Welcome to our Curriculum Intent page
Making Learning Irresistible for All
‘A forecast of Opportunities with an Arena of Possibilities’
Carlina Rinaldi
At St Stephen’s, making learning irresistible and ambitious for all children, embodies the best principles of current practice and research, together with the wisdom of past and current educators, that has guided us to develop a coherent curriculum journey. It outlines a clear message, that children think and make sense of knowledge and skills in a connected rather than disconnected way; that children love to be challenged by new knowledge to learn, problems to solve, new questions to ask, experiments to conduct about real things in the real world; that we must listen to what children already know and what interests or concerns them. These are the principles that led and still lead our ever-changing curriculum development at St Stephen’s.
We have a unique, carefully sequenced, knowledge led and academically rigorous curriculum offer that reflects the school community we serve and develops and supports our teaching. We have ensured that our vision and values are seamlessly woven throughout.
We see our curriculum as everything we say and do in school. Every moment of every day is for learning.
Well-thought out and carefully designed knowledge led projects, enable us to support our children to flourish, be the best they can be and live fulfilling lives and be compelling individuals. It supports them on their journey through St Stephen’s towards becoming successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens in a local, national and global community.
Know, Do, Be, Like
We systematically develop knowledge, skills, dispositions, vocabulary and oracy as vital components of our curriculum. We believe they all have a profound impact on learning and on the personal growth of our children, promoting curiosity and their sense of agency in the world.
The desired knowledge is woven throughout a thematic approach where learning is organised in the form of projects. This enables children and teachers to make connections and support language and knowledge use across subjects. (Bruner – 80% overlap in language use when taking a thematic approach across subjects). The idea being that children understand that in the wider world, adults work on projects too.
Project drivers of geography, history and science, are used to lead each term’s learning. These subjects arguably carry human understanding of the world. Teachers craft learning so that links can be made and knowledge and skills can be transferred between subject areas.
Our aim as a school, is that children gain a mastery of facts and knowledge, an understanding of skills and a deep understanding of dispositions that affect the way they learn and think.
.jpg?width=320&height=240&scale=LIMIT_MAXSIZE "british values 4(1)")
