Intent

At St Gregory's, we strive for academic excellence. In doing so we have a great deal of fun along the way! Take a look at some of our curriculum drivers in action and see what is important to us…

Vision

We recognise that the Curriculum reaches far wider than the learning that happens in formal lessons in each classroom.  It includes everything that a child experiences in their time at our school and develops the very person they are becoming, with their talents, their needs and their aspirations for the future. Each experience provides a learning opportunity to develop and prepare our children for life in modern Britain as global citizens through the lens of Catholic life.
 

At St Gregory's, we are inclusive and recognise that everyone has their own unique God-given talents. Our curriculum is progressive and builds on prior knowledge, understanding and skills so that we develop our whole school community academically, spiritually, emotionally, morally and socially. This enables our children to develop cultural capital and become righteous citizens who give to society. We provide creative and engaging opportunities that inspire and motivate our children to become lifelong learners and have aspirations to be the very best they can be. We make this curriculum accessible to all members of our school community. More information can be found HERE.

As such, our Early Years Curriculum, The National Curriculum and knowledge and skills the children gain through the formal teaching of this sits alongside the far wider vision we have for the characteristics of the learners we develop at our school.  In striving for academic excellence, we are also unapologetic for the focus given to the characteristics we seek to develop in each and every member of our school community. These characteristics, which include Catholic Social Teaching principles, threading through all we do, are the key to developing lifelong learners and global citizens.   The characteristics outlined in our learner profile are of great value to us and as such, permeate our entire curriculum:

Our Learning Profile

Implementation

Statement of Implementation

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Framework and The National Curriculum are the part of the St Gregory’s curriculum that maps out the knowledge and skills that we want our children to learn and experience in each area / subject. This can be found in the EYFS Framework and the National Curriculum Overview and Programmes of Study.  

The wider curriculum includes a number of vehicles to develop the whole child and includes:  

• Inclusion using teaching for mastery – Our mastery approach ensures that all children are exposed to the same curriculum content by breaking sessions down into small learning intentions and focusing on developing deep understanding, providing support and intervention to address each individual pupil’s needs. This enables all children, including those with SEND, from disadvantaged backgrounds and from multi-lingual backgrounds to achieve their true potential through careful support and scaffolding. 
• Oracy, vocabulary and reading for pleasure – We provide a language-rich environment with a sharp focus on Oracy and the development of rich vocabulary which includes technical vocabulary relevant to the progression of each child’s learning. Talk is central to learning and as such, Oracy activities are woven through all activities and experiences to give children plenty of opportunity to develop and practise their speaking and listening skills.  Reading is integral to our curriculum design with daily opportunities to hear and read a range of texts – this exposes children to a wider range of vocabulary and develops a love of reading.
• Catholic Social Teaching – are the principles to living life through the lens of a Catholic.  They are principles that support children to make links from their learning through to the world in which they live and helps them to be givers rather than takers in our society. These are woven carefully through the subject lessons and also used to apply the knowledge of the topics through discreet lessons to help deepen their understanding of the context of their learning in the wider world and empowering them to challenge social injustice.
• Metacognition and self-regulated learning (including growth mind-set and restorative practice) – Children are supported to manage emotions, develop a positive sense of self, set themselves aspirational goals and have confidence in their own ability. This is supported by the use of our St Gregory’s learning profile and growth mind-set approach giving our children a better awareness of how they learn, the emotions linked to this and the transferable learning skills needed to be the very best they can be and reach their potential.
  - Teachers support pupils to plan, monitor, and evaluate their learning. Developing the children’s metacognitive knowledge of how they learn and their knowledge of themselves as a learner and strategies that help them – these things support them in becoming independent learners. 
  - Restorative practice helps our children to develop stronger relationships, and become problem solvers within these relationships, setting firm foundation for learning, so that they are more resilient to overcome adversity within their lives. 
  - Self-regulated learners are aware of their strengths and weaknesses, and can motivate themselves to engage in, and improve, their learning.  
• Retrieval opportunities – enable our learners to embed knowledge by transferring it from their working memory to their long term memory. We make deliberate connections between current and prior learning and recall learning by providing opportunities such as quizzes, oracy activities and challenging discussions based on question stems. 

