Our Curriculum Intent and Impact

 

At Our Lady and St. Gerard’s we provide a curriculum which is bespoke and meets the needs of our children. Our curriculum educates the children in knowledge, skills and understanding to be effective, inquisitive, curious learners and influence their wider thinking.  As a Catholic school, our Faith in God and His only son Jesus, guides our ethos and daily life.  Jesus Christ is “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6) and by proclaiming this, we promote the fullness of Christian life. The School aims to provide an education which enables each pupil, in accordance with his or her ability, to become a responsible citizen. The personal, spiritual and moral development of our children is guided by our love of Jesus Christ.  In the modern world, we want our children to be agents of change - protecting God's earth, showing kindness to those less fortunate, showing compassion and solidarity during times of conflict.  Our expectations and standards for all children is high as the children, entrusted to us, are our hope for the future.  We guide our children to explore the seven principles of Catholic Social Teaching across the school year.  We consider how we can put our faith into action.  Our faith calls us to love God and our neighbours, showing support locally, nationally and globally.

 

Our Curriculum is designed to: recognise children’s prior learning, provide first hand learning experiences, allow the children to develop interpersonal skills, build resilience and become creative, critical thinkers.

   

We strive to ensure our children are fully engaged and engrossed in their learning, with a variety of planned and well-organised learning opportunities. Subject Leaders work hard to ensure:

 

• our curriculum is progressive

• key knowledge and skills are identified within each unit 

• monitoring and evaluation within subject areas is meaningful and leads to improved outcomes

• additional opportunities are planned which extend and enrich the curriculum.

• assessment is ongoing and informs future teaching

• parents are kept informed about their child's learning

 

The impact of our curriculum is measured through pupil voice, monitoring of standards and knowledge retention and by pupil work.

 

Members of our Governing Body are linked to curriculum areas to provide challenge and support.

Our curriculum approach complies with the duties in the Equality Act 2010 and the SEND Code of Practice as we strive to make our curriculum accessible for children with additional needs (See SEND section for further information).

 

Catholic Social Teaching

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We guide our children to explore the seven principles of Catholic Social Teaching across the school year.  We consider how we can put our faith into action.  Our faith calls us to love God and our neighbours, showing support locally, nationally and globally.

The seven principles of Catholic Social Teaching are integrated across our curriculum.

• Family & Community - 'Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.' (Exodus 20:12)
• Stewardship of God's Creation - 'We must care for nature so that nature can care for us.' (Pope Francis)
• Dignity of the human person - 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.' (Jeremiah 1:5)
• Solidarity & the common good - 'In truth I tell you, as you did this to one of these brothers of mine, you did this to me.' (Matthew 25:40)
• Option for the poor & vulnerable - 'You are not making a gift of your possessions to the poor person, you are handing over to them what is theirs.' (St Ambrose)
• Dignity of work and the right of workers - ‘The Lord wants to turn your hands, my hands, our hands, into signs of reconciliation, of communion, of creation’ – Pope Francis.
• Rights and responsibilities - '...there is no authority except from God and those that have been instituted by God'. (Romans 13:1)

Curriculum updates

 

As you are aware, the development of the knowledge aspects of our curriculum has been a focus for us as a school. Below is an overview of each area and the developments to date. 

Home Learning Curriculum

Blended Learning 

The term 'Blended Learning' is a term used to describe an approach to education which combines traditional classroom approaches with online educational materials and opportunities for online interaction.  This approach is not a new one and we have been using online materials and platforms to support the learning in school for a long time.  However, with the recent COVID pandemic and the restrictions that have been in place, we aim to ensure that our blended learning is the best it can be.  This means that children can go online to practise skills and consolidate their classroom learning.

 

Home Learning

As families/pupils and 'bubbles' are asked to self-isolate, we strive to provide home learning which mirrors the work being done in school as closely as possible.  This means that teachers still follow their curriculum plans and their daily timetable to ensure that there is still coverage of the curriculum.  This means that when children are back in school they will be at the same point in the units of work as others.  Please visit our Home Learning page for further information.

 

We use Purple Mash to set blended learning and home learning tasks.  Purple Mash is an award-winning cross-curricular website for nursery and primary school children. It enables children to explore and enhance their knowledge in a fun and creative way.  This platform allows us to set tasks to individuals or whole classes.  Children have individual logins which allows them to complete 2Dos set by the teachers. Teachers can provide feedback and rewards for tasks completed.

 

          Sumdog is an online maths and spelling practice tool that can be used to                        support home learning and for blended learning.

          Sumdog is used to:

          1. Consolidate and revise key skills already taught in school

          2. Reduce isolation (if learning at home) as children can play alongside their                        classmates in a secure environment

         3. Help children stay engaged and motivated with games-based learning that                       rewards accuracy.

 

Children have personal logins and tasks can be tailored to particular needs.  Teachers can set group or individual challenges for targeted intervention at home or at school.