Curriculum

Curriculum Intent

At St. Mary’s C of E Primary School our curriculum is designed to inspire enthusiasm for learning, to ensure achievement and to support pupil well-being and development. Personal development sits at the heart of all that we do with an emphasis on the curriculum and wider opportunities supporting pupils to be aspirational, resilient and curious. Our school vision underpins our curriculum. We aim to provide opportunities to develop the future chances of the pupils in our care and use the Bible as a source to guide and teach pupils.

Our curriculum enables us to build strong relationships, celebrate diversity, encourage respect and build a sense of community. It provides and acknowledges success for all children, in all aspects of their development and it recognises, encourages and celebrates all types of talent. All pupils, including the disadvantaged and most vulnerable, are given opportunities to engage with a full curriculum that provides essential knowledge to become educated citizens and succeed in life.

Teamwork and responsibility are an essential part of our curriculum and we enable children to take on key roles and become involved in the community through wider opportunities such as Eco Club and School Council. Pupils are supported to develop and demonstrate skills and attitudes that will allow them to participate fully in and contribute positively to life in modern Britain.

Curriculum drivers

We believe that our curriculum should offer children skills and experiences beyond the National Curriculum and have identified key drivers that underpin the learning and experiences at St Mary's. These drivers are central to our school vision and ethos and help to drive and shape the curriculum in our school. Based on the needs of our children, our staff have identified the following drivers to underpin the curriculum.

Aspiration

Aspiration is the hope, desire or ambition to strive to achieve something. The development of aspirations encourages children to aim high, take pride in themselves and to be the very best they can be.

Resilience

Resilience means having the skills and resources to deal with challenges and barriers. Our children will develop the skill to be resilient individuals who are able to take risks and deal with different challenges across the curriculum and in the wider world by thinking positively and having the confidence to 'have a go'.

Curiosity

Curiosity means being eager to learn, know and confident enough to ask for information. We desire for the children to be curious about the world around them and ask questions. We encourage our children to be inquisitive through their learning and school experiences. This approach to learning enables thinking such as exploration, investigation and nurtures problem solvers.

Curriculum Implementation

Our curriculum is designed to ensure that all pupils have opportunities to succeed and develop their knowledge and skills across a range of subjects. We ensure that new knowledge and skills build on what has been taught before. See our progression of skills and knowledge documents that can be found in each subject folder.
Each subject leader has written a ‘subject toolkit’ which detail the way we implement our curriculum.
CPD for staff ensures up to date information on the teaching of all subjects to drive high quality first teaching for all pupils.
Assessment is used throughout the curriculum to promote long-term memory of skills and key concepts.
Opportunities in the wider curriculum and school life embed our values and drivers which help to strengthen personal development.

Curriculum Impact

We measure the impact of our curriculum in a variety of ways:

Various strategies outlined in subject toolkits to assess pupils’ knowledge and understanding of the curriculum taught.
Subject leaders evaluating the implementation of their subjects and the impact of this on pupils’ outcomes.
Communication with Governors to provide support and challenge to subject leaders.
Pupils displaying their pride in being of the school community and portraying the values and drivers in their character.
Pupil outcome in national tests, including Year 1 Phonics, KS1 SATs, Year 4 Multiplication Check and KS2 SATs.