• Extracurricular opportunities – provide a wide range of additional experiences for the children to inspire them within their learning and add a wider context for them. This also enables us to seek out and develop the talents in every child. e.g. (trips, festivals, clubs, assemblies, liturgies, mass, chaplaincy, school councils, residential, outdoor learning, production)

These aspects are expanded further in our teaching and learning policy.

How the Curriculum is designed in EYFS:
The curriculum in EYFS is delivered in accordance with the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and supported by non-statutory guidance, Development Matters.
 

When planning and guiding activities we ensure that the characteristics of effective teaching and learning underpin all areas of learning and support children to be effective and motivated learners. These characteristics sit alongside and feed into our St Gregory’s Learner profile which outlines characteristics that are valuable to us as learners and can be found above. 
 

The characteristics of effective learning are:
Playing and exploring – engagement

• investigate by finding out and exploring
• experience things through playing with what they know and enjoy and exploring new toys and activities 
• are willing to ‘have a go’ and build up their confidence to try new things

Active learning – motivation

• are involved and concentrate 
• keep on trying if they encounter difficulties
• enjoy achievements and develop a sense of pride 

Creating and thinking critically - thinking

• have and develop their own ideas by using and developing their imagination
• make links between ideas
• develop strategies for doing things

Areas of learning and development
Learning in the EYFS framework is defined into seven areas: three prime areas and four specific areas. The prime areas underpin further learning in the four specific areas. These areas of learning and development address children’s physical, cognitive, linguistic, social and personal development. No one aspect of development stands in isolation from the others. All areas of learning and development are equally important and are all closely interlinked. 

These are the prime areas: 
1. Communication and Language
2. Physical Development
3. Personal, Social and Emotional Development

These are the specific areas:
1. Literacy
2. Mathematics
3. Understanding of the World
4. Expressive Arts and Design
 

Our EYFS curriculum design includes six flexible themes that are tailored to meet the needs, interests and development of all children. Teachers carefully sequence learning with the help of Development Matters guidance and the EYFS Framework to support progression and depth of learning alongside assessment such as observations, talk and links with parents as a means to discover each child’s interests and gifts in order to provide challenging and enjoyable experiences that stimulate children’s interests in all seven areas. This ensures the delivery of a holistic, child-centred curriculum that is designed to give all children knowledge, self- belief and build cultural capital, and is delivered using challenging and enjoyable experiences. Our themes are driven by high quality texts. Encompassing texts into our themes captures children’s imagination, supports a deeper acquisition of language, vocabulary and knowledge as well as promoting a love of reading. 

Our curriculum map is very fluid and is regularly reviewed to ensure that we provide rich and holistic experiences that meet our children’s needs and follows their interests. 

Below is an outline of our themes. These are skeletal as we tune in to the children’s needs and interests. Themes begin with a launch and include opportunities to explore, deepen, reflect and celebrate, through experiences, trips and events both inside and outside of school. 

How the formal taught curriculum is designed in KS1 and KS2:
We have designed the curriculum around year group themes which are driven by high quality texts. Encompassing texts into our themes captures children’s imagination, supports a deeper acquisition of language, vocabulary and knowledge and generates stronger links between subjects as well as promoting a love of reading. 
 

To ensure that children experience real breadth and depth in their learning, each theme has been devised with a clear thread in mind that takes children on an engaging journey through their curriculum. These help them to make links, apply skills and knowledge and build upon prior learning in a variety of ways. 
 

Curriculum leaders carefully sequence the expectations from the National Curriculum across Year groups to ensure coverage and provide clear opportunities to build on prior learning of knowledge and vocabulary. They have developed progression of skills documents and progression of vocabulary documents to support teaching, learning and assessment. Allowing children to revisit and build on skills as they move through the school ensures we provide a progressive curriculum so that children know more and remember more as they progress through their learning careers at St Gregory’s.

