Our Lady’s Curriculum Summary
June 2022
Our Lady’s school vision was developed in collaboration with their pupils, pupils, parents, governors and members of the Church. It is rooted in the new curriculum and underpinned by its Christian values and catholic faith.
Respect and honesty sit at the heart of their values. All staff are using a restorative approach to build relationships and improve the emotional literacy for all pupils. The UN Convention’s rights of the child features prominently throughout the school’s curriculum and along with their vision ensures accessibility, equity and inclusivity for all.
The school’s vision has evolved since January 2022 and will be public ally launched along with its new curriculum in July 2022.
The curriculum was designed and developed in consultation with a wide range of stakeholders to realise the vision. This included:
The school has designed and developed an inclusive curriculum that is suitable for all pupils; it enables them to develop in the four purposes and catholic virtues. It also gives due consideration of the fulfilment of the mandatory elements. Our Lady’s curriculum is broad, balanced and purposeful; it includes learning opportunities within and across all of the areas of learning and experience and reflects the concepts in the statements of what matters. It provides appropriate progression in line with the principles of progression.
The school’s curriculum aligns to the mandatory requirements of teaching Welsh, English and Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) through the Fertile Heart Catholic scheme. As well as the cross curricular skills of literacy, numeracy and digital competence, Religion, Values and Ethics (RVE) are developing in line with the publication of the agreed syllabus.
The school has considered pedagogy and developed professional learning and support focused on high-quality teaching. This has been supported via their SIG group, where all teachers engaged in enquires within their classroom to explore pedagogical principles. Opportunities to work with partners from a wide range of partner schools continue through Cluster working.
Assessment arrangements are informed by the principles of progression and assessment for learning strategies are part of everyday practice. They enable the identification of pupils who require further support or challenge and provide and inform next steps in learning for individuals and groups of learners. The school is working with their cluster to further develop a shared understanding of progression and transition planning.
The curriculum will be implemented in all year groups from September 2022 in line with the national requirements.
A full governors’ meeting is planned on 5th July when governors will review and adopt the school’s curriculum. The school intends to publish a summary of their curriculum on the school website by 15th July. They will inform parents and the wider school community of this through their usual newsletter and social media communications.
The school curriculum plans to continually review its curriculum through the self-evaluation activities in the school’s MER cycle. This includes learning walks, book scrutiny, talking to pupils, parents and staff forums and questionnaires. Termly evaluation reports are shared with the governing body. During summer term 2023 the school plans a detailed of review of the curriculum for refinement for September 2023.