Curriculum

In order to establish our ambition for our pupils we have spent time discussing, as a staff team, our values and the deficits we need to address with the children and the strengths that they already have. 

Our values have helped us shape our curriculum and are very closely linked to what drives our curriculum. 

Curriculum Intent

Sutton St James School is fully committed to delivering a balanced and extensive curriculum that builds upon knowledge and skills as the children grow. This will be achieved through targeted challenges that fit all children’s needs and through a wide variety of new and interesting experiences.

As a school, we aim to prepare strong, respectful children who thrive on challenges and embrace opportunities that the wider world will bring, never giving up. We want to encourage a lifelong passion for learning, where children have high expectations and a positive attitude. Children will know and be proud of where they come from, and be aware and considerate of different people, places and beliefs from around the world.

Our curriculum is designed to prepare children for their futures by teaching them the skills to succeed, be independent and have high ambitions of what the future could hold. The school’s aim is for children to leave us with the ability to communicate well, have confidence to make decisions, be reflective, have a good understanding of their emotions and know the importance of a healthy body and mind. Sutton St James School has designed its curriculum to enable children to move to the next stage of their education as well rounded, happy individuals.

Six key principles drive the opportunities, experiences and activities provided throughout our curriculum. These are all valued equally and are woven into the children’s learning by all teachers, Teaching Assistants and Midday Supervisors during the children’s days in school. We have broken these principles down to describe what we feel is essential for all children to be able to do.

Communication

• Communicate effectively through verbal and written forms to a range of audiences.
• Read widely to broaden vocabulary.
• Speak and listen with fluency, confidence and respect.
• Communicate feelings effectively.

Health

• Develop an understanding of the importance of a healthy and balanced diet and lifestyle.
• Understand the importance of positive mental health and have strategies in place to support this.
• Develop the vocabulary needed to express own emotional needs and concerns.
• Encourage independence and taking responsibility for their personal-self and needs.
• Use good manners and demonstrate positive moral values.

Aspiration

• Access to a rigorous curriculum to develop lifelong learning.
• Have high standards for themselves and others, trying to ‘be the best that they can’.
• Have clearly understood targets, shared with children and parents, to ensure that all children know what they need to do to make maximum progress.
• Have a greater awareness of the possibilities that the world has to offer as they grow older and desire to embrace opportunities.

Resilience

• Children have courage to tackle new challenges independently using skills learned.
• Embed a learning culture which nurtures greater independence and a problem solving attitude.
• Develop a positive attitude towards making mistakes and learning from them.
• Develop life skills.

Global Awareness

• Understand our own locality and where we fit in with the wider world, developing the desire to discover more.
• Recognise the great opportunities that diversity and culture can bring to their own lives.
• Make links and comparisons between their own lives and the lives of others today and throughout history.
• Understand the need to look after our environment and the impact that we can have on global environment.

Experience

• Allow access to adventure and creativity through a balanced curriculum.
• Encourage and develop enquiry and proactive engagement in their own learning.
• Provide opportunities to broaden children’s horizons through rich experiences to help develop their imagination.
• Offer opportunities to work collaboratively across a variety of activities, building teamwork skills. 

Implementation

Children are expected to work hard and demonstrate positive learning behaviours to both maximise their own individual learning potential, as well as contribute to the school and wider community. We are committed to working in partnership with parents as we believe that when home and school work together we get the best outcomes for our pupils. 

The school takes pride in providing an inclusive environment where learners demonstrate high levels of enjoyment in their education and most make good progress. Children at all levels are helped to achieve their potential, Those who are most able are challenged and supported through being offered tasks which provide opportunities for greater depth and those who struggle are encouraged and given targeted support to embed skills, t develop at their own pace or simply to learn ina  style that suits their individual needs. SEND and disadvantaged children are an area of focus for the school to try to ensure that these children make strong progress from their starting points.

We believe that our fundamental task is to teach our children to speak clearly and articulately and to read and write effectively. Reading is promoted across the school with a focus on confidence and enjoyment. We want our pupils to develop a love of reading during their time at the school  and be exposed to a range of quality literature. High quality texts are used in all year groups to promote reading skills, adventurous vocabulary and extended sentence structures. Children are read to regularly so that they have a love of reading and listening. We use a selection of schemes of reading books, both fiction and non fiction, which are closely linked to the phonics that they are learning in school. In September, these will be reorganised to supplement the reading books used in Read Write Inc and for reading for pleasure.

Phonics teaching has priority in Reception and Year 1. We recognise that fluency in reading enables the pupils to access all areas of the curriculum. We currently use a combination of 2 phonics schemes initially in Foundation Stage, Jolly Phonics and Letters and Sounds as our children join us with very different experiences of learning sounds. We follow letters and sounds predominantly, but compliment this using the actions from Jolly Phonics. In September we will change to follow the Read Write Inc. scheme. 

Teachers explore outstanding examples of texts with the children thoroughly before modelling explicitly to ensure that children have a good understanding of the features and grammatical elements, prior to completing their independent writing. Children are encouraged to read over their writing at regular intervals and edit where necessary, thus replicating the authorial process. 

A combination of White Rose, Classroom Secrets and other resources are used to deliver Maths and we ensure that the children have sufficient practice to be confident n using and understanding numbers, revisiting regularly to consolidate learning and providing regular and meaningful opportunities to use and apply their mathematical understanding. The Maths curriculum provides a strong basis for more complex learning later. 

Our PSHE and RSE curriculum plays a significant role in meeting the needs of our pupils. Our curriculum recognises the importance of pupils' physical and mental well-being as well as shaping their long-term lifestyle choices. In circle time they learn about tolerance, respect and care for others as well as empathy. The curriculum encourages children to be emotionally secure, resilient and mindful. 

All children are presented with a range of opportunities relating to sport and the creative arts and have opportunities to work with specialist coaches and elite athletes who are invited into school. They develop well physically, socially and personally, participating in a full and varied PE curriculum and range of after school clubs. They enjoy challenge and are taught sporting behaviours - learning how to fail, as well as how to win gracefully and have an understanding of what constitutes a healthy lifestyle. ​​​​​​​

A varied timetable for extra-curricular activities is offered by the school enabling the children to extend their range of experiences e.g. gardening, cooking, craft, archery, film making and art etc. 

In foundation stage we follow the Foundation Stage Profile.

In Years 1 to 6 we follow the National Curriculum. 

Impact

• Our children have access to a wide, relevant and varied curriculum, allowing each of them to excel as individuals and be the best that they can be. Their enjoyment of the curriculum promotes achievement, confidence and good behaviour. 
• The impact of the curriculum is monitored closely by leaders, subject leaders and Governors through analysis of data, lesson observations, book scrutinies and pupil interviews. 
• The children feel safe and are keen to try new things. 
• Quality first teaching supported by targeted interventions, where appropriate, impacts in a positive way on children's outcomes. 
• Our children are able to form meaningful relationships based on mutual respect and trust, recognising and celebrating difference, both within our school community and in the wider world. 
• ​​​​​​​Our children have developing aspirations for the future and know that these can be realised with hard work and determination. They grow up being able to make a positive contribution to the world in which they live. 
• The children demonstrate positive attitudes to learning through high levels of curiosity, concentration and enjoyment. They develop into confident, independent and resilient learners during their time with us and leave the school well-prepared to access the challenges of the secondary school curriculum. Developing their knowledge, skills and understanding to reach their full potential whilst supporting others to do the same is at the heart of our teaching and learning.