Our Curriculum

Curriculum Statement

Our motto, ‘Children First’, resonates throughout school and in our partnership with our families and wider community. This is reflected throughout our curriculum planning and delivery, in order to help all children achieve in their academic and personal development.

To ensure the most disadvantaged pupils in our school have the best opportunity to thrive academically, our Pupil Premium Strategy focuses on number fluency, reading, vocabulary acquisition, speaking & listening and being ready and prepared for learning, so that all pupils can access the curriculum. Similarly, we closely map out our provision for our SEND pupils, so that they gain the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in life. Overleigh St Marys is an inclusive school and as such, do not believe in narrowing the curriculum for any learner. Our curriculum is designed with inclusion of all, and our curriculum intent is therefore the same for all children including those with SEND. However, we are mindful that there are an abundance of factors which need to be considered in order for all learners to be able to access learning according to their individual needs. Therefore, whilst our curriculum intent is the same for all learners; our implementation of the curriculum may well look different for different groups of children including those with SEND. Teachers will plan, scaffold, challenge and embed learning through activities which are amended to meet individual children’s needs. If a child’s needs are best met by following an alternative plan, including coverage of the content from a previous year, this will be discussed with the SENCO. Children are supported through a multi-sensory approach to their learning based on the outcomes written in their SEN support plan or EHCP.

Our curriculum aims to promote the following values in our children:-

Curiosity

Through our stimulating curriculum, our aim is to provide opportunities for all children to foster a love of learning and be successful and reflective learners. When selecting our programmes of study, we strive to provide a broad and balanced curriculum for our children that has clear progression of knowledge, skills and abilities throughout each key stage and their whole journey through school.

Community

This is inclusive of local, national and international issues which enable children to develop the courage to be respectful individuals that make reasoned, positive, unbiased and informed choices.

Christianity

As a church school, the traditions and values of the Christian church are woven into school life and tolerance, respect and understanding of other's beliefs is promoted. We understand the significance of faith and children developing an awareness and understanding of different beliefs. Our school celebrates and embraces difference which nurtures children to become tolerant, respectful and empathetic individuals. Christian values underpin the journey children embark on throughout our school and are embedded within our curriculum.

The values run in biannual cycles: Christ and Spirit.

C        Christian love                                        S        compassion

H        Hope                                                    P        Peace                              

R        Respect                                                I         Wisdom

I         Integrity                                                R        Friendship

S        Service and stewardship                        I         Justice

T        Thankfulness                                        T        Trust

Intent

At our school we provide a rich and varied learning environment that allows all children to develop their knowledge, skills and abilities to their full potential through being informed, articulate and empowered learners.

The intent of what we want our children to gain in our curriculum comes from being informed, articulate and empowered learners:-

Informed:

• Understanding of the learning journey they embark on and how it links to the wider world community around them.
• Access to a knowledge engaged curriculum, that is structured to build upon and extend prior learning.

Articulate:

• Daily opportunities to gain and develop key skills in reading, writing and arithmetic are the foundations of our curriculum, helping to prepare our children to be lifelong learners. Regular problem-solving and reasoning activities are built in across the curriculum to allow the children to use their speaking and listening skills and apply these in other curriculum areas.
• Planned opportunities for language development including key vocabulary, links to prior learning and discussion points are embedded in all subjects
• Understanding and being able to verbalise the historical and geographical significance of our local area in Chester, our place in Britain and the wider world around us
• Developing our sense of belonging in our local community, celebrating the diversity amongst us and embedding a culture of inclusion.

 

Empowered

• Nurturing our spiritual, moral, social and cultural values through our Christian ethos.
• Inclusive design to ensure all pupils can access, benefit from and relate to their learning.
• Reading is the gateway to pupils learning. To ensure all our pupils are able to access the full curriculum, we place a strong focus on early reading and vocabulary development right from the start.
• Developing resilience through the acquisition of strong behaviours for learning.
• Creating opportunities to spark interest and enthusiasm to enable children to acquire the key skills of reading, writing and arithmetic which can be applied confidently and effectively across all subjects.
• Encouraging curiosity in expanding their own learning into areas which capture their interest and imagination.
• Igniting children’s learning through purposeful and enriching experiences that enhance their enjoyment of all that they learn.
• Exploring democracy, the rule of law and tolerance to gain an understanding of fundamental British Values.

 

 

Implementation

All subjects are taught discretely at Overleigh. Where possible, knowledge and skills are applied through cross-curricular links. Previous knowledge and vocabulary is reviewed and built on through each new strand of work.

