Our Curriculum Offer
The National Curriculum in England sets out the knowledge and skills to be taught in each year group of primary school. It states that all schools must offer a curriculum which is balanced and which promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and society and prepares pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.
The National Curriculum consists of three core subjects - Maths, English, Science, plus Religious Education and non-core foundation subjects - History, Geography, Computing, Design and Technology, Music, Art and Design, Physical Education and Languages (French). We structure and plan the curriculum to ensure that good practice remains central, equality of opportunity is ensured and we integrate the requirements of the National Curriculum into our topics, projects and subject teaching.
Curriculum Intent
St Clare’s curriculum is closely designed around our school mission and vision statements and has been developed to support the needs of our community and the child as a whole. Our curriculum is designed to be creative, inspiring and challenging. We intend to offer our pupils new and exciting experiences that are designed to build resilience, confidence and self-esteem both in the classroom, outside the classroom using Forest School and through extra-curricular activities. We recognise that pupils should be challenged in their school; learning from failures and celebrating successes. We intend for our curriculum to enable pupils to develop their interpersonal skills, creativity and independence.
Encompassed within our vision, is the need for pupils to experience a wide range of knowledge and learning opportunities that broadens their understanding and equips them with the skills required to be successful, confident learners who reach their full potential.
Due to the context of our school, we endeavour to enable all our pupils to acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to enable them to thrive. We believe access to a high quality, broad and balanced curriculum is the right of all pupils.
We are working towards a ‘Knowledge Rich Curriculum’ where children acquire a depth of knowledge in all areas of the curriculum. We offer a curriculum that is literacy rich and language so that we can open doors for the children’s futures. We, therefore, place a high focus on developing the children’s vocabulary and spoken skills and use quality texts to do this. Reading is at the heart of our school and central to the children’s learning.
As a Catholic School, the teachings of the gospels are at the centre of everything we do. Pupils are taught to treat each other with respect and to support each other in their learning. We aim to ensure that pupils enjoy learning and feel prepared for life after school. It is our intention that pupils leave St. Clare’s with a sense of belonging to a community where they have the confidence and skills to make decisions, self-evaluate, make connections and become lifelong learners.
Implementation
We provide a broad and balanced curriculum with a clear focus on subjects as discrete units to deliver our curriculum. Our curriculum offer is supported by Power Maths, Pathways to Read and Write, and Read Write Inc. We have designed our geography and history curriculum to ensure progression of skills and time periods across Key Stage Two.
Our PE curriculum is delivered by teachers and highly trained coaches provided to the school by CEDP.
Topic Weeks- whole school topic weeks take place throughout the year. These are determined by the school needs or relevant, upcoming themes. A cross curricular approach is encouraged during these weeks.
RE- As a Catholic school, the RE curriculum is central to the whole school curriculum and underpins all teaching. It is a core subject and we follow ’The Way, The Truth and The Life’ scheme of work with timetable collective worship and daily lessons.
National Curriculum – through expert understanding of the statutory requirements we have created a curriculum that builds high level knowledge, skills and understanding for ALL pupils. It is broad, balanced and promotes depth of study.
Literacy Links- Reading and Writing are a feature of all Foundations Subjects. Links between reading and writing and the foundation subjects are encouraged.
Communication and Language- Developing communication and oral skills is a feature of all Foundation subjects. Extending vocabulary and ensuring subject specific vocabulary is taught and is a feature of planning and display.
Home School Links - Children are encouraged to research questions at home to help prepare for extended writing and are given homework to compliment the work done in school.
Impact
Pupils enjoy making links between curriculum areas and have opportunities to apply basic skills across the curriculum. They experience a broad and balanced curriculum.
Assessment – through the teaching of key knowledge and skills, teachers are able to assess pupil outcomes against focus objectives. Outcomes in core curriculum areas are monitored and tracked, allowing plans to be evaluated and adapted.
Both summative and formative assessment approaches are used.
Monitoring Cycle – A cycle of monitoring takes place which includes lesson observations, book scrutiny, learning walks and pupil consultations.
If you have any questions regarding the curriculum we teach please contact the school directly.