Curriculum | St Mark's Ecumenical Anglican/Methodist Primary School

Our Curriculum

Intent

At St Mark’s Primary School we believe that all our children have the right to a broad, balanced and diverse curriculum that is exciting and relevant and that will equip them with the key skills and knowledge needed in order to achieve their full potential. All staff are continually developing the curriculum that we provide for our children to ensure we are preparing them for the next stage of their education and for later life. Our main aim is to provide exciting, stimulating and child-led projects which the children become fully absorbed in using a cross-curricular approach. We strive to encompass many curriculum subjects into each project, making them relevant and meaningful for our children.

It is our belief that children should be provided with opportunities to develop fully their own particular talents and abilities and acquire a wide range of skills in a caring, secure and well-ordered environment. We aim to foster the best possible development of each child emotionally, educationally, physically, socially and spiritually, bearing in mind his/her own abilities and aptitudes and underpinned by the school’s core Christian values.

Children have to learn the necessary skills and knowledge as outlined in detail in the National Curriculum documents, progressing appropriately through the stages and levels with careful monitoring. Where there is a special need, we endeavour to meet this with appropriate resources as available. As children grow, they need to learn about the changes around them and within themselves and how to understand these developments, so that growth and change will be clearly seen to be natural.

Pupil input

“I like doing more projects because you don’t spend loads of time of on one and you get to learn about more things.” Daisy, 9

“We get to ask questions about a project before we start and then find the answers as we learn about it.” Charlie, 10

“We use our English and maths skills during project lessons and always do our best.” Faye, 10

“It’s great doing new projects that no one has done before because then we can talk about it with everyone at home and it’s exciting.” Alex, 7

Implementation

Foundation Stage
Children in the Foundation Stage follow the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum. They are supported in the four specific areas:Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the world and Expressive arts & design.
Through the above areas, three prime aspects are strengthened and applied:Communication & Language, Physical Development & Personal, Social and emotional development.

Key Stage 1 and 2
All year groups follow the statutory guidance provided in the National curriculum which was introduced in 2014. Objectives for each year group are provided below. Our RE curriculum is taught in accordance with the agreed syllabus Awareness, Mystery and Value 2016 from North Somerset and the Diocese of Bath and Wells following the 'Understanding Christianity' guidance.

Staff Input

" It's good to do something different using a wider choice of activities which you can clearly see fit into the the curriculum."

"It's motivated me to be more interested in the project. Children absolutely love the excitement of finding out what the next one will be."

" Our current project lends itself nicely to incorporating English and Maths skills."

Within the project-based approach, children are encouraged to suggest lines of enquiry for the class to follow while including many different subjects through cross-curricular work. During the project, children take part in a WOW activity, which could include trips, visitors, visits, project days and immersive activities to broaden the curriculum and give purposeful links for the children.

Throughout the year, the children all come off timetable to take part in specialist theme weeks such as Arts Week, Science Week and Sport Week to fully broaden and enhance the curriculum the children are experiencing.

Additional to this, every term starts with a Mystery Monday, where each class receives a secret item that informs the day’s work. The children suggest and choose the activities they take part in making the work relevant and inspiring for the children. “Mystery Mondays are great because you learn about lots of different things and it’s our decision what we learn.” Charlie, 10 “The themes are really good because everyone is doing something different but around the same subject.” Daisy, 9 “Mystery Monday enables us to have a refreshing approach to the curriculum because you don’t know at the start of the day what will happen, as it's child lead."

Please click on the different buttons below to find out more about each of the subjects your children will be learning. Year group objective sheets containing all National Curriculum objectives for each subject are below, showing the coverage of teaching throughout the year. Project knowledge organisers are also available on the year group pages where you can find the children's questions and information about their new projects.

Governor input

“It is very clear on learning walks that St Mark’s offer a full and broad curriculum and it’s lovely to see the children so fully engaged and wanting to learn.”

“Within the classrooms it is clear what projects are being taught and that they cover many different areas of the curriculum.”

“As a parent governor it was wonderful to be invited into the classroom to visit the Tudor museum. It was amazing to see the effort that the children had put into their home learning to combine with their classwork for a brilliant display.”

Aims

The aims of our school curriculum are:

to enable all children to learn, and develop their skills, to the best of their ability;
to promote a positive attitude towards learning, so that children enjoy coming to school, and acquire a solid basis for lifelong learning;
to teach children the basic skills of English, maths and computing;
to enable children to be creative and to develop their own thinking;
to teach children about the developing world, including how their environment and society have changed over time;
to help children understand Britain's cultural heritage;
to appreciate and value the contribution made by all ethnic groups in our multi-cultural society;
to enable children to be positive citizens;
to fulfil all the requirements of the National Curriculum and the Locally Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education;
to teach children to have an awareness of their own spiritual development, and to distinguish right from wrong;
to help children understand the importance of truth and fairness, so that they grow up committed to equal opportunities for all;
to enable children to have respect for themselves and high self-esteem, and to live and work cooperatively with others.