The curriculum is organised into blocks of years called ‘key stages’ (KS). At the end of each key stage, your child’s teacher will formally assess their performance to measure your child’s progress.
The teaching of English is at the heart of curriculum provision at Sybourn Primary School. Children learn how to read, write and spell in Literacy and Phonics lessons every morning. If required, extra support is provided to pupils through intervention groups in the afternoons.
Our writing lessons are 'skills-based' and are carefully differentiated to meet the needs of all learners. A love of writing is encouraged through engaging and lively texts and stories. Many pupils beginning their education at primary school have limited or no English, therefore, we aim to provide our pupils with opportunities to develop core communication skills in every lesson, regardless of the subject. Progress and attainment in writing at Sybourn is achieved through carefully tailored, high-quality lessons and resources.
Children at Sybourn learn Maths as a discrete subject for an hour a day, as well as in a cross-curricular way, such as during Maths Week when we use Maths in PE, art and other subjects.
We use the Primary Advantage Maths approach in which children learn to use concrete resources, such as counters, blocks, plastic money and number lines, to develop a strong understanding of maths concepts. They then move on to using pictures to help them visualise a concept, before learning to handle numbers in abstract.
Our aim is that all children enjoy maths and see its value in the real world. As such we focus on maths in a real-life context and fun, problem-solving activities. When children have shown a good understanding of the basic concepts, we stretch their learning by challenging them to explain their reasoning and show a depth of understanding, leading to mastery.
Mental maths is an important skill, taught in short bursts every day. Children are taught strategies to improve the speed of their mental calculations. We emphasise the importance of learning times tables and number bonds.
Children have the opportunity to work on ICT in Maths at least once a week. As a school, we have subscriptions to maths websites such as My Maths, Skoolbo, Maths Whizz and Education City. These can also be accessed by children from home. Speak to your class teacher if your child needs their log-in details.
Homework for Maths is usually set once every fortnight (alternating with literacy), either in homework books or through online resources, such as My Maths. We also encourage parents to spend time every day helping their children learn the times tables and number bonds.
Reading at KS1: Daily Supported Reading
The Daily Supported Reading Programme is a classroom programme that helps to move all children on in their reading. It is delivered initially to all children in KS1 whilst the children are still reading on KS1 colour band levels. It helps children make accelerated progress by working with trained adults in small groups matched to their independent reading levels. This method has a proven track record of success in raising school reading standards in KS1.
Here at Sybourn, we run the Daily Supported Reading programme (DSR) five times each week. Each session lasts for 30 minutes. The children are assessed on a daily basis to ensure that children are fully supported and stretched to achieve their full potential.
For children in the early stages of reading, the school follows the Letters and Sounds programme. Click here for more information on the programme.
Reading at KS2 (Destination Reader):
Both in school at home, we want to build a culture of reading for pleasure and purpose. Our approach to reading involves daily sessions incorporating clear adult modelling prior to the children applying these skills through partner work and independent reading. Children deepen their understanding of the challenging texts they read through the systematic use of a series of strategies and language stems. Our approach encompasses the key principles of effective reading provision and fully meets the requirements of the National Curriculum by creating deep understanding of texts, developing oracy around reading and increasing children’s breadth of reading.
Prime Areas:
Specific Areas:
For more information on the Early Years Curriculum, click here.