Our curriculum aim & Intent
At St Mary & St Joseph's, our curriculum follows the 2014 National Curriculum. You can read the complete curriculum on the DFE website.
We have identified the curriculum drivers around which our whole curriculum is designed.
Key learning & skills in core subjects for each year group, are here: Reading | Writing | Maths
Religious Education is core subject at our school and we use the Gospel readings from the Bible to reflect on how these teachings can have impact on our lives today. For R.E. lessons we use the programme 'Come & See'. This letter explains how the topics/themes run through the term and across classes. The annual overview of unit titles can be found on this page.
For an overview of the curriculum statements for each year group in every subject, look here
The plans on this link show in more detail on how each of our year groups teach the curriculum through a cross-curricular approach.
Each term, the relevant year group pick our key knowledge and skills to ensure there is progression from year to year and from lesson to lesson. These can be seen on the relevant class pages below along with a short overview for parents each term.
Reception Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6
Subject leaders plan their subjects to ensure that there is complete coverage and to ensure that subject knowledge is built on year by year.
Science Geography History Art & Technology Music P.E. ICT RHE
Our Curriculum Aim
At St Mary & St Joseph’s, we intend to develop challenging and exciting opportunities and
strategies which support and enthuse our children
enabling them to grow into independent, reflective, self-regulated learners
and leaders who can articulate their knowledge, explain the skills
they are learning and can communicate this to others confidently.
Intent
Our pedagogical platform is underpinned by the outcomes of extensive research on metacognition as well as the ‘Rosenshine’s Principle’ theory which is divided into four strands: Reviewing material; Questioning; Sequencing concepts & Modelling; Stages of Practice. These strands form the basis of our teaching and learning along with the infusion of elements which form our Catholic identity: our mission statement, our Gospel and school values, our Catholic virtues and encyclical guidance from Pope Francis which guide us on Catholic social teachings and how to be effective leaders in building a kingdom of equality and justice in line with our British values.
Implementation
Our curriculum content is based on the National curriculum and enhanced by ‘curriculum maestro’ themed units/ topics. Each unit has a ‘lead subject’, which drives the learning, but the unit also branches briefly into other subject areas too. For example, 'Revolution' in Y6 is a History unit about Victorians and has an Art link to William Morris. History led units are taught in the Autumn and Summer terms, Geography led units in the Spring term. This is intertwined with Science led units throughout each term.
Each subject is planned carefully so that there is clear progression from term to term (if appropriate), then year to year. For example,
Year 1 ‘Seasonal Changes’ is a Geography focus unit where the pupils do local field work and collect information and simple data about our environment during different seasons. Then in Year 2 ‘Beachcombers and Wriggle and Crawl’, the fieldwork extends to taking measurements and collecting samples to identify characteristics of the school grounds. The progressive knowledge and skills are mapped out clearly in subject leader curriculum maps.
Impact
Impact can be seen by our pupils:
Showing enthusiasm about learning.
Confidently applying their learning knowledge and skills.
Explaining and articulating their learning.
Making links and connection between their learning.
Using different strategies to develop their thinking skills.
Recognising the impact of their roles as leaders.
Making an impact to our school, our community and globally by their decisions and actions.
The impact of our curriculum delivery is measured by
Pre & post topic quizzes
Experiential end of unit activities
Effective monitoring by senior leads and subject leaders.
Our mission statement ‘Do everything with love’ is reflected in everything we do as our pupils learn to ‘think well, speak well and do well’ (St Camillus).
Building close links between home and school is an essential part of child development and enables our children to achieve their full potential. School and class curriculum overviews are updated termly, sent via parentmail and available on class pages for parents to access. We believe that the children should feel happy and safe at school and then they are able to develop a thirst for new experiences and knowledge.
When children leave our school at the end of Year Six, we strive for them to be well rounded individuals who have the necessary literacy and numeracy skills to succeed in life whilst having experienced an inspiring curriculum which gives them every chance to succeed.
Our Curriculum Enrichment Statement
By the time Y6 children leave our school, we will ensure they will...
- Have learned how to keep themselves safe
- Know that God loves them
- Have experienced what it is like to have a faith
- Know some daily prayers and know how to pray themselves
- Know how to self-regulate in challenging situations
- Have participated in information visits from police and fire service
- Know how to ride a bike, swim, stay safe near water
- Have experience staying away from home, going on a walk/hike, a picnic, outdoor learning, rock climbing and a farm visit
-Have seen a pantomime, visited a theatre and listened to a musical performance
- Have visited a museum and local historic place
- Have had the opportunity to perform in assembly, a school drama, a musical /singing performance and country dancing
- Understand and know ways to support each other, the community and globally
- Met people of different Faiths and explored different cultures
- Know how to use the local library
- Have met an author and read one of their books