Curriculum review
At St Thomas’ we reviewed our curriculum over two academic years. We took this time and the opportunity to establish if the curriculum continued to meet the needs of our school community.
We sought feedback from parents and pupils through questionnaires. The overwhelming response was to create a more relevant and exciting curriculum, which reflected the world in which we live. We wanted our curriculum to have RE at the centre and so all our planning reflected key values that permeated all areas of learning.
Our pupils will learn about and understand how they can make a difference to the world through their actions. Our strapline is ACT, which stands for Aspirational, Christ centred, Togetherness which we feel reflects our school family.
Our terms reflect liturgical seasons which you will see from the curriculum newsletters. During the year, there are “driver” subjects where learning is “in depth”. So the terms up until Christmas will be geography and D.T. driven (Explore). We will still be doing daily numeracy and literacy, along with other subjects, which you will see from the long and medium term plans.
In terms 3 & 4, music and art will be the “driver” subjects (Create) and in terms 5 and 6, history and computing will be the “driver” subjects (Discover). We feel that this approach to learning will help us to give the children a broad and balanced curriculum and provide them with enriched learning experiences. During each theme; Explore, Create and Discover, there will also be an authentic outcome built in. This will be shared with parents at the end of terms two, four and six.
We have linked learning across subjects wherever possible and built on skills and knowledge from previous years.
Our intention is that pupils will be more active and enthusiastic learners; they will be able to see how their learning builds year on year and they have the drive, interest and skills to follow their own lines of enquiry too so that in time pupils take more ownership of their learning.
Miss L D’Agostini
Headteacher
Catholic Tradition, Gospel and British Values.
At St. Thomas' Catholic Primary School we recognise the important role schools play in ensuring that pupils develop into ethical and responsible members of society. We expect our children to 'ACT' the St. Thomas' way, to be 'aspirational', 'Christ centred' and to work and play cooperatively, 'togetherness'. Gospel and British values form the basis of good citizenship so these values are taught explicitly through PSHE and RE as well as through our daily assemblies and whole school systems and structures, such as electing and running our School Council and House system. We also teach British values through planning and delivering a broad and balanced curriculum. Beyond the curriculum, through the ethos of the school, we expect pupils to uphold these values and give them responsibilities to further their understanding and put these values into practice.
Please see the information sheet below for all of the values and themes covered in our curriculum.
Taking account of pupils’ capacity to understand these concepts and ideas we aim to:
Democracy