With love and faith, we aspire and achieve
Our School’s vision rooted in John 10:10 that “I have come that they might have life, life in all its fullness “overarches everything we do, enabling, nurturing and celebrating all of our children’s achievements.
Learning and 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 work in partnership with our families so that all our children are encouraged to be the best that they can be.
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 high quality training so that all staff have the opportunity to reflect and ensure that what is offered is best practice.
Our St Matthew’s curriculum is underpinned by the National Curriculum, enhancing this with opportunities to make learning exciting and in a meaningful context for children both in and outside the classroom. Leaders and teachers create medium term plans each term bringing the National Curriculum to life in the classroom. We also develop our children’s ability to think, reason and ask the big questions in life through our RE and PSHCE curriculum.
Curriculum design
Our curriculum is designed to ensure that our children use and apply their learning across a range of subjects (component tasks) towards more complex learning (composite activities), allowing them to deepen and embed their subject knowledge. This encourages them to make connections in their learning. Teachers plan in small steps on medium term plans which covers all subjects of the National Curriculum. Leaders have identified the key sticky knowledge they want all children to know and learn. A mastery approach to learning in mathematics supported by Glow maths hub helps enhance pupil’s mathematical understanding. A range of visitors, trips and use of our own amazing local environment supports this learning. We aim for all of the children 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.
Church and Community
We expect all of our children to ask big questions, and to recognise that they need to play their full part in their community, both in and out of 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. We offer many ways to further develop these skills through the leadership opportunities, such as House Captains, Librarians, Worship Team members and representing the school at the DGAT Parliament. This introduces them to the art of decision making as well as supporting their personal development, and helps our community ethos become a reality. We are committed to an inclusive environment where tolerance and respect for others are embedded into daily life.
Achievement
We aim for standards across to be at least in line with national data. When this falls short, we ensure that appropriate steps are put into place to address this and ensure that rapid progress is made so that our pupils are supported to be the best that they can be.
Many aspects on the IDSR show that outcomes for the school were broadly in line with National Standards.
SMSC
Through a distinctive ethos rooted in a strong scripture base, linking back to the National Church and Diocesan Vision, (John 10:10) Our school seeks to ensure that every child in our care understands how they are called to live and develop as citizens in modern Britain. Much of this work is supported by RE, PSHCE and soon to be delivered P4C which 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
Our curriculum ensures 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.