St. Mary’s CE (VA) Primary

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School Curriculum

St. Mary’s CE (VA) Primary School Curriculum

This Curriculum Policy draws together the aims and ethos that underpin the curriculum for St. Mary’s CE (VA) Primary School. The curriculum has been developed in support of the school’s mission statement and school aims.

Mission Statement

St. Mary’s C.E (VA) Primary School serves its families and its community by providing a broad education of the highest quality. We encourage an understanding of the meaning and significance of faith and promote the Christian values:

Responsibility, Forgiveness, Hope, Friendship, Trust and Respect.

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School Aims

• Welcome all children, parents and visitors.

• Nurture attitudes and values based on Christian beliefs, encouraging an awareness of what it means to have a faith.

• Challenge all children through a wide variety of experiences, equipping them with skills for life.

• Provide a stimulating and calm environment that is conducive to learning.

• Promote individuality and foster self-esteem in both children and staff ensuring that all achieve and give of their best.

• Encourage and promote a sense of belonging, partnership and responsibility for the community.

• Ensure everyone feels safe and secure.

• Inspire all to have high expectations and aim for challenging targets. • Understand and celebrate the beliefs and traditions of the community

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Fundamental British ValuesThe Department for Education (DfE) gives a requirement to promote the fundamental British Values. The following have been identified as fundamental British Values, democracy, rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance for those with different faiths and beliefs.Separately, the Counter Terrorism and Security Act also places a duty on schools “to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being

drawn into terrorism” (the Prevent duty). Statutory guidance on the duty is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-guidance. To help demonstrate what this means in practice, the following examples are based on what is in the statutory guidance. They are just that – examples - and not exhaustive list, but hopefully useful to you.

Democracy: making decisions together: Staff can encourage children to see their role in the bigger picture, encouraging children to

know their views count, value each other’s views and values and talk about their feelings, for example when they do or do not need help. When appropriate demonstrate democracy in action, for example, children sharing views on what direction a topic may develop or engagement with the School Council.

Staff can support the decisions that children make and provide activities that involve turn-taking, sharing and collaboration. Children should be given opportunities to develop enquiring minds in an atmosphere where questions are valued.

Rule of law: understanding rules matter: Staff can ensure that children understand their own and others’ behaviour and its

consequences, and learn to distinguish right from wrong. Staff can collaborate with children to create the rules and the codes of behaviour, for

example, to agree the class rules and expectations and ensure that all children understand rules apply to everyone.

Individual liberty: freedom for all: Children should develop a positive sense of themselves. Staff can provide opportunities for

children to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and increase their confidence in their own abilities, for example through allowing children to take risks on an obstacle course,

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mixing colours, opportunities for independent learning, talking about their experiences and learning.

Staff should encourage a range of experiences that allow children to explore the language of feelings and responsibility, reflect on their differences and understand we are free to have different opinions, for example opportunities to debate and develop points of view, small group discuss what they feel about moving class.

Mutual respect and tolerance: treat others as you want to be treated: Leaders should create an ethos of inclusivity and tolerance where views, faiths, cultures and

races are valued and children are engaged with the wider community. Children should acquire a tolerance and appreciation of and respect for their own and other

cultures; know about similarities and differences between themselves and others and among families, faiths, communities, cultures and traditions and share and discuss practices, celebrations and experiences.

Staff should encourage and explain the importance of tolerant behaviours such as sharing and respecting other’s opinions.

Staffs should promote diverse attitudes and challenge stereotypes, for example, sharing stories that reflect and value the diversity of children’s experiences and providing resources and activities that challenge gender, cultural and racial stereotyping.

A minimum approach, for example having notices on the walls or multi-faith books on the shelves will fall short of ‘actively promoting’.

What is not acceptable is: actively promoting intolerance of other faiths, cultures and races failure to challenge gender stereotypes and routinely segregate girls and boys isolating children from their wider community failure to challenge behaviours (whether of staff, children or parents) that are not in line with

the fundamental British values of democracy, rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance for those with different faiths and beliefs

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Fundamental British Values in the Curriculum – the voice of our teachers‘In Early Years we listen to children and their voice and ideas drives what we learn. Children are encouraged to say when they do or don’t need help. We create the rules together and understanding their own and other behaviour, and consequences, is a key element of our Personal and Social Development teaching.’

‘Children are encouraged to take risks within a safe and secure environment – we have tools in our workshop area and children are taught how to use them and they know the consequences of not using them respectfully.’

