Curriculum Overview

We are guided by the National Curriculum which sets out subjects and content which we should teach. Within this, however, there is flexibility so that we can interpret and plan to meet the needs and interests of our children now and for the future. The key aim for all our teaching and learning is to provide an ambitious curriculum for all pupils to learn, to enjoy, be excited and to achieve. We want to provide a safe, exciting environment where children can excel, making the most of their God-given talents, and where they can also have an adventure. To have the best days of their lives. To believe in God, themselves and others.

At St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, the curriculum is designed to: recognise children’s prior learning, provide first hand learning experiences, take the children on an adventure, allow them to develop interpersonal skills, to build resilience and self-belief, and become creative, critical thinkers.

The ability to learn is underpinned by the teaching of basic skills, knowledge- rich content, concepts and values with a vision to prepare them for life beyond primary school.

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which someone took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

Mt 13:31-32

We are:

A School of Faith - We help each child to grow in faith by learning to love God, themselves, others and His creation.

A School of Virtues - We help each child grow in positive personal strengths called virtues, through the teaching of Catholic Character Education: to develop a good understanding of right and wrong, to love one another, to respect and treat each other as equals and become decent and responsible citizens.

A School of Wonder - We help each child to have a wonderful encounter with the world, to love God’s creation. Our children are given opportunities to have new experiences, to question and to love learning and to love life.

A School of Inclusion – All are made by God and are welcome at St Joseph’s. Community involvement is an integral part of our curriculum, inviting families and visitors to facilitate learning new skills and sharing experiences such as assemblies and curriculum outcomes. At our school every child is recognised as a unique individual. We celebrate and welcome differences within our diverse school community.

A School of Knowledge - We encourage and stimulate the highest attainment and best possible progress for all our pupils. Our curriculum provides children with the knowledge they need to achieve and builds on pupils’ needs, strengths, interests and experiences. It develops children’s confidence in their capacity to learn and work independently and collaboratively.

A School of Literature - We place reading and books at the centre of the curriculum as children who enjoy reading achieve highly across the curriculum.  Developing a love for reading is one of the most effective ways we can create a love for learning and achieve our best. 

A School of Opportunity - We constantly provide enrichment opportunities to engage learning. We believe that childhood should be a happy, investigative and enquiring time in our lives, where there are no limits to curiosity and there is a thirst for new experiences and knowledge. 

A School of Innovation – We teach our pupils to use imagination and critical thinking to create new and meaningful forms of ideas where they can take risks, be independent and flexible. We give them the best tools to innovate and opportunities for them to experiment.

A School of Pride - Children leave St Joseph’s with a sense of achievement where they have the confidence and skills to make decisions, self-evaluate, make connections and become lifelong learners. Our children will develop into good citizens who will be proud of themselves and their community.

Our Curriculum Intent

We are guided by the National Curriculum which sets out subjects and content which we should teach. Within this, however, there is flexibility so that we can interpret and plan to meet the needs and interests of our children now and for the future. The key aim for all our teaching and learning is to provide an ambitious curriculum for all pupils to learn, to enjoy, be excited and to achieve. We want to provide a safe, happy learning environment where children can have an adventure. To have the best days of their lives.

At St Joseph's Catholic Primary School the curriculum is designed to: recognise children’s prior learning, provide first hand learning experiences, take the children on an adventure,  allow them to develop interpersonal skills, build resilience and become creative, critical thinkers.

 At our school every child is recognised as a unique individual. We celebrate and welcome differences within our diverse school community. The ability to learn is underpinned by the teaching of basic skills, knowledge- rich content, concepts and values with a vision to prepare them for life beyond primary school. We constantly provide enrichment opportunities to engage learning. We believe that childhood should be a happy, investigative and enquiring time in our lives, where there are no limits to curiosity and there is a thirst for new experiences and knowledge. 

Community involvement is an integral part of our curriculum, inviting families and visitors to facilitate learning new skills and sharing experiences such as assemblies and curriculum outcomes. 

Children leave St Joseph's with a sense of achievement where they have the confidence and skills to make decisions, self-evaluate, make connections and become lifelong learners, ensuring they have had the best days of their lives. 

