We provide our learners with an ambitious and inspiring, knowledge-rich curriculum filled with opportunities for new experiences, retrieval of prior knowledge and questioning of the world around them, to help pupils make connections in their learning.

Our expert teachers offer irresistible learning experiences through predictable and highly scaffolded lessons in which communication and personal wellbeing are core.

At Co-op Academy Brierley, relationships and restorative practice are at the core of our school and underpin school life for our children, their families and our staff team.

Our ambition is to create a ‘Brierley Best’ learning experience for every child and to support them in achieving their ‘Brierley Best Self’.

We want to create a personalised learning experience for every child and we recognise this is achieved through supportive relationships with our families, nurturing relationships with our learners and the expert teaching of our passionate and dedicated staff.

We want to work with our children restoratively, building trusting and predictable relationships which offer high challenge and high support.

Every learner is actively taught ‘Brierley Best' behaviour expectations for different situations and supported to repair relationships, understand how to keep themselves safe using a total communication approach.

We want emotional and physical wellbeing to be integral to the planning and delivery of every learning session, with Physical Development and Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED) woven through our curriculum to ensure every learner has a voice, feels safe and builds their independence towards adulthood.

We want every moment at Brierley to be a learning moment and our timetables are carefully structured to support learners’ emotional regulation, wellbeing and readiness for learning.

We are developing all environments in school to engage our learners’ interests and physical literacy including the Brierley Farm and Gardens, sports and sensory integration resources, and nurturing our learners in nature through our Forest School.

We value and support our learners in the context of their families and communities and we want Brierley Best for all our families, achieved through strong daily communication with class teachers and outreach support from our pastoral team.

As a brand new school, we are designing our bespoke curriculum as a school team, with staff at every level within the academy contributing to the design process and holding the developmental needs of our pupils at the forefront.

Across all our pathways we want our Brierley Best learners to be:

• Effective emotional and social communicators, able to communicate consent
• Independent and resilient learners
• Healthy in body and mind
• Able to form healthy and safe relationships
• Happy and contributing members of their families and community
• Achieving personal potential in core skills, including Literacy and Numeracy

We want personalisation to be a key driver for our curriculum and therefore split into four pathways to best support the learning needs and holistic development of every learner.

This ensures provision is tailored to support development towards the next stage of learning in small steps of progress (Personalised Learning Goals – PLGs) and preparation for adulthood.

Below you'll find a brief overview of our different pathways, but more information can be found on each Pathway's dedicated area of our website. 

• Foundation

Children enter Co-op Academy Brierley from Reception to Year 2 in our Foundation Pathway to begin their learning journey. We want early play and development to be cherished and valued to enable our youngest children to explore the world around them, build early communication skills and to assess their unique learning needs.

• Informal Pathway

Learners in the Informal Pathway thrive with high levels of predictable routines and sensory exploration of the world around them. Pupils in this pathway follow the outcomes of the EYFS, closely matched to the National Curriculum to ensure we are both developmentally appropriate and aspirational in our provision planning. 

• Semi-Formal Pathway

Learners in Semi-Formal Pathway access highly adapted formal sessions using visual communication supports and opportunities for movement and sensory integration through continuous provision. Pupils in this pathway follow the National Curriculum, with Literacy, Phonics, Maths and PSHE taught daily Foundation subjects are ‘blocked’ across year into subject weeks. 

• Formal Pathway

Learners in Formal Pathway access Literacy, Maths and foundation subjects with Physical Literacy and Wellbeing integral to all sessions. Pupils in this pathway follow the National Curriculum, with Literacy, Phonics/spelling and Maths taught daily and foundation subjects ‘blocked’ across the year into subject weeks, along with a strong focus on enterprise and careers. 

As a school we celebrate our differences and talents, nurturing children’s self-esteem and building resilience through predictable and irresistible learning experiences.

We offer a wide and inspiring curriculum that is aspirational, fosters communication, develops independence and is personalised to individual pupil needs.

Learning is planned in half-termly topics, carefully selected to reflect our locality, global issues, learners’ interests and diverse role models.

Through pathway yearly overviews, each EYFS and National Curriculum subject is mapped progressively through a rolling programme, with spaced retrieval opportunities to revisit knowledge and make connections in learning.

Unit plans are created by subject leaders and adapted by class teachers, with subjects blocked into weeks to support overlearning and short-term retrieval.

Each pathway follows a bespoke timetable with a consistent and predictable sequence to learning, applying our Brierley Pedagogic Principles and model lessons.

Progression steps for each curriculum area are rigorously plotted to support small steps of progress and next steps in development.

Communication is at the heart of all we do. Vocabulary development is taught systematically through subject-specific, core and functional language.

We use a total communication approach – “say it, see it, sign it” – with visual communication and scaffolds appropriate to each learner’s stage of development.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development is taught daily, with Zones of Regulation embedded throughout the school day, scaffolded by the SCERTS framework.

Physical literacy and movement are integral to daily routines, including sensory circuits, movement breaks, PE and outdoor learning.

We inspire a love of learning and build cultural capital through first-hand experiences, educational visits and enriched learning environments.

Every topic begins with a ‘Spectacular Start’ and ends with a ‘Fabulous Finish’, celebrating achievements with families.

We use Evidence for Learning (EFL) to assess progress termly against progression steps, supported by individual Pupil Passports and regular review with pupil and parent voice.

Continuous professional development supports staff expertise, alongside specialist input from Occupational Therapy and Speech and Language Therapy teams.

Careers, enterprise, British Values and SMSC are woven through our curriculum.