‘In Year 1, children speak about their own families and backgrounds and we encourage them to bring in artefact, photographs and stories from home to encourage the sharing and valuing of our children’s diversity.’

‘Opportunities for debate are built into the curriculum; we debate issues relevant to individual self, the school and class and wider issues about race, gender and marriage.’

Fundamental British Values in the Curriculum – the voice of our children

‘I am 10 and live in a multicultural society. It is full of diverse people. We are ready to embrace a multicultural country where everyone and every child and adult should be respected equally.’

‘I am lucky to be in a school full of unique people and a diversity of religions. I am proud to be Muslim but also know lots about other religions like Christianity, Hinduism and Judaism. One of our British Values is tolerance of those who have different faiths and beliefs.’

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‘If you look through the heart of St Mary’s you will see a diverse range of respectful and interesting people. As well as values for our school, there are values for our country - Britain. Some of these are: mutual respect, individual liberty and tolerance of others of different faiths and beliefs. These values are very important to me because I think that everyone should follow them, I know how hard it is as I am a Muslim. Everyone should be tolerant of different religions. Despite having freedom to do what we want, no one should break the law. Why are people being judged for their colour, religion or where they come from? Can you imagine a world of the same music, same clothes and the same food? I am very lucky that I go to a school where there are different faiths and I can meet people from different religions. We should all embrace and welcome everyone.’

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St. Mary’s School Curriculum Our aim is to making learning irresistible.

We want the children of St. Mary’s to be respectful and honest with a sound knowledge of right and wrong and the role they have in our school, local and wider community, both now and in the future. We aim to

nurture tolerance of others, self-reflection and independent learning skills, children who have the resilience to solve problems and persevere with new skills using a ‘have a go’ attitude towards their learning. We use a skills based approach to our broad curriculum to ensure learning is meaningful. The curriculum content is progressive and adapts to reflect what is relevant now, special anniversaries, the local area and children’s interests whilst ensuring coverage of the

statutory curriculum is thorough. The method of using a skills base and the curriculum coverage sheet means that our focus is on pitching and challenging appropriately whilst striving for the highest standards attainable. Every subject area is assessed so children are rewarded for success in all aspects of the curriculum.

Collective WorshipCollective Worship at St. Mary’s is an integral part of every day. Every week begins with Whole School Worship. This includes a story from the Bible, a focus on spiritual and moral development, creating a secure understanding of the seasons of the church year and sharing of our Statement to Live by which stems from our core values: Respect, Hope, Trust,

Friendship, Forgiveness and Responsibility. The theme is then developed through our daily worship both in class and in Celebration Worship and Sing and Praise. The prayer Tree in the shared area provides on ongoing opportunity for children to write a prayer linked to the week’s focus or in response to events in their lives. Every classroom has a collective worship area where the symbols of Christianity are evident and the Statement to Live By is shared. The class prayer book is place where children can write prayers to share in class or for whole school worship.

The school ethos prioritises social skills and our core values. These are actively promoted throughout the school curriculum ensuring children are

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rewarded for their efforts in these crucial life skills. These are celebrated specifically within each class.

Worship at St. Mary’s is interactive and encourages active involvement and engagement by both children and adults.

Our class CORE (Celebration Of ouR Worship) books are available for children to look at, read or add to in every classroom.

Any worship in school is special and the room is set up for worship. Children enjoy setting up our hall and classrooms for worship and do so respectfully. This is a time when our children from our one school and one community, who are of different faiths and cultures, come together to worship.

St. Mary’s RE CurriculumThe teaching of Religious Education takes a high priority across school. We work to develop a tolerance and understanding between our diverse faith communities. In line with the rest of our school curriculum, we adopt a creative approach to the teaching of RE and as such RE incorporates a wide variety of teaching approaches, including enquiry, drama, discussion, art, music, story, thinking skills, reflection and prayer. Skills are taught explicitly to develop a deeper understanding. When assessing the learning and progress of RE, a wide evidence base is used, valuing speaking and listening highly.

We want learning to be accessed by all, to be relevant, meaningful and engage the children in thinking deeply. We do this in RE by:

provoking challenging questions, including those about beliefs in God, the meaning and purpose of life and issues of right and wrong. It offers opportunities for personal reflection and spiritual development. It develops children's’ knowledge and understanding of Christianity, other principal religions, other religious traditions and other worldviews that offer answers to these questions.

encouraging children to learn from different religions, beliefs, values and traditions while encouraging their own beliefs and questions of meaning. It challenges them to reflect on, consider, analyse, interpret and evaluate issues of truth, belief, faith and ethics and to communicate their responses.

encouraging children to develop their sense of identity and belonging. It enables them to flourish individually within their communities and as citizens in a plural society and global community. RE has an important role in preparing children for adult life, employment and life-long learning.

enabling children to develop respect for and sensitivity to others, in particular those whose faiths and beliefs are different to their own. Through making a major contribution to the community cohesion work of schools, RE promotes discernment and enables children to combat prejudice.