Our Curriculum Implementation   

We are guided by the National Curriculum but have the flexibility to plan and adapt to meet the needs and interests of our pupils. We make sure that children learn additional skills, knowledge and understanding and enhance our curriculum as and when necessary to enrich learning experiences. 

Our curriculum is taught on a yearly cycle with each year group having their own bespoke curriculum encompassing all subjects based on three termly themes. The cycle builds upon the previous year’s knowledge so that children retain learning. Where we have mixed age teaching, we have a two yearly cycle of topics, so that the children do not repeat topics.

• The termly planned work starts with key vocabulary and knowledge for children to learn so that they know more, this will support them throughout the remainder of their learning. Opportunities are provided for children to apply this newly acquired knowledge to ensure they understand more about the concepts being taught. Regular re-visits happen throughout the topic so the newly acquired knowledge and understanding is retained.
• Fabulous Facts- These are sent out per half term and contain key information and key vocabulary to be taught that term. These are also displayed in the classroom and on the class webpage and referred back to regularly. If provides opportunity for parents to be more involved in their child’s learning but reinforces key teaching points. 
• Discrete Learning -Some learning is taught discretely. Where appropriate English is thematic based, as is science.  Maths is taught discretely.
• Cultural Capital Enhancement -We plan for as many opportunities as possible for all pupils to  experience cultural capital enhancements in a variety of forms i.e a visitor, an external visit (residentials from Year 4, overseas visits in Year 6) and a project involving parents/ the community if possible. This is to provide first-hand experiences for the children to support and develop their learning.  We recognise that to have impact, the planned enhancements must ensure that the children going through St Joseph's have the best days of their lives. This will enable them to make links further down the line with the knowledge and skills they acquired during their primary school days. 

Our Curriculum Impact 

How well are our pupils learning the content within our curriculum?

We have five intentions when it comes to measuring the impact of our curriculum.

Intention 1: Develop our learner’s learning (Our head and body: what we learn)

We strive to ensure that our children’s attainment in core and foundation subjects is in line with or exceeding their age related expectations when we consider the varied starting points of children. We measure this carefully using a range of materials, but always considering where they should be for how old they are. We intend that the impact is that children will be academically and physically prepared for the next phase of their education, in Britain and the world. The progress that our children make will be well above average.

Intention 2: Develop the character of our learners (Our heart and character: Who we are when we learn) 

The impact will be that our learners will have fully rounded characters with a clear understanding of the Catholic virtues like resilience, friendship, respect, trust and many others. Only by really learning what these mean will our learners be able to develop a character that prepares them for living in the community living out the Gospel values. We measure this not just by the work our children produce, but in the behaviours we see each and every day in all learners on the playground, in the corridor, and in the many roles we give them. The impact of this intention is seen in the daily interaction of all members of our school community

Intention 3: Develop behaviours and habits to become effective learners (Our actions and attitudes: How we act when we learn)

The impact we intend to achieve by developing this intention is seen by how the children approach challenges every day. We want to help the children to become creative, problem-solving thinkers. This could be on the playground, in a game or disagreement, or in class in a complex learning challenge. The impact is that children are resilient, are highly motivated to succeed and achieve, and are equipped with all the skills to do this.

Intention 4: Develop our learners spiritually and morally (Our place in the community and God’s creation: Who we are)

Our learners will be motivated by a strong personal sense of faith, morality and spirituality. Guided by Christ’s example and the Catholic virtues that we teach, they will make decisions for the right reasons and in the best interests of everyone. They will be able to decide what is right and be able to explain the Gospel values. They will go out into the world and make a difference in their own life and to others. We want the children to believe in themselves, God and others as our Mission Statement expresses.

Intention 5:  Give our children wonderful adventures that they will treasure forever.

Our learners will have wonderful, deep and personal learning experiences that they will enjoy, learn from and treasure. Exciting visits, residentials and experiences will develop our children culturally and add to general knowledge which will impact across the curriculum. We want the children to “have life to the full” (John 10:10) and to enjoy the #bestdaysoftheirlives