Curriculum Vision

School Development Plan 2023

Aim high, dream big… That’s what we encourage each child to aspire to, by fostering in them the self-belief needed to achieve their goals.

We are aspirational for every individual and our curriculum is engaging, bringing learning to life, incorporating extra-curricular opportunities to enrich children’s cultural capital. We want our children to be resilient young people who have a love for learning, with enquiring minds and a thirst for knowledge. Therefore, we offer them a curriculum which promotes high standards in English and Mathematics but an emphasis on all foundation subjects.

Every child is unique and has the right to a curriculum that extends them to discover their true strengths. Pupil voice plays a vital role in our curriculum design. Our pupils understand that their voice is important and contribute to school development. We want our pupils to be active learners in charge of their future.

At St Joseph’s, learning is exciting and curriculum coverage is based on the National curriculum and statutory requirements. However, our curriculum is also unique and bespoke to our school. Our school ethos is based on Christian values and Christ’s message of love, forgiveness and respect. We want our children to be aspirational, confident young people, with moral purpose and the confidence to know they can make a positive impact on our world.

We adopt a thematic approach with an emphasis on cross-curricular links. This enables our children to apply core skills of reading, writing and mathematics, extending their vocabulary, knowledge and understanding, in a range of contexts.

We instil a reflective culture, based on self-evaluation and an appreciation of the next steps to further improve. Children actively drive their learning through collaborative and individual work. They are encouraged to discuss ideas, ask questions and investigate concepts.

They have access to learning beyond the classroom and to a range of cultural experiences to support high expectations and future ambitions. Our curriculum is underpinned on a philosophy of ‘believing and achieving’

Every year group follow a thematic approach building in cross-curricular links, whilst ensuring specific subject skills and knowledge are taught. Pupil, staff and parent voice indicates the thematic approach positively engages children.

We believe in the philosophy that ‘children should be taught how to think, not what to think’ Sessions provide opportunities to embed previous knowledge, address misconceptions, develop new skills and problem solve. Teaching is creative and addresses varying learning styles and needs. Staff promote pupil-initiated learning to support positive outcomes. Using formative and regular assessment, teachers plan innovative lessons offering challenge and support. They empower children to take charge of their learning and drive high standards.

At St Joseph’s we understand that all children are different, but the expectation is that each child needs to be given a chance to achieve their potential. We achieve this by ensuring that:

• Everyone has high expectations and looks beyond barriers
• Reading and comprehension skills are a high priority, to enable children to successfully access all curriculum subjects
• Phonics is rigorously taught to support reading and writing
• Children meet or exceed English and mathematic age-related objectives
• Teacher assessment informs strong teaching and learning.
• Sessions offer challenge and support where appropriate to meet pupils’ needs
• Staff actively involve children in their learning, allowing them time to respond to marking and feedback
• Staff listen to pupil voice and empower children to be confident active learners
• Subject leaders drive their subject and support teaching and learning so that subject objectives are met and opportunities created to apply English, Mathematic and reasoning skills.

Our school is not just a building, but a caring community of people who strive for excellence and nurture young people to be the best they can be.

We believe our children learn best when families are involved and success depends on our school community working closely together to achieve excellent outcomes. Parents are the first teachers of their children. We establish a close home-school partnership, as we highly value the help and support parents give.