Our School Vision – The School Curriculum

At St Gabriel’s we aim to inspire and promote creativity, independence in learning and develop an appreciation of human creativity and accomplishment.  We aim to ensure that children leave St Gabriel’s with the knowledge and breadth of study that allows for self-identity and a sound knowledge of the world around them whilst developing the skills to apply this knowledge to build upon the opportunities and experiences they will face as they mature.

Using the National Curriculum objectives, our Curriculum is coherently planned and sequenced to ensure progression in skills through the key stages, is adapted to meet the needs of pupils with SEND and inclusive to develop children’s knowledge, celebrate the achievements, arts and cultures of groups from all of our school community. For example, Year 6’s History study of the First World War looks at the significant contribution made by Black and Asian soldiers.  In art all classes study inspirational artists that reflect our diverse school population.

The aim of our Curriculum is to:

• foster and encourage our children’s self-awareness, beliefs and spirituality, and develop their sensitivity to other people and respect for other religions,
• help children to develop their skills across the curriculum through learning which is broad, balanced and inspiring,
• help children to fulfil their potential by creating a happy, healthy, safe, nurturing environment, provide children with the academic, social, emotional and spiritual foundations which will give them the best start to secondary school and which will give them a wide range of opportunities and the chance to pursue their personal aspirations in life.

Intent

We intend that children leave our school with the knowledge and breadth of study that allows for self-identity and a sound knowledge of the world around them, whilst developing the skills to apply this knowledge to build upon the opportunities and experiences they will face as they progress to their next stage in learning, and beyond to employment. It is our intention that our pupils not only excel academically, but socially, emotionally and spiritually, providing them with the foundations and building blocks for their future.

We aim to provide a curriculum that celebrates and reflects the diversity of our pupils, providing opportunities, that will focus on under-represented groups in society; for example people of global majority heritage backgrounds and women in STEM. 

Implementation

St Gabriel’s curriculum is coherently planned and sequenced in line with the National Curriculum to ensure progression in skills through the key stages. At the beginning of a new unit of work, in many of the subjects, children complete a ‘KWL’ activity – showing their teachers what the already Know and What they would like to find out about a subject, enabling teachers to plan with children’s prior knowledge and interests at heart. At the end of a topic, children share what they have then Learnt.  

Learning opportunities are adapted to meet the needs of pupils with SEND and lessons are inclusive to help develop children’s knowledge and celebrate their achievements. As we are a school with many EAL learners, explicit teaching of new vocabulary is a high priority across the curriculum.

St Gabriel’s values of Friendship, Peace, Service, Endurance, Wisdom and Justice, are embedded throughout our curriculum and interwoven in all subjects. Through collective worship we look at people in the bible who have demonstrated our values, but also look at inspirational present day and historical figures representing different faiths and ethnicities who have also demonstrated these values.

Subjects are taught discreetly, but  links to prior learning in other subjects are also made where possible, enabling our pupils to know more and remember more. Lessons are designed around the needs of the class with priority given to ensuring core skills of reading, writing and mathematics are integrated across the curriculum. We continue to refine our curriculum to ensure the needs of or learners are met.

Teachers ensure assessment for learning opportunities are consistent across all subjects to ensure all children are given the correct support and appropriately challenged.

We ensure high quality professional development is provided to all class teachers regularly to ensure subject and knowledge and skills reflect current research and initiatives.

We ensure that we take advantage of the many museums and galleries that we are fortunate to have so close by and aim to ensure that classes go on termly visits to further engage and inspire them in their learning. We also work with a range of partners to further provide high quality learning experiences for our children, for example inviting in visiting speakers, drama groups, musicians and sports coaches.

Impact

Children at St Gabriel’s are resilient, eager learners. Our school’s vision and values drive the curriculum to ensure that our children are prepared for the future and able to succeed in life long term. They are tolerant, caring individuals with a strong moral conscience, making decisions for the right reasons and in the best interests of their community and wider world. They take risks and are emotionally resilient recognising that we make mistakes and learn from them. Through exciting curriculum design, pupils acquire a deep body of learning over time and make interconnected links to their prior knowledge.

Children achieve well across all subjects and attainment and progress is in line with or higher than the national averages across all Key Stages.  In the latest Key Stage 2 SATs, children achieved consistently higher, than other schools nationally and locally and the progress our children made was outstanding.