Curriculum for Learning

Nov 2016

Curriculum
Children take steps along their learning journey every day at DBS, developing skills that are
broad and transferable. These help children to make sense of the world in which they live.
Children are encouraged to become effective, enthusiastic and independent learners who
are committed to lifelong learning and to becoming responsible global citizens. Our
curriculum is unique and evolves each year, influenced by the needs and interests of the
children, current issues and local opportunities.
Enriched by specialist teaching, it is designed to follow a themed, cross-curricular
approach in pre-prep and prep which allows children to be immersed in subjects and to
make tangible and appropriate links. Our holistic approach is based on the English National
Curriculum and Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) with a clear emphasis on teaching
skills and concepts that challenge children at all levels. Every opportunity is used to
embrace first hand experiences and educational visits are used widely to enhance
learning. The learning goes beyond the curriculum expectations and is enhanced with a
co-curricular programme of sports, music and the arts to develop further a childs personal
development; these are integral to the day.
The schools curricular provision focuses on excellence for all at every stage of the school.
Children are encouraged not only to demonstrate knowledge and understanding in
context but also apply this understanding of mastery across a range of situations. The DBS
learner profile is integral to the development of a child as a learner and progressively
builds a range of learning behaviours, skills and attitudes thus enabling our children grow
into independent young people, mindful of themselves and others and equipped for the
future.

Organisation and Planning

We plan our curriculum ensuring we meet the requirements of the National

Curriculum and the Early Years Curriculum whilst being mindful of the local
context.
Each half term our teachers work as teams to carefully select the objectives from
the appropriate year to create a theme that makes connections across the
subjects. They then set them in a context that engages and motivates their
children.
Teachers reflect daily on the learning, which in turn influences the planning
content for the next day. Over the week each team meets to reflect on the
learning and plan next steps according to the needs of the children.
The curriculum is carefully selected so that there is coherence and full progression
in its coverage. It is the role of the class teacher and subject leader to monitor
coverage and depth of learning.
The learning over each theme is progressive and dynamic so children grow in their
confidence and depth of understanding over time.
At the beginning of each theme, the learning is shared with parents via an
information learning map.

Nov 2016

Year

Our medium term plans give clear guidance on the skills, knowledge,
understanding and concepts that are developed each theme and dynamic, growing
detail as they respond to childrens needs.

Curriculum Outline
Academic

Behaviours

Benchmarking and
Assessment points

Pre-Prep EY1 - Year 2

EY1 EY2

7 areas of the EYFS curriculum.

7 areas of learning
Physical Development
Communication and
Language
Personal, Social and
Emotional Development
Literacy
Mathematics
Expressive Arts and Design
Understanding the World

Learning behaviours
Characteristics of learning
from EYFS Development
Matters
playing and exploring
active learning
creating and thinking critically

Early Essence tracking:

22-36 months
30-50 months
40-60 months
Early Learning Goals
Baseline
3 reflection points
throughout the year
GL progress test end of EY2

Thai language
Mandarin
Year
1-2

National Curriculum for England 2014

Key Stage 1
Thai language
Mandarin
Specialist teaching in:
PE
Music
Thai
Mandarin
Co-curricular within the academic
extended day - music, arts, Games

DBS learner profile (age

appropriate)

Leadership
Independence
Responsibility
Reflection
Critical Thinking
Enquiry
Innovation
Risk Taking
Emotional Intelligence
Resilience

End of year expectations for

National Curriculum
3 reflection points
throughout the year
Phonics screening end of Y1
RWI progress tests
GL progress tests in English,
Maths
SATS end of Year 2

Prep Year 3-8

Year
3-4

National Curriculum for England 2014

Lower Key Stage 2
Thai language
Mandarin
Specialist teaching in:

DBS learner profile (age

appropriate)

Leadership
Independence
Responsibility

End of year expectations for

National Curriculum
3 reflection points
throughout the year
Language and literacy RWI
progress tests
Nov 2016

PE
Music
Thai
Mandarin
Co-curricular within the academic
extended day - music, arts, Games
Year
5-6

National Curriculum for England 2014

- Upper Key Stage 2 with specialist
teaching across the NC plus:
Thai language
Mandarin
Co-curricular within the academic
extended day - music, arts, games

