The St Wilfrid’s Curriculum

At St Wilfrid’s, we believe in a curriculum that underpins and promotes our school’s culture and aims - a curriculum for the whole child.

"The mission of schools is to develop a sense of truth, of what is good and beautiful. And this occurs through a rich path made up of many ingredients. This is why there are so many subjects — because development is the results of different elements that act together and stimulate intelligence, knowledge, the emotions, the body, and so on. True education enables us to love life and opens us to the fullness of life.”

Pope Francis

Curriculum Intent

St. Wilfrid’s Catholic Primary School is focused on developing, nurturing and caring for the whole child. As a Catholic school, Religious Education is at the heart of all that we do and is the core of our curriculum. We place RE at the centre of our Catholic school to help us fulfil our mission to educate the whole child. We believe passionately that everything we have to offer encourages lifelong learners, with skills that will guide them through life’s journey. Our intent is to provide our children with an inspiring, vibrant and engaging curriculum, ensuring all our children are confident, independent and reflective learners, who go on to have a positive impact on their world.

With Christ at the centre, our curriculum takes our children on a journey of discovery, through a variety of Learning Experiences, which inspire their love for learning and personal growth. Through these experiences, they learn to make mistakes and challenge themselves. Through a carefully planned sequence of learning and lessons, we encourage our children to make links in learning, whilst developing and discovering an understanding of the world around them.

We work collaboratively with our parish and local community to enable our children to build strong and lasting relationships and sense of belonging.

As a school, we use a positive approach to acknowledge and recognise when children begin to understand and live our School Values. Learning Experiences are planned half-termly to further develop the School Values and through sequenced lessons, the children worked towards an outcome to demonstrate the skills they have learnt and embedded.

Ultimately we want the children at St. Wilfrid’s to Aim High in their attitude to learning and what they are capable of doing, Believe in themselves and God’s love for them, and grow in confidence to Achieve excellent outcomes.

Curriculum Implementation

We deliver a curriculum that meets that statutory requirements of the National Curriculum, we aim to meet or exceed National Standards and for our children to be proud of their achievements.

Our curriculum is mapped out for each year group and split into half termly Learning Experiences. We use visitors to the school, trips and the local community to enhance the provision for teaching and learning.  To ensure that the coverage of each subject is taught in sequence and in-depth, subjects are split into blocks to ensure that the children know what subject they are learning and also the opportunity for cross curricular links to be made for a greater depth of study.  All Learning Experiences are planned to be exciting and engaging, driven by the children and give a real purpose or outcome. Children are immersed in subject specific vocabulary to allow them to showcase their knowledge and understanding in all subjects. They use individual subject books to evidence their learning journey and allow the teacher to determine their progress. The outcome of the Learning Experience is shared with families at the end of the unit and celebrated.  Working Walls are used in class that map out the learning taking place, allowing children the opportunity to reflect on the wall to support their independent enquiry and understanding. Subject Leaders ensure that their subjects are regularly monitored, through a variety of different methods, ensuring our children receive high quality first teaching. Staff are given high quality CPD when they feel is would benefit their teaching or their area of subject leadership.

As a school we take pride in the behaviour of our children and this is seen throughout the school day. Children take an active part in their learning and pupil voice is encouraged, our children are expected to give their best and work hard in all lessons. Behaviour expectations are in place for all aspects of the school day, including lunch and playtimes and after school clubs. Classroom environments are clear, with areas marked out to support children. They are bright and vibrant and showcase the learning taking place. Our school believes in everyone having the opportunity to shine and children are offered time for intervention to secure gaps in learning and extended to achieve greater depth.

Curriculum Impact

The impact of the curriculum is monitored by subject leaders, senior leaders and governors. There are termly progress meetings where all children are discussed by their class teacher and assessment leaders. Any gaps in learning are identified and for core subjects, intervention programs are put in place and monitored.  Individual and small group tutoring is offered in the spring and summer term to support children where necessary.

Termly tests are administered during testing week and used along with teacher assessments at progress meetings to ensure children are working towards meeting their targets.

We use FFTAspire to input and monitor data, this is shared and used by all staff and leaders, helping to identify good progress and areas for further support. FFTAspire is used for foundation subjects to measure against skills taught and for core subjects. At the start of the autumn term, children are given targets for reading, writing, maths and GPS. These are monitored at progress meetings and information shared with all staff. The assessment lead is responsible to staff knowing DFE requirements and key information about school tests.

Subject leaders and school leaders have a schedule of planned lesson observations, learning walks and time looking through books and talking to children. Evidence is gathered and measured against teaching standards to ensure that everyone is responsible for learning and outcomes. Feedback is provided for staff and actions taken to provide CPD and celebrate the high quality experiences given to the children.

Subject leaders also meet with children to conduct pupil interviews to find out what they think about their learning. They complete a subject report for the governing body in the summer term and meet with a link governor in the spring term. Subject leaders write their own action plan, based on the school development plan and work to achieve the actions and targets. Governors work with staff to monitor these targets and support staff in wanting the best for the children of St. Wilfrid’s.