At SS Mary & John’s we aim to provide a quality of education for the pupils in our care, that is tailored to meet the needs of all of our children and the community we serve. As a Catholic academy, with Christ at the centre of all we do, we aim to develop a sense of peace, justice, respect and a will for our pupils to become life-long learners.

Intent

At SSMJ’s we want our pupils to experience a curriculum that is:

  • broad and balanced and ignites a love of learning.
  • exciting and inspiring and enables pupils to be resilient and confident when tackling and extending their own learning independently.
  • planned and sequenced so that knowledge and skills build upon previous learning and become embedded, ensuring that pupils are secure before learning is moved on.
  • enabling academic success, creativity and problem solving,
  • focused on physical development, well-being and mental health to support the development of the whole child and promotes a positive attitude to life and learning
  • goes beyond the classroom and celebrates diversity and cultural wealth of the community while supporting the children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development this is supported by the teaching of our Gospel Virtues and British Values
  • rooted in all children acquiring the deeper knowledge and skills needed to take advantage of the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences presented to them in later life

Implementation

The curriculum will be implemented with our intent, as stated above, being the driver behind our practice. Our whole school team approach strengthens our mission, ethos and vision as we work together to reflect upon our curriculum and share outcomes driving forward the next steps. Learning is measured through careful analysis of application of skills and knowledge across the curriculum.

Clear strategic planning allows the curriculum to be unique, adapting it to our school and our children’s needs, including those with additional needs.

Staff have sound subject knowledge and leaders provide effective support where needed.

Teaching is underpinned by sound pedagogy designed to help learners know more and remember more, always demonstrated by high expectations in all areas enables the best possible outcomes and learning journey for all pupils across all subject areas we demonstrate a breadth of vocabulary and develop strong cross-curricular links.

The curriculum is accessible for SEND pupils to ensure equality of opportunity, whilst taking account of pupil’s individual needs.

Impact

As we are all on a learning journey together staff continually reflect on the impact of our teaching and curriculum through assessments, surveys (including parent and pupil voice), discussions, learning walks and a range of monitoring. Governors work alongside the school leadership team to monitor, evaluate and challenge how the intent and implementation of the curriculum is reflected in the teaching and learning which enables our pupils to be happy, achieve their true potential and be prepared for the next stage of their learning journey.