‘Living, Loving and Learning with God.
At St. Mary’s we are committed to planning and delivering an exciting and stimulating curriculum for all our children. Our Catholic ethos is woven into everything we do and we work to ensure that every child has the opportunity to develop his or her own strengths and develop in self-esteem and confidence. Lessons and learning experiences are well-structured, which leads to confident, enthusiastic and independent learners, well prepared for secondary education and the challenges of modern life.
The importance of oracy, reading and writing are emphasised at St Mary’s to ensure that children have the skills to access the full curriculum.
Reading in Foundation and KS1 is taught using a book band framework of texts in guided and independent reading. St Mary's has worked to develop the strong support of parents in valuing and supporting a positive start in reading. Phonics is taught daily using the Bug Club scheme, accredited to ensure a coherent and progressive skills experience We have supported this with pupil log ins for e books as well as a comprehensive suite of Bug Club scheme books to ensure that home reading can be closely mapped into school learning experiences.
From entry to Foundation children access speech and language assessments to ensure that swift referral and personalised support is given to ensure that gaps are closing at this important phase. In Foundation and KS1 St Mary's offers additional adult skilled provision to ensure that children's speech and language skills are developed.
From 2019 to 2022 we have been working with the National Centre for Excellence in Maths (NCETM ) to embed a high quality maths mastery approach.
At St Mary’s, we are working to deepen and develop a broad, creative and progressive curriculum.
Our shared trust mission drives us to develop each child, to help them to develop their gifts and talents so that they can be the best they can be for themselves, for each other, for our community and the wider world. The trust shared Gospel Values and British Values underpin every aspect of school life.
Our school values and virtues flow from our mission and our school motto : to ‘ live , love and learn with God’
At St Mary’s we live with God by loving and learning. Staff at St Mary’s make reference to our values and virtues as part of every day life.
Our faith tenants to be outward facing; to develop inclusive attitudes, to have the skills and desire to make a difference to others, are key drivers at the heart of bring our principles, motto and values become the living waters of our school life.
Further details of our values mission are available in 'ethos, visions and values'.
The Intent of our Curriculum
- St Mary’s strives to offer an inclusive and ambitious curriculum, ensuring all children, regardless of ability or background, are provided with the opportunity to fulfil their individual potential.
- Our Curriculum is planned and sequenced so that new knowledge and skills build on what has been taught before, giving a platform of links and overlay to support children’s understanding and learning.
- Our curriculum reflects our local context.
- The National Curriculum defines Cultural Capital as:
“It is the essential knowledge that pupils need to be educated citizens, introducing them to the best that has been thought and said and helping to engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement.’
- The curriculum at St Mary’s aims to equips pupils with the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life.
The Implementation of our Curriculum
Teachers ensure that pupils embed key concepts in their long-term memory and apply them fluently. This is achieved through effective, age appropriate assessment which helps pupils to embed knowledge and use it fluently, and assists teachers in producing clear next steps for pupils.
The Impact of our Curriculum
Our ultimate aim is to have provided a rich, broad and creative curriculum, based upon the Catholic ethos of the school, with all children being ready for the next stage of education, employment or training.
See the 2021 St Mary's overview, how we teach reading and the Foundation Curriculum. These were all written at a time of significant national change. In Autumn 2021 they will be under further review in Autumn 2021.