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providing an opportunity for strong links to be made to the school’s Christian values – responsibility, forgiveness, hope, respect, trust and friendship.

St. Mary’s CE (VA) Primary School RE curriculum is based on the Local Authority’s agreed syllabus. In adopting the Wakefield RE Syllabus 2013, RE at St. Mary’s:

offers opportunities to achieve to all children in school. builds a broad minded and open hearted community, where each

person is valued. provides a means where the fundamental questions of life which

religions and beliefs address are explored thoughtfully.

The Wakefield Agreed Syllabus requires a 50/50 balance between learning about religion and belief and learning from religion and belief in all aspects of teaching and learning. Progressive RE skills for AT1 (learning about religion) and AT2 (learning from religion) are central to the planning, teaching, learning and assessment of RE. 

St. Mary’s English CurriculumAt St. Mary’s we want children to develop the essential skills of language - speaking and listening, reading and writing. Our aim in English is to evoke a passion for reading, writing and spoken language, we do this by developing the children’s sense of enjoyment and love of stories, using drama and role play to develop deep connections with character and a language rich environment to enable all our children, including those with EAL, access to a world of books and the essential life skills they need.  Speaking and Listening

Our approach is for children to develop a confidence and competence in spoken language and in listening skills. Speaking and Listening is a priority at St. Mary’s and is at the heart of all teaching and learning. This is embedded in all areas of the curriculum and throughout school life. This is the basis of all skills taught within school and is evident in discussion and practical maths, in all cross curricular work and in discrete lessons such as PE where the necessary

skills are both brought to life and reinforced as well as through our broad, rich English curriculum. With many children having EAL, this approach is even more crucial and is built into our learning environment, included explicitly in class teaching and included through specific interventions including Talking Partners. Our curriculum provides opportunities to develop skills presenting to others, performing and builds in opportunities to orally rehearse ideas prior to writing or sharing ideas whole class.  ReadingAt St. Mary’s we teach reading using a range of books – both

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schemes and ‘real’ books – to meet the specific needs of our children. This approach is personalised. The schemes include Oxford Reading Tree, Project X, Rigby Star, Rigby Navigator and Treetops.

Synthetic phonics is taught systematically throughout EYFS and Key Stage 1 with a focus on using Letters and Sounds. For children who need extra support with their phonics in Year 2, we use the Fast Track Phonics scheme.  

Where additional phonics intervention is required within KS2, Letters, Sounds, and our St Mary’s KS2 Phonics scheme is used to explicitly teach phonic skills as appropriate to meet children’s individual needs. Our teaching of reading is approached through Guided Reading, one-to-one reading, paired and shared reading and through whole class literacy lessons. Additional support and targeted intervention is provided through the Better Reading Partnership and Reciprocal Reading in Key

Stage 2. Use of miscue analysis ensure skills are applied and they are revisited as required. We work with parents to encourage reading at home and to help children develop key reading skills.

We encourage children to develop a love of reading and to read for enjoyment. We choose high quality books as the start of our English lessons, a variety of medium is used for Guided reading and share our enjoyment of reading with the children, including real books, news articles, videos and you tube. We read together, in groups and individually and encourage children to read at home.

Children are taught to read easily, fluently and with good understanding. Where needed, we work with children to provide additional support to help them achieve these aims. We encourage children to read widely across both fiction and non-fiction to develop their knowledge of themselves, the world we live in and to gain knowledge across the curriculum whilst developing a love of reading and a curiosity and thirst for knowledge.

WritingFrom the earliest stages of writing, we value the work children complete. We aim to build success and use a range of strategies which embed speaking and listening including Talk for Writing, Drama, hot seating, freeze framing, conscience alley and story sequencing. Our curriculum provides opportunities to write for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences through English and other curriculum areas. Children are taught how to plan, revise and evaluate their writing. Phonics (using Letter and Sounds) followed by Spelling is explicitly taught through school.

