Curriculum

Berkley C of E First School is dedicated to being a place where each child enjoys attending, each member of staff enjoys working and each parent feels justly proud of the school’s achievements.

Termly curriculum maps are on the class pages providing details of what your child will be working on in each subject and how you can support your child at home. Please take the time to look as our partnership will make a difference.

Our curriculum is innovative, creative and dynamic and is taught through our whole school themes. We plan collaboratively as a staff team and share ideas, resources and skills in order to provide the very best learning experience for all children.

Curriculum Intent

Berkley First School’s Creative Curriculum has been carefully designed to ensure that it meets the needs of the children in our school as well as the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum and the EYFS. We have used these as an outline of core knowledge around which we have developed exciting and interesting themes that aim to motivate, inspire and empower children to embrace learning and achieve their personal best. We are fully committed to developing each child’s unique potential within a secure and caring environment. We use a range of sources to meet the needs of the curriculum and provide an exciting and enlightening learning experience for our children, maximising the opportunities in our local area. We believe that our children should not only reach their best academically, but also develop a thirst for knowledge, foster a love of learning and leave our school with exceptional independent learning skills. We offer rich and vibrant opportunities which draw upon meaningful real-life experiences.

Curriculum Implementation

Berkley’s curriculum has been arranged into six creative main themes across the school. Each theme enables ample flexibility to ensure that children direct their own learning and explore opportunities that arise as a result of their study. One of the themes will be ‘Create it!’ This is an Art based topic that is shared across the school where the children’s learning is based around a famous portrait. Wherever possible, meaningful cross curriculum links are made with literacy.

Our curriculum builds strong foundations in English and Mathematics and our morning sessions tend to focus on children's competency in numeracy and literacy skills. In mathematics, we aim to develop children as keen mathematicians, by enabling all of them to understand and use key mathematical concepts. Our mastery approach moves children on through the stages using hands-on practical resources to mathematical images as well as applying their learning to problem solving situations and deepening their understanding.

In English we ensure that children become confident fluent writers, by having a strong grasp of sentence composition, spelling patterns, grammar and handwriting. Regular opportunities for reading activities in both group and individual scenarios ensure that standards across the school are continually rising. Creative writing can often dovetail easily within our themes, and when the writing has real meaning for the children, the standards achieved tend to be far higher.

Curriculum Impact

Children develop their understanding and use of the correct vocabulary, knowledge and skills to demonstrate their understanding in each subject taught.

Our children are respectful, confident and happy. All areas of the curriculum allow children to ‘Let Their Light Shine’ and achieve well. Our children make good progress in their time at Berkley First School and we are proud of their academic achievements.

Monitoring Impact of the Curriculum

At Berkley pupils work is marked daily which helps the teacher plan the next steps to be taught. Pupil progress meetings are held throughout each term and at the end of each term assessment data is gathered and progress is checked by the senior leadership team and subject leads. If children are not on track, interventions are put in place in order for each child to reach their full potential. Children are expected to make good or better progress in all subjects and this individual progress is tracked and reported to parents and carers at parents’ evenings twice a year and an end of year report.

‘An exciting and enriching curriculum which inspires pupils to give of their best Contributes to the excellent attainment and progress made by all groups of learners.’ SIAMS

 

 

 

CLICK ON THE BUTTONS BELOW FOR SPECIFIC SUBJECT INFORMATION

Our curriculum is taught through topics.  We believe that topic-based learning allows individual subjects to become more meaningful. Subjects are taught individually ensuring the children understand the knowledge they are learning and can then apply the skills.

 

Home Challenges

Homework policy

Each class is set a range of challenges each term to consolidate the learning that is taking place at the time.

 

SPECIAL EDUCATION (see SEND Local Offer)

Many children experience some difficulty in learning during their school career. Some problems are easily identified and dealt with by the class teacher. Sometimes it may be necessary to give a child particular help through a specific learning programme.

The school aims to give special help to children with specific or general learning difficulties. The work set will match individual pupil's needs and abilities. A member of our teaching staff who takes responsibility for special needs education throughout the school, guides our Special Needs Learning Support Assistant in the implementation of programmes. Children with particularly severe learning or behavioural difficulties may, with their parents' consent, be referred to the Educational Psychologist. We also try to give extra challenge to children who are particularly able.

Our aims above are achieved by:

  • Planning for the future by producing a School Development Plan.
  • Appropriate and individually tailored Professional Development opportunities for all members of staff
  • Establishing, in all curriculum areas, clear, well defined policies to support teachers. Within each
    policy, provision for reviewing and evaluating exists.
  • Formulating in non-curriculum areas clear, well defined policies for all to work towards. Each policy allows for reviewing and evaluating procedures. Such non-curricular areas might range from a behaviour management policy to dinner time procedures to an admissions policy.
  • Developing guidelines to support our policies.
  • Co-operating with agencies outside school, e.g. schools service advisers, curriculum support services and national organisations.