Our Curriculum
Our curriculum at Bassaleg is designed in a way so that through the content of lessons; through strategic development of skills and through the nature of how they experience their learning, pupils develop into young adults who embody the four purposes of the Curriculum for Wales, that they become: ambitious, capable learners; enterprising, creative contributors; healthy, confident individuals; ethical, informed citizens.
Each Area of Learning and Experience has worked collaboratively to consider what the entitlement is for each pupil who works across their subject areas, what is the nature of teaching and learning they have the right to experience that will help them embody the four purposes and become experts in their chosen fields.
However, a curriculum is defined not by its structure, but by what the learning experience feels like in the classroom. At Bassaleg we expect the environment to be exciting and challenging, where all pupils are encouraged to take risks and to challenge themselves, to make mistakes in a safe environment and to learn from them. This is an environment which is shaped by the collaboration of teachers and students where each take an active role in the learning process and discuss and reflect on progress to plan out their next steps.
Numeracy at Bassaleg School
At Bassaleg School we aim to provide learners with the skills required to be successful in their future lives; skills which help them to thrive at home and in their future careers.
As stated on the National Numeracy website:
"Good numeracy is essential…as patients understanding health information, as citizens making sense of statistics and economic news. Decisions in life are so often based on numerical information; to make the best choices, we need to be numerate."
Numeracy development is the responsibility of every teacher and we believe that learners need to use and develop their Numeracy skills in a variety of contexts so that they are able to understand how these skills can help them interpret and explain the world around them. At Bassaleg School we are committed to providing learners with regular opportunities to use and develop their Number, Geometry, Data and Mathematical Proficiency skills across the Curriculum.
Literacy at Bassaleg School
The development and application of literacy skills lies at the heart of our curriculum; our learners are encouraged to advance their speaking, listening, reading and writing skills in a variety of contexts.
Using Voice 21 methods, our approach to oracy harnesses the significance of talk as a powerful vehicle for learning. Learners are encouraged to practise and develop presentational talk in order to refine their oracy skills; they are also encouraged to experiment with carefully structured and scaffolded exploratory talk which empowers them in their attempts to make sense of subject content and big ideas through summarising, questioning and challenging.
Learners develop a wide range of reading skills: our metacognitive approach to skills development enables them to understand how to process what they read and become increasingly critical and evaluative of information presented to them.
Writing skills are developed in unison with oracy and reading. Again, metacognitive pedagogical approaches support learners in their understanding of how and why writing is constructed in different ways for different purposes and audiences. Learners are also supported to experiment with content and organisation of writing and improving accuracy.
These communication skills are crucial for healthy and successful futures in all emotional, social, educational and occupational pathways.
The Digital Competency Framework
When pupils leave Bassaleg School we ensure that they are equipped with the digital skills needed to thrive in an ever increasingly digital world.
Pupils have the opportunity to develop their digital skills across a range of contexts and learning experiences across all subject areas, enabling them to select and use the appropriate tools. The Digital Learning Zone is an online resource that provides guidance and tutorials to support and enhance digital skill development. Accessible from any device, pupils can follow tutorials for a range of cloud based applications including Google Workspace, Adobe Spark and effective research strategies.
