Brookvale Curriculum

At Brookvale Primary School, we aim to provide an educational experience by which our children develop into confident, independent and successful learners who will thrive in later life and make a positive contribution to society.

In order to achieve this, we have developed an ambitious, well-designed, coherent and progressive curriculum based upon the very best research into curriculum design and with our children and community context at the heart of its design.

In developing and refining our curriculum over the past few years, and specifically in response to partial covid closures, we have adhered to the following founding principles:

• Develop a knowledge-rich curriculum, supported by high-quality teacher instruction, collaborative learning and the opportunity for children to demonstrate understanding;
• Place language development and reading at the core of curriculum design;
• Ensure strong sequences of learning, building on what children already know and can do.
• Ensure instruction is founded on principles of cognitive science and lessons contain opportunities for short, medium and long-term retrieval/Interleaving (where appropriate).
• Use of more frequent ‘low stakes’ checkpoints that feedback in to classroom planning;
• Create a curriculum that is ambitious in its scope to overcome socio-economic disadvantage.

The intent was to create a curriculum which would allow our children to understand: what they are learning, why they are learning this now, where does this build on and where does it lead.

Just like the children in our school, our curriculum is unique. It has been designed and developed with all of our staff to ensure it is:

• Bespoke to meet the needs of our children, regardless of their academic, personal or social circumstances, so that every one of them reaches their full potential during their time at Brookvale;
• Ambitious and challenging so that our children succeed in secondary school and into adulthood;
• Rooted in the wider social and emotional experiences of our children, helping them become the very best version of themselves as they grow with us.

Our curriculum will provide our children with a broad, balanced and enriched academic foundation that closely follows but extends the programmes of study outlined in the National Curriculum. It is also supplemented with topics that address the localised needs of our children, their daily experiences and important issues occurring in the world around them. Our knowledge-engaged curriculum has been carefully planned to ensure broad but ‘deep’ coverage within subjects, securing progress both in year and across the key stages. Topics, knowledge and skills have been carefully sequenced to build on prior learning and ensure that children meet ambitious end-points for each subject discipline, preparing them fully for the next phase of their education.

Each subject is treated as a discipline in its own right, and leaders have carefully planned  the substantive subject knowledge for each unit and each phase of education. Staff receive regular CPD to develop not only their pedagogical skills but their Pedagogical Content Knowledge so that children receive the very best teaching.

Each lesson within our curriculum begins with an exploratory key question, through which it is hoped that our children develop an excitement for learning, a curiosity about the world around them and a passion for new knowledge, understanding and skills. This key question also forms the basis for teacher’s ongoing assessment of learning and progress.

We emphasise the development of English and Numeracy and skillfully build opportunities into all lessons that allow our children to apply their skills across the broader curriculum. In particular, the development of our children as confident and competent readers is central to our curriculum and subject topics are underpinned by relevant high-quality literature and non-fiction texts that have been specifically chosen to enhance the children’s studies. Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary has been mapped and is taught daily from EYFS through to Year 6.

We prioritise the emotional wellbeing of our children through a values-led programme of study, outlined in our Personal Development and Wellbeing curriculum (PDW/RSHE), our Education for Social Responsibility (ESR) and our unique Electives Study programme. Through this, we hope that our children will develop into caring, compassionate, open-minded and responsible individuals, as they mature into young adults.