Year Groups

Welcome to Year One! At Berrywood we are able to provide the children with wonderful experiences and a love for learning. In the Autumn term we support the transition from Year R to Year One by adopting a ‘play based’ learning approach through discovery time. This allows us to get to know the children quickly and work on individual next steps. Find out about some of the wonderful experiences we are able to provide the children with below.

We are lucky enough to be able to enjoy roasting marshmallows by the Berrywood campfire to support the writing of Autumn poetry. In the Spring term we become ‘Marine Explorers’ with a fun-filled trip to Calshot Beach activity centre linking to our ‘A drop in the Ocean’ project. The children absolutely love finding and collecting organisms and bringing the sample back in to the beach classroom to identify their finds. We kick off the Summer term with our ‘Let It Grow’ project, we love celebrating all of the fantastic learning with a hands-on learning trip to Hilliers Garden centre.  We finish the year with our ‘Kings and Queens’ project. During the project we sew our own finger puppets, record a speech in the style of a King/Queen in our own recording studio as well as baking our own Victoria sponge cake!

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In Year 2, we have a range of exciting visitors and trips to enhance our curriculum projects and bring our learning to life. We are lucky to have fantastic outdoor spaces and endeavour to use these as much as possible, such as; art around the campfire, litter picking, science investigations and many more. In the Autumn term, we are visited by Open the Box Theatre who take us on a journey across the continents exploring different hot and cold climates and the animals that live there. In Spring, we are visited by the fire brigade and the RNLI with a focus on keeping ourselves safe. We also have an exciting trip to the Sea City Museum linked to our Titanic project. In the Summer, as part of our local study into Hedge End we visit the train station and take a ride on the train.

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What is special about this year at Berrywood  (trips, exciting topics, sleepovers etc)

Year 3 at Berrywood is an exciting and immersive year for children, with many hands-on activities that bring learning to life. One highlight is the Stone Age hook day, where pupils use the school grounds to explore ancient skills such as building wattle and daub fencing, cooking over a firepit, and making weapons. The class also embarks on enriching trips, like visiting Marwell Zoo to learn about animals and their habitats, and Fishbourne Palace to step back in time and discover the wonders of Roman history. Another memorable experience is the Hedge End fieldwork walk, where children develop their geographical skills by exploring the local environment. Year 3 children also benefit from the creative facilities at the school, where they can explore art, design, and craft through various projects. These experiences combine to make Year 3 at Berrywood a year full of excitement, discovery, and creativity.

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Throughout Year 4, the children have numerous fantastic opportunities. To start off the year, the children get to travel back to the time of the Ancient Egyptians, with a wonderful workshop led by an expert from Portals to the Past. This offers the unique chance to explore and immerse themselves within the topic. One of the most anticipated moments (by both staff and pupils!) is our Arctic themed sleepover at school during the Spring term, where the children get to develop their orienteering skills, test their knowledge about the topic, make ice cream and develop, build and strengthen relationships with their peers. To end the year on a high, we travel to Buster Ancient Farm to learn more about the Anglo-Saxons and their way of life. We are incredibly fortunate to be able to offer the children half a term of swimming lessons at Wildern School during the Summer term, which is a vital life skill as well as helping to improve balance and posture.

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In Year 5, we embark on an exciting journey of discovery, exploration, and creativity. Our students dive into a variety of hands-on projects that bring learning to life. This year, we will be exploring three captivating topics: Eat Your Way Through the Past, A New Home in Space, and What on Earth? Each project is designed to engage and inspire, encouraging our young learners to ask big questions and think critically about the world around them.

Year 5 is also packed with unforgettable experiences beyond the classroom. Students will visit the Woodmill Activity Centre for an outdoor adventure, where they’ll develop teamwork and problem-solving skills. A trip to the Winchester Science Centre will bring science to life through interactive exhibits and activities. One of the most exciting events of the year is when the Young Shakespeare Company visits to perform Macbeth, giving students a unique opportunity to engage with classic literature in a dynamic and interactive way.

A special highlight for Year 5 is our cooking project, where students get hands-on experience making wartime cakes using rationed ingredients. This practical activity brings history to life, as children learn about the challenges faced during the war while having fun in the kitchen! During our New Home in Space project, Stars at Berrywood evenings will give pupils first-hand experience of stargazing to enhance their engagement with their learning about the cosmos.

With a diverse range of activities and projects, Year 5 at Berrywood School offers a year filled with fun, learning, and unforgettable memories. We look forward to seeing your child grow and thrive during this exciting year!

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What is special about this year at Berrywood  (trips, exciting topics, sleepovers etc)

The children’s final year at Berrywood is one full of opportunities, new responsibilities and exciting challenges. As the eldest in the school, they have the chance to contribute to the wider school community by undertaking a range of jobs and responsibilities such as Green Heroes, Librarians and Sports Ambassadors. Their creativity can also flourish as they have opportunities to take part in the Christmas pantomime and the summer production as well as creating the engaging and informative episodes of Berrywood TV.

The year six journey begins with the children’s week long residential trip to the PGL site at Osmington Bay. Here they are lucky enough to experience new thrills and push themselves to achieve things they might not have thought possible. Throughout the year, they also take part in an Ancient Greek workshop and are visited by an inspiring architect to support their project learning. The finale of the year is the ‘Achieve’ performance at the Berry Theatre; the children create, choreograph and produce the entire show, celebrating all of their achievements as they reach the end of their primary journey. In the summer, there is also a trip to Paultons Park as an opportunity to make further memories from their time at primary school before they progress onwards.

Preparing and equipping the children for the transition to secondary school is also important in year 6. They are visited by staff and students from their new schools whilst also having the chance to spend time in these settings.

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Welcome to Year R, the first step of your Berrywood journey. We are fortunate enough to have a wonderful, well-resourced environment, which offers a wide range of opportunities for the children to develop their learning both inside and outside the classroom, as part of ‘a School within a Garden’. Our school grounds and Year R Discovery Garden allows children to explore their love of nature and the outdoors, wellies are a must! The Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum enables us to offer the children a seamless transition from pre-school with play-based learning at the heart of the school day. Alongside this, we teach early reading and writing skills through our daily phonics lessons as well as fostering a love of books and reading through cosy story times and visits to our school library. Number skills are explored in our regular ‘Number time’ sessions with lots of ‘hands on’ practise using a range of mathematical resources.

We plan exciting and engaging projects based on the children’s interests, often making the most of our fantastic school grounds to ‘hook’ the children in. ‘The Gruffalo’ takes us outside to the woods where we go on a Gruffalo hunt and share our learning with our families at our very special ‘Berrywood by Torchlight’ celebration. ‘Fizz the Dragon’ visits us during our ‘Knights, Princesses and Castles’ theme and leaves a surprise for us to find in Berrywood’s grounds. The children love our castle role play areas, dressing up as their favourite princess or knights and acting out stories of their own. The summer term takes us outside once again when we have a visit from the farm. This inspires the children to get creative, drawing, making and building their own farm and animals. We also take this opportunity to learn about foods and where they come from as well as growing our own produce in our Year R garden.

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