Our school vision is key to everything we do at St Chad’s, ‘In the light of God; we share, we care, we laugh, we learn’ and we want this to underpin school life and our curriculum. We aim to provide a learning environment where pupils have the tools they need to be the best they can be.
We provide a broad range of subjects which develop knowledge, skills, vocabulary and understanding. Further to this, our curriculum makes links across year groups and Key Stages. We also ensure that we include opportunities to develop cultural capital and develop personally through our curriculum. This ensures that we focus on the pupil as a whole.
At St. Chad’s Primary, a school with an increasing range of diverse backgrounds, we want our curriculum to create a culture of curiosity to inspire pupils to learn about the world they live in and gain a deep understanding the role they play in society today. We want our curriculum to be representative of the children that we teach and equip them with the skills and processes necessary to find out more about the recent and distant past which is relevant to them.
Our curriculum ensures that pupils make links within subject areas taught over the course of the year.Pupils will be assessed on facts they have learned throughout each unit of work and will be challenged to discuss what they have learned to demonstrate a deeper understanding. Pupils also regularly recap prior learning, so that they can make these links and effectively build upon them.
Our curriculum intent is to have an ambitious curriculum for all our pupils. Our curriculum is skills based and progressive, this in turn allows pupils to fully understand the requisite substantive knowledge by the end of the unit. We also aim to take learning beyond the classroom, allowing for outdoor learning and educational visits where possible.
Core skills of Mathematics, Reading and Writing are at the core of all subjects in our curriculum. Opportunities for cross curricular work is incorporated into our curriculum also. The curriculum is taught to meet the needs of all learners. This way, we can unlock passions and interests, and inspire all pupils.
Sequences of learning are clear and they highlight the progression of skills and contain substantive knowledge that pupils must know by the end of a unit of work.Through a focus on oracy at St Chad’s, staff also ensure that subject specific vocabulary is taught explicitly in our curriculum, so that pupils are able to effectively articulate themselves within the context of different field of study.
Through our teaching we make links to the local area areas of Leeds and Yorkshire, ensuring that pupils have a good understanding of the world around them.
Through our high expectations of all pupils, our curriculum enables them to become resilient independent learners; sharing the knowledge they have acquired, caring about their work and taking pride in it, laughing and enjoying the challenges of the curriculum and learning how to be a valuable citizen in the world today.
We measure impact in the following ways:
Communication is critical and we need our pupils to be articulate. To tie in with our Trust-wide oracy project with ‘Voice 21’, we put communication at the very heart of our curriculum. We want pupils to develop a greater depth of understanding of words and fully develop their vocabulary. Our children have high aspirations, and with effective communication they will be able to reach their full potential and achieve their goals and ambitions. In other words, they need to be able to communicate well to be successful in life.
In addition, our pupils learn the importance of active listening. We want to encourage pupils to engage with global issues through productive debating, learning to value the opinions of others.
As a school, we have identified the need to consider other cultures and their practices more in everyday life. We need to represent our wider society as a whole to our children through our curriculum. The changing world that we are living in needs to be reflected through learning about other cultures, faiths and heritages. We want all children to feel they are well-represented so they can see themselves in their curriculum. We already have a cultural diversity working group in school and we want to see diversity embedded and not just taught as a bolt-on.
By celebrating and developing an understanding of a range of different heritages, we want our pupils to value difference, understand the roots and importance of cultural heritage and behave in a respectful and tolerant way towards others, regardless of faith, ethnicity or background.
The issue of conflict is linked to our Christian values and we believe learning to disagree well is key to getting along with others. We want our children to develop responsible, respectful behaviour and be able to share their opinions, listen well to others and adjust their own views as appropriate. A well-developed understanding of sources of conflict and its consequences, on a personal level and also more widely, is essential for our pupils. Conflict resolution is so valuable to pupils’ wellbeing. Dealing positively with confrontation on a personal level will stand pupils in good stead for adult life and help them to live peaceably alongside others.
There has never been a more pivotal time to put conservation at the heart of curriculum. We want to really embed learning about conservation and sustainability across the curriculum. We need to actively encourage our pupils to question and challenge what is necessary and to give them opportunities to find answers and solutions. We believe that a curriculum that employs a structured approach to developing environmental awareness and appreciation, not just at local, but also national and global levels, will actively engage our pupils and tap into their love of nature and the outdoors. We want our pupils to be good stewards by developing their knowledge about conservation issues and nurturing a caring attitude towards the world in which they live.
St. Chad’s C of E Primary School takes its responsibility to provide relevant, effective and responsible RSE to all of its pupils very seriously, as part of the school’s personal, social, health, citizenship and economic education (PSHCE) curriculum. The school wants parents, carers and pupils to feel assured that RSE will be delivered at a level appropriate to both the age and development of pupils, and safe to voice opinions and concerns relating to the RSE provision.
Our RSE lessons sit within the context of a comprehensive PSHCE curriculum that meet the statutory National Curriculum objectives for Health and Relationships and the National Curriculum for Science. The concept of Sex Education is any lesson that falls outside these parameters and at St. Chad’s Primary, this element constitutes a lesson taught in Year 6 about getting pregnant and contraception. When a girl starts her period it's a sign that her body is now able to have a baby, so we feel it is also important that girls know about getting pregnant and contraception; however, parents and carers reserve the right to withdraw their child from this sex education lesson.
Throughout our teaching, we undertake to follow the principles in the Church of England Charter for faith sensitive and inclusive relationships education, relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education (RSHE), which is based on the understanding that all people are made in the image of God and loved equally by God, and should therefore be treated with dignity and respect:
So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them. (Genesis I:27,NRSV)
I have come in order that you might have life—life in all its fullness. (John 10:10, GNB)
Please visit the PSHCE subject page for more information.
During the time the children are at St.Chad’s Primary, we offer the opportunity for them to go on many educational day trips connected with topic work, as well as walks, visits and studies within the local area. We believe in first-hand experience and believe that these visits play an important role in the children‘s learning.
Parents will always be informed of these visits and where there is a cost incurred, will be asked to make a voluntary contribution.
We recognise that children may have a range of special educational needs during their time at St. Chad’s Primary which may need short-or long-term provision. The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Co-ordinator has responsibility for the day-to-day operation of our school special needs policy, supported by all members of staff. Our SENDCo and Inclusion Leader is Miss Jackie Matthews.
We recognise the need for early identification and intervention. Class teachers are responsible for the beginning of this process and parents will be consulted about concerns. Other agencies may become involved at a later stage to determine the type of education and support each child requires to meet his/her specific needs. Parents will be kept informed throughout the whole process.
We keep a register of all pupils with special educational needs and their progress is monitored regularly. Similarly, we recognise that any child, regardless of ability, may have additional needs and all children should be challenged and stimulated within lessons.
If you wish to find out more information, please see our SEND Policy and SEND Information Report available here: www.st-chadsprimary.co.uk/parents/send or you can contact our Headteacher, Gina Marsland via office@stchadsprimary.net or Jackie Matthews (Deputy Head of School and Inclusion Leader) via sc-senco@stchadsprimary.net
