Curriculum
Our Curriculum design at Christ Church – 2 page summary
(Everything is given full detail per subject and area in our Curriculum Policy – and please see our subject webpages)
For the Academic Year 2023-24 ending July 2024, where subjects have a 2-year cycle we are on CYCLE 1
Vision:
‘To be a family where we love one another as Jesus loves us, learning and sharing together, growing in character and giving of our best to achieve greatness – ‘For with God, nothing is impossible’ (Luke1:37). To nurture compassionate, thoughtful and knowledgeable citizens of their community, country and the modern world’.
INTENT – what we want for your children at Christ Church CE:
- To keep your children safe, and teach them how to keep themselves safe.
- To deliver our Vision above for every child, inclusively, taking into account our Christian Foundation as outlined in the Church of England ‘Vision for Education’ document.
- To prioritise the effective teaching of Reading as the key to progress in all subjects.
- To ensure every child leaves us fully literate and numerate, with the skills needed for the next steps of their journey in life.
- To localise our curriculum through the incorporation of Padgate / Warrington / Cheshire contexts (within History & Geography in particular, but not exclusively) and associated local cultural and sporting events & opportunities, to engage and motivate.
- To ensure sequence and progression through a mapping out of the concepts inherent in the National Curriculum into Key stages and Year group cycles, and EYFS linking ELGS, seeking to widen and deepen children’s knowledge / cultural capital by using an overarching thematic study approach within which subject-specific teaching is undertaken. This is intended to enable children to make links between knowledge that they have gained and explore the range of their talents, to ensure a breadth of learning.
- To ensure the curriculum content is thoroughly learned – through revisiting of key concepts and skills, & the overt reviewing of previously taught information, to build knowledge**. This ensures depth of learning.
- Fundamentally, to enjoy learning!
IMPLEMENTATION – how we structure and sequence the KS1/2 curriculum and deliver it
- In Early Years, we follow the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum, and structure teaching accordingly. A curriculum map gives an overview of what is taught when, in each subject, linking with the KS1/2 curriculum cycle subject maps.
- In KS1 & 2, we start with the National Curriculum and make sure that what is to be taught in the latter is covered by our curriculum design. A two- cycle map gives an overview of what is taught when, in each subject.
- Maths is taught in KS1/2 via the White Rose scheme and repetitive skills review. It is progressively linked to the National Curriculum. This builds upon the use of White Rose to support ELG teaching in EYFS.
- PE has the ‘REAL PE’ scheme of work to ensure sequential development of skills and understanding.
- RE has the ‘Questful RE’ and understanding Christianity Diocesan scheme of work
- English has a cycle map linked into the Foundation subjects’ areas of study below. Reading is taught through sequential phonics and common comprehension teaching approaches.
- A whole-school Curriculum map gives all Cycle areas of study in summary for all subjects.
- Knowledge is developed through teaching that includes principles of repetition and interrogation for eventual long-term memory retention, and supported by Knowledge Organisers (in all subjects except Maths, English, RE, PHRSE and PE) linked to homework.
- Progression is ensured via Subject Skills Progression lists for Key Stages 1 and 2 (KS2 split into Upper and Lower) from which learning objectives are taken for termly planning and the interlinking of concept teaching across both Key stages. Progression in EYFS ensured through the level of challenge in Continuous provision, reference to ‘Development Matters’ as revised and through monitoring.
- Subject leaders on a rolling programme, including ‘Know and Tell’ sessions, review the impact of teaching on children’s long-term knowledge in each subject. They produce Action plans and provide Governors with termly subject reports. They revise and review Subject policies which then leads to amendments to the curriculum your children will study.
- ‘Cultural Capital’ development - the body of knowledge children need to succeed in life - is also supported through the incorporation in the curriculum of educational visits and experiences including residential visits, participation in the Warrington Primary Arts network, touring theatre group pantomimes , author visits, joint Remembrance services and similar.
- Our Green Curriculum uses outdoor learning to teach children about their place in caring for the environment, and for older children, business skills that can generate the capacity to improve it.
IMPACT – how do we know what we do works, and what needs to change to improve future learning:
- What children of all abilities and needs can say that they know when asked, and what they can do
- The character and behaviour of the children in our School; their social, moral, spiritual and cultural development
- Books – for assessment of curriculum coverage and how well each child can show their understanding
- Subject leader monitoring as above
- Curriculum Awards we hold such as the Primary Quality Mark, Arts award and Sports Mark awards
- Assessment outcomes including EYFSP and published outcomes from National tests – usually outcomes are in line to above average at WA+ for all measuring points
- What parents and those who know us say about our School.
**Learning means knowledge is retained in your long-term memory. Thinking is making connections between knowledge.
Curriculum Delivery
The measures we take to ensure our curriculum complies with our duties under the Equality Act and the Special Educational Needs Act 2014 are detailed on our Equality Plan (please see our Policies webpage) and our Special Educational Needs Policy / Information Report (please see our Special Needs webpage) respectively.