St Francis’ Catholic Primary School - Curriculum Statement

Respect ~ Reflect ~ Achieve ~ Grow

Achieve

At St. Francis, we strive to provide an excellent education and wider opportunities for the children entrusted to us, so that our pupils may grow, achieve and realise their potential through self-belief, perseverance and resilience.

We teach the national curriculum interwoven with our school experiences and opportunities, to enable children to take their learning further than the classroom and into their future education and on to their working lives. In addition, our school Mission Statement sets out our Catholic ethos, which encompasses every part of school life.  It explains how we set out to fulfil the purpose of Catholic education, providing our pupils with the knowledge, understanding and skills to think spiritually, ethically and theologically. 

At the centre of our school curriculum is children’s reading, writing and maths. We focus on children developing their knowledge and skills through a broad and balanced curriculum, so children have a well-rounded education. Where appropriate we make links between subject areas to enhance and instil a love of learning.

We encourage our pupils to participate fully and take responsibility for their learning, and to persevere, develop as resilient and independent learners, learn through their mistakes and always try to do their best.

We are committed to equal opportunities for all pupils and aim to ensure that each child has equitable exposure to learning opportunities. This means that adaptations are made for each class or cohort with reference to the needs of the children in a way they can embrace curiosity, awe, wonder and joy of learning within the outline set by the national curriculum. In this way children become fulfilled life-long learners. 

Respect & Reflect

As Catholic School the children’s Religious Education is integral to all we do. We follow the Key principles of the Bishop’ statement (CES 1997) in the planning and delivery of our curriculum as detailed in our Teaching, Learning and Feedback Policy. We take time to reflect within our curriculum and aim to ensure children understand British Values, treating all with respect and we instil in the children the Gospel values through focuses per month on the St Francis’ core school values.

Ensuring children develop cultural awareness is important to us. We offer events and cultural visits that are important to the children in our school, including Black History Awareness and visits to places of worship for different religions. We celebrate religious and national festivals throughout the year such as Diwali, Chinese New Year and St Patricks Day, so that everyone learns to value and respect each other's differences and learn from each other.

Grow

As part of our Curriculum delivery we use our specialist staff in Music, Languages and Sport. We teach French as it is the language most commonly taught in our local secondary school which gives our children added confidence when starting their next schools.  

The children learn how to be safe, particularly online. Online safety is paramount and teaching safe online practices, and learning to assess the reliability of the information from the Internet is vital for our children's future study and lives.  Supporting parents and carers with online safety is something we also consider important and frequently offer information for parents as it develops.

We are on our journey as a Thrive School and ensuring pupil and staff wellbeing is a key part of our provision, with Staff and Parent Forums being developed and two Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSAs) in school. Outdoor learning for all classes is provided at planned points during the year, and we have Forest School in place.

Our intent is also to provide children with a variety of opportunities to enhance the curriculum. We encourage and support children to take music lessons at school through Surrey Arts and have a strong Choir who perform in concerts and local competitions. We encourage children’s confidence and speaking skills through our Drama Club and Poetry Club. The children are able to enter the local drama and reading festivals where we are particularly successful. Trips and visits linked to the curriculum topics are planned through the year to inspire and excite children.

Developing children’s Eco, sustainability and health awareness is part of our provision. We are a Green Flag Eco School and hold the Silver School Travel Award. The children have sporting opportunities through Clubs and Inter-School events and visits form professional sports people to inspire enjoyment and excellence in sport. Our provision to support children in developing life skills includes opportunities for, residential visits for Year 6, Bikeability Lessons, swimming lessons and Moneysense.

 In God’s love and inspired by our faith, we respect, reflect, achieve and grow together.