Our vision is to develop well-rounded, confident, resilient and responsible individuals who aspire to achieve their full potential. We will do this by providing a welcoming, happy, safe and supportive learning environment in which everyone is equal and all achievements are celebrated. We follow the 2014 National Curriculum but ensure a bespoke learning experience for our Brookside children.
Curriculum
For more information on the school curriculum please contact the school office on:
Email: office@brookside.leics.sch.uk
Tel: 0116 271 3680
Curriculum Overviews
For an overview of the main topics taught in each year group, browse the class pages section of the website.
Please note: with regard to religious education, parents and carers should be aware they have the right to withdraw their child from all or part of RE. Please contact the school office for further information.
Our Geography Curriculum Intent
• To develop knowledge and skills for geographic exploration: We aim to equip pupils with core geographical knowledge and the essential skills to investigate and analyse the world geographically, fostering their ability to observe, record, and interpret geographical information with confidence.
• To explore and compare local and global environments: Our curriculum encourages pupils to investigate their own locality and draw comparisons with diverse locations around the world, deepening their understanding of different cultures, climates, and landscapes.
• To build awareness of diverse maps and their uses: We introduce pupils to a variety of maps and mapping techniques, enabling them to interpret the information these provide and understand their importance in understanding places and environments.
• To develop geographic vocabulary for meaningful engagement: We focus on building a strong foundation in geographic language, empowering pupils to discuss, question, and connect with the world around them using appropriate terminology.
• To express informed opinions about places and people: Our curriculum encourages pupils to think critically about human and physical geography, allowing them to form and articulate their own perspectives on people, places, and environmental issues.
Curriculum Intent:
At Brookside we believe that mathematics is an essential everyday life skill which provides pupils with powerful ways to describe, analyse and change the world. Our maths curriculum is based on the 3 aims of the national curriculum – to develop fluency, reasoning and problem-solving skills. We incorporate a mastery style of teaching where all children are challenged and encouraged to excel in maths. New mathematical concepts are introduced using a ‘concrete, pictorial, abstract’ approach with clear models and images to support their understanding. Maths concepts are embedded through making links and connections with the wider curriculum. We are committed to developing children’s curiosity about maths and foster a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.
To support our planning, we use White Rose Maths, a structured scheme that aligns with our medium-term plans. This resource guides us in breaking down key concepts into more manageable steps, allowing children to develop their confidence and fluency.
Examples of Knowledge Organisers
Year 4 Position And Direction KO
At Brookside Primary School, we believe that learning to read is the key to unlocking all areas of the curriculum and is therefore given the highest priority. We are committed to ensuring that every child develops the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to become a fluent and enthusiastic reader.
To achieve this, we follow the Reading Planet: Rocket Phonics scheme, which provides a systematic, synthetic phonics approach to early reading. Through daily, high-quality phonics sessions, children are explicitly taught grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPCs) and how to apply this knowledge to decode and encode words accurately.
Our phonics teaching follows a carefully structured sequence, enabling children to build on prior learning and secure new knowledge. Alongside the teaching of GPCs, children are taught tricky words and high-frequency words that cannot be fully decoded using their current phonic knowledge. Regular opportunities for practice, review and application ensure that learning is embedded and retained.
Reading practice is closely matched to each child’s phonics knowledge through the use of carefully decodable reading books from the Reading Planet: Rocket Phonics scheme, as well as other reading publishers. This ensures that children can apply the phonics they have been taught, developing accuracy, fluency and confidence in reading.
Through consistent teaching, targeted support and high expectations, we aim for all children to become successful readers who develop a lifelong love of reading.
At Brookside, we are committed to ensuring that pupils make progress in all aspects of reading. We strive to help children understand and reflect on their own progress and development as readers, while enabling them to engage with a wide variety of texts, such as fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and reports, and to understand their different purposes. We aim to create a positive reading culture in which children enjoy reading, read regularly, and confidently discuss their reading experiences. We also encourage reading beyond the classroom by fostering strong partnerships with families and promoting reading at home.
At our school, we believe that every child deserves to see themselves reflected in the books they read and to discover the experiences, perspectives, and stories of others. We are committed to providing an inclusive reading environment that celebrates diversity in all its forms, including culture, ethnicity, language, religion, ability, and lived experience. Through a broad and carefully selected range of texts, we encourage all pupils to develop empathy, curiosity, respect, and a lifelong love of reading. We strive to create confident readers who understand and appreciate the rich diversity of the world around them and who recognise the power of stories to connect people and communities.
Children should have as many opportunities as possible to practice and develop their reading skills, at Brookside these include:
- Individual Reading (1:1 reading with an adult in school)
- Shared Reading
- Choral Reading
- Whole Class Reading
- Guided Reading
- Reading across the creative curriculum
- Independent reading
- Reading for Pleasure
- Story Time
- Home reading
Within OAK MAT, our Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) programme is an integral part of our whole school PSHE. High quality relationships and sex education help create safe school communities in which pupils can grow, learn and develop positive, healthy behaviour for life.
For further information about our RSHE Policy (which is currently under consultation) please follow this link:
Please see below our progression map from Year 1 to Year 6:
Our Principles of Teaching Science
Teachers and pupils at our school believe Science teaching and learning is at its best when:
Children are:
- Asking questions
- Enjoying practical lessons
- Experiencing ‘wow’ moments
- Making predictions
- Engaging in investigations
- Finding answers
- Exploring their environment
- Using equipment and resources thoughtfully
- Reflecting on their learning
Teachers are:
- Enthusiastic
- Fully prepared
- Knowledgeable
- Challenging misconceptions
- Explaining key vocabulary