Curriculum Vision
The curriculum at St Mary and St Peter Catholic Primary School is designed to equip our children with the tools they will need to be lifelong learners who care for the world as our common home and always try to be the best they can be for themselves and for others. Our curriculum is rich and engaging in order to open our children to the possibilities that are awaiting them.
Curriculum Intent
At SMSP, our expectations fall within the 2014 National Curriculum Framework and the Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia’s RE Syllabus. However, we have looked to our values, mission and vision to establish key drivers that are woven through our curriculum to reflect the needs and interests of the children within our community, whilst providing them with appropriate and ambitious opportunities.
Our key drivers will enable pupils to become spiritually aware global citizens, by promoting and celebrating diversity and broadening knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the wider world. Aspiration is also greatly valued to inspire pupils to think and act like scientists, historians etc. by exploring examples of significant human creative, innovative and paradigm-breaking thinking and achievements. We are also deeply committed to providing our pupils with a range of ambitious opportunities such as educational visits and working with local aspirational professionals within the communities in which we serve. At SMSP we feel that especially as a coastal school in a deprived area, this is imperative to both broaden horizons and develop our children’s cultural capital.
Our curriculum is knowledge based with a mastery approach that enables our children to understand the ever-changing world around them, as well as to think in new and unexpected ways. Knowledge in each curriculum subject is coherently planned and carefully sequenced to build upon prior learning, to make conscious connections and deepen understanding.
There are clearly defined threshold concepts that are consistently re-visited to build conceptual understanding and help children assimilate new information into a growing schema. Research suggests that this enables knowledge to become embedded in the long-term memory, which is how the science of learning actually occurs. Regular retrieval practice of ‘powerful knowledge’ also supports this knowledge acquisition, therefore we are committed to frequent and regular retrieval practice as well as ‘spaced repetition’ to ensure effective and deep learning over time.
At SMSP we are committed to offering our pupils the full range of core and foundation subjects in recognition of the importance of breadth of experience in building pupils’ knowledge of the world, cultural literacy and vocabulary. Reading and the development of Tier 1,2 and 3 Vocabulary are held in high esteem across every subject within the curriculum and will form a core part of all lessons in order to equip pupils with the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life. Cross curricular links are also made with developing mathematical fluency and we are strongly committed to success in the Arts and Sport.
Lessons across each subject are ‘knowledge based’ and staff are invested in a curriculum that inspires a mastery approach to learning, regardless of starting points. We have an ‘adaptive’ strategy towards teaching methods to ensure that our curriculum is accessible to all. Our pedagogical approach is based upon providing ‘scaffolding materials’ to ensure that children are not limited in their learning experiences and that all children are given authentic opportunities to achieve success.
As well as academic rigour, spiritual growth, personal development and health & wellbeing are at the heart of the curriculum. We are passionate about the ‘Thrive’ approach underpinning all aspects of our curriculum to make a real difference to pupils’ social and emotional wellbeing to ensure that they are well rounded happy individuals; regularly celebrating learning that is not only associated with attainment but through personal growth and achievement. PSHE education is held in esteem and we are equally committed to following the Diocesan RSE Policy and guidelines.
Curriculum Implementation
At SMSP we place our mission statement, values and key drivers at the heart of the implementation of our curriculum:
❖ Spirituality (loving caring influence)
❖ Aspiration (Personal development - Develop knowledge and skills to have the best Impact on the world, self-motivated and resilience)
❖ Opportunity (broadening/deepening horizons, self-expression, confidence, uniqueness)
❖ Diversity (embracing cultures, engagement with others, collaboration, acceptance, understanding, respect)
Christ is at the Centre of all that we do in our Catholic school and therefore our spiritual education reflects the quality of our thinking about ourselves, our relationships, our sense of worth and identity, and our sense of well-being. Religious education and the act of worship contribute to open reflection both in solitude and with others. The positive learning environment is achieved through the positive values modelled by staff throughout the school. We have 4 core values that we embody in all that we do:
Believe, Love, Respect and Trust. With Christ at the centre of all we do we Believe and Trust in Him to help us to show Love and Respect to all.
Aspiration and opportunity are at the core Educational visits are also held in high esteem across all year groups to provide enrichment opportunities and broaden our young people’s horizons. As is a commitment to a global approach to learning through our links with CAFOD and supporting communities across the world.
Throughout every area of study within the curriculum our children are given the opportunity to study inspirational individuals and innovative thinkers both throughout history and those creating their emerging futures. This is also underpinned by a commitment to diversity and the changing world in which we live.
Our aim is to create individuals who are innovative, creative, self-motivated and inspired to have a positive impact on the world regardless of their starting points.
