Mrs Bell - Curriculum Lead

St James’ Catholic Primary School – Curriculum Statement of Intent

Our aim is to provide an engaging, exciting and empowering curriculum that equips our children for today and tomorrow.

At St James’ Catholic Primary School, our bespoke, knowledge-rich curriculum is designed with children at its heart and ensures pupil voice is valued. We provide rich and ambitious learning opportunities for all, developing the essential knowledge, skills and understanding needed for later life. We build on prior learning to ensure all children make strong progress and develop resilience, creativity and critical thinking through first-hand experiences and problem-solving opportunities. Through the use of metacognition techniques, we support children to embed knowledge so it can be applied confidently as they grow.

We enrich learning through a wide range of opportunities, fostering curiosity and a love of learning. We believe childhood should be a happy, investigative and inspiring time. Our curriculum is fully inclusive: every child is recognised as unique, and diversity and individuality are celebrated. Teaching is adapted to meet individual needs, ensuring all pupils can achieve their full potential.

Respect for cultural and ethical differences is embedded from the start of each child’s journey. We celebrate diversity and ensure children develop a strong understanding of equality and the wider world.

Our Gospel values of respect, forgiveness, care, compassion, tolernace and trust alongside British Values, underpin positive attitudes to learning and personal responsibility. Community involvement is integral to our curriculum, with strong links between school, families and the wider community through shared events, worship and experiences.

We aim for all children to leave St James’ with a strong sense of belonging, high aspirations and the confidence and oracy skills to become reflective, independent and lifelong learners.

Curriculum Design

Our curriculum is carefully designed for our children. Each topic is planned collaboratively to ensure:

• Clear National Curriculum links
• Defined end points and progression
• Opportunities for community engagement
• Development of key vocabulary
• Links to British Values
• Connections to prior and future learning

We regularly review and adapt our curriculum to ensure it remains relevant and meets the needs of our pupils. As a result, children know more, remember more and can confidently share their learning while developing curiosity for the future.

Working in Partnership with Parents

We recognise the importance of strong relationships between school and families. We work closely with parents and carers to support every child’s progress by:

• Hosting “Meet the Teacher” sessions
• Through two formal parents evenings, a mid year report and an end of year report. 
• Sharing daily updates on the Class Dojo app. 
• Celebrating events and achievements on the school Facebook page
• Communicating via the school website and ClassDojo.
• Having and 'open door' policy whereby parents/carers are encouraged to ask questions. 

Assessment

We use a range of assessment strategies to monitor progress and support learning, including:

• Learning walks
• Discussions/interviews with pupils
• Review of work (books, presentations, photos and displays)
• Self and peer assessment
• Verbal feedback 
• Formal assessments
• Regular pupil progress meetings