OUR CURRICULUM
Intent
At the heart of Winkfield St Mary’s are a set of core values that collectively create our REACH Rainbow. These values underpin our curriculum and the ethos of the school and is supported in addition by our British and Christian values. At Winkfield St Mary’s, we place great importance on a curriculum which develops the child as a whole. Through our core values, we foster an environment where we strive to educate, enrich and inspire all learners to achieve their academic, personal, social, emotional and spiritual potential. We firmly believe that everyone is entitled to an ambitious curriculum and our curriculum design is accessible for all, including children with SEND and disadvantaged backgrounds.
Implementation
School leaders ensure that our curriculum threads are embedded within every subject of the curriculum to ensure that our intent has impact.
- Diverse schemes
- Supporting Teachers through CPD
- Pupil Voice
- Assessment
- Curriculum Threads
Impact
Children leave Winkfield St Mary’s with a secure understanding of the academic content; with the understanding of how to be socially, morally, spiritually and culturally responsible and aware; how to make positive contributions to the local community and how to endeavour to be the best that they can be. We aim for all of our children to leave Winkfield St Mary’s as respectful, courageous and honest children who show great awareness and can excel with a thirst for life and all it has to offer.
Our Curriculum Threads
Language and Oracy
Wisdom and Wonder
Health and Happiness
Diversity and Inclusion
Language and Oracy
Communication skills are vital for both success and confidence in many areas of life and therefore we want our pupils to develop the ability to express themselves clearly and effectively. We recognise that both listening and speaking are important when communicating and opportunities to practise and develop these skills are provided. We want our pupils to be able to offer their opinions and reason articulately whilst also being able to debate a topic or viewpoint and disagree respectfully.
We know that having a broad vocabulary aids both understanding of language and self-expression. Therefore, our curriculum is language-rich, involves the use of high quality texts, promotes an inquisitive approach to language and provides opportunities to practise new vocabulary. We also recognise the importance of being able to express emotions verbally. In all areas of their lives, we want our pupils to have the skills necessary to have a voice.
Wisdom and Wonder
We promote wisdom in all its forms for children so that our children reach their potential and are well equipped for the future. We teach children that being wise is not the same as being smart or clever, but includes several areas such as thinking deeply, making informed choices and understanding their place in the world and how things work. We aim to develop wonder throughout our curriculum to inspire, excite and enrich children’s curiosity and cultural capital. We encourage children to wonder how they could make a difference, about God and the wonderful world we live in and by developing and inspiring their imagination and problem solving skills.
Health and Happiness
We recognise the importance of promoting health in both body and mind and want our children to develop an increasing understanding of the many different factors that contribute to this. Our curriculum provides opportunities for our children to learn about their physical and mental health and teaches an understanding of emotions, promotes resilience and encourages an open approach to discussing worries or concerns. Our approach to play promotes active, collaborative and positive experiences which in turn have positive impact on their well-being. Underpinning this is our culture of safeguarding in which children are educated in how to keep themselves safe in all areas of life including online and when communicating using technology. In addition to our curriculum, our restorative practice to support children’s behaviour allows positive relationships and encourages children to take responsibility for their actions.
Diversity and Inclusion
We actively seek to remove the barriers to learning and participation that can hinder or exclude, making equality of opportunity a reality for all pupils. We make this a reality through the attention that we pay to individuals or groups of children through both reasonable adjustments and by developing our children’s understanding and appreciation of difference in others, encouraging them to recognise and celebrate diversity. Whilst we promote equality, we also discuss with children the importance of equity and the difference between the two to ensure that all children can succeed.
We ensure that our curriculum has a broad range of diverse texts and exposure to a wide range of different cultures, religions and significant individuals. Our assemblies in particular have clear themes which focus on current spiritual, moral and religious issues, as well as celebrating our school values and events of social, cultural and religious significance. To enrich our Christian distinctiveness, church assemblies are held by our local church leaders, who often refer to the liturgical calendar when forming the basis of their assemblies.