Curriculum

The academy aims to maintain a broad and balanced child-centred curriculum. We aim for a creative curriculum, which, although linked to national curriculum objectives, seeks to reflect the particular interests and needs of our pupils at different stages of their development. Topics are planned with input and feedback from pupils and delivered in a creative, innovative way that stimulates engagement.

Topics chosen are cross curricular to ensure they cover a range of knowledge, skills and understanding relevant to more than one subject.

Pupils are encouraged to be active learners who evidence enquiring and critical minds when approaching new learning experiences. Topics embrace real-life contexts aimed at developing skills as diverse as formal letter writing and testing hypotheses.

At Fairfield Academy we use Read Write Inc and Oxford Reading Tree with support by other reading schemes.

The curriculum is divided into three stages: (i) The Foundation Stage, based on Early Learning Goals. (ii) Key Stage 1 and (iii) Key Stage 2. Work in KS1 and KS2 is based on the National Curriculum.

Nursery/FS1 (3-4 year olds) & Reception/FS2 (4-5 year olds.)
Infants (5-7 year olds) comprising Years 1 & 2.
Juniors (7-11 year olds) comprising Years 3 to Year 6.

Foundation Stage

In foundation stage classes we aim to offer a stimulating introduction to school life.

The key to a successful start at school is establishing a good relationship between the home and the school.

At this age, children need to focus on developing basic skills. The school supports the principles for early years set out by the department of education. Staff work hard to ensure that children feel involved, secure and valued at school.

The areas of learning and early learning goals for this stage are:

Personal, social and emotional development
Communication, language and literacy
Numeracy development
Knowledge and understanding of the world
Physical development
Creative development

National Curriculum: Key Stages 1 & 2

The National Curriculum starts with Year 1.

The school’s schemes of work, exemplar schemes and curriculum policies ensure coverage and progression in the national curriculum at levels appropriate for individual pupils.

Pupils are currently taught in either whole-year groups or mixed-year groups. Pupils are divided into ability groups for core-curriculum subjects (Maths, English, and Science). Whenever it is necessary to split a year-group to balance class sizes, careful consideration is given to the best arrangements for pupils. Decisions are arrived at through joint consultation with staff, governors and parents.

The National Curriculum comprises of

Core Subjects:

English (Literacy)
Maths (Numeracy)
Science

Foundation Subjects:

Religious Education
Computing
Music
Design Technology
Art
History
Geography
Physical Education
Personal, Social & Health Education (PSHE)
Modern Foreign Languages (French is taught to pupils in KS2)

For further information about the curriculum followed at Fairfield Academy please contact us.

DRET reading list

This DRET Reading list contains age specific texts relevant to T4R, writing and reading for pleasure.

DRET Literature Spine

DRET 10 reading challenge 2021

20th April 2021 - Mr Creighton has today launched to the children a new reading challenge for all the pupils at Fairfield Academy in conjunction with all other academies across DRET. The challenge is called ‘The DRET 10 Reading Challenge’. The focus of this challenge is to encourage children to read more and further enhance our reading for pleasure ethos that we are continuously developing throughout our academy. The challenge consists of children being challenged to read 10 books by the end of the summer term. The books have been carefully selected from our literacy spine, which you can find above this section on the website, and cover a wide range of genres and choices.

Over the Easter break, teachers from all classes ordered a large quantity of brand new books (at great cost) to help make the challenge an engaging and exciting opportunity for all. With this in mind, we would kindly ask that you ensure your child looks after these new books and return them when finished to allow for others to enjoy further down the line during this challenge.

To allow you the opportunity to promote reading for pleasure at home, we have included each of the classes reading challenge checklists below for your information.

This is one of many exciting and new reading opportunities in the pipeline over the coming months!

Butterworth class

Reception classes - Murphy & Haughton

Potter class

Rosen class

Dahl class

Morpurgo class

Pratchett class

Lewis class

Stevenson class

Kessler class

Kipling class

DRET QR code for Reading log

David Ross Education Trust and British Values

The Trust is very supportive of the ethos of promoting British Values, and preparing our pupils for success in a modern Britain.

A heavy reliance is placed upon broadening horizons for each and every child and this includes developing the core skills of tolerance, respect, teamwork, resilience and building self-esteem. These are all values and qualities that we feel are relevant in order to play a full and meaningful role in society, and are promoted via our extensive house system that lends itself to cultural and sporting competition, democratic principles, social mixing, the development of greater pastoral care and enhanced PSHE.

Click here to find out more about British Values at our academy

Fairfield Academy