Curriculum Aims
Our school curriculum is continually developing with staff and governors involved in identifying not only the needs but the aspirations for all our children. We have enhanced the delivery of the statutory national curriculum with a school curriculum, enriching pupils learning experiences and developing the whole child. At St. Wulstan’s, we operate under a strong set of values, which permeate all aspects of our teaching as well as daily lives in school.
As a Catholic School, we actively promote values, virtues and ethics that shape our pupils’ character and moral perspective, through the teachings of the Church. We are confident that our continued focus on the Gospel Values will give our pupils the necessary awareness of what it means to be a good citizen in Britain today, and embed in them the building blocks of a future successful and productive life.
St. Wulstan's Curriculum Statement
Whole School Curriculum Overview
Curriculum Statement of Intent November 2021
St. Wulstan’s provides its pupils with a broad, balanced curriculum which is underpinned by our Mission Statement:
Believe to Achieve
Love God…so we follow the example of Jesus
Love Learning…so we always do our very best
Love One Another…so we treat each other as we want to be treated
Our curriculum stems from our Mission Statement: ‘Believe to Achieve: Love God, Love Learning, Love One Another.’ With that in mind we strive to continue to develop a curriculum which prepares our pupils to grow as happy and fulfilled young people, prepared to make a positive contribution to their local community and the wider world.
Intent
Our curriculum is therefore inextricably linked to our Mission to ensure we provide the knowledge, skills and character development to enable your children to fulfil their dreams. We provide an environment in which the dignity of each person as a child of God is recognised and developed and promote the full potential of each child through a curriculum that develops spiritual, academic, social and emotional growth.
At St. Wulstan’s R.C. Primary School, we have endeavoured to develop a curriculum that not only engages our children but also reflects them. We have a rich, varied and multi-cultural community who have dreams and ambitions and with the love of God these can come true. We have collaborated as a staff to create a curriculum that is rich in cultural capital, founded in knowledge and that enables us to broaden the children’s horizons are far as possible during their time in the school, enabling us to consider social justice and provide the best for our children moving forwards. Our aim is that the best learning opportunities will be provided regardless of ability, race, gender or age. Our curriculum will build knowledge on prior learning, engage and enhance natural curiosity and develop the attitudes to be a lifelong learner and through developing the children as independent thinkers through a range a thinking skills.
Implementation
As a school, we place a great deal of importance on academic learning, and we take the progress and attainment of each child achieving the very best they are capable of very seriously. However, we also view each child as a complete person, and our curriculum has been tailored to ensure that each child grows as a person, and recognises their place in our community, our city and in our ever-changing world. Our curriculum has been designed to reflect that life at St. Wulstan’s is rich, varied, caring, inclusive, exciting, challenging, inspiring, but, above all, rewarding. This runs through all subject areas. Our approach to teaching across the whole curriculum puts children at the heart of their own learning, taking an active part in lessons and ensuring that the children are rich in language and cultural capital by the time they leave us to continue their educational journey.
We recognise that children have a thirst for knowledge and we are committed to nurturing young: writers, performers, readers, international speakers, mathematicians, scientists, historians, geographers, artists, designers, musicians, sports persons, computer users and so much more. We aim to provide the building blocks of knowledge that enable the children to progress and follow their dreams through fostering the qualities of resilience and inquiry as well as planning opportunities for the children to know about keeping safe. Through our RE curriculum, we look to help children understand where values overlap and where they diverge, and hence the basis for the tensions that can arise between and sometimes even within faiths.
In order to allow the children to fully develop these aptitudes, language is a key focus for us, both to develop the children’s communication abilities, and also to provide them with the rich and specific vocabulary from across the curriculum that underpins their knowledge and understanding, further enhancing their subject specific knowledge and understanding.
Our curriculum is built upon knowledge and looks to develop the children’s skills and understanding as they progress through the school. As so, we have ensured that there are regular milestones throughout each curriculum area, looking to guarantee that the learning is built sequentially, and the children are given every opportunity to reach their full potential. Our approach to assessment is built upon these milestones, looking to use assessment to monitor and support the children’s learning over a number of years. Learning is also enhanced by a carefully planned range of educational visits with their strong links to enhance the curriculum, PSHE and themed-weeks that allow the children further opportunities to explore and a selection of extra-curricular activities offered to the children. Our curriculum is also structured to use the wealth of local resources, and those further afield, to enhance the children’s learning experiences.
Impact
The aims of our curriculum are:
- To provide a Catholic Christian education based on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, in which the values of the Gospel underpin all aspects of school life using the ‘Come and See’ and ‘Life to the Full’ Catholic syllabus
- To ensure that the children are able to recognise British Value and apply these within all areas of their lives
- To provide the children with firm foundations founded in knowledge, skills and understanding; preparing them for a future of learning
- To provide an environment in which the dignity of each person as a child of God is recognised and developed; and to promote the full potential of each child through a curriculum which develops spiritual, academic, social and emotional growth
- To promote a positive attitude towards learning and knowledge so that children enjoy coming to school, and acquire a solid basis for lifelong learning
- To enable children to be creative and to develop their own thinking and questioning
- To provide the children with the opportunities to develop their critical thinking skills by playing and exploring (engagement); creating and thinking critically (thinking); and active learning (motivation)
- To teach children about their changing world, including how their environment and society have changed over time
- To enable children to be positive global citizens in society
- To fulfil all the requirements of the National Curriculum
- To teach children to have an awareness of their own and other religious and spiritual development
- To help children understand the importance of truth and fairness, so that they grow up committed to equal opportunities for all
- To enable children to have respect for themselves, high self-esteem and to be able to live and work co- operatively with others.
We shall assess our success in achieving these aims by high quality teaching, effective intervention and support, the use of regular nationally standardised tests and consultation with pupils and parents.
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