Curriculum Statement

CURRICULUM STATEMENT 

INTENT: At St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Primary School, we offer a rich, deep, broad and balanced curriculum, underpinned by our Catholic, school and British Values. Central to our curriculum is the development and acquisition of the pupils’ core skills in reading, writing and mathematics, supported by a strong emphasis on language, communication, and phonics in the Early Years. We aim to deliver an innovative English curriculum, which enables and empowers pupils’ written and oral communication and creativity and develops their confidence and love of reading. We also want to ensure that pupils become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics and can confidently apply key skills and reason mathematically.

Our curriculum offer supports the development of pupils creativity and cultural capital through Art and Design, Design and Technology, Music, PE and French. Our history curriculum traces British history and the great civilisations of the world, but also recognises the importance that pupils understand and value their own identity and heritage, including their cultural roots, as citizens of London, the UK and as members of a global society. Our Geography curriculum engages pupils in the study of the wider world, people, places, and the environment, so that they not only have a knowledge of the world but also an age-appropriate understanding of British and World News. Lastly, through our bespoke science curriculum, we aim to develop pupils’ scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding, and a thirst for investigation, experimentation, exploration, and discovery. Alongside this, it is important that they understand and apply the fundamental principles of computing, including abstraction, logic, algorithms, and data representation as well as digital technology. Our curriculum as a whole is planned and sequenced to fully challenge and engage all our pupils.

Our pupils’ personal development and leadership are woven into the tasks and opportunities provided within the curriculum, and enriched by extra-curricular clubs, activities, educational visits and visitors, such as visiting artists and theatre workshops. Equally well promoted and linked is the pupils Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural education. 

IMPLEMENTATION: We are fully aware that the successful delivery of our curriculum intent is dependent on quality first teaching, matched to a coherently planned curriculum model. We teach all subjects discretely, but learning is linked and consolidated by a well-layered spiral learning approach which reinforces pupils’ understanding but places no restrictions on their capacity to excel and their levels of achievement. Throughout the school, pupils are taught to read easily and with understanding – developing the ability and desire to read widely and deeply for pleasure and information. They acquire and can apply the key skills of spelling, grammar and punctuation. They write clearly, accurately, coherently and neatly. 

We ensure that those pupils who need additional support to access the curriculum such as SEND, or are disadvantaged or vulnerable, are exceptionally well supported with provision and time, and their progress rigorously monitored. Work is accurately matched and pitched with appropriate support for our vulnerable groups so that they achieve increasing confidence and independence, just as sufficient stretch and challenge is directed towards our higher ability pupils.

The structure of our school timetable provides clarity for all staff and pupils. It evidences the planned taught time for all subjects, but it is sufficiently flexible to allow English and Mathematics to be taught at any time in the school day. Our disadvantaged and SEND pupils make good progress from their starting points, and this is a continuing focus for us, and particularly our subject leaders. Our curriculum is bespoke but it is based on the ambition of the National Curriculum. The curriculum has been developed primarily and fully around the needs of our pupils.

Other subjects, for example the History and Geography curriculum, Art and DT, are all taught as individual subjects, as indeed are English and Mathematics, and include topical titles as ‘Plague, Pox and Antibiotics’ and local contexts such as ‘Wembley – A World Stage’ in history. Our subject leaders monitor standards in the subject tightly and provide a wealth of support and guidance, as well as training for staff, particularly those new to school. Subject Leads report back regularly to Senior Leaders who moderate outcomes against previous years high standards to ensure that there is no slippage in expectations or achievement.

IMPACT: Our school attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics, including grammar, punctuation, and spelling, at the end of Key Stage 2 is outstanding and exceptional over time. This is very evident in our profile of published results in these subjects up to 2023. Our recent and current formative and summative assessments confirm that these standards have been maintained.

Wider curriculum outcomes measure up extremely well to English and Mathematics and all indications are that future evaluations will fully reflect this continuing trend of excellence. Our pupils match these high expectations through the pride in their work and their school. They display an excellent work ethic and fully share our school vision and live out our Gospel values. We believe that the impact of our curriculum and the quality of education provided by the leadership and staff of St Joseph’s ensures that our pupils leave the school as exceptionally well-rounded young people, confident, courteous, and academically skilled to successfully face the world before them. This ensures that they are fully prepared for any challenges to their learning, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and have met and overcome such obstacles with resilience, confidence, and self-belief.

Our expectations for our pupils is limitless. Our core purpose is to ensure all pupils achieve the highest standards in all aspects of the curriculum, leaving this school as confident citizens with high levels of attainment.

If you have any questions about the curriculum at St Joseph’s, please contact the school office to arrange a meeting with Mrs Titus.