At D'Eyncourt we aim to provide a broad and balanced curriculum relevant to the needs of the children. On entering the Key Stage 1 the children begin the programmes of study that ensure that all subjects of the National Curriculum are covered.
The curriculum offered includes the four National Curriculum Core Subjects of English, Mathematics, Science and I.C.T and Foundation Subjects of Technology, Art, Music, Geography, P.E, History and one basic subject Religious Education.
It is the school's aim that each child meets attainment targets in all subjects as well as achieving their potential in other aspects of school life.
The school enjoys the Literacy Hour.
Literacy or Language activities within school contain a variety of elements such as speaking and listening, reading, creative writing, handwriting, spelling and phonic based work, where necessary. These skills are developed throughout the school and where possibe, children are withdrawn into small groups to receive additional help, if it is considered helpful.
Once the children have mastered the basic art of reading and have completed our reading schemes (or other schemes where appropriate) the emphasis is then placed on reading for pleasure.
Our reading book library houses a wide range of paperback books which have been graded according to their degree of difficulty and colour coded in the following way:
Brown/Gold
short simple stories with easily accessible vocabulary.
Pink
simple stories but longer books.
Blue
more difficult vocabulary and more sophisticated subject matter.
Yellow/Purple
very sophisticated literature for more advanced readers.
The children are encouraged to read these books on their own both at school and at home, although the teacher or class helper will hear and monitor their reading as far as the requirements of the Literacy Hour allows.
Our nonfiction library, which is centred in our Key Stage 2 corridor, is accessible to all age groups. An index of the books has been computerised via a simplified Dewey system and children will be able to find and retrieve a book, again through a computerised
micro librarian system.
Our fiction collection is centred in our reading resource area adjacent to the staffroom. The various reading scheme collection is collated in the main foyer/resource area.
Once a year the school holds a Book Fayre to encourage reading throughout the school. Usually a Book Club will deliver a wide selection of books to school for one week and the children have an opportunity to look at these with their teacher. The children are given a form listing all the books available and may select ones from the Book Fayre. The Book Club gives to the school a selection of books for the library.
The school enjoys the Numeracy Hour. Throughout the school the children use a variety of published materials to support Numeracy teaching and learning strategies. This structure promotes computation, investigative and practical maths along with sensible use of calculator and computer activities to help us meet the needs of the National Curriculum. Other opportunities to extend the children’s mathematical skills are given in cross–curricular work.
The Science Curriculum is generally taught in topic modules, which usually cover half a term. Through these modules the children are involved in observing, hypothesising, predicting and deducting results and forming a conclusion, through investigative and experimental work.
The three scientific areas studied by the children are:
Life Processes and Living Things - the study of plants and animals including humans.
Materials and their Properties - the study of everyday materials and the way they can be classified, changed, mixed and separated.
Physical Processes - the study of electricity, forces and motion, light and sound and the Earth in Space.
