Curriculum

“A communion of high achieving Catholic Schools where every person meets Jesus and grows uniquely in God’s love”

Striving to nurture the whole child through:

‘Love of God’

‘Love of one another’

‘Love of life itself’

(For Subject Overviews please see Subject Pages)

If you require more information regarding the curriculum please contact the school on 01775 722889

Curriculum Guidance

“Students learn by doing – smelling, seeing, hearing, touching and tasting as well as thinking either creatively or logically. All their senses are utilised in all sorts of manners so that learning is meaningful and practical- not something so alien that they have to be forced upon to do. When children find learning meaningful, they will naturally want to learn more and hence, they will be self-motivated and do not need to be pushed by adults to learn.” (Burke and Grosvenor, 2003)

Article 28: Children have the right to an education.

Mission Statement

St. Norbert’s education first and foremost is rooted in the Catholic teaching of the church supported by our chosen School’s Mission and Christian Virtues and Values. We strive for a curriculum that is accessible to all and develops the whole child. It nurtures spirituality, curiosity, creativity and enjoyment.

Our golden threads of equality, excellence and ambition weave through all areas of our curriculum and enable children to secure knowledge and skills and deepen their conceptual understanding.

Equality: accessible for all, to support children to develop as successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens

Excellence: through support and challenge, children will overcome barriers to pursue excellence in all they do.

Ambition: takes into account the context of our school within a local, national and global perspective

To enable everyone to flourish and achieve their ambition at our school, our knowledge rich, rounded and coherent curriculum, aims to equip our children with the information, skills, vocabulary, and personal characteristics which will help to ensure they can become lifelong learners and make a positive contribution to the communities they belong to.

Therefore, we:

Challenge and support children through high quality teaching and learning to enable them to be the best that they can be. A wide range of learning opportunities foster children’s love of learning and intrinsically motivates them to succeed. Our lessons challenge, support and enable children to overcome barriers and encourages a lifelong love of learning.

Ensure our children are responsible citizens who take a keen interest in current affairs. They take action when faced with inequalities and injustice and are valued for who they are as aspirational and ambitious individuals.

Provide a framework that allows children to encounter opportunities with resilience, perseverance, and self-determination to grow and become responsible independent learners. We will work closely with families who are the primary educators to foster local and Parish community to the benefit of all.

We strive to provide practice in which our pupils develop that capacity to assess and improve work, sustain effort over time, exceed what they thought was possible and work well with others to combine ideas and approaches.

Article 29: Education should develop each child’s personality and talents to the full. It should encourage children to respect their parents and their own and other cultures.

Aims

Our key aims are based upon A.C.H.I.E.V.E.R.S:

A – achieve an understanding of who God wants me to be

C – caring citizens grow in and leave our school

H – high standards in learning and achievement

I – inspire one another to do our collective best

E – engage in a strong and trusting home, school and Parish partnership

V – value the power of prayer and develop our Catholic Faith

E – everyone to grow closer to god and follow Church teachings

R – respect and understand other cultures and faiths

S – school environment that is safe, caring and nurturing

To aim for every child to reach their potential in all areas of curriculum.
To prepare children well for Key Stage and Secondary transition.
To provide a curriculum that is designed to excite and motivate children with varied topics, projects and immersive learning to interest them and to which they contribute.
To ensure learning is a knowledge and skills balanced approach that is engaging, interactive and challenging.
To create a positive, safe learning environment that nourishes the ‘whole child’ meeting all needs
To develop responsible British Citizens for the future that can contribute positively to our richly diverse society.
To support emotional well-being so children can talk openly about feelings.
To equip children with the skills to evaluate and assess to take risks, making positive choices.
To promote lifelong learning to all children and staff alike ensuring a whole school learning and development culture.
To be a truly inclusive community in which we not only seek to develop children but in which all stakeholders are involved in developing the school itself.

“See a child differently see a different child”

Article 4: Governments must do all they can to make sure every child can enjoy their rights.

Curriculum Organisation

Our pupil’s learning depends on our curriculum in which:

All pupils from every kind of background are equally recognised as being creative.
Develops spirituality and sense of moral purpose.
Learning engages pupils in serious, meaningful, relevant, imaginative and challenging activities and tasks.
Pupils are respected for their knowledge, experience and capabilities.
Pupils have an individual and collective right to actively shape their education.
Adults have the power to support, adapt and evaluate learning experiences for pupils exercising professional judgement.
We invest in staff and community learning.
We build partnerships with creative individuals and organisations.
We enable pupils to participate fully in social and cultural worlds.
Families and community play a purposeful role in pupils learning.

Our curriculum has been organised ensuring that we provide the children with the statutory requirements as set out by The National Curriculum (2014).

We aim to ensure that all pupils are able to leave KS2 at Age related expectations. We also strive tirelessly to ensure that our children develop into aspirational, hardworking young people with a great understanding of our school learning values that will prepare them for a life beyond school.

“When adults change, everything changes.”

“Every interaction is an intervention.”

Article 3: All organisations concerned with children should work towards what is best for each child.

Our School Virtues

Faith

Is to trust. Faith helps us grow in friendship with Jesus and his friendship helps us become the best we can be by becoming more like him.

Hope

You know that when life gets hard you don’t give up but carry on hoping that things will get better. You trust that God is at work moving the world towards what is good.

Love

You accept someone as they are, you care for them, and care what happens to them. You love people you do not know by simple acts of kindness and by wanting the best for them.

Compassion

You notice that a person is sad, in distress or in trouble, you care about how they are feeling and you want to help them.

Patience

You are able to wait without complaining because you know that most things take time. You are calm and trusting.

Knowledge

You decide, based on what you know, what is the best thing to do. You take time to think about what you must do and ask other people about it.

Honesty

You are truthful with yourself and with others. You tell the truth without exaggerating what you say or without sometimes saying less than you know to be true even when admitting the truth may be hard to do.

Kindness

You think about other people, how they feel, and with tenderness you perform an act of care that brings happiness, relief or comfort.

Friendship

You love your friend for the person they are not for what you can get from your friend. You always want the best for your friend and do not treat them badly but as a person whom you love.

Month	Value
September	Respect
October	Friendliness
November	Diversity
December	Honesty
January	Self-Discipline
February	Trust
March	Co-Operation
April	Patience
May	Self-Belief
June	Courtesy
July	Aspiration

Article 13: Every child must be free to say what they think and to seek and receive all kinds of information, as long as it is within the law.

Promoting Fundamental British Values – Promoting British values across the curriculum at Saint Norbert’s School.

Department for Education website– information on the National Curriculum for this academic year.