Curriculum

Our aim is that when children leave Birley Primary Academy they will be independent learners with good life skills and an ability to meet challenge with resilience and a determination to succeed. We create a happy, stimulating learning environment where risk taking and challenge is encouraged. We awaken and nuture a love of learning that will last a lifetime and provide everybody with the skills to pursue learning independently and collaboratively. We encourage all learners at Birley to develop their own interests, passions, creativity and individuality. 

As a school our curriculum is skills based and organised into termly themes. The themes aim to bring together knowledge and skills as well as providing a fun, stimulating learning journey with a tangible outcome for all. Each theme is launched with a stimulus that builds upon the children’s previous experiences and results in an end product or event which gives the learning purpose. 

We believe that our children learn best if they actively involved, interested and enjoying their learning. We focus on teaching them skills and how to do things we give them a wide experience involving many different activities and subjects.

TEACHING KEY SKILLS THROUGH THE CURRICULUM

Our vision at Birley Primary Academy is to lead learners to succeed. Our curriculum focuses upon the personal learning of all our children. We aim to foster and promote the following key skills to enable children to become well rounded members of their community:

Independence – Learners are able to organise themselves. They take responsibility for their own learning and show initiative. Children can identify problems to be solved and explore issues from different perspectives. 

Reflection – Children develop the skills of reflecting on and evaluating their own learning. They identify the strategies they have used and how they could improve and develop next time. Pupils invite feedback and deal positively with praise, setbacks and constructive criticism. 

Collaboration – Children develop the skills of co-operating, understanding others’ needs and being able to work effectively as part of a team. They take on different roles depending on the situation. Pupils take responsibility, showing confidence in themselves and their contribution. 

Resilience – Children at Birley Primary Academy develop the skills to succeed and prosper even after facing a setback.  We encourage our children to ‘bounce back’ and ‘keep on going’!  Children can manage their emotions, and build and maintain relationships.

Perseverance – We encourage our children to never give up.  We foster the attitude where they feel confident to keep trying no matter what.  Learners can work towards a goal, showing initiative and commitment.

You will find on our website our curriculum overviews for every year group in school.  Our topics change termly and cover the required learning objectives for each foundation subject as found in the National Curriculum as well as developing the key skills as outlined above.  If you require any further information about our curriculum, please contact Mrs R Smith or Miss Finley who are our curriculum leaders in school.

BRITISH VALUES

At Birley, our curriculum provides many opportunities for the children to develop skills and attitudes that will allow them to participate in and contribute positively towards life in modern Britain. Through our termly topic themes, children will explore and engage with the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.

STRUCTURE AND DELIVERY OF OUR CURRICULUM

The core subjects of phonics, reading, writing and maths are taught in the morning in discrete lessons; the skills required by these subjects are further developed through our topic work which takes place in the afternoon. Topic lessons cover all foundation subjects, including;

  • Science
  • History
  • Geography
  • Art
  • Physical Education
  • Computing
  • Modern Foreign Languages
  • Music
  • Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Education
  • Religious Education
  • PSHE

Our range of reading materials includes a variety of texts from a number of different publishers. They are graded in progression and difficulty from book bands. The phonics scheme that is followed throughout school is Letters and Sounds.

Whole School Curriculum Overview