“We believe that each child is a unique gift from God…”
This drives our teaching and learning along with our core drivers and values. We provide a curriculum that is broad and balanced, personalised, motivating and inspirational, engaging and fun. A curriculum that provides first hand, practical and creative opportunities, that allows for pupil independence and choice, helping pupils to learn the skills, knowledge and attitudes that are necessary for them to live as rich a life as possible. Throughout the school, staff provide a consistently responsive and effective learning environment, within which every learner’s ability to communicate is respected, responded to and developed. Everything we do starts with the pupil, a thorough knowledge of them and a determination to meet their learning needs in the most meaningful way. We provide a curriculum tailored to individual strengths and needs, which challenges pupils and encourages aspirations with the development of our vision at its core.
Our school's curriculum is all the planned activities that we organise in order to promote learning, and personal growth and development. It includes not only the formal requirements of the 2014 National Curriculum, but also other programmes of study that we feel are particularly relevant to our community. Additionally, we seek to achieve further enrichment through a wide range of optional extra-curricular activities and clubs.
Every pupil attending Christ Church is entitled to a broad and balanced curriculum. The curriculum is the driving force ensuring that all children enjoy their education and thrive in a highly organised, stimulating environment designed to meet the needs of every child.
Curriculum design- implementation and Communication
At Christ Church, our curriculum is designed to develop thinking skills and encourage greater participation and involvement. It requires deep thinking and encourages our pupils to work using a question as the starting point where possible. All of our ‘topic’ lessons will begin with a question that we will try to answer or solve so that we can answer a bigger learning challenge. We will be researching, presenting, designing and making in order to answer and solve lots of question challenges.
Here are some examples of our exploratory topic units:
- Is climate cool?
- Who were the Riotous Royals?
- Where can I call home?
- What is it like in the Amazon?
Time for learners to reflect or review their learning is central to the whole process. This is in keeping with the ‘Learning to Learn’ principles where reflection is seen as a very important part of individuals’ learning programmes. Within our curriculum, it is suggested that the final subsidiary learning challenge is handed over for learners to reflect on their learning.
Our provision also includes the 'hidden curriculum' – what the children learn from the way they are treated and expected to behave. We want children to grow into positive, responsible people, who can work and cooperate with others while at the same time developing their knowledge and skills, in order to achieve their true potential. To achieve this aim, the school offers a highly structured programme of learning for personal, social and health education.
We endorse the aspirations concerning a broad and balanced curriculum that is set out in the DfES National Curriculum in England 2014 and we seek the highest standards of attainment for all our children. We also value the breadth of the curriculum that we provide. We aim to foster creativity in our children, and to help them become independent learners. Above all, we believe in making learning both purposeful and fun.
We aim to ensure that pupils progress at each transition point with basic skills to become successful learners in their future and therefore we will continue to liaise with colleagues in local secondary schools regarding curriculum themes and transition where possible.
Our 4 Curriculum ‘Drivers’
What is a Curriculum Driver?
We believe that our children deserve and need us to provide more than just the National Curriculum. Life has so much more to offer and our children have so much more to learn and experience. With this in mind we worked to prioritise the things we wanted our children to experience during their time with. We use the 'drivers' to underpin the development work we undertake in all areas of school life and to ensure our curriculum offer is enriched and personalised to our children and their families.
As a school we believe that our four ‘curriculum drivers’ personalise our curriculum. These have been chosen through consultation with pupil, staff and governors: identifying the needs and interests of the pupils within the school.
The Drivers are included in the things we feel most passionately about as a school and they also serve to help personalise our curriculum and are link directly into our School Development Plan. They are:
Spirituality, Possibilities, Excellence and Diversity
What we mean:
Spirituality
We are a church school and a caring school family. We want our children to grow up and have a sense of appreciation for the world in which we live; feeling a valuable part of it, knowing they have a contribution to make. We recognise and respect the range of beliefs and cultures within our world. Christian values and the love of God are at the heart of our teaching and learning.
Possibilities
Children cannot aspire to things they have never encountered. We will work to broaden our children’s horizons, expanding their knowledge of the world by nurturing their interests as well as encouraging fearlessness of what is new or unknown.
Excellence
The enquiry process which will enable our children to face challenge themselves to find the answers. Our children will be encouraged to always strive for the highest personal achievement in all aspects of schooling, individual, community action, work and life-long learning.
Diversity
Christ Church is a wonderful place to come to school and learn; we want children to be aware that they are a central part of a small yet diverse community and have a role to play in that community. Through our curriculum, they will also understand that they are a part of a bigger national and international community. We have links with the local church, many people and groups in the community and also with the wider world. Additionally, our children will also develop a shared understanding regarding the differences and similarities between ourselves and others, understanding the beliefs and cultures of others both in the world around us and the world further away.