Curriculum
Overview
Our school’s curriculum combines high standards with a broad and rich curriculum. Great emphasis is placed on planning the curriculum so that there is continuity and progression, in knowledge and learning skills, yet with challenge and pace. A major part of the school’s curriculum is the National Curriculum 2014, which consists of core subjects: English, Mathematics, Science, Computing and Religious Education and Foundation Subjects: History, Geography, Design Technology, Art, Music and P.E. We also include Personal, Social, Health and Citizenship Education (PSHCE) in our curriculum. We teach Modern Foreign Languages (MFL), namely French and Spanish, to all classes from Year 3 to Year 6. We place great emphasis on developing children’s creativity and learning skills and aim to teach the curriculum through a creative, cross-curricular approach wherever possible and applicable.
Please scroll down to see our School Long Term Plans.
Visits and Visitors
We are dedicated to providing a rich source of first hand experiences for all the children by having visitors in school and through day and residential visits out of school. For some of these there is no cost, but for others the school will incur charges. Where school is unable to cover the total cost of these trips, contributions will be requested to ensure that the activity can take place.
Subjects
At Brierley we believe that in order for children to be able to write something they first need to be able to say it. For this reason, regular speaking and listening opportunities are provided in all areas of the curriculum, giving children the chance to speak to their peers as well as to larger audiences within school. All new topics – across the curriculum – are introduced with a focus on key vocabulary and opportunities to talk. Our children are encouraged to speak clearly and confidently in sentences using standard English. Effective questioning is used by staff to ensure children are able to give detailed answers and explanations. Similarly, and just as importantly, is the need to listen to others and respond appropriately. Having regular opportunities to communicate their ideas, opinions and feelings not only helps our children to build confidence but also deepens their understanding of sentence structure and audience.
At Brierley we recognise the importance of reading. We understand that a child’s journey to becoming a reader starts with a systematic approach to the teaching of phonics. We follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds phonics programme which starts with foundations for phonics in nursery where children are taught how to tune in to different sounds and repeat patterns. In Reception and Year 1 our children work through the phonics phases and are taught a new sound each day with the fifth day of each week focusing on recapping and reviewing. Additional phonics teaching takes place daily for any children who need extra practise.
Our reading books are colour banded and each child is given a book which is carefully matched to their phonics knowledge, providing them with the opportunity to practise the sounds they have been taught by reading books at home as well as in school. Once a child is secure in phonics they continue to move through the banded books, accessing a wide range of quality texts appropriate for their age. In addition to this, children take home a ‘share book’ which provides an opportunity for children to share a quality text with an adult. Staff keep a log of what children are reading and support them in choosing books of a wide range of genres and authors.
Our main focus is for our children to have the skills necessary in order to be able to read books as soon as possible and to do so with automaticity, fluency and expression. This is something which is specifically taught in reading lessons and is also encouraged to be practised at home through daily reading with an adult. It is important that our children have a good understanding of what they are reading and the vocabulary they come across in books. Reading skills are taught through group and whole class lessons using texts which are linked to English units of work, topics from other parts of the curriculum and books which have been chosen to suit the interests of the children. Many of these texts can be found in our reading spine. Children are heard on a one-to-one basis as well as during whole class and group choral reading sessions.
Not only do we want our children to be readers but we are also passionate about instilling a love of reading in each and every one of our children. This is modelled by the teachers during daily ‘drop and read’ sessions, where teachers read a book to the children for enjoyment and engage the children in book talk linked to what has been read. Children at Brierley are exposed to a wide range of quality texts, genres and authors with regular opportunities to read throughout the curriculum.
At Brierley, there is a clear link between reading and writing 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 our children 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, write and edit their own independent pieces of writing. Effective feedback through one-to-one discussions and marking is used by the teachers to celebrate children’s writing and support them in editing and improving it. During this build-up of skills, there are regular opportunities for children to engage in shared writing sessions as well as watching writing being modelled by the teacher. Writing outcomes often link to other areas of the curriculum in addition to 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 our children 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. Mathematics is delivered with the support of White Rose Schemes of learning. Children have daily maths sessions where they develop their fluency, reasoning and problem-solving skills across all aspects of the maths curriculum. We use concrete resources to support and build on understanding of concepts before moving to pictorial and then abstract concepts.
Emphasis is placed on developing children’s ability to use Computing skills across the curriculum and in their daily lives. Our computing curriculum is organised into the following five areas and ensures full coverage of the National Curriculum: –
• Computer systems and networks
• Programming
• Creating media
• Data handling
• Online safety
Children have access to up-to-date technology in the form on laptops, interactive whiteboards, cameras and IPads, As well as the ICT suite, we have two laptop trolleys 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. Our E-Safety policy is available on request.
Our art and design curriculum places a large focus on developing sketching, painting and sculpture skills. In each year group, music lessons across the year are divided into artistic skills, 2D projects and 3D projects. We encourage our children to be confident in exploring, experimenting, creating and inventing their own works of art which are then celebrated within class and across school.
We learn French here at Brierley, introduced through songs, rhymes and stories in Year 1 and children begin weekly lessons in Year 2 – 6. At Brierley, we recognise that learning a foreign language at a young age is fundamental to pupils’ preparation for further study of Modern Foreign Languages in secondary school, and, more broadly, for their participation in an increasingly diverse society and interconnected world. We hope to inspire a love of learning languages by connecting languages to real-life, practical contexts, and aim to develop pupils’ vocabulary through an engaging, thematic approach (e.g. ‘All About Me’ and ‘Le Joie de Vivre’) that develops pupils’ skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing.
Our Long Term plans were developed in 2019 after the introduction of the new National Curriculum 2014. As a school we have mixed year groups, therefore our planning is based on a four year rolling programme. Using each of these long term plans the teachers from each Phase then develop Medium term Topic Planners based on the topics which need covering for that half term. Topic planners can be found on the Phase pages and are sent out to parents at the start of each half term.
Please find below the Long Term plans for each phase:
Phase 1 (EYFS ) Long Term plan
Phase 2 (Year 1) Long Term Plan
Phase 3 ( Year 2 – 3, Year 4 -5) Long Term plan
Phase 4 (Year 6) Long Term Plan