Curriculum

English Curriculum

In English, we base our curriculum on the recommended genres by Lancashire and ensure progression by using the KLIPS (Key Learning Indicators of Performance) inline with the National Curriculum. 

Maths Curriculum

We use a nationally commissioned scheme to help us teach maths - Maths No Problem! This a mastery approach to maths. More information for parents can be found by following this link:

Maths No Problem!

Science Curriculum

We follow the National Curriculum for science and weave in lots of opportunities for children to experiment and explore in practical ways. 

PSHE Curriculum

Our PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education) work encompasses all the statutory requirements for Relationships and Health Education.

We use the Kapow scheme of work. The organisation of our RSE and PSHE curriculum into the following themes:

• Families and Relationships. 
• Health and Wellbeing.
• Safety and the Changing Body.
• Citizenship.
• Economic Wellbeing and Identity (Year 6 only).

The long-term plan includes all of our RSE & PSHE units from EYFS, Reception - Year 6, giving full coverage of the statutory guidance for relationships, sex and health education and of the PSHE Association's programme of study.

We always advise parents in advance. Parents have a right to withdraw their child from this work but we would always chat with parents about this first. 

Most of the work we do in PSHE lessons will be discussion and debate. Our floor books will record our progress in this work. Children's PSHE books will be used for personal reflection and for exploring ideas within each unit of work.

PSHE Curriculum Guides

PSHE Consultation Response 2025

Knowledge Organisers

Top Tips

Vocabulary

History Curriculum

In History, we follow the National Curriculum objectives and use the Lancashire KLIPs (Key Learning Indicators of Performance) to ensure progression throughout year groups. We enrich our History curriculum with educational visits, themed days and weeks, and by exploring history through other subjects e.g. Art and Music.

Geography Curriculum

We follow the National Curriculum guidance for Geography and have carefully mapped the skills to ensure progression. Progression is also informed by the Lancashire KLIPs (Key Learning Indicators in Performance). We also use Geography to explore cultures from around the world.

Computing Curriculum

PE Curriculum

RE Curriculum

Art Curriculum

We love art at Balshaw Lane. As well as following the national curriculum, we find opportunities for children to practise their artistic skill throughout other subjects. We have led art projects with other Euxton schools, for example, our recent faith arts week and have had an enterprise week which led to children displaying and selling their artwork in a pop up art gallery.

Design Technology Curriculum

Modern Foreign Languages Curriculum

Music Curriculum Statement

Intent

Underpinning the curriculum at Balshaw Lane is the assertion that music education is the entitlement of all children, regardless of ethnic origin, gender, class, aptitude or disability. Our curriculum is designed to:

• Provide all children with an education in music that is stimulating, enriching and inspiring.
• Encourage confidence in all of the children, promoting curiosity, individual challenge and self-motivation.
• Provide the opportunity to develop an understanding and appreciation of all types of music from different cultures, eras and genres, and a respect for individual music expression and appreciation.
• Fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum for Music and the EYFS statutory framework through listening, singing, playing, evaluating, analysing and composing. 
• Promote the value and importance of music within the school and the wider community.
• Systematically develop an understanding of the interrelated dimensions of music: pitch, rhythm, dynamics, duration, timbre, texture and structure, using both instruments and voice, and to apply this knowledge when creating their own music develop awareness of how music is produced through the access to a variety of instruments and ICT.
• Develop awareness of how music is recorded through a variety of processes including graphic and standard notations.

All of the above are achievable through our curriculum that is designed to build progressively on previous skills and knowledge. 

Implementation

At Balshaw Lane we make music an enjoyable learning experience. We encourage children to participate in a variety of musical experiences through which we aim to build up the confidence of all children. There is a strong focus on singing at our school. Through singing songs, children learn about structure and organisation of music. We have a weekly whole school 'Singing Assembly' and we enjoy singing together as a whole school family in collective worship assemblies.

We believe that music enriches the lives of people, and so we wish to involve as many children as possible in musical activities. We teach children to listen to and appreciate different forms of music, giving them the skills to recognise how the elements of music can be combined to achieve an intended effect, and providing the opportunities for practical exploration of those elements.

We teach children to make music together on a variety of instruments both tuned and untuned, to compose pieces and to understand different forms of musical notation as a means of recording and reproducing their work. We have a wide range of musical instruments available for classroom lessons.

