At St. Mark’s CE Primary School we are passionate about enthusing and encouraging our children to develop an enquiring mind through a creative, exciting, motivating and varied curriculum. We offer a curriculum which is broad and balanced and that builds upon the knowledge, understanding and skills of all children, whatever their starting points.

We have designed our curriculum so that it is both relevant and engaging for our children and their particular needs in order to prepare them for the future, as well as being relevant to our local community, mindful of our heritage and celebrating global diversity. The statutory National Curriculum of 2014 is encompassed within this so that a broad learning experience is had by all. Underpinning our curriculum are the school values of Responsibility, Enthusiasm, Spirituality, Perseverance, Enthusiasm, Commitment and Trust.

The aim of our curriculum is for pupils to have the necessary skills to be successful, independent and motivated learners in readiness for their next stage of education. We want them to aim high, work hard and to have high aspirations for the future.

The curriculum at St Mark’s CE Primary School aims to be:

• Broad – Provides the children with a wide range of knowledge, skills and experiences
• Balanced – Each subject has sufficient time to contribute effectively to learning
• Relevant – Learning links to the pupil’s experience and everyday life
• Coherent – Topics are linked to make the learning experiences meaningful
• Progressive – Skills, knowledge and understanding build upon prior learning
• Adapted – Learning is adapted to meet the needs and abilities of all pupils
• Accessible – Inclusive of all pupils regardless of their needs and abilities.

As a statutory requirement, we teach the following subjects based on the 2014 National Curriculum:

• English – Reading (including Phonics) and Writing
• Maths
• Religious Education (RE)
• Science
• Music
• Art and Design
• Computing
• Design and Technology
• Geography
• History
• Physical Education (PE)
• PSHE
• Spanish (Modern Foreign Language)

As a Church of England Aided Primary School, Religious Education (RE) is a core subject and taught in accordance with guidelines from the Lichfield Diocese. We follow the Understanding Christianity scheme of work and the Stoke on Trent locally agreed syllabus.

PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Emotional) is taught as a standalone lesson but also embedded through all other subjects to ensure our children have a moral, spiritual and cultural understanding of the world we live in as well as an understanding of the British values.

We place a strong emphasis on the development of the basic skills necessary to be confident independent learners and successful adults. Children rapidly begin to read in the Foundation Stage by following a synthetic phonics programme called ‘Read Write Inc’. All children engage in a daily guided reading session where they develop their reading and comprehension skills. In addition, all children take part in a daily English and Mathematics lessons.

National requirements for all foundation subjects are mapped out as a whole school through Long Term Plans and detailed progressive Curriculum Maps. Individual year groups then plan the curriculum for their pupils accordingly. In KS1 and KS2, foundation subject topics are progressive and build upon prior learning. In Geography, RE, History, Science and Design & Technology each topic has one main overarching question with a different question to answer each week. In the EYFS, we follow the Learning Challenge Curriculum, which is a topic based curriculum.

The more able are challenged further in their learning and children with special educational needs and those new to English are appropriately supported so that they make the expected progress. The outdoor environment and the local community are considered an opportunity for active learning for all our pupils.

Pupils have opportunities to share their learning with each other, their parents, carers and other learners through class and whole school assemblies and events involving other schools. Developing their independence and motivation as learners and their sense of responsibility as future citizens is at the heart of all our teaching and learning.

Each subject is led by a member of the teaching staff. Subject leaders are given training and opportunities to develop their own subject knowledge, skills and understanding so that they can support curriculum development and their colleagues throughout the school. Visits and visitors, themed weeks and whole school activities both within and outside school enrich and develop the children’s learning. After school clubs and events extend these opportunities further. The school is well resourced in terms of learning materials, books and other resources.

Parents/carers are provided with a curriculum overview at the start of each half term through a newsletter and knowledge organiser (for Geography and History) so that they can see what their children will be studying and are encouraged to contribute to their children’s learning in any way they can. The half termly newsletters and knowledge organisers for each year group can be found on the school website. Learning that has taken place across school can also be found on the year group pages on the website too.

Each term we give parents/carers the opportunity to attend our parent/carer consultation evenings where they can discuss their child’s progress, achievements and targets. Parents/carers are also provided with a written report in the summer term.

Additional information about the statutory and non-statutory requirements can be found in the National Curriculum document (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum).

Click below to see our Assessment for Learning Policy