Learning at Byker Primary

At Byker Primary School, we are committed to providing a purposeful and empowering curriculum that fully prepares learners for the next steps in their school career and opens the doors to he wider world.  Core literacy, numeracy and personal development skills are at the heart of all we do and our curriculum provokes curiosity and excitement.

Everything begins with a shared belief that our role is to support children in aspiring to achieve, understand their place in the world and broaden their horizons.  We believe it is our responsibility to show children that there is a world of possibilities awaiting them outside of the school gates.  We also strive to encourage a love of learning, and a metacognitive understanding of how we can best learn and self-regulate, that will continue into secondary school and adulthood. 

Our curriculum is tailored to the needs of all of our children.  We celebrate our local heritage and nuture children's understanding of the communities of which they are part of.  Significant people have been woven through each are of the curriculum.  These include people of local, national and international significance.  The study of significant individuals brings to life our learning, meaning children are more likely to recall and retrieve core facts and events.

Our sequential curriculum ensures knowledge is cumulative.  Substantive and disciplinary knowledge is at the heart of each subject and linked areas of study are used to consolidate and embed learning across the curriculum.  We understand that memory lies at the heart of learning and therefore, we strategically plan opportunities for children to recall and remember.  This allows memories to be strengthened, meaning that children can draw on previous learning with confidence in order to build and connect.

 

Intent

Bykers vision is Children First:Rasing Standards and Transforming Lives

Bykers curriculum is personalised to always reflect the needs and diversity of our current school community.  From Pre-Nursery to Year Six, we sequence knowledge and skills to build connections for children through a range of learning experiences.  We value all subjects equally, supporting children to develop skills that can be transferred between school, home, their community and the ever-changing world in which we all live. 

Principles of the Curriculum

our curriculum is rooted with the child but has an eye to the future

• Includes real life experiences
• Provides opportunities to broaden horizons
• Is influenced by the child and their interests/passions/ needs/ skills
• Will include a hook to engage students with the context, knowledge, topics to be covered and an outcome wherever possible
• Is relevant
• Provides quality links to later life skills
• Goes beyond the National Curriculum
• Provides opportunities to broaden horizons

Characteristics of a Byker learner:

• Resilient
• Respectful
• Courageous
• Ambitious Learner
• Effective Communicator
• Curious
• Accepting

Phonics Programme and Reading Schemes in Early Years and KS1

At Byker Primary we use ‘Read, Write Inc.’ for the teaching and learning of phonics. This is a structured approach that takes children through their phonics learning from teaching children sets of sounds and the letters that represent them, how to form the letters and then blend them to read words. The books that children read in school contain the sounds they’ve already learned, so children learn quickly and confidently.

First your child will learn to read:

• Set 1 Speed Sounds (sounds written with one letter): m a s d t i n p g o c k u b f e l h r j v y w z x and sounds written with two letters (your child will call these ‘special friends’): sh th ch qu ng nk ck
• Words containing these sounds, by sound-blending, e.g. m–a–t mat, c–a–t cat, g–o–t got, f–i–sh fish, s–p–o–t spot, b–e–s–t best, s–p–l–a–sh splash
• At school, they will read Read Write Inc. Phonics Sound Blending Books

Whilst they are practising reading stories with words made up of Set 1 Speed Sounds, your child will also learn to read:

• Set 2 Speed Sounds: ay ee igh ow oo oo ar or air ir ou oy
• Words containing these sounds
• At school, they will read Read Write Inc. Phonics Storybooks.

Whilst they are practising reading stories with words made up of Set 1 and Set 2 Speed Sounds, your child will also learn to read:

• Set 3 Speed Sounds: ea oi a–e i–e o–e u–e aw are ur er ow ai oa er ire ear ure
• Words containing these sounds
• At school, they will read Read Write Inc. Phonics Storybooks.

You can find a useful phonics audio guide to all these sounds on the Read, Write, Inc Phonics made easy page.

 oxfordowl.co.uk

Phonics screening guide for parents

At the end of Year 1, all children have to undertake the Year 1 Phonics Screening. Working 1:1 with their teacher, children will read 40 words, some of which are real and some of which are pseudo words (nonsense/’alien’ words) containing the 40+ phonemes they have learnt throughout Early Years and Year 1. Children will receive a mark and parents will be notified at the end of the year if this meets the expected standard. Those children who do not will receive extra phonics support in Year 2 and will take the screening at the end of the following year.

Workshops

We offer workshops and training for parents to understand how they can help their child at home with their phonics and reading. These take place on both of our school sites. Please look out for dates in the newsletters or on separate letters for these events.  We also offer opportunities for parents to engage in thier children's learning school wide with come and learn sessions from EYFS-Year Six, alongside training in Multiplications, SATS and parenting support (Incredible Years)