Curriculum

Our Christ Centered Curriculum

At St Francis RC Primary School everything we do is centred around gospel values. We believe that with God everything is in our reach. We follow in the footsteps of Jesus who is our guide. We believe that everything we do is to ensure that God’s children are taught to the highest standard, only excellence will do. Our curriculum intent is to take the children on a journey from nursery through to year 6. It is an ambitious curriculum that has been developed with the children’s starting points in mind and adapted from the National Curriculum to ensure it is broad, balanced and challenging. The curriculum will develop in all children the skills, knowledge and behaviours in all areas to help them thrive in Key Stage 3 and beyond.

Our curriculum is created on the basis of capturing children’s interest and imagination through all subjects. It draws on relevant learning experiences and involves a significant level of first-hand experiences for all children.

Pope Francis in 2014 said, “The mission of schools is to develop a sense of truth, of what is good and beautiful. And this occurs through a rich path made up of many ingredients. This is why there are so many subjects — because development is the results of different elements that act together and stimulate intelligence, knowledge, the emotions, the body, and so on.” At St Francis Primary School we aim to provide a Catholic education based on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, in which the values of the Gospel underpin all aspects of school life. The curriculum will show how the beliefs of the Catholic Church are at the centre of everything we do.

As a school, we aim to provide opportunities within our curriculum that allow us to support the cultural capital of the school. To expose students to a large variety of subject areas and arts; promote character-building qualities that lead to creating well-rounded, global citizens, and to provide young people with recognised and meaningful qualifications that will open up doors to paths in later life. As a very diverse school, with a predominantly Black-African background, it is important that we harness this and build on these foundations to prepare children for the diverse Britain that they will be growing into.

At St Francis RC Primary School, we believe that exposure to both their own and different cultures is fundamental to their success and prepares them for Key Stage 3 and beyond. We plan for children to have rich experiences from nursery onwards including: trips to music and sporting venues, museums, galleries and places of historical interest to develop the cultural capital for our pupils.

There is a strong emphasis on the basic skills of reading, writing and mathematics which is weaved into the wider curriculum. This ensures that the children are highly motivated and inspired by a tailor-made curriculum which fully meets their learning needs. A focus on first hand experiences ensures that children are able to move from the concrete to the abstract in their learning, applying skills and learning to different challenges. The children will develop communication skills which will enhance their learning in Literacy and also lead to them becoming confident and articulate 11-year-olds.

We recognise that our amazing children have a range of different talents and that God wants us to ensure that every child reaches their potential. Therefore all children will be motivated to maximise their sporting skills and the school emphasises the importance of sport with its challenging PE curriculum and full-time PE teacher.  There are weekly clubs and competitive opportunities in the locality for children of all abilities in the school and achievements are celebrated regularly. WE believe that with God, everything is in the children’s reach.