Curriculum

Our Curriculum at St John's C of E Primary School.

Intent of our curriculum

At St John's School, we see the curriculum in the broadest possible terms, which extends beyond National Curriculum lessons to encompass all that is experienced, both in and out of the classroom. This means that concepts such as our ethos, which is crucial to our values of a Church of England school, are acknowledged as an important part of 'our curriculum'. Our vision challenges us all and holds us all accountable in every aspect of school life.

" I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."  John 10:10

Our intent is that all St John's children will be committed, lifelong learners with the confidence and ability to develop their skills, knowledge and  understanding whilst enjoying new experiences, meeting new challenges and finding resilience and confidence with unfamiliar learning or social situations.

We offer a challenging but nurturing learning environment, in which each child is encouraged to explore and develop their learning resilience; where their achievements and successes are celebrated, and their mistakes, failure or 'miss-steps' are put into perspective and used to build understanding and resilience. As a school, we aim to encourage mutual respect, responsibility and foster self-esteem in a happy and caring atmosphere.

We are firmly committed to ensure the quality of opportunity and committed to enabling all children to thrive and engage in and beyond the classroom and to have a wide range of experiences on which to build for the future. These include our extensive programme of leadership opportunities as Young Leaders, House and Vice House Captains, School and Eco Councillors, Buddies to our Reception Class, opportunities for drama, singing and leadership in Pupil Worship Groups - everyone is encouraged to get involved, especially as they move up the school. We offer a large number of extra-curricular opportunities for all children, and as a small school, we are proud of the variety and range of clubs and experiences we offer the children: Technology Club, Sewing Club, Film Club, Football Clubs for boys and girls, Multisports Club, Badminton Club, Dance Club, Book Group, Choir, Science Club, RockSteady Bands, Lego Club and more!

We are strongly committed, as a Church of England school, to ensure that all members of our school understand the role and purpose of Christian values in their lives. This pivotal aspect of our school aims to help us all appreciate how these Christian values impact on how we strive to be the best we can be in our daily lives. We have taken the word LIFE from our vision bible quote to help us make our vision a daily reality in all we do across our curriculum and beyond. 

L - Living God's love every day

I  - Inspiration for all to be the best we can be

F - Forgiveness of others and of ourselves so we can all flourish

E - Equality of opportunity; welcoming all

Implementation of our curriculum

The delivery of the planned curriculum is led and monitored by our subject leaders and the Senior Leadership Team (SLT). High quality, inclusive teaching (Quality First Teaching) for all pupils in all subjects is the expectation at St John's, delivered in a memorable and engaging way, to help pupils discover new knowledge and skills, and to practise, embed and apply these skills to different contexts. We follow the National Curriculum foci and adapt content to suit the interests and needs of our pupils.

The documents below set out our plan for the way the curriculum is taught at St John's. We have organised this overview by each subject here, but have also provided an overview of all subjects for each class, which can be found in the individual class areas of the website.

Impact of  our curriculum

The impact of our curriculum is that the vast majority of pupils leave with skills and knowledge at least in line with National Curriculum expectations, not only in core subjects but across the range of the curriculum. These skill will include being able to play a musical instrument ( all pupils learn the violin or cello in Yr 3 & 4); have a good knowledge of French (learnt from Reception through to Year 6); have had good leadership opportunities; have learnt to ride a bike safely on the road; been involved in many drama productions; have experienced many Shakespeare productions and have taken part in regular competitive  sporting events. All pupils will have had the opportunity to experience a large variety of extra-curricular opportunities including two contrasting residential school journeys.

The impact can be seen in the knowledge the children have gained, the skills they have acquired and how this is applied in different contexts. This can be assessed formally through assessment tests or tasks, more informally but equally usefully by looking at their work, by talking to pupils about their learning and combining these assessments, results and outcomes to see the impact of the curriculum. The impact of our curriculum is also seen in the extent to which our pupils have gained social confidence, belief in themselves as learners and as contributors to their community and the wider world, and the extent to which they are well-prepared and excited to meet the challenges of secondary education.