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Children who enter school later or need additional support with phonics are taught using Direct Phonics. Independent application of skills in English are encouraged, research undertaken and writing completed independently show a depth of skills, knowledge and understanding that has been taught and then later applied by the child. A breadth of content is embedded through our topic approach and high expectation means all writing exemplifies skills taught.

We work in partnership with home and homework includes daily reading, spellings and topic based research. It may also, where appropriate, include specific English tasks which may be read, writing or speaking focused. Children who learn at St. Mary’s will:

Be fluent and confident speakers. Be able to confidently write a variety of text types using the correct features. Have an enjoyment of reading and writing. Be able to apply their literacy skills across the curriculum.

St. Mary’s Mathematics CurriculumMathematics at St. Mary’s is taught through a practical approach using concrete apparatus, games and investigative problem solving. Children are encouraged to access the resources they require and to develop the resilience required to solve problems and search all possible answers. The national curriculum for maths is followed throughout school with lessons targeted for individuals and groups as appropriate to meet their needs and narrow the gap to age related expectations.

At St. Mary’s we want children to develop a passion for maths with a belief that they can achieve. We want maths to be creative and highly inter-connected. We aim to develop the understanding that maths is an essential life skill and helps to provide a sound understanding of the world. Our aim at St. Mary’s is to make learning irresistible, in maths we do this by developing the children’s sense of enjoyment and curiosity about maths by working in a practical way and through a using and applying approach. Our approach is for children to develop a fluency of recall, for them to have regular opportunities to reason mathematically both within explicit maths lessons and through cross-curricular topic work. We have an embedded problem solving approach throughout school ensuring children have wide ranging opportunities to use and apply their maths skills in different contexts. Our children thoroughly enjoy this challenge and open ended approach.

We strive to ensure our system is one that builds on concrete and practical experience (at all stages of learning) moving towards pictorial representation and then to the abstract and symbolic. Children develop thinking

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skills and we try to embed appropriate vocabulary for children to clarify, justify, reason and prove mathematical views. We encourage children to work on maths skills at home and use Mathletics as an internet based solution to link work at home and school. At school, we celebrate the successes achieved, within both class and Celebration Worship. Children have age appropriate homework set in maths to learn tables, consolidate understanding of number and explore real life contexts. Our view is to develop a real depth of understanding across a breadth of contexts so children develop a really practical, useable understanding. We provide opportunities to enrich their learning and play games to consolidate learning and help with pace of recall and true enjoyment of maths.

Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural Development at St. Mary’sAt St. Mary’s CE (VA) Primary School we recognise that a child’s personal development plays an important role in their ability to learn and achieve both now and later in life. As such, we aim to provide opportunities to enable children to explore and develop, fully preparing them for their role in society with a true understanding of citizenship. 

Our School mission and core values (Respect, Responsibility, Trust, Hope, Forgiveness and Friendship) are embedded in all we do and are an integral part of the curriculum offered to everyone at St. Mary’s. All members of our school community work together to ensure children experience and develop a caring attitude, high standards of behaviour, an understanding of social and cultural traditions, and of diversity as well as a spiritual awareness. 

Spiritual development is embedded in our core values and in both our RE curriculum and the wider curriculum. Our children reflect on their own beliefs and on their experiences. They share a sense of wonderment and enjoyment in their learning about the world we live in. We promote teaching styles which value children’s questions and gives them space for their own thoughts, ideas and concerns so they can learn from religion and the curriculum and make connections between their learning and the context of their own lives. We encourage respect for others; their feelings, faiths and values and we strive to weave this through our work in the wider community. Our school’s link with Nyamasisi Primary School in Mara, Tanzania allows children to develop a global view of Christianity. Working in partnership with the Diocese,

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this link allows the children to make connections and develop friendships whilst understanding we are part of a global community. It enables children to have a growing understanding of and respect for the beliefs, values and customs of the community in Mara, particularly understanding how life as a child at St. Mary’s compares to that of children at Nyamasisi. Our link provides a real connection when developing charitable thinking about others through our Grow £100 project.

Moral development is about the ability to recognise the difference between right and wrong and to apply this to their own life. We support this development through our Literacy and PSHCE curriculum where we explore emotions and the way they impact on others. We provide a clear moral code for behaviour which is shaped by the children and modelled by everyone in school. It is promoted consistently through our school Rights and Responsibilities, class rules, Anti-bullying learning, E-safety learning and Collective Worship. Children are given opportunities to explore rights and responsibilities and good behaviour is rewarded in school. Our school ethos and Collective Worship is central in this. Social development refers to children’s understanding of their role in society and is the opportunity to develop the skills that will facilitate positive interactions and relationships with their local community. We foster this through collaborative working within classes, across year groups, our school ‘teams’, community cohesion projects with other schools, community art projects, links with Church and Wakefield Cathedral and through our Grow £100 -supporting others before ourselves. Our school council develops understanding of democracy and individual liberty. Through developing these skills and attitudes through our core values and curriculum, the children demonstrate qualities valued in society (within school and beyond) and attitudes that will contribute positively to life in modern Britain. 

