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	Beech Hill School Curriculum Mission Statement At Beech Hill we strive to provide a tailor made thematic creative curriculum that engages and inspires our children whilst ensuring National Curriculum coverage. We firmly believe that our curriculum should reflect our diverse and ever changing cohort and provide opportunities to learn about their own heritage alongside developing their understanding of other cultures and religions. Our curriculum is divided into six whole school themes entitled: Near and Far, Long Ago, Mad Scientists, Fantasy Land, Keen to be Green and Junior Apprentice. Within each of these themes each year group studies their own topic which ensures progression throughout the school. Underpinning the entire curriculum are the basic skills of Literacy, Mathematics and ICT. The children at our school are given every opportunity to use and apply their skills in these areas when studying a theme. We have built into our curriculum the Mantel of the Expert Approach- a dramatic-inquiry based approach to teaching and learning invented and developed by Professor Dorothy Heathcote at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in the 1980’s. Our children take on a project as if they are an imagined group of experts. They might be scientists in a laboratory or archaeologists excavating a tomb, or a rescue team at the scene of a disaster. They might be running a removal company, a shop or a space station. Because they behave ‘as if they are experts’, the children are working from a specific point of view as they explore their learning and this brings special responsibilities, language needs and social behaviours. Planned into each of the six themes covered by our children throughout the year are Excellence and Enjoyment Days- either a trip or in school workshop devised to extend and inspire the children’s learning and widen their experiences. This in turn impacts on their ability to write. In order to fulfil the Every Child Matters agendas of ‘Making a Positive Contribution’ and ‘Achieving Economic Wellbeing’, we have devoted the final theme of the year to the skills involved in enterprise. Every child, through the topic they are studying, is given the opportunity to run their own business or organise their own charity event. These events give our children a purpose for the work they are carrying out and empower them to make a difference. To ensure positive behaviour and effective learning throughout the school, we run the SEAL approach alongside our creative curriculum. We believe that the social and emotional aspects of learning should be a key focus for our work with the children and understand that the factors that can hold back the learning of our children include children’s difficulties in understanding and managing their feelings, working co-operatively in groups, motivating themselves and demonstrating resilience in the face of setbacks. Through the combined use of the SEAL approach and our creative curriculum, we are able to create children who are effective learners. When our children leave school at the end of Year Six we strive for them to be well rounded individuals who have the necessary literacy and numeracy skills to succeed in life whilst having experienced an inspiring curriculum which gives them every chance to succeed.