St Catherine's CE Primary School

As a Church school, our vision is that children learn to live life in all its fullness. This fullness involves developing academically, physically, socially, spiritually, morally, culturally, and artistically. Our curriculum is the driver in which we are able to implement the school’s values. The impact of our curriculum will be seen in not only in measurable attainment and progress but that St. Catherine’s CE Primary creates polite, well-mannered caring members of our school community who understand and respect everybody’s differences and needs. Our curriculum is the means by which we engender this development and ensure that our children receive their fair share of the rich cultural inheritance our nation and our world affords. It aims to empower children with the knowledge they are entitled to: knowledge that will nourish both them and the society of which they are members. This cultural inheritance includes the study and practice of artistic endeavour and social and physical skills as well as intellectual thought. Our intention is that through this marriage of values and cultural capital, children are suitably equipped to become interested and interesting adults, able to contribute positively to the well-being of their community and to wider society.

At St. Catherine’s, we intend to have a highly motivating and stimulating curriculum which encourages children to ask questions, be independent learners, collaborate and be aspirational. The curriculum is a way in which we make the learning meaningful for the children.

There is a clear rationale behind our curriculum, and careful thought and planning has gone into each of our areas of learning to allow for concept progression and links. For example, in Years 1 to 6, pupils will be taught either a history or geography focus. Alongside learning about Ancient Greece with a history focus in Year 5, they will have learnt about where Greece is, the climate of Greece and compared it to the UK in their geography. Pupils are then able to make links between subjects, whilst also having clarity about their learning in history and geography, Pupils also revisit ‘bigger’ concepts such as empire and democracy, and using their knowledge organisers are able to revisit their prior learning. There is also a bigger emphasis on vocabulary and reading between subjects. This is so that pupils are clear in the meanings of technical vocabulary that they are learning about, but are then able to able to apply it in other areas of the curriculum. For example, pupils will revisit the word invasion in their history topics consistently so that when it appears in a text such as Michael Morpurgo’s ‘Friend or Foe‘, pupils will know what it means and the meaning behind the word.

The National Curriculum (NC) provides both the content and the framework for most of what we teach at St Catherine’s School. In the Early Years, children experience the seven areas of learning required as part of the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum which is delivered nationally. In Key Stage One and Key Stage Two children are taught the ‘core’ subjects of English, mathematics, science and religious education (RE) and the ‘foundation’ subjects of history, geography, music, art, physical education (PE), design and technology (DT), Latin, and computing.

Academic achievement

We have high expectations of academic achievement. Children are expected to work hard and recognise that each day at school provides the opportunity to gain new experiences, knowledge, understanding and skills. Children do better when parents/carers work closely with the school and we encourage parents/carers to take a keen interest in their children’s education, making learning a part of everyday life.

Preparing for SAT tests

Children in Year 6 take SAT tests in the Summer term to check how they are progressing with their learning. SATs include tests of reading, grammar and mathematics. At St. Catherine’s we want all our children to achieve good results in these tests as they are good indicators of their general ability in maths and English. While we value the tests, we believe that a broad curriculum helps children to succeed rather than narrowing teaching to focus on English and Maths. We pride ourselves on ensuring that Year 6 children have access to the full range of subjects in the lead up to the tests in May.

If you are interested in find out out more about the SATs please speak to your child’s class teacher. For more information and examples of exam papers you can visit www.sats-papers.co.uk

Our Long Plans

Please see below for details of the plans in place for the school.

Long Term Plan

St. Catherine's CE Primary School