“I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full”
John 10:10
Curriculum Intent
At St Bernadette’s our curriculum is designed to ensure that our children develop into confident, resilient and determined learners prepared for the next stages of their learning. When our pupils leave us we want them to do so with a love of God, a strong moral compass and the cultural capital they need to succeed. We want all of our pupils to believe in themselves and have the courage to ask questions and know that they can make a difference.
At St Bernadette’s we have high standards of learning and behaviour: we value each and every member of our school family and as a result of that belief our pupils are empowered to challenge themselves, empowered to learn and aspirational for their futures. Embedded within our curriculum is the belief that each person is a unique creation of a loving God and has been bestowed with particular gifts to be developed and used for the service of others and as such we want service of others to be a central part of life in our school.
At St Bernadette’s we ensure a broad, balanced and creative curriculum with a wide range of enrichment activities. We want our children to discover and develop their talents and interests in order to be the person God intended them to be. Through bespoke curriculum planning we ensure that questioning, problem solving and risk management skills are learnt and developed throughout the curriculum and that in so doing, our pupils better understand and appreciate themselves and the world in which they live .
Learners at St Bernadette’s acquire knowledge through a broad range of different subjects and driven by our Gospel values. We want to fully prepare them as future global citizens and stewards of Creation. At St Bernadette’s we are a reading school, our children develop a love of reading and read to learn. The learning of skills and the acquiring of knowledge is carefully planned and sequenced so that our pupils can build on secure prior learning in order to know more and remember more.
Implementation
Our catholic curriculum is rooted in Gospel values which are made explicit to the children in every aspect of their learning. Our curriculum planning ensures that learning links with many other areas of the curriculum are exploited to support the development of the whole child as stated in our mission for the school.
Teaching and learning at St Bernadette’s promotes many gospel values over and above the acquisition of knowledge. It allows the children to develop values of faith, love, justice, joy, stewardship, humility, respect, service, courage and kindness which contribute to the understanding of our Christian and cultural heritage.
Our Catholic curriculum is delivered according to the agreed programmes of the National Curriculum, ensuring that our children experience a wide range of knowledge and skills throughout each Key Stage.
In order to provide the best possible curriculum offer, professional development opportunities (individual and whole school) are provided for staff to further develop subject knowledge and expertise.
At St Bernadette’s we have developed our own sequences of learning in both core and the wider curriculum subjects. Our subject leaders in partnership with senior leaders and class teachers, draw on expert knowledge of subject specialists and specialist associations to design learning sequences which are tailored to the needs of our children, our Catholic ethos and our locality. Our curriculum is delivery is bespoke and unique to St Bernadette’s.
We have developed our own long term curriculum planning for each subject which identifies our expectations for the acquisition of knowledge and skills for each year group. This planning format shows progression and sequencing in each area of learning.
Our medium term planning identifies prior learning in the given subject so that knowledge and vocabulary is remembered and built upon. It also clearly identifies the new skills, knowledge and vocabulary which is to be taught and learnt. Links with other curriculum areas and made explicit.
In order to be fully aspirational for all learners our teachers are encouraged to ensure that the teaching of each unit of learning is differentiated according to the ability, needs and age of the children. To ensure that expectations and outcomes are in keeping with our high aspirations for every child. As such, challenge opportunities for extension activities are built into the teaching of a unit of learning to provide stretch and challenge and greater understanding for all learners. Enrichment opportunities for a wider understanding of the curriculum are incorporated into the planning of a unit of learning. This may include extension opportunities, such as research, and other activities such as visits to local places of interest.
Impact
Our Catholic curriculum is reviewed regularly and all stakeholders are encouraged to actively contribute to the evaluation and improvement cycle. Pupil engagement and attainment is monitored, not just in the core subjects, but the acquisition of the skills and knowledge of the foundation subjects. Opportunities to develop, improve and enhance teaching and learning at St Bernadette’s are embraced and welcomed.
Further Information
If you need any further information or have any questions about our curriculum, please do not hesitate to contact bursar@st-bernadettes.lancs.sch.uk
Curriculum information should be read alongside the information on class pages and our SEN, Remote Learning and Safeguarding policies and pages.