Assessment

Phonics

Class Topic Plans

Helping at Home

 

Pupils experience a well-planned and tailored curriculum that meets their educational, social and emotional needs. Ofsted report January 2020

95% of parents agree or strongly agree that their child is well taught at our school. Parent Survey March 2019

 

Vision & Ethos 

  • We intend to form and educate the leaders of tomorrow through our Catholic Social Teaching. We aim to empower our pupils with the knowledge and skills they will need to lead God’s world. We aim to develop the oracy skills and resilience they will need to reach the highest levels. 
  • We have a clear and evident learning culture which is effectively driving the school to continually improve.  

At St Edmund’s Primary School we offer our pupils a curriculum that is:

  • broad and balanced and covers the full range of National Curriculum subjects
  • ambitious for our pupils
  • exciting and enjoyable
  • coherently planned and sequenced
  • successfully adapted, designed and developed for all pupils (including pupils with SEND)

We want our pupils to enjoy learning, gain the knowledge and skills to be ready for the next stage of their education, take advantage of opportunities and succeed in life. This development of ‘cultural capital’ will ensure our pupils have the best possible life chances irrespective of their social background.

We have high academic ambition for all pupils. We want pupils to achieve the highest level of achievement across all subjects. We do this by ensuring pupils have a deep knowledge and develop a range of skills across all subjects.

Our curriculum is planned, sequenced and taught to ensure there is a logical progression. This enables pupils to acquire the intended knowledge and skills and builds on what has been taught before and towards clearly defined end points.

Our aim at St. Edmund’s is that the curriculum should help all pupils to:

  • enjoy learning and perceive education as a life-long process
  • develop the attitude, understanding and skills necessary, now and in the future, to exercise independence and initiative and to work, participate and thrive in a democratic society
  • to involve pupils fully in each of the following areas of learning and experience: aesthetic and creative, mathematical,scientific, human and social, moral, spiritual, linguistic and literary, physical and technical 
  • develop lively, enquiring minds and the ability to: find and use information, question and debate rationally, apply understanding and skills in order to address issues, solve problems and carry out practical tasks
  • develop worthwhile personal values and attitudes, including good manners and respect for others, and gain a clear understanding of the way of life of other people and other cultures
  • understand the world in which they live and the interdependence of individuals, groups and nations
  • develop appreciation and concern for the environment, work co-operatively with others, including developing confidence and respect in relating to adults
  • develop self-reliance and the ability to learn independently

A real emphasis is placed upon the children actively taking part in their learning, by first hand experience, by group work, by making decisions and taking responsibility and especially, by encouraging an enjoyment of school as a place of learning and excitement.

We follow the National Curriculum for both Key Stage One and Two, and in the Foundation Stage, we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. In the Early Years we aim to create a happy, stimulating environment which is appropriate to the individual needs of each child. Our Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum is based on children learning through play. This is done in a carefully structured manner, by interaction with a rich variety of materials, with other children and adults. Through this approach the children will acquire knowledge, skills attitudes and concepts which will become the solid foundation for further learning.

You might find this Parent’s Guide to the National Curriculum helpful to read: New Curriculum Parents Guide

At St. Edmund’s, we see that the best way of implementing all of these things is to use a mixture of thematic and subject based topics. This also enables us to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum. Where it is both possible and beneficial to link curriculum areas, we will do so, otherwise teachers will plan in subjects. Our curriculum is skills based, with a focus on improving key subject skills. This is so that children gain the subject knowledge, skills and understanding appropriate to their stage of development.

 

Details of each subject can be found by reading the subject policy and looking at the subject overview:

 

We also teach children about modern British values such as the democratic law and the right for fairness and a right to vote, personal liberty and the rule of law and how to respect and tolerate other faiths and beliefs. Children at St Edmund’s are taught not just about what they are learning but also about why it is important for them to learn such knowledge and to have such an understanding of their world.

You can find out more about the termly curriculum content for each year group by looking at the Class Topic Plans web page.

Twice a year there will be a Parents’ Evening, in October and March, when you will be invited to meet with the class teacher to discuss your child’s progress, but we hope to meet you more often than on these occasions.  If at any time during the academic year you have questions about your child’s learning please do speak to their teacher who will be happy to help.