Curriculum Overview

Intent:

The curriculum at St Mary’s is two-fold. We teach the national curriculum interwoven with our school experiences and opportunities, to enable children to take their learning further than the classroom and into their future education. Please also refer to our school mission statement and vision that set out our Catholic ethos, which encompasses every part of school life.  It explains how we set out to fulfil the purpose of Catholic education, providing our pupils with the knowledge, understanding and skills to think spiritually, ethically and theologically.

Our curriculum is fixed however we make adjustments where necessary; we aim to ensure that each child has equitable exposure to learning opportunities. This means that adaptations are made for each class or cohort with reference to the needs of the children in a way they can embrace curiosity, awe, wonder and joy of learning within the outline set by the national curriculum. In this way children become fulfilled life-long learners.

We are committed to equal opportunities for all pupils and follow the Bishop’s statement in following several Key Principles in the planning and delivery of our curriculum: (CES 1997)

This is clear that every learner:

• Has a divine origin and is a unique individual?
• Is gifted by the Holy Spirit
• Has the right to be included fully in the life of the Church community
• Has the right to education and to have potential identified and developed?
• Has the right to be regarded as having equal value and worth
• Has the right to a broad, balanced, relevant and differentiated curriculum?
• Has the right genuine access to the whole curriculum
• Has the right to be challenged by and to achieve in the learning situation
• Has the right to share with and learn from others

We intend that through our curriculum children experience:

• A special relationship with God
• Prayer which reflects the essence of our lives
• The Gospel values of love, justice, tolerance, kindness forgiveness
• Opportunities to develop an understanding of their own values and importance as individuals
• Respect for themselves, others, other faiths and all cultures
• Opportunities for worship and reflection
• Joy
• Success
• Mistakes, and learn from them
• Independence
• Frustration, and ways to cope
• Curiosity
• Resilience
• Motivation
• Disappointment, and determination to continue
• Leadership and followership
• As much outdoor learning as possible

Implementation:

Our teachers are leaders of a curriculum area, we work together to ensure a broad and balanced curriculum. Teachers lead continuous professional development for their subject championing it, so that all staff grow their subject knowledge and understand our shared pedagogy.
The St Mary's curriculum is taught in subject areas - follow the links to each subject page.
Our school overview of curriculum forecasts can be accessed here.
The school uses a layered format of planning that enables links across subject areas, to enhance the taught curriculum by overlearning skills. The long term plans for each year group are formed from the long term plans of each curriculum leader, so that each subject has detailed skills and knowledge progression. The curriculum design at St Mary’s carefully considers what a child has already learned and what they need to know next.

Impact:

Our curriculum is measured in many ways, but most importantly by the opinions of children. During each topic, children complete reflective thinking work and comment on the best parts of their learning. An end of year survey is held annually to allow every child in school to quantifiable feedback on their most memorable learning experiences. These are carefully analysed by teachers for their yearly curriculum reports. Subject leaders also use these for their termly subject leader review.
The school analyses data half termly to ensure knowledge skills and understanding are met, this can take many forms including daily assessment, regular moderation and consistent formative and summative assessments. All assessments and analyses feed back into curriculum planning to inform all layers of staff of how best to support and educate the next generation.