St Mary and St Peters Primary School pledges itself to be a place where uniqueness is celebrated and all individuals will find safety and respect for their families and their way of life. We are a family of many different cultures and beliefs which makes our school as unique, as the individuals that make it so special. This belief underpins our curriculum implementation and is evident in the daily learning and culture and ethos of our school. Diversity is celebrated throughout our curriculum in the following ways:
Resources used in lessons reflect the cultural diversity of our community including the study of authors from a range of different back grounds. One of the repeating key concepts within our reading curriculum is teaching through stories that tackle issues around all aspects of ‘difference’ and ‘acceptance’.
Intercultural understanding is also at the heart of aspects of our curriculum to reflect our global perspective. This includes a range of language themed days such as ‘European Languages Day’ and links with other local religious groups who visit the school to work with our pupils. Intercultural themes are also present in many aspects of our arts curriculum including dance, drama, music and performance.
We also view bilingualism as a strength and that EAL pupils have a valuable contribution to make. We believe that everyone should be challenged and encouraged to thrive and achieve as individuals, preparing them for their role as caring and active citizens in modern Britain.
| Relationships and Behaviour
Engage |
Staff ‘know’ their pupils. Pupils and staff are polite and respectful of each other. Listening is a visible skill. The classroom is a safe place to make mistakes that can be learned from. Staff have the highest expectations of all pupils and supportively create an inclusive culture. TAs and Teachers work collaboratively to ensure all pupils have equality of progression. Praise is valued and used judiciously to celebrate hard work and the right kind of effort. |
| SMSP Mindset
Engage |
Routines, emphasis, activity design and the language employed by the teacher nurture the SMSP Mind-set in pupils. Staff think aloud and model steps to support knowledge acquisition. Teachers facilitate the development of resilience, resourcefulness, reflectiveness, metacognitive strategies, self-awareness, and skilfulness in processing and retrieving. Incremental success for our pupils builds intrinsic motivation. |
| Questioning
Evaluate Explain |
Teachers ask many questions and effectively check for understanding. There is an appropriate ratio of open and closed questioning. Questioning is targeted. A no ‘opt out’ culture is present. Staff give time for pupils to think and discuss ideas. Questions and low stakes quizzing stimulates retrieval. Students are well prepared for independent practice. |
| Assessment For Learning
Evaluate Explain |
Teachers regularly review the previous learning and re-teach where necessary. Teachers check the responses of all pupils and regularly ask them to show what they have learned. Robust Formative and summative assessment identifies misconceptions or gaps in knowledge and addresses them. |
| Challenge
Elaborate |
Teachers display deep knowledge of their subject area that allows them to challenge all pupils. Teachers limit the amount of new material that they present at one time, so as not to overload the pupils. Pupils are given high levels of guided practice and scaffolds are carefully removed before they begin independent practice. Teaching balances the need for desirable difficulty with the necessity to support a high success rate. |
| Structure and Flow
Explore Elaborate |
Staff present new material in small steps and create opportunity for pupil practice after each step. Explanations are clear and modelled effectively. Scaffolding is used to ensure all children access the learning. Pace is optimised, and at the same time, pupils are given time to think, discuss, rehearse verbal answers and be creative. |
Curriculum Impact
The impact of the curriculum is monitored in standards and progress achieved in relation to the curriculum intent and personal qualities acquired. The impact of our curriculum is that by the end of each year, the vast majority of pupils have sustained mastery of the content, that is, they remember it and are fluent in it; some pupils have a greater depth of understanding. We are fully committed to ‘limitless learning’ for all of our pupils and carefully use appropriate formative and summative assessment systems to ensure that all pupils are on track and to inform the teaching of ‘critical content ’and spaced retrieval practice as part of the learning journey.
The impact of our curriculum is seen in:
- High standards and expectations in learning outcomes and resources for learning.
- Progress which builds incrementally year-on-year at a pace and momentum appropriate to the learner.
- Quality experiences which are memorable, authentic and challenging.
- Teaching which is rigorous, personalised, innovative and learning centred.
- Learners that are resilient, questioning, resourceful and self-sufficient.
- Learners that can talk fluently about what they know and their learning journey.
- Individuals who value and respect themselves and one another and demonstrate the school’s gospel values in action.
Means of monitoring impact:
The curriculum is regularly reviewed, developed, monitored and evaluated by school leaders, external advisors and governors, leading to improvements and innovation.
Subject leaders take responsibility for encouraging coverage, progression and standards through progression maps and medium term planning, promoting the subject and developing the teaching methodology. They also attend regular professional training and secure high quality authentic resources for their subjects. They regularly monitor and evaluate learning, teaching and the curriculum.
