Curriculum

English includes Speaking and Listening and Reading and Writing. English is an integral part of the whole school curriculum.

Talking is fundamental to a pupil’s learning. Pupils are encouraged and helped to talk clearly, confidently and with expression in order to communicate ideas and feelings. Similarly, and just as importantly, is the need to listen to others and respond appropriately. All children are provided with opportunities in all areas of the curriculum on a regular basis to develop skills in speaking and listening and to enrich their vocabulary. At Brierley, we feel strongly that in order to be able to write something, children need to be able to first say it with confidence.  Having the chance to explain their ideas helps them not only to build their confidence but to also deepen their understanding of sentence structure and audience.

One of the greatest gifts we can give a child is the ability to read. We believe that reading should be an enjoyable activity, and our approach to reading is based on this.

At Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 there is great emphasis on the teaching of reading using a structured phonics programme.  At Key Stage 2 we extend and develop each child’s reading skills to enable them to be confident, independent and skilled readers.

We aim to develop a love of reading and therefore encourage our children to take books home and share them with you. Children need to be able to read with understanding, for pleasure and for information. The children work their way through levelled books until they eventually become ‘free readers’.  As both levelled and free readers, the children’s reading is monitored regularly and they are encouraged to choose books which are both appropriately challenging and of a range of genres and authors.

Children are heard on a one-to-one basis as well as during whole class and group choral reading sessions.  Reading skills are taught through group and whole class lessons.  Our children are taught to read fluently and with expression and to be able to demonstrate an understanding of what they have read through a variety of activities. At Brierley, we encourage our parents to read with their children daily to support with their child’s reading.  We also read a variety of high quality texts to the children on a regular basis.  Some of these texts link with topics we are covering in other lessons and others are purely for the enjoyment and to suit the interests of the children.  Many of these texts can be found in our reading spine.

The link between reading and writing is strongly emphasised and reading sessions are often used to allow children to familiarise themselves with different text types, including their purpose, audience, language and features. It also provides an opportunity for them to build up the language and vocabulary needed to be able to write a specific text type. Our long term English plans are used to ensure that children are exposed to a range of genres throughout their time at Brierley, although sometimes teachers change the texts and outcomes to suit the needs and interests of their children.

Daily work on SPaG (spelling, punctuation and grammar), as well as handwriting, is used to help children to build up the skills they need in order to eventually plan and write their own independent piece of writing. During this build up of skills, there are regular opportunities for children to engage in shared writing sessions. Writing outcomes often link to other areas of the curriculum as well as current texts which are being read in class.

It is important that our children have some free reign over their writing which is why they are often given choices in what they would like to write. We want them to be confident writers who take pride in both the content and presentation of their work. We feel that this is best achieved when children see a purpose to their writing and have the skills and language necessary in order to produce their own written piece.

From the time the children first come into school, they are introduced to the world of mathematics, its language, use and meaning. Every class has a daily Maths lesson lasting from 450 minutes to approx 60 minutes depending on the age of the children. Whenever appropriate, the children learn from practical approaches in which they are actively involved. Through this, their understanding of the basic rules of number, pattern, shape and relationships is developed, as well as how to apply their mathematical knowledge.

Investigative approaches are used to further the children’s understanding and application of maths. The Headteacher is a Primary Mathematics Specialist Teacher and our maths curriculum is based on the most up to date research and understanding of how children learn maths. This can mean that sometimes the methods used in the classroom can seem unfamiliar to parents and carers. Please feel free to arrange to see the class teacher if you would like to discuss how to help your child to develop their understanding of maths.

We aim to develop the pupils’ scientific skills through first-hand experiences. Pupils are encouraged to solve problems by making close observations, planning, predicting, fair testing, recording their findings in a systematic way and drawing conclusions. The children work in small groups allowing them the opportunity to hypothesise and develop their own ideas and thoughts. Our curriculum sets out to develop enquiring minds, and children are encouraged to ask questions and attempt to solve them.

Emphasis is placed on developing children’s ability to use Computing skills across the whole curriculum and in their daily lives. This is done through building communication skills (word processing, graphics and art), Handling Information and Data, Modelling and Simulation, Monitoring changes such as temperature and light, Music and Sound and multi media presentations.

Children have access to up to date technology in the form on laptops, interactive whiteboards, cameras, iPads and tablets. As well as the ICT suite, we have two laptop trolleys and a class set of tablets to enhance our computing experience. All children have supervised access to the internet.

E-Safety is one of our priorities. All children and parents are required to sign an acceptable use agreement. Safe use of the Internet Policy is available on request.