St Michael's
C.E. Primary School

Believe, Achieve, Succeed


Curriculum Intent

At St Michael’s, we have a curriculum that places God at the heart of everything we do. As

a church school, our scripture: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9) are words which inspire leaders, staff and governors to offer the pupils of St Michael’s an experience that will empower them to succeed. The curriculum is based upon the National Curriculum (2014) and is tailored to suit the needs of our children and our community.

Our 4Rs (Ready, Responsible, Respect and Resilience) are key behaviours for learning which all staff and pupils strive to demonstrate daily.

We provide outstanding opportunities for all our pupils through our quality-first teaching and a bespoke curriculum that is further enriched by extra-curricular activities, trips, visitors, and the wider experiences we offer.

Our curriculum, ever evolving, has been created to prepare our children to grow academically, emotionally, socially and spiritually and, through our vision to ‘Aspire, nurture, enjoy and flourish in the love of God’. This aligns with the vision of the Birmingham Diocesan Multi-Academy Trust (BDMAT) “life in all its fullness” (John 10:10). Our school values are Hope, Compassion, Trust, Forgiveness, Courage, Thankfulness and Praise.

Equality and Diversity are woven throughout the curriculum to include and celebrate our whole school community. At St Michael’s we have an inclusive, varied and language rich curriculum that endeavours to encourage our children to embrace the diversity of modern Britain and the wider world.

 

If you have any further questions regarding St Michael's Curriculum, please speak to a member of our Senior Leadership Team.

EYFS

Our journey starts with our very youngest pupils in Nursery. Here we provide our children with a learning environment and an Early Years curriculum that is imaginative, stimulating and thought provoking. Through this we aim to develop creative, curious and independent lifelong learners, where all children are given opportunities to increase in confidence and independence through play and interaction with others. Developing communication and language skills that will allow them to become good communicators and to gain social skills that will provide them with a firm foundation for future learning is vital. The EYFS curriculum for both Reception and Nursery is planned for both indoor and outdoor ‘classrooms’, with equal importance given to learning in both areas. The curriculum is planned in a cross-curricular way, to enable all aspects of the children’s development.

Reception pupils follow a broad and balanced curriculum that provides a wide range of exciting and stimulating opportunities for them. This is underpinned by structured phonics, writing and mathematics lessons to ensure firm foundations in these areas are deeply rooted so that the transition into KS1 is successful. Breadth and depth are in crucial but we also take into consideration the children’s interests, aiming to make their learning fun and personal at all times.

Key Stage 1

The broad and balanced curriculum continues in Key Stage 1, with Foundation subjects being as important as the Core subjects. The teaching of Phonics remains a high priority, along with reading and writing. Mathematical knowledge is practised and mastered through the Mathematics Mastery programme. Sequential and progressive plans enable a subject-driven approach for the Foundation subjects where all subjects are valued equally.

Key Stage 2

The same philosophy continues into KS2. Our knowledge and skills-based curriculum is developed further with pupils thinking creatively and critically, and building upon the knowledge and skills learnt in KS1.

The intent of our curriculum is to allow our pupils to enjoy what they do each day at school, in order that they can flourish at anything they try their hand at and that with courage and by being strong, they can aspire to be whatever they wish to be.

Implementation

Our Curriculum Intent underpins of all we do at St Michael’s CE Primary School.

Long term plans include yearly overviews; these are created with year group teachers and Subject Champions in order to ensure consistent progression across the school. Collaboration and professional dialogue between Subject Champions ensures we deliver a curriculum that builds on prior learning, deepens knowledge and enhances skills that foster learning and achievement. The intent, implementation and impact is frequently reviewed, evaluated and enhanced. Half termly curriculum maps for each year group ensure clarity of coverage and a strong emphasis on progression of knowledge and skills; this informs the medium-term planning. We will maintain our strong teaching of the Core subjects, whilst making links to the learning when teaching the Foundation subjects In designing our own curriculum, we strive to ensure that all children are active, engaged, enthused and challenged in their learning and the implementation of the curriculum.

Impact

The desired impact of our curriculum at St Michael’s is that the needs of all our pupils are met. By ensuring that our learners are engaged in the learning, by making the curriculum suit their needs, through differentiating where appropriate, we aim to create a learning environment that grows learners’ confidence and where children become leaders in their own learning. Achievement and attainment are important, but it is the progress each young individual makes in their journey at St Michael’s that is of greatest importance. If we can provide opportunities for our pupils to enjoy and flourish, aspire to be the best they can and have the courage and strength to aim for all they want to achieve, then we have achieved what we have set out to do as staff and governors at St Michael’s.