Cultural development refers to a child’s understanding of beliefs, values and customs in their own and others’ social, ethnic and national groups. As a school this aspect is firmly embedded in our curriculum and wider relationships. We provide opportunities for children to explore through community events, World Faith Week, One World Week, our rich and creative RE curriculum and through our wider school curriculum.

 In line with DfE guidance, we promote British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. As a Church of England school we have a set of values to which we work and these values intertwine with the British values to ensure our children develop into responsible, outward looking, caring and compassionate human beings with a sense of self and a sense of the world around them. 

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Work to support these values is part of the ethos of our school but can be seen through examples such as voting in school council elections to show children democracy in action, emphasising the school Rights and Responsibilities, allowing children to make informed choices about their work and some aspects of school life, showing respect in the community for everyone, finding out about different cultures and religious traditions in RE, worship or topic work. Our Grow £100 encourages a deeper understanding of how we use

charity to help others and take a responsibility for our own community. We also spend time with the children finding out about different events that are important in Britain. Some of these are annual events such as Remembrance Day, others are topical – The Tour De Yorkshire (and the Tour De France in Yorkshire), the Olympics, the Golden Jubilee and the General Election – and others are historic. All of this helps children to understand more about the

country in which they live and events of National importance.

Science At St Mary’s we believe that science should be as practical as possible and fun! Children are encouraged to develop their understanding of the world around them and ask questions to further their understanding. We want the children to question, enquire and be curious about the world around them and we place an emphasis on teaching the skills which are needed to support their acquisition of scientific knowledge.

In each year group children will carry out at least one investigation/experiment for each area of scientific knowledge thereby learning from first-hand experience.

Teachers consider how the children can record investigations they have carried out and decide how to support children with SEND, NtE or EAL so they can focus on assessing their scientific knowledge and understanding not their English skills.

Whenever possible science is taught through a cross-curricular approach linking the science taught with other areas of the curriculum. Lessons are well planned with quality first teaching and made accessible for all pupils. They include a variety of first hand experiences to enhance the pupils’ learning experience, these include:

Visits from people from our community Drama and role play Educational trips Practical research including experiments

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St. Mary’s PE CurriculumAt St. Mary’s we aim to make all learning irresistible, we do this in PE by ensuring lessons are well planned and delivered and a range of sporting events and skills are taught throughout school in order to build and develop skills progressively as children move through their time at school. High quality PE is taught at St. Mary’s which embeds sport skills as well as embedding our core values of Trust , Responsibility, Respect and Friendship through the development of team work, cooperation and good communication skills. Children participate in a range of sports during lessons and have an opportunity to participate in competitions—both within school against other classes and with other schools locally. Sporting clubs are held after school throughout the year and every child participates in sports day. PE is linked to other curriculum areas where appropriate, for example teaching orienteering links with maths and geography skills and links with a topic Voyages of Discovery in Year 5. Skills in teamwork and cooperation developed in PE are actively encouraged across other curriculum areas, when children are playing at lunchtime and playtimes and outside school. We celebrate successes in PE and work inclusively so all children can access their PE lessons and achieve success. Achievements are celebrated through photos, some of which are put in books to highlight specific skills, on display, in class core books and through awarding certificates in celebration worship following participation in events outside school.

HumanitiesAt St Mary’s we value humanities and our aim is to help our pupils develop an understanding of their own lives and the world in which they live. This is achieved through the study of individuals, societies, cultures and the environment.

At St Mary’s the learning of humanities promotes understanding of causes and consequence through physical and human actions and processes, knowledge and understanding of peoples and cultures in different places and times, a desire to be proactive local and global citizens promoting the schools CORE values and questioning skills, formulating opinions and arguments and making judgements and carrying out investigations.

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Our humanities curriculum is taught through a cross-curricular approach. Thematic topics such as, The Medieval England (Year 4), The United Kingdom (Year 1) and Voyages of Discovery (Year 5) provide the basis for links between history and geography and other curriculum areas. Lessons are well planned with quality first teaching and a variety of first hand experiences to enhance the learning of our pupils, these include:

Educational trips Field studies Themed days Visits from people in our community Drama and role play Primary sources Story telling Practical enquiry and research.

