive and incorporate aspects of Music Express, BBC ten pieces and links to other areas of the curriculum.

Across the school, we strive to enable all children to be involved in musical dramatic performances from Christmas plays in Year 1 and 2 to end of year production in Year 6. We are passionate about learning to sing and to use our voices, to create and compose music. Singing is at the heart of school life and is included in many events for example: Remembrance, Erasmus and Christmas. During the year, we seek opportunities for our children and our school choir to share their skills and perform in the community including at local churches, nursing homes and school events. All children are actively encouraged and given the opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument, from standard classroom instruments in EYFS and key stage 1, ukuleles and glockenspiels in Key stage 2 to individual instrumental lessons with the visiting peripatetic staff. We offer opportunities for the children to further the musical interest in after school activities and offer musical wellbeing support. It is our vision that each child becomes a confident performer and is inspired to become involved in, and enjoy, music throughout their lives.

At Glory Farm Primary School, we want our pupils to increase their understanding, respect and tolerance of all world faiths and beliefs through our immersive curriculum. We strive to equip every child to make informed life choices and develop interest in world religions to become respectful citizens. This is achieved through exciting exploration of religious stories through videos, books, religious texts and artefacts. Additionally, we allow the children to be immersed in thoughtful discussions where children learn to value and respect different cultures, opinions and beliefs. Twice a year, as a school we come together to celebrate important Christian festivals as well as celebrating festivals of different faiths at other points in the year. Throughout each topic, children have the opportunity to articulate their personal beliefs, ideas, values and experiences clearly and coherently, while respecting the right of others’ opinions to differ. Ultimately, our aim is to inspire and create thoughtful and confident children, who over the years at Glory Farm school will have gained a sense of their own identify and understand the responsibilities they have as a citizen of the United Kingdom.

At Glory Farm Primary School, we want our children to develop a love of Physical Education and sport. During physical education lessons, children learn various skills and strategies through our delivery of the ‘Get Set PE’ programme and we provide all children with 2 hours of PE a week; one indoor lesson and one outdoor lesson.

Through the curriculum, extra-curricular clubs and other opportunities, we endorse a positive attitude to a continued healthy lifestyle, the development of core skills and a dedication to being active. Alongside our focus on developing the fundamentals of physical movement and wellbeing, we also develop the skills and disciplines associated with many team and individual sports, including fair play and sportsmanship.

We incorporate such skills into football, netball, tag rugby, basketball, cricket, tennis and hockey. Our outdoor and adventurous curriculum is suitably enhanced by Year 4 and 6 residential trips which enable our children to experience team building pursuits enhancing self-esteem and allow for further self-expression. We are committed to offering wider experiences to our children that they may not otherwise receive and take pride in the links we have made to enhance the PE curriculum.

We encourage all children to be physically active for at least 30 minutes a day and all children have access to a varied range of large play areas: a wooden fort, a wooden pirate ship, table tennis tables and a trim trail. Additionally, all children are provided with the opportunity to participate in a variety of after-school clubs and activities, as well as having the chance to participate in competitive sports and competitions within school, and in the wider community. We celebrate competition and the setting of ‘personal best goals’ through our two collaborative Sports Days which are always well supported by the wider community.

At Glory Farm Primary School, we encourage pupils to develop excitement and curiosity about science. We provide them with the skills to think critically about the universe around us and understand the impact that science has on the world. We aim to inspire a sense of awe and wonder in the world around us and for children to understand the relevance of science even outside of a classroom. Our curriculum provides opportunities to develop an enthusiasm for scientific knowledge and an ability to question what, where, when, who and why? We teach children an understanding of all three sciences (biology, chemistry and physics) through practical, relatable and enjoyable experiences. We aim for pupils to have one and a half hours of science per week, including both practical, discussion and book-based work. We encourage pupils to explain how science affects our everyday lives and how it is changing all the time. We aim for our children to leave us well-equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future.