Curriculum
At St Mary’s we have an engaging and varied curriculum in which the children have a clear ownership of their learning, by choosing the topics. Each class is able to discuss and take a vote on every topic and teachers plan objectives based on the children’s interests. We follow the National Curriculum in order to provide a broad and balanced curriculum which promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils and prepares them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.
Each class will have a trip and a visitor each term to further enrich their learning. Many topics will have an outcome at the end to showcase the learning over the half term/term. This not only gives the children a real purpose for their learning, it also gives them the opportunity to celebrate their achievements. See photos below for some examples of these topic outcomes.
At St Mary's all class teachers are responsible for providing a curriculum that is suitable for all pupils in the class, including those with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND) with support from the SENCo. We have high expectations for all pupils and are committed to ensuring our curriculum complies with the Equality Act 2010 and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014. Our inclusions statement emphasises the importance of providing an inclusive learning environment for all pupils including those with SEND. Additional information on this can be found on our SEN page, see link below.
Oak Class (R/1) does not have set topics as they use the ‘In the Moment Planning’ approach to learning. Below are some examples of the stories and mini-topics chosen by Oak Class. Children in Ash to Elder classes are able to input into their choice of topic. Below is an example of the topics chosen by the children in 2020-2021. Please visit the class page for more information and photos.
Autumn | Spring | Summer | ||||
Oak | The Colour Monster (emotions)
Human Body | The Gunpowder Plot
Letters to Santa | The Day the Crayons Quit
Chinese New Year | Animals | Plants
People Who Help Us | Space (Neil Armstrong) |
Ash | Mythical Creatures Geography/ Science | Titanic History | Stone Age History |
Where does chocolate come from? (2 week introduction) Geography/ DT | Where does chocolate come from? Geography/ DT | Which food comes from which country? Science/ DT |
Lime | Around the World in (nearly) 80 days - what is life like in other countries? Geography | The Battle for Britain (Anglo-Saxons and Vikings) - what makes victory? History | How do we learn new information? Own choice of research projects | How did the Railways Shape Britain? (local history) History | How can the Olympic and Paralympic values shape us? Geography/ PSHE | |
Elder | Which has the greater impact: the Earth on Humans, or Humans on the Earth? Geography/ PSHE | World War 2 - how does history shape us? History | Tremendous Traditions, Tantalizing Travel and Twisted Trade History/ Geography | How did Ancient Greece influence our world? History | What a Year It’s Been! PSHE/ Drama and Music (production) | |
Topic Outcomes 2020-2021
Previous Topic Outcomes