The ArtsMusic A whole school scheme of work to teach the National Curriculum for music is derived from

the Charanga Musical School programme. The learning within this scheme is based on Listening and Appraising; musical activities-

creating and exploring and Singing and Performing. As well as providing children with an experience and understanding of instruments. Musical

school contains a substantial song centre from nursery rhymes and chants for younger children to well known favourites by artists such as Bon Jovi and Adele for older children.

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Year 2 worked with other schools with the community. Through singing they celebrated difference and friendship.

Art and Design We want Art and Design to equip children with the knowledge and skills to experiment,

invent and create their own works of art. Through exploring different techniques, materials and Artists and through links within the

community we encourage children to think critically and develop a rigorous understanding of Art and Design, one which will ignite their imagination and be a fundamental means of personal expression.

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The Big Sing at Wakefield Cathedral.

Cross curricular links with RE.

African art

Design and Technology We try and link our Design and Technology planning closely to our topics and in particular

to the children’s interests. The subject encourages children to become creative problem solvers, both as individuals

and as part of a team. They have the opportunity to think critically , selecting appropriate tools and techniques for making a product whilst following safe procedures.

Children have the opportunity to use a wide range of materials and resources including those used for cooking as we learn the importance of a healthy diet and food hygiene

St.

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Problem solving as a team!

Mary’s Curriculum Journey

 The St. Mary’s Curriculum was created using the National Curriculum, current school curriculum and other sources of good practice that promote creativity and flexibility.

It was agreed that we would develop a curriculum that was child centred and child initiated. Our children need a primarily skills based curriculum and that in order to meet the needs of children we would set our curriculum in phases of 2 years. This would allow key skills to be revisited effectively. Our school curriculum was developed using the 2014 National Curriculum statutory elements alongside the outcomes of consultation with governors, staff, children and parents.

We consulted with staff and they expressed their thoughts about key elements of a good curriculum. We discussed which aspects had been removed from the proposed 2014 curriculum and began building our own ‘St Mary’s curriculum’ that fulfilled the statutory requirements whilst meeting the needs of our children. This recognised that our children had different learning styles, learn at different rates and are at different stages of their development.

Governors completed a similar task and the outcomes of what a St Mary’s curriculum should look like, were similar.

Every child in school had the opportunity to freely express (for KS2 there were no adults present) what they felt we do well at, could do better at and what they would like to do more of for each subject.

All parents were invited to contribute with our curriculum consultation and expressed views that children should develop independence and responsibility. They liked the changes that had begun to take place with additional first hand experience opportunities.

The outcomes of the consultation led to the development of a child initiated curriculum to drive topics throughout school with a built in flexibility to encourage teachers to adapt the curriculum to meet the needs of specific cohorts and to respond to major world events. It acknowledges that a rich, balanced and varied curriculum are essential for the holistic development of children that fosters a lifelong love of learning. Every member of the St Mary’s community wanted the children to have vibrant and memorable learning experiences which developed key skills and promoted our CORE values. Pastoral care and respect is a corner stone in our curriculum, ensuring that all our children feel valued and empowered.  We created paired year group breadth sheets to ensure that statutory requirements are covered effectively. This has built in flexibility to respond to the children’s needs, interests and current world issues. These were developed alongside the IMPPACT sheets which are progressive and skills based. They are derived from the National Curriculum

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descriptors, and take into consideration how children learn and specific next steps for our children.  

An InSET day was used to highlight the opportunities for our new curriculum to build on developing self-belief, resilience, independence, perseverance and problem solving skills in each and every child at St Mary’s as an intrinsic part of their education. Through a creative and personalised approach and acknowledgement of children’s preferred individual learning styles the children are able to learn and apply a wide range of skills through a relevant and engaging curriculum. This InSET day was repeated for support staff to enable them

to share the whole school vision.  Teachers looked at the curriculum breadth and decided on the focus for the pre-learning task, based on something that they were comfortable teaching. The pre-learning task gave children the opportunity to have a voice in the direction of the topic to enable them to remain excited about their learning, in order to take a greater responsibility for it.  The next step in the development of the St Mary’s curriculum is to build a consistent and progressive approach to fostering independent learning skills that ensures high quality, independent work. This includes shared high expectations, developing high quality adult interactions and truly giving children a responsibility for their learning.

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