Our curriculum is based on the National Curriculum and enhanced through our bespoke Brookland curriculum, which reflects the needs, interests, and context of our pupils.

Our subject planning is based on the National Curriculum for English, mathematics, science, computing, history, geography, PSHE, music, PE, French, art and design & technology.  Using the key objectives provided in this curriculum, we create our own Brookland curriculum, taking into account the needs of our pupils.  We use the new Barnet Agreed Syllabus for RE.

We promote our SMSC (spiritial, moral, social and cultural) education through our RE, PHSE and citizenship units, our Brookland School Values, including British Values and through the many activities and events described in our SMSC Audit. 

The Brookland Toolkit contains a set of teaching and learning 'tools' for teachers to use to deliver outstanding teaching and learning for all our pupils.​ It offers a consistent guide to our pedagogical beliefs, bespoke for our school context​. 

The teaching tools chosen in the Brookland toolkit are researched based, tried and tested approaches to teaching and learning​.  The toolkit provides a framework for ongoing staff professional development and an induction training tool to develop new staff​ quickly and effectively. 

The toolkit will continue to grow and develop over time with new academic educational research and the latest pedagogical approaches.  Teachers recognise that not all tools are needed all the time and use their professional judegement to pick the best tool to meet the pupils in their lessons. These teaching and learning tools can be adapted to meet the needs of all our pupils.

A sample of teaching tools used in the Brookland Toolkit

All visuals used in lessons include our toolkit symbols, designed by Brookland children, which promotes consistent high-quality delivery of lessons to our pupils.

Our SEND Brookland offer allows all our SEND disadvantaged pupils to access the curriculum through our three tiered support offer.

Ordinary and Available - high quality adaptive planning and teaching.  For example, through scaffolding, vocabulary support, use of technology (e.g. dictation and word processing) and access to wider enrichment activities and cultural experiences

Targeted Interventions – strategic interventions to help narrow gaps and support pupils (e.g. phonics, timestables, motor skills groups, pre teach writing groups)

Specialist Support – working with specialist expert support and external agencies

All teachers and teaching assistants work to enable each pupil to access the curriculum at a level appropriate to their stage of learning and development. All statements in this policy apply to pupils with additional needs or disadvantage, whether that be gifted and talented, special education needs, physical disability, English as an additional language, pupil premium families, looked after or vulnerable children.

Reading

Reading is championed, promoted and fostered at Brookland.  We a fantastic library and each classroom has warm and inviting book corners.  Guided reading sessions allow pupils to read and discuss books in small groups every week.  We also have reading logs for children with recommended reading lists for parents. 

Our English curriculum is designed around thought-provoking whole class readers which relate to topics the children are studying in other subjects.

For our Early readers and New to English readers we use the Little Wandle phonics scheme.

As a reading school, our children love to read and discuss books to inspire and engage with a range of texts.  Our Reading Skills underpin our teaching and learning throughout the school:

• Find It!
• Predict It!
• Understand It!
• Summarise It!
• Evaluate It!
• Infer It!
• Connect It!
• Compare It!

We embed structured talk opportunities in every subject and place oracy and collaborative learning at the core of our lessons. We use strategies such as partner talk, group work, sentence stems, debate formats, and Philosophy for Children (P4C). Pupils are taught to listen actively, speak confidently, and reflect thoughtfully. 

We place much emphasis on providing a broad, balanced learning experience for our pupils and in developing and educating the whole child. For example, we do this through:

• A whole school focus on Brookland Values, including British Values through assemblies, reward systems and PSHE lessons.
• Our Brookland Learning Skills of Teamwork, Determination, Quality, Listening and Evaluation.
• Careful provision for broader life skills such as- being healthy, staying safe, enjoying learning, recognising their own and others’ achieviements, making a positive contribution to the community within and beyond our school and preparation towards secondary school and adulthood.
• To enable all pupil groups to access a wide range of cultural, social and life experiences to broaden their knowledge of the world around them and their place within it.
• Providing a range of contexts for children to develop thinking and problem solving skills, teamwork, independence and creativity.
• Celebration of the different backgrounds of our pupils, for example through assemblies and sharing key festivals.
• Supporting the development of social and friendship skills, empathy and concern for others, for example; through P4C (Philosophy for Children), Circle Time, assemblies, individual and group support, charity events, buddies and peer mediation.
• Encouraging a sense of citizenship, for example through Whole School Meetings, school council, peer mediation, peer reading, whole school events, as well as membership of a wider community, for example through charity events, focus weeks, visits and visitors.
• Providing opportunities for children to feel a sense of awe and wonder, time for reflection and discussion in assemblies, RE, whole school music and within the subject based curriculum.
• Promoting moral standards such as honesty, caring, fairness, respect and personal responsibility.
• Our school ethos: all staff place very high importance of children being confident and happy at school. They provide good role models, listen to and address concerns, support and encourage children as individuals and celebrate their progress and many achievements.
• Focus weeks e.g Literacy Week, Healthy Schools Week, Arts Week, Black and Asian History Week, Anti-Bullying Week and Investigations Week.
• Providing a wealth of extracurricular opportunities, for example: school visits, visitors, theme days, trips, clubs and teams for the whole school, year groups or specific pupil groups such as SEND, G and T or disadvantaged.

We ensure all pupils successfully embed knowledge into their long-term memory through evidence-informed retrieval and recap activities embedded at the start of every unit and lesson. These activities are carefully paced to ensure accessibility for all pupils, particularly those with SEND, allowing new learning to build progressively on a secure foundation.

Teachers use assessment for learning techniques such as show-me boards and structured peer discussions—to assess the understanding of every learner and adapt teaching instantly. Every curriculum unit is explicitly linked to prior years, ensuring pupils gain a deep, interconnected understanding across the key stage. 

Where learning of key foundational knowledge (e.g. spellings, reading handwriting and maths fluency) is not secure, pupils will be identified and given extra support in class and through tailored interventions.

Our foundation curriculum features a progressively mapped vocabulary maps that separates substantive knowledge from disciplinary skills. To manage cognitive load and ensure equitable access to the curriculum for vulnerable learners, teachers select a maximum of 3 key vocabulary terms per lesson.

Pupils are routinely scaffolded to deploy this vocabulary accurately within structured talk tasks, collaborative learning, and independent outcomes. Curriculum leaders regularly evaluate the long-term acquisition of this subject-specific terminology through pupil bookwork and learner discussions.