Our vision is Being Different, Belonging Together
In our diverse community we grow together, have fun together and excel in learning.
How do we grow together?
‘Act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.’ (Micah 6 verse 8)
Acting justly means that we treat each other well and act fairly. We welcome families of all faiths and races and actively work to understand each other’s different backgrounds. Being merciful means that we use restorative practices to mend relationships when things go wrong. Walking humbly means that we understand that everyone is important here and everyone is listened to.
How do we have fun together?
We have so many opportunities at Easton. We love sport, playing in our extensive grounds, cooking and eating together, learning about festivals, going on trips, welcoming visitors, making music and art. Ofsted (Nov 2019) said that Personal Development was ‘Outstanding’.
How do we excel in learning?
We teach writing using Talk for Writing and have seen very successful writing results. We teach maths and phonics using nationally recognised schemes and see children making great progress. We have three libraries across the school and foster a love of books and reading. We are ambitious for all our children and work closely with parents to support home learning.
Our learning characteristics help us learn:
Critical thinking, Teamwork, Resilience, Creativity
These are another way of expressing our ‘Easton Es’ : Excellence with Equity, Endeavour with Enjoyment.
Our Calm School Code helps us behave well.
Curriculum Statement:
At Easton CE Academy, we follow the objectives taken from the National Curriculum 2014. Using our knowledge of our children and the community we serve, we have designed a creative and engaging curriculum, which will stimulate, inspire and raise standards for all children. We aim to provide opportunities for personal and academic development where children consistently make links between new learning and prior areas of study. We aim to inspire every child to ‘Love to Learn and Learn to Love’ whilst gaining the knowledge and skills needed for the next stage of their lives.
Our Curriculum Intent
We want our children to know, be able to do and become by the time they leave Easton CE Academy:
To be happy, healthy and confident learners. To know and experience the joy of learning new things and mastering new skills.
To have a confident, detailed understanding of their own heritage and the heritage and history of others in our community. To have a sense of pride in their own family, culture and traditions. To regard their own identity as a strength and a thing of beauty.
To be able to make positive choices by being aware of their thoughts and feelings and being able to self-manage and regulate their own behaviour.
To have a love of the English language and a particular enthusiasm for acquiring new vocabulary.
To be great communicators – talkers and listeners. To have a confident voice and be able to listen well to others and think critically for themselves. To be expert at working with others, in pairs, groups and teams.
To be confident, fluent and enthusiastic readers and writers and to have fluent and legible handwriting.
To have a fluent recall of number facts, efficient and accurate arithmetic skills and the ability to solve mathematical problems.
To have the skills to express themselves creatively through poetry, art, music, dance and design and to enjoy the process.
To have good historical, geographic and scientific knowledge. To be curious and have a desire to know more about the world around them.
To understand that Easton is special; to have a ‘beyond primary’ understanding of why Easton is the diverse community it is. To know and understand how Easton and Bristol has changed over the years in response to local, national and global factors.
To have a personal experience of other communities in Bristol and beyond, and to know and understand how and why they are different. To be fascinated by the diversity and differences within our community, wider locality and the world. To adopt a positive attitude to difference - to celebrate it and never attack it. To have explored the challenges that difference presents a community and that through showing a deep respect and kindness to ‘the other’ to know how to ‘live together well’. To know that certain characteristics are protected under the law and that intolerance towards those characteristics must be challenged.
To appreciate the opportunities that are afforded to us by living in a wealthy, mature democracy. To know how democracy works within school, the locality and nationally and to know how they can have their voice heard. To understand how to contribute to make their school, their neighbourhood, their city and their world a better fairer place and develop a sense of obligation to do so.
To be personally committed to an active lifestyle and healthy eating.
Curriculum Implementation
How we have designed our curriculum
As a result of our context, vision and values and in order to deliver the intention of our curriculum we have shaped and enhanced the curriculum in the following ways.
At Easton CE Academy we have:
Developing a vibrant and balanced EYFS curriculum in line with the new framework
Established the Talk for Writing approach to teaching writing through our in house Talk for Writing Trainer and regular COD from Pie Corbett since 2014.
Adopted the Sounds-Write Phonics approach initiated with whole staff with CPD from John Walker.
A whole school coherent approach to teaching early reading, developing vocabulary, and comprehension skills and promoting a love of reading through our reading spine, libraries and class book corners supported by ongoing work with St Peters’ Literacy Hub.
Developed a whole school approach to developing children’s speaking and listening skills through working with the Communication Trust (Communication commitment school of the year in 2017) and currently with Voice 21 to embed the development of Oracy skills throughout the curriculum.
Developed a mathematics curriculum built on White Rose Maths with a particular focus in developing secure conceptual understanding though concrete, pictorial and abstract representations, confidence in calculations and sound reasoning and problem solving skills. This is supported by ongoing CPD from the Boolean Maths Hub SLEs as well as participating in the maths mastery training.
Maintained a broad and balanced, experience rich, curriculum with a strong focus on history and geography supported by a coherent programme of visits and visitors supported by the Bristol heritage school support teacher.
Developed knowledge organisers to help children know more and remember more. Developed skills progressions alongside knowledge progression. Our curriculum is driven by having high expectations, providing a range of experiences, raising aspirations and teaching to remember (HEAT)
Increased expertise in science through engagement with the Ogden Trust. We have employed a science SLE since September 2021 to enhance our science curriculum that is based on rising stars.
Prioritized the teaching of RWV so all children are provided with a values-led education through a supportive, Christian ethos whereby children develop a strong sense of their community and identity and that of others. Embodied in our school phrase: being different, belonging together.
Adopted and developed the ‘Jigsaw’ PSHE curriculum.
Developed a comprehensive computing curriculum using purple mash.
Invested in the outdoor environment to promote physical activity and creative play – initiated with a year-long development project with OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning) the redevelopment of the EYFS playground with Green Play Designs, installed of a MUGA, trained a teacher as a Forest School leader, installed a running track and trim trail, signed up as a ‘Daily Mile’ school, invested in a partnership with scrapstore and installed a new climbing frame in April 2022.
Invested in sports coaches and partnered with Bristol Sports ‘Forever Sports’ Programme to train staff. Participated in real PE training for all staff. Worked alongside The local secondary school to attend competitive competitions.
Partnered with ‘Into University’ to deliver a three year programme to raise aspiration and develop a clear pathway to University in Year 4, 5 and 6.
Developed a whole school cooking programme initiated through a ‘Cooking in Schools’ project with Square Food.
Initiated a whole school music curriculum in partnership with Prelude so every class has 30 minutes weekly of high quality music teaching by experts.
A strong focus on developing tolerant citizens through our assembly programme, with a particular focus on being different and belonging together.
Partnered with the OAL trust to run a fully funded residential on a working farm in a rural setting for year 5 children.
Run a year 6 adventurous activity camp yearly.
Partnered with local Charity ‘Bristol Schools Connect’ To deliver a year 5 school exchange programme with two rural church of England schools.
Partnered with Boomsatsuma to create an artist in residence ’Learning Vine’ art trail throughout the school funded through the Archbishop of Canterbury ‘Unlocking Gifts’ projects.
Engaged with the Into Film’s Literacy Through Films project.
Engaged with the St Paul’s Carnival school’s programme.
Trained school staff in our bid to become a trauma informed school.
Enhanced our behaviour policy to become a pivitol school adopting a more restorative approach.
A comprehensive range of family engagement through online learning platforms, class dojo, curriculum showcases, home learning, parent and family events and parent representatives and a forum.