Intent:

In line with the 2014 National Curriculum our aim is to provide a high-quality education which equips children with the skills to change the world. The curriculum will teach children key knowledge and skills. Children will have the opportunity to gain an understanding of all subjects every year. Our curriculum will be carefully planned so that there is a clear learning sequence which builds on what children have learnt previously. Our curriculum will be well differentiated so that all children are able access it and make good progress. Enrichment and well-being has a high priority at the school and our curriculum will be supplemented with pastoral support, trips, services, productions, visitors, clubs and themed days and weeks. Everything we offer is with the intent that every child should be prepared for secondary school and life beyond. We recognise that education involves children, parents, staff, governors, the community and the local authority, and that for optimum benefit all should work closely together to support the process of learning.  We believe it is our duty to make sure that when the time comes for our pupils to leave, they do so with the knowledge and skills they need to be happy, healthy and successful learners open to future experiences.  Our aim is for all pupils to enjoy, achieve and succeed whilst at our school and to continue this through life.  Our curriculum takes due consideration to the SEND Code of Practice 2015, the Children and Families Act 2014, Equality Act 2010 and Education Act 2011.

Implementation:

We use the National Curriculum as the starting point to implement our curriculum. Teachers use our subject overviews to ensure that the correct knowledge and skills are taught each year. A topic based approach is used to engage and enthuse children but, where appropriate, some subjects will be taught discretely.

High quality CPD underpins the curriculum so that leaders at all levels have the skills required to teach our children. Staff have received CPD in a number of areas including, but not limited to: reading; speech and language; reasoning and problem solving; online safety; computing and behaviour management. Staff have personalised professional development plans to support their CPD and subject leaders have support through leadership booklets.

Subject overviews, long-term and medium term plans are used to map out the curriculum and ensure that there is a clear sequence of learning. A range of schemes are used to support planning e.g. Purple Mash and Charanga but staff also plan creatively to stretch, challenge and engage their children. Teachers have been provided with the tools to enable them to cover the skills and knowledge which need to be met in the national curriculum.

When implementing our curriculum we tailor it to meet the needs of the children. Developing teamwork and resilience were identified as key skills our children needed so we ran structured boot camp sessions in PE. To further support our children we have run Key Stage 1 sessions on relationships, friendships and emotions and, to close the gap in progress between boys and girls, all of our Year 5 and Year 6 boys attended a six week workshop on developing self-esteem called “Courage”. We have well-being mentors, a counsellor and a sensory area to further support our children.

We passionately believe in providing memorable moments for our children. All of our children take part in church services, productions, public speaking and have the opportunity to attend sporting and musical events such as Young Voices at The O2. 

Leaders identified the need to provide our children with experiences of different cultures and communities and have developed a link with Lower Sagana School in Kenya. We have also become the first school to partner with local charity “Big Love” to support the work they do with a community in Romania.

Impact:

The impact of our curriculum can be seen by our centralised subject displays which celebrate a range of work from different year groups in different subjects. Progression can be seen through the work children produce and this is monitored by leaders. Pupils enjoy their lessons and are enthused by the knowledge and skills they gain.

They often choose to create extra work at home using Purple Mash or creating presentations on topics such as “Plastic Pollution”. Pupils are able to transfer skills learnt across a range of subjects. All our children, including disadvantaged and SEND children, are able to access the curriculum through differentiation and support where appropriate and achieve well.

Pupils enjoy reading and standards in reading improved in 2019 compared to 2018. Mathematics standards have also improved with an increase in 10% for children reaching the expected standard and 17% for the high score in 2019 compared to 2018. 98% of our parents (77 responses October 2019) agree that we offer a good range of subjects and have high expectations of their child and 97% agree that their child does well at Trinity St Mary’s. When children leave us they continue to achieve well at secondary school and we regularly hear of successes of our past students such as becoming Head Boy and Head Girl.

Please follow the link below for information on individual subjects and curriculum overviews.