Living, Learning, Caring

At St Mary’s our mission statement, ‘Living, learning, caring together with God beside us’, permeates through the whole of our curriculum and is central to everything we do. We recognise that every child is a unique individual made in the image of God. Pupils are taught to treat all with respect and to support each other in their learning. We want our pupils to have a sense of belonging to a community where they have the confidence to use their gifts to become life-long learners.

We provide our pupils with an engaging and challenging curriculum that is designed to develop lasting knowledge and inspiring learning experiences which build curiosity, resilience, confidence and self-esteem. We ensure that our curriculum is broad, balanced and offers pupils opportunities to grow as individuals as well as learners.  We intend for our curriculum to promote academic achievement, a love of learning, a growth mind set and a recognition of their role in society.

Our curriculum is designed using the Early Years’ Framework and the National Curriculum; we follow the diocesan guidelines for the teaching of RE. We teach the National Curriculum through discrete subjects developing the children substantive knowledge (factual/specific) and disciplinary knowledge (procedures to acquire substantive knowledge). Our curriculum has clearly defined end points ensuring that pupils are ready for each next stage of their learning. Each subject is divided into units of learning which are carefully sequenced to enable children to build upon prior knowledge. Each unit of work has identified key knowledge for the children to acquire through a sequence of carefully designed lessons. The learning is sequenced to enable children to make links in their learning within a subject and where applicable across subjects. Our curriculum is enriched with a range of experiences to enhance, support and develop further our pupil’s learning.

We aim for all pupils to:

• Become fluent and confident readers and to develop an appreciation and love of reading
• Acquire and  retain key knowledge and subject specific vocabulary
• Have opportunities for independent and collaborative learning experiences which raise curiosity and builds aspiration
• Become independent learners demonstrating resilience, critical thinking and creativity
• Have a range of learning opportunities which enables them to make connections in their learning and to the wider world
• Understand and apply the importance of Catholic and British values throughout their learning which promote respect and value for others, their views, cultures and beliefs
• Have a sense of respect, responsibility and belonging to a community
• Be responsible and understand how they can be active citizens contributing to making a better world
• Be prepared and ready for each next stage of their learning and life beyond school.

Follow the link below to access Year Group curriculum information: