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 to support early reading. As children move to KS2 they access the Big Cat Collins bridging library to support their independent reading further.    

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.

Reading Curriculum

Read Write Inc

This is the basis for teaching our children to read and comprehend.

All pupils will start Phonics in nursery where they will learn one sound a week, going into reception and year one the children will learn a sound daily, and practise all taught sounds through reading and completing written tasks. All children on RWI will be given paper copies of the story book they are reading that week to practise at home, to increase fluency and speed. Children who are falling behind will receive 1:1 catch up sessions during the afternoon.

Useful links about RWI

To find out more information about RWI, click on the links below to watch their informative videos:

Understanding Phonics: www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/#lg=1&slide=0

What is RWI Phonics? www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/#lg=1&slide=1 

How to say the sounds: www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/#lg=1&slide=2 

Reading For Pleasure

At Fairfield we promote a love of reading through various reading for pleasure initiatives and heavily invest in our reading offer.

Bedtime Story Bags

Pupils in Early Years and Key Stage One classes are chosen by their teachers to receive the weekly Bedtime Story Bag. Titles are specially selected by their teachers to match the children’s interests. Pupils are invited to snuggle up with their grown ups, along with the cuddly reading dog and hot chocolate sachet supplied in each Story Bag.

Uber Reads

Each half term, every class in school receives a fresh delivery of two new reading books to their classroom door. These books are chosen to represent different genres, authors or themes and often correlate with dates in the cultural calendar or share award winning children’s titles. Unwrapping and discovering the new reads is always highly anticipated! 

DRET reading list

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

DRET Literature Spine

DRET READS

At present, children in nursery to Year 4 bring home two books each week, one which is closely matched to their decoding skills and one reading for pleasure book. Beyond Year 4, most children are equipped with the reading skills to access a range of texts of varying difficulty and are therefore encouraged to read a wide range of more challenging titles.

From Friday 27^th January 2023, pupils can choose their reading for pleasure book from a range of specially selected books, which are part of the trust wide core reading list. This is a list of book titles for each year group and feature different genres, themes and authors. Children can earn bronze, silver and gold certificates for 10, 15 and 20 reads respectively.

Please see below all the books in the DRET READS scheme. 

 Nursery

nursery dret reads booklet.pdf

 

 Reception

eyfs dret reads booklet.pdf

 

 Year 1

y1 dret reads booklet.pdf

 

 Year 2

y2 dret reads booklet.pdf

 

 Year 3

y3 dret reads booklet.pdf

 

 Year 4

y4 dret reads booklet.pdf

 

 Year 5

y5 dret reads booklet.pdf

 

 Year 6

 

y6 dret reads booklet.pdf

 

 

Fairfield Academy Curriculum Overviews

Summer 1 2024

• Nursery Summer 1 Overview
• Reception Summer 1 Overview
• Y1 Y2 Summer 1 Curriculum Overview
• Y3 Y4 Summer 1 Curriculum Overview
• Y5 Y6 Summer 1 Curriculum Overview

Summer 2 2024

 

• Nursery Summer 2 Overview
• Reception Summer 2 Overview
• Y1 Y2 Summer 2 Curriculum Overview
• Y3 Y4 Summer 2 Curriculum Overview
• Y5 Y6 Summer 2 Curriculum Overview