Themes begin with a launch and include opportunities to explore, deepen, reflect and celebrate, through experiences, trips and events both inside and outside of school. Learning is contextualised through a termly History, Geography or Science theme that makes purposeful links. Some subjects and objectives are taught discreetly. 

Parents as Partners
We value the role of parents as children’s primary educators and endeavour to build strong and positive partnerships with parents / carers to promote and strengthen each child’s experiences, learning and development at home and at school.
 

We do this by sharing information about their child about what is happening in the setting, setting next steps together and providing support, ideas and guidance about how they can support their child’s development at home. Similarly, we encourage parents to share their unique knowledge of their child, providing further insight into the child as an individual (e.g. characteristics, interests, experiences, likes, dislikes). This supports practitioners in establishing interesting and stimulating learning experiences, responding to children’s needs and interests. Parents are always welcomed into school and encouraged to discuss any concerns they might have. We communicate through a variety of means throughout the year, for example; home visits, Parent teacher reviews, informal chats at the beginning and end of the day, questionnaires, child’s online learning journal (Tapestry), Twitter, workshops, webinars and class dojo.  We strongly believe that relationships and sharing of information set foundations for our partnership with parents through a child’s time at our school.
 

Other opportunities for practitioners to share children’s learning, development and well-being with parents include: End of Year Reports, Assemblies, Liturgies, Story Making Assemblies, Stay and Play Sessions, Parent Workshops and Prepare to be Proud, where children’s achievements are recognised.

Parents are also invited to get involved with school life. There are opportunities for them to help with
activities such as educational visits and reading, as well as offering their particular skills (e.g. cooking, art,
music) and professional experiences (presenting at our careers and aspirations fair) to support children’s learning and provide them with further inspiration. 

Impact

Statement of Intended Impact and Monitoring of this:

As a school, we continuously reflect on the impact that our curriculum has on our whole school community, in helping our children to know more and remember more as well as preparing them to be the best they can be as global citizens. 

We aim to ensure there are no barriers to children accessing learning and, therefore, assessment is fundamental in our setting and the impact of our curriculum.  It is regular, targeted and takes into account each child’s needs.  A record of each child’s progress in all areas of their learning is stored on Insight.

To reflect on the impact the curriculum is having on each child, we use both qualitative and quantitative means including:
 

• Continuous monitoring and assessment of each child’s development using Development Matters and the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile as a guide in EYFS and the National Curriculum in KS1 and KS2. Teachers evaluate children’s knowledge, understanding and learning characteristics through a range of informal and formal means. This informs the further implementation of the curriculum. These judgements are moderated regularly across the year group. These are shared with our senior leaders, subject leaders, future year groups and parents.
• In EYFS, the primary assessment method is through practitioners’ observations of children in different teaching and learning contexts, including both adult focused activities and child initiated play. 
• Data in its widest sense forms the strategic direction of each subject area. It helps us to identify areas of strength and areas for development within our curriculum and wider curriculum so that CPD can be put in place, support can be structured and gaps can be identified.  This also allows for us to identify whether there are particular groups of pupils who have similar strengths or areas for development so that whole school practice can be altered in response to emerging trends and ensure that our curriculum offer continually meets the needs of our pupils.
• Pupil observations and pupil voice sessions seek to understand the progress children are making towards becoming more self- regulated learners who can talk about their strengths and weaknesses, and can motivate themselves to engage, and improve, their learning by using tools such as the learning pit, self and peer assessments, metacognition strategies. All of these help them to apply their learning both now and in their future lives to satisfy the ambitions that they have for themselves. 
• Pupil and parent conversations and observations both in and out of class monitors individual personal development towards children developing into righteous citizens who have high ambitions for themselves, are economically active and give to society in a variety of ways. They value the gifts and talents that everyone brings to the diverse local and global community in which they live.  They recognise ways that they can challenge social injustice and are empowered to do this both now and in the future.
• Please refer to the ARRT Policy for further information about measuring impact of learning through more formal assessments.