Curriculum

St Stephen's Curriculum

St Stephen’s curriculum is founded in the school’s values, aims and mission statement

Our curriculum is based on an enterprise model that enables children to develop resilience, creativity and reach their full potential.

Curriculum Intent:

St Stephen’s CE Primary sets out to provide its children with a curriculum that:

Is broad and balanced for every child – valuing all curriculum subjects
Develops enterprise skills
Is progressive - planned and sequenced
Is engaging and creative
Relates to real life situations
Develops character and wellbeing
Challenges pupils to reach their full potential
Seeks to develop resilience and ambition
Is flexible - has room to change according to the needs of particular pupils
Reflects the local community and looks beyond to the wider world
Prepares pupils to be responsible, respectful, active citizens who will serve their community.

5Rs of learning to underpin the Curriculum

Enterprise Skills

These skills for life are embedded throughout the curriculum. They are introduced within launch activities and developed during each teaching sequence. When delivering enterprise projects, children have a chance to demonstrate and refine these skills in real life contexts.

Curriculum Implementation:

Themes of work have been designed to progressively thread together the National Curriculum so pupils are consistently building on knowledge and skills in each subject.

The themes were carefully selected to:

maximise interest for all children
ensure balanced coverage of all subjects
reflect the culture of the school
maximise learning opportunities in the local area.

EYFS Curriculum

In line with the rest of the school, the curriculum we offer throughout the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is: broad and balanced (valuing all areas of development and skills), engaging and creative, is progressive, well-planned and flexible (allowing all children to reach their full potential.)

Whilst we value all areas of development and skills, across Nursery and Reception, we place high emphasis on developing the Prime Areas:

Communication & Language
Physical Development
Personal, Social Emotion Development

Allowing children to develop strong foundational skills in the Prime Areas has a positive impact on children's progress in the wider curriculum areas.

The curriculum is linked to themes for each half-term and gives children the opportunity to engage in a wide variety of hands-on, play-based experiences which promote their interest and help them develop a love of learning (more information about our themes can be found in the extracts from our curriculum overviews below) Children engage in a combination of adult-led experiences and independent play and exploration; they are given ample time to explore their own interests and develop their skills through a range of exciting open-ended experiences!

The opportunities offered throughout the EYFS are also underpinned by the School Values and our '5 For Life,' which support the development of character and well-being. For more information on our values and '5 For Life,' please go to our 'Values' page https://www.ststephensce.co.uk/page/?title=Values&pid=14

Nursery Curriculum Overview

Reception Curriculum Overview

For more information on all the wonderful things we do in the EYFS, please visit our class pages.

Nursery: https://www.ststephensce.co.uk/page/?title=Nursery&pid=82

Reception: https://www.ststephensce.co.uk/page/?title=Reception&pid=83

Learning Overviews:

These map out the themes covered each half term, year by year.
They show the explicit subjects taught through the theme, making meaningful links and map out wider learning experiences.
It is a question led curriculum to promote the skills of enquiry.

Click on the PDF files below

Teaching Sequence within a Theme

Each theme begins with a Launch (creative / practical / enquiry tasks) to ignite interest and enthusiasm and to develop key group work skills (see Launch activity documents) and works towards a finished product (display / event / enterprise project).

Distinctiveness of Subjects

Children are taught about the distinct aspects of each subject whilst enjoying the threads that link them through their themed work.

Curriculum Impact:

By the end of their time at St Stephen’s we expect that pupils will be able to:

use reading and numeracy competently throughout all subjects
articulate ideas and arguments with clarity and confidence using a wide range of ambitious vocabulary
developed skills of empathy - understanding a wide range of viewpoints
ask reasoned questions to promote their own enquiry
evaluate what they read and hear and check using a range of sources
generate creative ideas in response to a task, making plans and gathering what they will need to proceed
have the capacity to complete tasks despite set backs
reflect on their work, evaluate what they have done and make plans to improve
use mathematical, geographical, scientific equipment effectively
understand what it means to be part of a community and their own role within it
be ambitious about what they set out to do
be team players

Encyclopaedia Britannica Click here for access to a completely safe, child friendly internet search engine. A password is required which is displayed at school in the ICT Room.