The children also have access to IT resources, Google Chromelab, Purple Mash and Garageband on iPads and Audacity on PC, in Music and IT lessons. We have developed our scheme of learning to cover the requirements of the National Curriculum programmes of study in KS1 and 2 while, in addition, making links with our Connected Curriculum where appropriate.  

Careful planning through the use of the scheme Sing up, ensures that children receive a varied and balanced music education throughout their time at Balshaw Lane, building upon prior learning. Our music planning is geared to three aspects of progress: 

• Increasing breadth and range of musical experiences. 
• Increasing challenge in musical activities.
• Increasing confidence, sensitivity and creativity in the children's music- making.

In EYFS we teach music as an integral part of the children's learning journey. Children learn a wide range of songs and rhymes and develop skills for performing together. Singing and music making opportunities are used frequently to embed learning, develop musical awareness and to demonstrate how music can be used to express feelings. We use a wide range of resources, relating the musical aspects of the children's work to the objectives set out in the Early Learning Goals which underpin the curriculum planning for children aged three to five years.

We encourage the children to develop confidence and control of the way they express themselves and the way they handle equipment. We give all children the opportunity to undertake activities that offer appropriate creative and expressive challenge, both indoors and outdoors, using a wide range of resources to support specific skills.

Experience of live performance takes many different forms be it low-key solo or small group performances in lessons, end of unit class to class performances, class assemblies to parents or performances in the local community, not forgetting our eagerly anticipated annual Balshaw Lane's Got Talent competition.

Key Stages 1 present musical Christmas productions and the Year 6 children perform a musical as their Leavers' Concert. Other year groups have opportunities to perform throughout the year in either a Christmas production, Easter production or concert.  Each year, EYFS and KS1 enjoy a pantomime in the Autumn term provided by a professional company, while KS2 visit a local theatre for productions which, in the past, have included pantomimes or musical theatre. Y5 usually experience a live orchestra concert. In the past this has included BBC Philharmonic and Halle Orchestra performances. 

Specialist music tuition For those children who wish to specialise in a particular instrument, we offer the opportunity to study with peripatetic specialist teachers. This is usually, but not exclusively, offered to KS2 pupils. These lessons are normally taught to small groups of children who have chosen to learn one of a variety of instruments. At present we have children learning guitar, drums, French horn, and keyboard/piano.

We have also recently launched Rock Steady, where children get to be part of a band and learn skills to do with their chosen instrument along the way. This building to a qualification at each stage. This is in addition to the curriculum music teaching of the school. Whenever appropriate, children are given the opportunity to participate in curriculum lessons using their 'specialist' instrument alongside classroom instruments.

Extra-curricular activities in school and the wider community

We participate in the Young Voices concerts where approximately 60 children are offered the opportunity to take part in a massed choir of 8,000 singers in Manchester. This is open to all children from Year 4 to Year 6 due to the late return from the concert. Young Voices rehearsals take place after school once a week and these are replaced by Singing Club in the summer term which is open to all KS2 children. We also participate in local events including 'Chorley Big Sing' and have previously performed at the village gala. We have an Ocarina Club and recorder club at lunch time over the course of the year.  In providing this, it is hoped that the children will then develop an interest that will take them on to other instruments as they move through school. 

Impact 

At Balshaw Lane Community Primary School we believe that musical education, experienced in a safe and supportive environment, is a vital contributor to a pupil's personal development. Music is a unique way of communicating that can inspire and motivate children as a vehicle of personal expression. Music reflects the culture and society we live in and so the teaching and learning of music enables children to better understand the world they live in. It also plays an important part in helping children to feel part of a community, and numerous studies have shown the significant positive impact that collective music-making can have on wellbeing and mental health.

As a result of our curriculum, our children are able to enjoy music be it through listening, creating or performing. They can analyse music with an understanding of the IRD which are contained within it. They can sing and feel a pulse. They have a solid foundation of skills and a variety of opportunities to develop those skills further should they wish to do so. 

We use a range of strategies to assess what skills and knowledge the children have attained including the following:

• Performance. 
• Pupil voice.
• Regular feedback during each lesson.
• Self and peer assessments of their learning and performance.