Curriculum
Please visit our curriculum section for an overview of the whole school curriculum by subject and year group.
The Curriculum
The aim of the school is to provide a broad and balanced curriculum. The school uses the Creative Curriculum which provides a holistic framework in which children are taught the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum in Reception and Nursery and the National Curriculum in Years 1 and 2. This enables children to develop intellectually, aesthetically, physically, socially, morally and spiritually.
The 7 areas of study in the Early Years Foundation Stage, which lead to the achievement of the Early Learning Goals, are as follows:
- Communication and language
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Physical Development
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding of the World
- Expressive Arts and Design
In Key Stage 1 the subjects of the National Curriculum are:
- English
- Mathematics
- Science
- Computing
- History
- Geography
- Religious Education
- Music
- Art and Craft
- Design and Technology
- Physical Education
- Personal, Social, Health, Citizenship and Economic Education
The school aims to provide first-hand learning experiences in which children are self-motivated and interested, through which they will acquire basic skills and develop to their full potential.
Reading
At The Giles Nursery and Infants’ School reading is an essential part of school life. We use a range of schemes to motivate and encourage reading, such as the Oxford Reading Tree scheme, Bug Club, Collins Big Cats, Ginn 360 and Project X. We encourage the children to read a range of genres, including fiction, non-fiction and poetry. This gives children a varied reading experience. The school purchases an online membership to Bug Club and this enables all children from Reception onwards to log in and read eBooks online. Books are selected by class teachers to match children’s phonic ability.
All classes from Reception have regular guided reading sessions. Children develop particular reading strategies with their teacher in a small group. They also have the opportunity to practise these skills independently. The children read a range of books from schemes such as Project X and Collins Big Cats.
Parents are encouraged to hear their child read each night and they are welcome to comment in the reading record. In addition, each year group has a library and the children are invited to change their library books on a weekly basis.
Phonics
Daily phonics lessons take place in Foundation Stage and KS1. We follow the guidance in letters and sounds and provide children with a range of practical experiences drawing upon a range of materials to develop their phonic knowledge. We also use materials from the Jolly Phonics scheme as an additional resource.
In literacy lessons and ‘Child Initiated Learning’, pupils are encouraged to develop these skills further through reading and writing activities. Children are screened for phonic knowledge at the end of Year 1 and again in Year 2 if required. Parents are informed of these results in the end of year report.
Topic Webs and Newsletters
Topic Webs and Newsletters for each year group can be found in the Children’s Class Pages, where you will also find more class-specific curriculum information via the link below. You can also use the second link below to access the Topic Webs if you prefer. If you would like more information about the curriculum, please see your child's class teacher or contact the school for more information.
Curriculum Talks
We also run a series of curriculum talks each academic year. These provide parents and carers with the opportunity to learn more about individual curriculum subjects, how they can help their child to learn at home, to meet our teachers and to ask any questions they may have.
Below are some curriculum presentations.