Our Curriculum
Curriculum Overview
To see our Curriculum Overview from Early Years to Year six please click on the document at the bottom of the page.
Government Overview
The ‘basic’ school curriculum includes the ‘national curriculum’, as well as religious education and sex education.
The national curriculum is a set of subjects and standards used by primary and secondary schools so children learn the same things. It covers what subjects are taught and the standards children should reach in each subject.
Academies and private schools do not have to follow the national curriculum. Academies must teach a broad and balanced curriculum including English, Mathematics and Science. They must also teach religious education.
At St Matthias we have worked hard to develop a rich curriculum that meets the needs of all of our learners. We believe that the best way to prepare our children for the future is to enable them to acquire knowledge whilst developing skills and understanding.
We want our learners to apply skills meaningfully and wherever possible across a variety of curriculum areas, so they develop transferrable skills which can be used in any subject.
We encourage children to think for themselves, to discuss ideas and to use reasoning when justifying their ideas.
We understand that children learn in different ways; by seeing, hearing, feeling, doing, and that for learning to be effective it has to be memorable. This means that our curriculum provides many rich and exciting learning opportunities to inspire and challenge our pupils. Therefore, they are engaged in their learning and know what they need to do in order to improve further.
Our learning is theme based and will often use a book as a stimulus or starting point and will work towards purposeful outcomes for our children and families to enjoy. The book stimulus will enable more links with other areas of the curriculum ensuring purposeful learning throughout all areas of the curriculum. This helps children to see the link between language, reading and writing. We feel the development of language and vocabulary is extremely important and through our Word Aware programme and the introduction of a ‘new word a day’ will extend the word learning of all pupils. We believe in giving the children the opportunity to develop their oracy skills through a variety of ways through our curriculum. Staff wherever possible will build in enrichment opportunities through visiting places of interest or inviting visitors into enhance learning.
Purposeful outcomes allow us to celebrate learning, whilst developing lifelong learning behaviours such as pride, perseverance and team work. National Curriculum statutory requirements are fulfilled and in addition to this our St Matthias curriculum ensures opportunities are broad and balanced as well as fit for purpose for our pupils, so that they can understand, appreciate and succeed in modern Britain.
Expectations for delivery
- All sequences of learning will be based on the use of quality texts. This is so that the children have a model for what good looks like and a contextualised stimulus to develop deeper understanding.
- Sequences of learning will be designed around the writing and reading skills of the learners, but will ensure statutory curriculum entitlements are fulfilled. (Breadth and Depth).
- Sequences of learning are designed to flow through knowledge, skills and understanding. Spelling, grammar and handwriting are endorsed at every opportunity – retention is an issue for some of our children and by repeated exposure to learning, this creates a deeper level of understanding.
- When designing a sequence of learning, staff will complete a topic rationale based on next steps and informed by data and ‘cold tasks.’ This will ensure all sequences are designed for rapid progress and have clearly defined outcomes.
- We will endeavour to include in each sequence either a trip and/or a visitor
- The purpose of the trip is to broaden our pupil’s life experiences. This supports the development of vocabulary. It also help to make the learning a concrete experience. As trip are exciting the experience creates an emotional response and therefore is more likely to become a long-term memory.
- Many of our children belong to multi- generational non-working families. A trip or visitor which exemplifies a job connected to the topic, will expose children to wider opportunities and may encourage them to have aspirations.
The overviews below give an easy to read summary of the National Curriculum expectations for for each year group.
- Year 1 Curriculum Overview
- Year 2 Curriculum Overview
- Year 3 Curriculum Overview
- Year 4 Curriculum Overview
- Year 5 Curriculum Overview
- Year 6 Curriculum Overview
- Religious Education Curriculum Overview
- St Matthias Whole School Curriculum 2016-2018
- The Primary National Curriculum 2013
The following documents from Rising Stars are information guides about the National Curriculum, specially written for parents.
End of Year Expectations for Reading, Writing and Mathematics
The booklets below provide information for parents and carers on the end of year expectations for children in our school. The National Curriculum outlines these expectations as being the minimum requirements your child must meet in order to ensure continued progress.
All the objectives will be worked on throughout the year and will be the focus of direct teaching. Any extra support you can provide in helping your children to achieve these is greatly valued.
If you have any queries regarding the content of these booklets or want support in knowing how best to help your child, please talk to your child’s teacher.
Successful Learners
At St. Matthias we are enthusiastic about learning!
Learning happens through many different ways such as by seeing, hearing, feeling, creating, explaining, drawing, acting ideas out etc. Our members of staff work hard provide many rich and exciting learning opportunities to inspire and challenge our pupils. As a result, our pupils enjoy the challenges in school and are engaged in their learning. They can tell you what they need to do next in order to improve further.
We teach our children to apply the skills they learn in one subject to other areas of the curriculum so skills are practiced and not forgotten! Pupils are always encouraged to reach their full academic potential.
At St. Matthias, our aim is for all children to leave St. Matthias able to:
- effectively apply their knowledge and skills to new situations
- express themselves clearly and confidently
- listen and respond intelligently
- take pleasure in reading
- write fluently
- be proficient in calculating, problem solving and reasoning
English and Mathematics are taught in the morning. Pupils of all ability levels benefit from opportunities to work in small groups to extend thinking and develop skills. There are opportunities to apply reading, writing and mathematical skills in lessons throughout the day in other aspects of the curriculum and during play and lunch time.
Confident Individuals
At St. Matthias we want to give all our children the chance to succeed.
We offer a broad, balanced curriculum to all our pupils, designed to accommodate the needs of all learners. Our curriculum builds upon prior learning and expects our learners to:
- ​play an active part in their own learning
- take appropriate responsibility for their own learning
- persevere when challenged
Through our curriculum we aim to make learning an exciting, enjoyable and stimulating experience. Cross curricular links are developed where appropriate.
Lessons cover a range of subjects to include:
- English
- Mathematics
- History
- Geography
- Science
- Art
- Design and Technology (DT)
- Computing
- French (KS 2)
- Music
- Personal, Social, Health Education (PSHE)
- Religious Education (RE)
At St. Matthias we are determined to bring learning alive and take every opportunity to enrich our curriculum with school trips; to museums, places of worship, the library and even a sewage farm to give a few examples. We are also fortunate to be able to welcome adults with specialist skills or interesting stories to tell from time to time. The children learn a lot from these sessions which are always highly enjoyable.
At St. Matthias we aim high for all our pupils!
We attach great importance to the development of our pupils’ social skills and manners as we want to empower all to build successful relationships with other children and adults and to be sensitive to the needs and feelings of others. We work hard to ensure all our children feel good about themselves, make responsible choices and acquire a high level of self-esteem.
We know that if you feel successful, you will achieve success!
We are very proud of our School Parliament who have an impact on our school. Each year representatives are elected from Year 6 to run our School Parliament for the year. Two representatives are then chosen by each class from Years 1-5 to be our Class Representatives. These children meet regularly throughout the year to discuss issues and topics that are important to the children and our school community. They consult with their classmates and report back on decisions.
To find out more about our curriculum, please visit The DFE website or contact your child’s class teacher in the first instance.