At Hillstone, we nurture ambitious, articulate learners who are empowered to shape their futures with confidence. Our curriculum is designed to inspire high aspirations for every pupil and to build the oracy skills that enable them to think deeply, communicate clearly and engage meaningfully with the world. While rooted in the National Curriculum, our offer goes far beyond it—providing rich, carefully sequenced learning that strengthens knowledge, develops problem‑solving skills and prepares children for life beyond Hillstone.
We believe that every child should find their voice and use it purposefully. Oracy sits at the heart of school life—woven through lessons, collaborative learning, leadership opportunities, and the wider experiences that enrich our curriculum. From clubs and residentials to the arts, sport, food education and community projects, our provision encourages pupils to express themselves, challenge ideas, celebrate diversity and speak with confidence.
We work in partnership with parents and carers to raise aspirations and develop articulate, thoughtful citizens who make a positive contribution to their community. Together, we help our children dream big, communicate with clarity and respect, and embrace the opportunities of their future.
Children at the heart of all we do.
Our curriculum offer
What makes us Hillstone?
Aspiration
Aspiration is one of our four school values and a key curriculum driver. We are committed to our children growing confident in the knowledge that they can (and will!) achieve their dreams through a carefully crafted careers curriculum. We also have an ongoing partnership with the King Edwards Foundation. We work closely with the foundation to implement a range of trips and visitors for our year 5 pupils that will inspire their future career choices. And finally, oracy sits at the heart of school life. We want our children to know that their voice has the power to make a difference.
Oracy
We are in our second year working with Voice 21 and our pedagogy centres on the concept of learning through to talk, as we learn through talk. We believe that every child should find their voice and use it purposefully. Oracy sits at the heart of school life—woven through lessons, collaborative learning, leadership opportunities, and the wider experiences that enrich our curriculum. It sits hand in hand with our drive for aspiration. We want children to realise that their voice has the power to make change in our ever-evolving world. We celebrate oracy through our fortnightly oracy assemblies.
Projects
Subjects are taught in an organised and sequential way through our half termly projects. Our well-connected curriculum ensures children can build on previous projects, making links across both subjects and year groups to help them successfully acquire new learning.
The projects have all been carefully chosen to provide breadth and relevance for our children. For instance, ‘Proud to be a Brummie’ teaches the children about the history and geography of the city in which they live, building on learning from our local area project, ‘We Love Shard End.’ Year 1’s ‘Fins, Feathers and Feet’ project takes them to our link farm for the very first time, a visit they repeat three times over the course of their time at Hillstone, working to enhance a great deal of their science learning.
We also run themed weeks across the academic year including ‘Science Week’ and our annual Hillstone Literary Festival.
The Early Years
In the early years, we ensure we are building the very best foundations for future learning.
There are seven areas of learning and development in the EYFS curriculum and they are all important and inter-connected. Three areas are particularly crucial for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, and for building their capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive. The three prime areas are:
• Communication and language;
• Physical development;
• Personal, social and emotional development.
There are also four specific areas, through which the three prime areas are strengthened and applied:
• Literacy;
• Mathematics;
• Understanding the world;
• Expressive arts and design.
Within the seven areas we provide many creative activities and experiences for children, which involve: playing and exploring; active learning and creating and thinking critically. We lay the foundations for our oracy and aspirations based curriculum through high quality adult interactions using the SHREC approach.