Reflection
Critical Thinking
Enquiry
Innovation
Risk Taking
Emotional Intelligence
Resilience

DBS learner profile

*Leadership
*Independence
*Responsibility
Reflection
Critical Thinking
Enquiry
*Innovation
Risk Taking
Emotional Intelligence
Resilience

GL progress tests in English,

Maths and Science

End of year expectations for

National Curriculum
3 reflection points
throughout the year
GL progress tests in English,
Maths and Science
SATS end of Year 6
Common Entrance prep
Common Entrance: end of
Y6

*Greater emphasis in Upper Prep

Year
7-8

National Curriculum for England 2014

- Key Stage 3
specialist teaching across the NC
plus:
Thai language
Mandarin
Co-curricular within the academic
extended day - music, arts, games

DBS learner profile

*Leadership
*Independence
*Responsibility
Reflection
Critical Thinking
Enquiry
*Innovation
Risk Taking
Emotional Intelligence
Resilience

Sept of Yr 7: CAT4 (gives Yr 9

and GCSE predictions)
GL progress tests in English,
Maths and Science
Common Entrance prep
Common Entrance: end of
Y8

*Greater emphasis in Upper Prep

Seniors Y9-13
Year
9-11

National Curriculum for England 2014

- Key Stage 3
specialist teaching across the NC
plus:
Thai language
Mandarin
Co-curricular within the academic
extended day - music, arts, games
Year 9: learning prep for iGCSE year

DBS learner profile

Leadership
Independence
Responsibility
Reflection
Critical Thinking
Enquiry
Innovation
Risk Taking
Emotional Intelligence
Resilience

Sept of Yr 10: CAT4 (gives

GCSE predictions)
iGCSE results

Nov 2016

Early entry Maths for some in Yr 10.

Do A Level Maths in Yr 11/12.

Year
12-13

Early entry Maths students: Further

Maths in Yr 13
Yr 12-13: A Levels

Plus all students take Duke of

Edinburgh International Award in
Year 9 (Bronze). Silver (Yr 10) and
Gold (Yr 12) are optional.

International Award Gold (Yr

12) optional.
DBS CAS (creativity, action,
service) for all.

Sept of Yr 12: ALIS, for A

Level predictions
A level results

Monitoring
Curriculum monitoring and evaluation is essential for the planning and development of the
curriculum. The Head of Prep and Pre-prep is responsible for the overall school curriculum.
The Leadership team and Heads of Departments monitor lesson plans, moderate
childrens work , evaluate learning spaces through learning walks in order to support their
self-evaluation of the learning.
At DBS everyone is a learner and our staff will continue to uplevel their practice through a
variety of ways and share their expertise in the staff. The Principal and School Board is
responsible for monitoring the way the school curriculum is implemented. Whole school
and department targets are integral to the School Development Plan and subject leader to
monitor their identified areas and actions to measure the impact of these on the quality of
learning, teaching and provision in the subject.

English Learners
At DBS a teacher's role, regardless of subject specialism is to promote childrens
development of English language allowing them to gain full access to the curriculum. They
will do this through:

extending childrens knowledge and use of English by providing them with

opportunities to undertake activities alongside good models of English

providing language support for children according to their individual needs

promoting academic achievement according to cognitive level rather than English

language level

actively liaising and working in partnership with parents

Nov 2016

Where necessary language support teachers promote childrens development of English

language proficiency allowing them to gain access to learning. This allows them to
experience the same educational opportunities as English speaking peers and enables
them to socialise within the wider school community. They will achieve this by working in
collaboration with class teachers to set relevant and achievable goals/targets for each
child and helping the child develop appropriate strategies and skills to support
independent learning.

Assessment
Focused assessment is an essential element of high quality teaching. It allows learning to
be planned and taught accurately to meet the needs of all children, ensuring high levels of
expectation and excellence for all. Our whole school approach is focused on assessment
for learning and progress and is evaluated by meeting, not meeting, exceeding or mastery
against the key learning objectives of the national end of year expectations. These
observations of the childrens successes are ongoing and reflected upon throughout the
year. GL Progress tests also support the progress measure and are sat at the end of each
year.
The Development Matters Guidance and Early Learning Goals are used to assess childrens
progress in EY1 and EY2 during the year.

Nov 2016