In order to achieve our intended outcomes each member of staff takes responsibility for contributing to, maintaining, monitoring and enhancing our curriculum for the children:

Each subject leader takes responsibility for ensuring that the curriculum offered to our children within their subject provides clear progression of knowledge, skills, vocabulary development and understanding throughout the school. They create, monitor and adapt, long and medium term planning across all key stages in line with national curriculum expectations to maintain a vibrant, diverse and inclusive curriculum for all our children. Subject leaders support teachers in the implementation of planning through providing training where required or with general support with quality first teaching. They identify key learning outcomes for each strand in order to inform ongoing informal assessment of children’s learning.

Each teacher within the school takes responsibility for developing short term learning sequences for all subjects in line with the long and medium term planning. They ensure that children are being taught the appropriate knowledge, skills and vocabulary identified on a daily basis. Throughout all strands, teachers find enriching learning experiences that ignite and enhance the children’s enjoyment of learning. Planning is adapted to include all children in line with their developmental expectations ensuring inclusion for all. At all times, teachers act as a positive role model, encouraging children to make their own unbiased, reasoned and informed choices in line with our Christian ethos.

The senior leadership team are responsible for holding to account, motivating and supporting subject leaders and teachers in maintaining a high quality learning environment throughout the school that embraces all. They are responsible for monitoring both the quality of provision and learning outcomes to ensure that all children are receiving an inclusive and progressive education that embraces diversity. Throughout all this work, the senior leadership team are accountable for inspiring, promoting and maintaining a curriculum that is underpinned by the Christian values that are embedded in all learning across school.

The governors are responsible for working alongside the senior leadership team and subject leaders to monitor and enhance the quality of the curriculum and learning environment provided to the children. They will understand the expected curriculum outcomes and both support and challenge staff to ensure that these outcomes are achieved.

Impact

To ensure that the implementation has matched the intention of the curriculum, the quality of provision and outcomes are monitored in a variety of ongoing ways;

• Termly book scrutiny of selected children’s work by subject leaders and SLT.
• Termly inclusive pupil voice.
• Learning walks by subject leaders, often in partnership with SLT.
• Continual assessment for learning by teachers.
• Summative termly outcomes in reading, spelling and mathematics.
• Termly moderation of children’s writing in year group teams under the guidance of the English subject leads.
• End of Key Stage 1 and 2 SATs.
• Phonics screening in Year 1.
• Multiplication in Year 4.
• Baseline assessments in EYFS.
• Learning walks for classroom environments.
• Monitoring the amount of time allotted to individual subjects.
• Valuing and celebrating the achievements.

 

Teachers, subject leaders and SLT will continually review individual units of work and discuss changes that will enhance future learning within those units including;

• the quality of rich learning experiences/school outings/visitor interactions that the children engage in:
• the impact and learning outcome responses formed by the children from special curriculum learning days/weeks;
• the quality of teaching and learning within a strand of work;
• the impact of daily planning across a strand of work;
• the accessibility to, and quality of, resources;
• children’s feedback opinions and suggestions;
• teacher’s feedback from individual year groups.

 

All analysis, review, scrutiny and feedback will be evaluated against outcomes and, if deemed to enhance future learning, subject leaders will then amend and update planning in line with feedback, continuing to ensure that new intentions and implementations fall in line with national curriculum expectations.

 

Overleigh Enrichment Promise

In addition to our curriculum offer, our vision and ambition for all children at Overleigh is to experience life affirming and lifelong learning opportunities. The children and staff have prioritised the following areas as being those that we will make absolutely sure everyone has the opportunity to access. Indeed, we will also actively encourage and support all children to embrace these opportunities as part of our commitment to inclusive lifelong learning enabling our children to confidently navigate the next stage of their education and beyond.

 

• Perform to an audience and watch a professional performance.

 

• Explore future career opportunities and meet professional and skilled role models.

 

• Learn to play a musical instrument and work alongside an expert to create music.

 

• Develop resilience through participation in our Secrets to Success Award.

 

• Represent the school at an event.

 

• Participate in a democratic process.

 

• Make a practical difference to the lives of others in the Overleigh family and beyond.

 

• Be a leader.

 

• Participate in competitive activities.

 

• Grow produce to eat and share.

 

• Spend a night away from home.

 

• Understand how to navigate a museum, art gallery and city and cross the border into Wales!

 

 

In essence these are the Overleigh 12 – 12 experiences and opportunities that children and staff will ensure everyone experiences before they are 12 and in their secondary schools.

Children will keep a record of the activities and experiences they complete and staff will review these termly to support and challenge children in their care. Achievement on the journey to the 12 will be shared and celebrated.

 

 

Should you require any further information regarding our curriculum, please contact the school office who will put you in contact with our curriculum and subject leads.