Curriculum Statements
Curriculum Statement
St. Cuthbert's Catholic Primary School is in the heart of North Shields, an area with a rich social and culturally diverse community; we use this as a basis for our curriculum which celebrates diversity and utilises the skills, knowledge and cultural wealth of the community whilst supporting the pupils’ spiritual, moral and cultural development.
Curriculum Intent
The uniqueness of every child, member of staff and everyone in our community is recognised and valued. As such, our curriculum embraces the community from which it exists, recognising and celebrating the diverse backgrounds and experiences from which our children originate. We constantly adapt our learning journey to meet the needs and interests of our children, offering an excellent education underpinned by a broad, culturally rich and powerful curriculum to ensure that all pupils are well equipped for the next stages in their education.
Our curriculum is underpinned by the teaching of basic skills, knowledge, concepts and values, creativity runs through everything we do at St. Cuthbert's. We constantly provide enhancement opportunities to engage learning and to celebrate and develop the individual talents of our pupils, recognising everyone as unique with their own ambitions, skills and aspirations. Examples of curriculum enrichment can be seen in through every class, school clubs, residential trips, our partnerships with other organisations, family events such as our family bike rides and vegetable bags project and much, much more. We aim to provide an environment that encourages lifelong learning. We aim to provide a curriculum, learning experiences and an understanding of the world which leads to our children, staff and wider community knowing they have a voice that will be heard and the ability to influence the world around them in a positive way. This has been evidenced and recognised in our UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools Gold Award and our Children in Crossfire Compassionate Schools Award.
Community involvement is also an essential part of our curriculum as we celebrate local traditions, learning new skills to enable children to take an active role in event throughout the year. We were the first primary school to join Tyne and Wear Citizens and our Headteacher and Assistant Headteacher are on the management committee to the local PACT, (Parents and Children Together) group, representing St. Cuthbert's whole school community. Children leave St. Cuthbert's with a sense of belonging to a strong community where they have the confidence and skills to make decisions, self-evaluate, make connections and be lifelong learners.
Curriculum Implementation
Skills and knowledge are taught discreetly in subject areas so that our children gain a broad understanding of each subject and know exactly which subject they are studying. Our curriculum is designed to embed transferable skills throughout, without weakening essential skills based learning. Learning and experiences are inter-connected and our children can talk about how they use knowledge and skills across the whole curriculum.. Our unique learning environments are designed to stimulate and engage higher order thinking, independence and collaborative learning, all of which can be clearly seen at our Roundhouse and other outdoor learning areas.
At St. Cuthbert's Catholic Primary School we also recognise the importance of feedback, both adult and peer, as an integral part of the teaching and learning cycle, and aim to maximise the effectiveness of its use in practice. We are mindful also of the research surrounding effective feedback and research from cognitive science regarding the fragility of new learning. In response to this, planning is flexible and responsive to children’s needs and regularly refers to spaced learning, SOLO Taxonomy and progress.
Curriculum Impact
We plan our lessons with clear learning objectives and outcomes. We base these upon the teacher’s detailed knowledge of each child, striving to ensure that all tasks set are appropriate to each child’s level of ability. Our lesson make clear the expected outcomes for each lesson. We make a note of those individual children who do not achieve at the expected level for the lesson, and we use this information when planning for the next lesson.
Day‐to‐day, on-going assessment is a crucial method of assessment which provides instant feedback to the teacher and ensures progress within every lesson. Assessment for Learning strategies are used in all lessons. These strategies provide a clear picture of a child’s level of understanding and, ensure that teachers can quickly assess when a child does not understand and needs greater support. Lessons should be flexible enough to allow teachers to adapt to the needs of the child. Assessment for Learning should also be used to inform planning for following lessons.
Below you can read our curriculum intent statements for different subject areas at St. Cuthbert's by clicking on the ink, all documents will open in a new window. You can also see lots of examples of our curriculum in action by visiting our YouTube Channel and St. Cuthbert's families can follow our Twitter and Tapestry accounts.