St Paul of the Cross Catholic Primary

St Paul of the Cross Catholic Primary School Curriculum Statement

As a school family, we believe that all our children possess unique gifts and qualities; as such they have a right to succeed, recognise their own strengths and develop who they are in a loving, safe and respectful environment.

Curriculum Intent

St Paul of the Cross’s curriculum is broad and balanced taking into account the needs of all our children and our school drive for all our children to be knowledgeable and caring about themselves, others and the world around them. Spirituality, physical activity and well-being are prioritised within our curriculum to enable our learners to develop as caring, motivated people whilst with us at St Paul of the Cross and beyond.

Our curriculum is designed to enable our children to take charge of their own learning through an ‘I can’, inquiry based approach ensuring our children develop life-long skills as well as securing knowledge about rich and varied learning foci. The St Paul of the Cross Mission underpins all we do in School which fosters a culture of inclusivity, the nurturing of self-belief (The Power of Yet) and the drive to achieve our best in all we do. We have high expectations of the core basic skills of literacy and numeracy and have designed our curriculum to ensure our learners have creative, varied and numerous opportunities to use these skills throughout their learning.

 Curriculum Implementation

Our carefully planned curriculum balances the National Curriculum expectations and a wider range of curricular experiences that allow our children to have memorable and enjoyable learning experiences and achieve their very best.  Clear strategic planning allows the curriculum to be creative and adapt to the context of the school and children’s needs. Age related expectations combine the acquisition of knowledge and the development of skills to create a purposeful and progressive learning journey for every child. Our curriculum has high expectations to combine transferable skills, demonstrate key skills in literacy and develop strong cross-curricular links. Our classroom environments engage, celebrate and support our children’s learning throughout the curriculum.  Our curriculum planning is explicit and focused around responding to our children’s learning needs: incorporating inclusive approaches to teaching and learning.  Our feedback and marking practice is an opportunity for children to reflect on their learning and be part of further challenge or address misconceptions.

Curriculum Impact

St Paul of the Cross use rigorous and triangulated monitoring throughout the year to judge the impact of the curriculum design. Curriculum Leaders monitor individual subjects: review learning, listen to pupil views and provide feedback to move practice forward. Our whole school team strengthen our ethos and vision as we work together to reflect upon our curriculum and share outcomes driving forward our next steps to ensure a high quality curriculum is provided for our learners. We do not confuse coverage with progress/attainment when assessing.  Learning is measured through a careful and considered balance of tasks and observations to ensure accurate, timely and purposeful assessments are made to inform future learning needs and measure the success of our curriculum against pupil progress and attainment.