Curriculum

Vision

Our school vision is embedded in all that we do - ‘With love and faith, we aspire and achieve.’ This is deeply rooted in scripture ‘Jesus said “I have come so you may have life, life in all its fullness.”’

Through our curriculum run the golden strands of our values as well as the school drivers of: a love of reading, books and literature: Keeping fit and healthy, looking after our well-being: working together with the St Matthew’s family to achieve great things: finding out about the wider world, and exploring other cultures and faiths: St Matthew’s is a brilliant place, let’s find out more about where we live: having an aspirational curriculum where children persevere and show resilience in all that they do.

Intent

Learning and the curriculum

We believe in a broad and balanced curriculum which recognises the uniqueness of every child and which serves to prepare them for their future within a Christian context. We are committed to sustaining high quality learning, and supporting all children to achieve their best. Our school aims to recruit and retain staff of the highest quality and to offer them the working conditions they need to give of their best as they serve the pupils in their care. We all work in partnership with families so that all our children are encouraged to aspire and achieve.

We are an innovative and outward facing school which seeks to continually drive forward to ensure that the opportunities our pupils experience in the classroom is the best that we can deliver. To this end, we are committed to using high quality CPD so we are reflective and forward thinking and continually have the opportunities to reflect and ensure that what is offered is best practice.

St Matthew’s C of E Primary has designed its own, bespoke knowledge-based curriculum. It is underpinned by the expectations of the National Curriculum, enhancing this with opportunities to make learning exciting and in a meaningful context for children both in and outside the classroom.

Implementation

Curriculum Design

At St Matthew’s, we utilise a creative, knowledge-based curriculum approach, which ensures that our children learn key knowledge over time and then use and apply their learning across a range of subjects, allowing them to deepen the knowledge and skills they have learnt. This encourages children to make connections across their learning. In mathematics we use a mastery approach to learning supported by Glow maths hub helps enhance pupil’s mathematical understanding. This approach is reflected in all core and foundations subjects ensuring that children learning is based on small steps so that children can remember more. A range of visitors, trips and use of our own amazing local environment supports our learning. We aim for all of the children in our school to experience a wealth of educational experiences in so that they become independent learners, fully ready for their next challenge, with a well-developed understanding of the need to fully engage with their community. Teachers plan component lessons, which then build towards composite, more complex tasks. Through these component and composite lessons run our golden threads and key drivers.

Church and community

We expect all of our children to recognise that they need to play their full part in their communities, both in and out of school. In our Church school this is supported by our strong values-based education underpinned by theology which encourages our children to understand why they need to behave and respond in a particular way. In this way our children are fully ready for the demands of life in modern Britain. Our school offers children many ways to further develop these skills through the leadership opportunities in a range of responsibilities appropriate for their age, such as the being a member of the School Council, Playground Leaders, Worship Team members and House Captains. This introduces them to the art of decision making as well as supporting their personal development, and supports our community ethos to become a reality in our school. We are also committed to supporting our school to be an inclusive environment, where tolerance and respect for others are embedded into daily life.

Impact

Achievement

We aim for standards across all subjects, across the school, to be at least in line with national data and ensure that rapid progress is made so that all our pupils are supported to aspire and achieve, being the best that they can be.

Our children are expected to learn key knowledge for each wider curriculum subject. This is recorded on each classes’ 100% sheet of sticky knowledge. This then helps teachers know what children have learnt and what gaps we need to teach. This supports children in being able to know more as well as making links to prior knowledge to support future learning.

SMSC

Through a distinctive ethos rooted in a strong scripture base, linking back to the Church of England and Diocesan Vision, (John 10:10) our school seeks to ensure that every child understands how they are called to live and develop as citizens in modern Britain. This fully allows our pupils to celebrate diversity and differences as well as developing and enhancing their ability to demonstrate tolerance and respect for others.

Next steps in learning

At St Matthew’s, we ensure that the curriculum seeks to enable pupils to reach their full potential ready to take their place for the next stage of their school career. We embed our vision of ‘With love and faith, we aspire and achieve’ we hope that this is in the hearts and minds of all our children as they progress in their education and future lives.