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.
Art and Design
At Brookside Primary School, we value the importance of Art and Design as a powerful means of creativity, communication and self-expression. We believe that every child is entitled to a rich and inspiring art education that nurtures individuality, independence, resilience and reflective thinking.
It is our intent to provide opportunities for every child to explore, experiment and develop their artistic skills while fostering curiosity and imagination. Through engaging and meaningful experiences, children will learn about a range of artists, techniques and cultures, enabling them to appreciate and understand the role of art in the wider world. We want our pupils to become creative, resilient and reflective learners who feel confident expressing their ideas and individuality through art.
Through studying a diverse range of artists, designers and craftspeople from different cultures, backgrounds and historical periods, pupils gain an appreciation of artistic achievement and cultural heritage. We aim to broaden children’s understanding of the world around them while helping them recognise the value and impact of art across societies and throughout history.
We believe that art should be both enjoyable and meaningful. Children are encouraged to use visual language to communicate ideas, emotions and experiences, whilst developing the confidence to evaluate, refine and celebrate their own work. We want our pupils to understand that the creative process is just as important as the final outcome and to take pride in their artistic achievements.
Sketchbooks play an important role in our art curriculum, providing children with opportunities to record observations, develop ideas, practise techniques and reflect on their learning. These personal journals encourage experimentation, creativity and growth, helping pupils to see the journey behind every finished piece of artwork.
Through our Art and Design curriculum, we aim to inspire a lifelong appreciation of creativity and equip children with the skills, confidence and enthusiasm to express themselves through art.
French Curriculum Intent
Learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an essential opening to other cultures. In Brookside, we teach our children French to generate a fascination for words and how language works, a wider curiosity about the peoples and cultures of French-speaking countries and the foundational knowledge to support confident communication in French. Based on the Rachel Hawkes scheme of work, our curriculum aims:
• To develop confidence in communicating in another language: We aim to develop pupils’ listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in French so that they can understand and respond to spoken and written language with increasing confidence, fluency, and accuracy.
• To foster curiosity and enthusiasm for language learning: Our curriculum encourages children to enjoy language learning through engaging topics, meaningful contexts, songs and interactive activities that inspire a fascination for words and how language works.
• To build strong foundations in phonics, vocabulary, and grammar: We explicitly teach the key sound-writing relationships, high-frequency vocabulary, and essential grammatical structures that pupils need to communicate independently and successfully in French.
• To develop oracy and accurate pronunciation: Through regular opportunities for oral rehearsal, speaking, and listening, pupils build confidence in pronunciation and conversational French, enabling them to express ideas and respond to others effectively.
• To deepen understanding of French culture and the wider world: We introduce pupils to the traditions, geography, customs, and cultures of France and other French-speaking countries, helping them appreciate diversity and develop global awareness.
• To make meaningful connections between languages: Our curriculum supports pupils in recognising similarities and differences between French, English, and any heritage languages they may speak, deepening their understanding of language structure and communication.
• To prepare pupils for future language learning: We aim to provide pupils with the knowledge, skills, and confidence needed for a smooth transition into Key Stage 3, establishing strong foundations for continued language study.
This intent ensures that our Modern Foreign Languages curriculum develops not only language knowledge and communication skills, but also curiosity, cultural understanding, resilience, and a lifelong appreciation of languages and the wider world.
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
Article 31: Every child has the right to relax, play and take part in a wide range of cultural and artistic activities.
Intent
Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. At Brookside Primary School, we are dedicated to creating an enjoyable and engaging experience of music for all children. By encouraging the children to participate in a variety of musical experiences, we are actively increasing their creativity, self-confidence and sense of achievement, whilst at the same time, allowing all pupils to develop their love of music.
We aim to provide a music curriculum which will enable each child to be successful in reaching their full potential.
Music Intent, Implementation And Impact
At OAK, we strive to create an oracy-rich community where we develop confident and articulate learners who communicate respectfully in a range of contexts.
We teach and empower all children to use and value their voice, to foster curiosity and to build their confidence.
Oracy gives every child an opportunity to become active citizens who fulfil their potential, flourish in school and be prepared for later life.
We’re a Voice 21 Oracy School!
Voice 21 is the national oracy education charity. They advocate for and support schools in delivering a high-quality oracy education.
In becoming a Voice 21 Oracy School, we are joining a network of over 1,200 Voice 21 Oracy Schools across the UK that are transforming teaching and learning through talk.
Why oracy matters?
Oracy is the ability to articulate ideas, develop understanding and engage with others through speaking, listening and communication.
