Curriculum Statement
St. Mary’s Curriculum Statement
Our Vision:
Inspired by Christian values, at St. Mary’s we are EXCITED about our learning, PROUD of our achievements, DETERMINED to be the best we can be and CARING for all of God’s creation.
Parental Quotes: January 2022 Survey
“Both of our children are excited about the work they are doing at school, the teachers are engaging and supportive and celebrate their achievements. This goes beyond lessons and includes behaviours and understanding the importance of being caring and supportive of each other.”
“The children are taught about a wide range of topics that have generated some really interesting conversations at home. For example, our eldest wanted to share his knowledge of Windrush recently, which linked to other learning he’d done around Black History. These conversations are preparing him well for the key matters occurring in society today.”
“We really couldn’t hope for a better school for our children. The team at St. Mary’s work incredibly hard and create a successful, nurturing and positive environment for learning.”
Pupil Comments January 2022:
“I have really enjoyed science because when we were experimenting with the light bulbs, wires and cells, it was really fun and I feel like I really understood about circuits.”
“Our teachers teach us really well; we know so much that you wouldn’t expect us to know!”
“Teachers tell us our mistakes, if they didn’t, then we wouldn’t learn and we’d think we got it all right. If we don’t learn from our mistakes, then we just keep making the same mistake!”
“I learn new things by listening, and watching the teachers showing how you’re supposed to do the subject, we also come back to the subject and we keep doing it over a while… It helps me when they show you how to do it, e.g. in maths, if we’re learning a certain method the teacher shows us an example of how to do it first before working, and sometimes I put my hand up for the teacher to explain it a bit more if I need it.”
“I love being a pupil of St Mary’s because because I always learn new things and the teachers are great.”
Curriculum Intent:
At St. Mary’s School, learning is our priority; whether it is academic learning; learning to be a good citizen; learning to triumph over challenges or learning to respect ourselves, others and God’s creation. We are inspired by Christian values which are at the heart of our holistic learning approach.
Our curriculum is designed to meet the requirements of the national curriculum and to:
- provide every child with their right to a high quality education embedded in an inspiring and creative curriculum, enriched with opportunities to stretch their individual talents and interests
- ensure every child is heard, understood, respected and valued as a child of God
- enable every child’s learning experience to be enriched with experiential opportunities to ignite curiosity and embed knowledge
- purposefully include all pupils
- enable every child to use well developed oracy skills to think, learn, reason, explore, communicate, create and influence
- develop every child’s ability to be a creative thinker and problem solver
- help every child to develop independence and resilience to enable them to be responsible and accountable for their learning and behaviour
- provide an inclusive sporting curriculum led by PE specialists to improve physical literacy, promote fitness, develop competitiveness and build character
Curriculum Implementation:
Our curriculum is organised into discrete subjects with curriculum links which have been purposefully created. Our aim is to ignite children’s interest and to connect them to the world around them. The subjects incorporate the knowledge and skills of each of the different curriculum areas while promoting the links within and across subjects so that there is continuity and progression, challenge and depth of learning.
Click to view Curriculum Overviews for Reception to Year 6
We aim to help the children understand that the more knowledge they acquire, the more they can develop their understanding of the world around them and begin to think creatively and critically about it.
Our curriculum is extensively enriched with well-planned trips, workshops and experiences which are closely linked to the curriculum objectives. These ensure the children at St. Mary’s School develop the confidence to connect with the opportunities, experiences and resources in their locality and beyond – enabling them to view themselves as important contributors and influencers of their environment.
We are wholly committed to Inclusion at St. Mary’s and strive to meet pupils’ individual needs so that all children can flourish. Click here to read more about how we make the curriculum accessible to learners with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
An overview of each subject can be found on the curriculum subject pages:
Curriculum Enrichment
Our curriculum is extended by a variety of enrichment activities including day visits, workshops, cultural experiences and residential trips from Year 4. We also offer after school clubs and a growing number of lunchtime clubs, which are available throughout the school year. St. Mary’s School has links with local secondary schools and upper KS2 pupils are offered opportunities to experience subject ‘challenge days’ such as Maths and Science in a secondary school environment. Click here to see our teaching and learning policy – Appendix 1 describes enrichment opportunities in a typical year.
Curriculum Impact:
St. Mary’s School uses rigorous triangulated monitoring throughout the year to gauge the impact of the curriculum design. The impact is evidenced as follows:
- The children enjoy their learning and we believe it is this enjoyment of the curriculum that promotes achievement, confidence and good behaviour.
- The range of learning opportunities provided enables the children to develop their own interests, skills and strengths whilst also providing them with new challenges. Children feel safe to try new things.
- The design of our curriculum ensures that the needs of individual and small groups of children can be met within the environment of high quality teaching, supported by targeted, proven interventions where appropriate. This has a very positive impact on children’s outcomes.
- Rigorous assessment and tracking of children’s performance takes place to inform classroom practice, allowing children to make good progress and close attainment gaps.
- A high proportion of children participate in extra-curricular activities.
- Subject Leaders are aware of the strengths and areas for improvement and use this information to produce purposeful action plans that continue to develop the curriculum offer.
For any curriculum based questions, please speak to either of the Deputy Headteachers; Mrs Beechey or Mrs Richardson, who oversee the curriculum across the school.