At St Chad’s CE School, we have worked hard with teachers and pupils to develop a unique curriculum, bespoke to our school, in order to inspire children’s thirst for knowledge and life-long learning. It meets the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum. (2014) If you want to know more about the National Curriculum we follow you can use the following links:
https://www.gov.uk/national-curriculum
Our School has a connected curriculum designed to give our children a future with hope:
H – At the heart of our curriculum are the school’s gospel values. We believe that by using Christian Values to underpin our work, children will be able to spread positive attitudes and shine as a beacon in their local community and the world.
O – We recognise the importance of developing active learners with independent learning habits, in order to prepare them for the future. With this in mind, we allow children the opportunity to work in different ways. Our curriculum is planned to be exciting, varied and flexible. Children are engaged in and stimulated by our curriculum. Each theme memorably starts with a ‘Launch Day’ to fully immerse the learners in the new topic.
P – Our curriculum develops perseverance. We offer depth, breadth, balance and challenge. We motivate each child to believe in themselves, strive to meet their potential and develop resilience.
E – Our expectations of pupil’s are high. We are aspirational for our pupils, encouraging them to broaden their horizons through the themes and topics we cover. Our language rich curriculum will support pupils in their aspirations by developing their vocabulary. We also give them opportunities to explore a variety of STEAM experiences which link to real life skills.
Every pupil has access to a rich, broad, balanced and differentiated curriculum in order that the needs of all children are provided for, with regard to their abilities, gifts and talents. We provide for children’s academic achievement and their spiritual, social, moral, cultural, physical and creative development. We provide a curriculum which is enriching, enjoyable and exciting. We aim to ensure that religious education and spiritual development permeates every aspect of the curriculum, so that it is explicit and implicit within the taught curriculum. This is rooted in worship and lived out in the daily life of the school where the children are supported, through the curriculum, to grow in faith and deepen their relationships with God and each other.
Each half term we have a different STEAM theme which leads to an end product and showcase for all pupils across school. This is shared with parents to engage them in our learning and make strong links with the world of real life skills which are relevant to our community.
Key conceptual knowledge is mapped and sequenced in termly overviews and through knowledge and skills plans. Core knowledge is drawn from the National Curriculum, and within discrete subjects, categories of knowledge are identified to ensure broad coverage and progression across each year group. The subjects are sequenced carefully to ensure that all children receive their full entitlement to our ambitious curriculum content.
We help children remember what they have learnt through regular reviews of learning, rehearsing and connecting background knowledge and by providing a good deal of instructional support. Teachers activate pupils’ relevant prior knowledge through regular retrieval practice, teach new material in small steps, model processes, guide pupil practice to the point of independent practice, ensure a high success rate and provide immediate feedback to help pupils when they make errors.
Our Global Curriculum gives our children opportunities to make sense of the increasingly complex and rapidly changing world in which they live. Our curriculum enables pupils to think critically about world issues and to develop an awareness of the impact our actions can have on others.
Mathematics
In maths, we follow the White Rose Maths and Power Maths Scheme. Each day we practise our arithmetic skills and on a Friday we have an assessment to help understand what we need to learn next.
Reading
In Reading we use Steps to Read as the basis of our curriculum. Over 4 days we teach comprehension skills in detail using Reading VIPERS. On Friday we fly solo and try out our skills independently.
Phonics
We use the Floppy’s Phonics programme to teach phonics at St Chad’s.
Writing
We use the Pathways to Write programme to support our English teaching. Each day we explore a book and develop our writing skills. We use the Jane Considine Spelling scheme in two week blocks and use cursive script (Letterjoin) to develop handwriting.