We actively invest teaching time into creating ‘talk-rich’ classrooms, valuing every student voice, boosting confidence, and better preparing our students for their futures.
- Speaking and listening skills are critical foundations for reading and writing.
- Students with better oral language skills are more likely to achieve the highest grades in GCSE Maths and English.
- Young people with good communication skills are less likely to have mental health difficulties.
By teaching students to become effective speakers and listeners, we empower them to understand themselves, each other, and the world around them better.
Why are we a Voice 21 Oracy School?
As a Voice 21 Oracy School, we are placing oracy at the heart of our teaching and learning, across all subject areas, enabling students to develop and deepen their knowledge and understanding through talk in the classroom.
In Voice 21 Oracy Schools:
- 86% of students believe it’s important to be a good speaker and listener.
- 77% of teachers said that oracy had boosted attainment.
- 79% of teachers said that oracy is an essential part of teaching and learning.
Find out more about oracy and Voice 21 here.
About Voice 21
Oracy sets children up for success in school and life. Voice 21 supports schools to deliver high-quality oracy education by ensuring speaking, listening, and communication are part of teaching, the curriculum, and wider school life. Oracy supports children to get the best start in life and be ready to learn.
We work in the schools in which we can make the biggest difference. In Voice 21 schools, you will hear students solving problems collaboratively in maths and dissecting arguments in history, talking through conflicts in the playground and leading assemblies. Like literacy and numeracy, oracy is teachable. It is foundational for learning, working, creating healthy relationships with other people, and building stronger communities.
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:
INTENT
For children to see themselves as scientists:
We aim to develop pupils’ sense of identity as scientists, so they see science as something they can all succeed in. Through practical and purposeful experiences, pupils recognise that science is relevant, accessible and connected to their everyday lives.
To develop the scientific knowledge and vocabulary needed to understand the world:
Pupils develop secure scientific knowledge and use subject-specific vocabulary accurately to explain, question and discuss scientific ideas. This enables them to communicate their understanding clearly and apply their learning across different contexts.
To develop the skills to work scientifically:
Our curriculum equips pupils with the skills needed to work scientifically, including questioning, predicting, investigating, testing, observing, recording and drawing conclusions. Pupils develop their ability to think critically, evaluate evidence and build understanding through enquiry.
To explore and understand the natural world:
Pupils are encouraged to explore, observe and appreciate the natural world. Through first-hand experiences, they develop understanding of scientific processes, patterns and relationships in the physical world.
To foster curiosity about the world around them:
Curiosity is central to our Science curriculum. Pupils are encouraged to ask questions, seek answers and develop a lifelong interest in how the world works.
Pupils leave our schools as curious, knowledgeable and reflective learners who are able to engage with and make sense of the world around them.
For our full intent statement please see the attached document.
Intent OAK Brookside Science 2026
Please see our Skills progression statements here.
In English, we aim to develop pupils’ abilities within an integrated programme of Oracy, Reading and Writing. Pupils will be given opportunities to interrelate the requirements of English within a broad and balanced approach to the teaching of English across the curriculum, with opportunities to consolidate and reinforce taught literacy skills through the Foundation Subjects.
Aims
In addition to the overall School aims, English at Brookside enables pupils to develop lively, enquiring minds and a life-long interest in English through which they can achieve their full potential. English at Brookside develops children’s ability to listen, speak, read and write for a wide range of purposes, including the communication of their ideas, views and feelings. Children are enabled to express themselves creatively and imaginatively as they become enthusiastic and critical readers of stories, poetry and drama, as well as of non-fiction and media texts. They also begin to develop critical faculties when viewing film, theatre productions etc…Children gain an understanding of how language works by looking at its patterns, structures and origins. Children use their knowledge, skills and understanding in speaking and writing across a range of different situations and thus grow the powers of imagination, inventiveness and critical awareness.
The national curriculum for English aims to ensure that all pupils:
- Read easily, fluently and with good understanding;
- Develop the habit of reading widely and often for both pleasure and information;
- Acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language;
- Appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage;
- Write clearly, accurately and coherently; adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences;
- Use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas;
- Are competent in the skills of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate.
In order to achieve this, staff will aim to:
- Create a learning environment, which encourages children’s skills development and allows them to express themselves fluently in verbal and written forms.
- Teachers will seek to take advantage of opportunities to make cross-curricular links. They will plan for pupils to practise and apply the skills, knowledge and understanding acquired through English lessons to other areas of the curriculum.