ENGLISH MARTYRS RC PRIMARY SCHOOL
CURRICULUM |
As part of God’s family we grow together, respect each other and challenge
ourselves to be the best that we can be
CURRICULUM INTENT
At English Martyrs RC Primary School our curriculum is firmly rooted in the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Gospel Values. By adhering to the examples given to us through the Gospels we deliver a curriculum that is engaging, exciting and fitting for the demands that are placed on the children of the 21st century; the demands they will face as they grow in understanding of their place in a rapidly changing world; how they can influence change in their own lives and in the lives of their wider community. The curriculum is structured around the requirements set out in the National Curriculum 2013, adapted to our local context, and is ambitious for all subject areas.
We use Pope Francis’ message of Laudato Si, Care of our Common Home, to engage the children in realising how they can use the knowledge, skills and understanding gained inside and outside the classroom to effect a consistent change in the wider world around them for the better.
Our curriculum is delivered in its entirety over the school year. It is designed so that all children, irrespective of race, gender, faith, belief, SEND or disadvantage, have many opportunities to develop their learning experientially and collaboratively. Children acquire the skills and knowledge they need for their next step in education.
Children are encouraged to discuss their learning with each other, with adults in school and at home, as well as being proficient in extending their own understanding through self-evaluation and personal research. Learning to read, reading for learning and reading for pleasure are key factors in our curriculum offer.
The depth of the curriculum promotes a mastery approach to all subject areas, linking the learning between subject areas. Teachers take advantage of “matters of the moment”, for example a national news story of interest, a snowy day, local interest event to engage and excite the children and keep the curriculum relevant to real life events. Planned enrichment days/weeks such as Science Week, World Book/Maths days etc provide further opportunities to deepen understanding in areas of learning.
Our curriculum is designed to allow children to attain high standards in all curriculum subjects, to develop respect for themselves, each other, the school and parish community and the world they live in.
Relationship and Heath Education
At English Martyrs we follow the Life to the Full scheme of work from Ten:Ten Resources as shown below.
English
At English Martyrs we follow a Mastery approach to English through the programmes "Pathways to Write" and "Pathways to Read."
Pathways to Write
Units of work are delivered using high quality texts and children in all year groups are given varied opportunities for writing. This begins in Nursery and Reception, with a two year cycle in Early Years to support learning across the curriculum.
Skills are built up through repetition within the units, and children apply these skills in the writing activities provided. Many opportunities for widening children’s vocabulary are given through the Pathways to Write approach and this builds on the extensive work we do in school to provide our children with a rich and varied vocabulary.
You will find the end of year expectations for writing, reading and spoken language for each of our year groups in the attached documents.
Pathways to Read
Our Reception and Year 1 class are taught their early reading skills using the phonics scheme: Little Wandle: Letters and Sounds. This is a full decodable scheme which meets all the expectations of the National Curriculum and provides pupils with the confidence and skills to become independent and fluent readers.
We deliver one whole class shared reading lesson per week from Years 2-6 with bespoke grouped reading for every pupil at least once a week as well as individual reading using Pathways to Read.
For pupils still needing support with phonics from years 2-6, we provide an individual reading programme that has phonically decodable texts at the heart of it using our Rapid Catch up Scheme from Little Wandle: Letters and Sounds.
In our shared and grouped reads with Pathways to Read materials, there is a clear teaching focus with the opportunity to master key reading skills in each session. There are follow on reading tasks to enable pupils to evidence the skills they have mastered independently.
Many opportunities for widening children’s vocabulary are given through the Pathways to Read approach and this builds on the extensive work we do in school to provide our children with a rich and varied vocabulary.
You will find the end of year expectations for reading for each of our year groups in the attached documents.