Curriculum Design Statement

Mission Statement

Our school Mission Statement was drawn up through consultation with the Governors, Staff, Parents and Children of the Rosary Catholic Primary School. The statement reflects our schools mission to keep God in all aspects of our daily life.

Together, as God’s children,
We realise our dreams,
inspiring and encouraging one another
to reach our true potential,
transforming our world
through our unique gifts.

Vision Statement

We believe that every child at The Rosary Catholic Primary School can achieve high standards in a happy, calm, welcoming and safe environment. Good communication between staff, children, parents and governors enables effective conditions for learning and high expectations for every child in the school that values pupils’ spiritual, mental and physical health and nurtures self–esteem.

In partnership with our parish, we teach our children to respect and help each other, to embrace difference and to follow the principles of Catholic social teaching so that they recognise that people are more important than things and that we must support the poor and the vulnerable in our society.

We have clear and consistent expectations of behaviour based on strong moral values centred on our faith and a zero tolerance to bullying. We celebrate our achievements and are proud of our successes. We live out our daily life using the guide and protection of our Blessed Mother, after whose special prayer we are named.  We continue to keep Christ as guide and inspiration in all that we do for all the children who pass through the doors of our wonderful school.

School Aims

Our aim is for all our pupils to:

• develop into people of compassion, empathy, respect and kindness, possessing a Christ-like response to all life’s situations
• develop a life-long love of learning
• make a successful transition to secondary education level

• have a wide range of well-developed vocabulary
• be confident readers with a life-long love of learning
• be resilient, independent and self-motivated
• have a sense of curiosity and enjoyment
• understand what it is to be a global citizen of the twenty-first century
• have experience of cultural capital in a variety of different forms

We will deliver the best possible provision for our pupils through a combination of:

• close liaison and partnership with parents and carers
• a broad and balanced curriculum that offers a variety of opportunities to develop academically, socially and emotionally
• a programme of offsite activities and visits, providing many opportunities for broader experience to support academic learning
• partnering with other specialist professionals such as; Speech and Language Therapists, Educational Psychologists, CAMHS, The Bridge
• promoting continued professional development for all staff in the school, to ensure that we provide the best education and support

How Have We Designed Our Curriculum?

1. We have designed a curriculum that is relevant and contemporary.

    

   1) Our curriculum is reflective of our core mission:

   Aspire, Believe, Achieve: Together in Christ

   Aspire

   We encourage our pupils to be aspirational through a broad programme of cultural capital – experiences and off site trips which open the world to our pupils. We have incorporated the study of inspirational scientists into our curriculum. We collaborate with a variety of occupations including the fire service, police force, Sky Academy, Brit School

   Believe

   Gospel Values are at the heart of all that we do. We ensure a robust liturgical programme throughout the year that includes the regular celebration of Mass, Benediction, Confession, prayer and worship; Stations of the Cross. Each half-term focuses on a different Gospel value which complements our focus on different British Values for the different year groups.

   We encourage our pupils to harness a sense of self-belief.

   Achieve

   We celebrate achievement, effort and mistakes that help our children to learn.

   2) Our curriculum is reflective of our context and locality, reflecting the needs of our children in Heston

   1. a) Cultural Diversity

   As a school in Hounslow, we ensure that our pupils’ personal development is grounded in acceptance and understanding of all. Our curriculum has been designed to reflect this.  Our curriculum has also been designed to ensure that pupils understand they are an important part of a global community.

   Examples of our Curriculum Design:

   • - Windrush (Year 4)
   • - Remembrance 1914-1918: this includes a study of Walter Tull, the first black British Army Officer (Year 6)
   • - the Civil Rights Movement (Year 6)
   • - colonialism and the British Empire (Year 6)
   • - inspirational and diverse scientists (Year 2- Year 6);
   • - the people of the Masai Mara (Year 2)

    

   We ensure the availability of culturally diverse reading material – a diverse range of authors is included in our 3pm Read - and we celebrate Black History month to complement the areas of study in our curriculum.  We teach a multi-faith programme - alongside our study of the Catholic faith - and we welcome external links with these other faiths.

   We celebrate our link with Mbabzi Primary School in Malawi – our Year 5 children correspond with the pupils there – and we celebrate our cultural diversity as one community through our annual Cultural Diversity Day and International Food event.

   1. b) The Locality

   We have designed our curriculum to ensure that our locality is central to our children’s learning. We have included the Tudors in our history curriculum due to our proximity to Hampton Court Palace and we also visit other local buildings of note e.g. Osterley House, Gunnersbury Park Museum. We make use of the locality in topics such as Heston Detectives (Year 4) and much of our map work centres around the local area. We are fortunate to have close links with London and its museums and galleries. We also ensure that our visits to London are by public transport to ensure that our children become responsible members of the public.

   3) 21^st Century World, 21^st Century Learners - Sustainability and Life Skills

   Sustainability

   Examples of our Curriculum Topics:

   • Water, Water Everywhere! In Year 4
   • The Earth’s Resources (sustainable versus non-renewable resources) in Year 5

   and our science curriculum topics, all of which are reflective of a positive approach to sustainability and our quest to develop global citizens of the 21^st century with a sound understanding of climate change and how we can work towards saving our planet for future generations.

   We have introduced an Eco shop and we are fortunate enough to have a conservation area where we have planted wild flowers.

   Life Skills

   Examples of our Curriculum Design:

   • Social Media: Friend or Foe? (Year 6). This topic explores a theme that has a huge influence on society, both positive and negative. Pupils explore ways to manage the pressures of social media and ways in which to stay safe online, which is supported by our work on E-Safety.

    

   • Managing Money (Year 6)
   • The History of Democracy (Year 5). This topic studies the signing of the Magna Carta to our present constitution. It is an important theme for our pupils as citizens of the 21^st century and is closely linked with our work on British Values. We ensure that our pupils study democracy and the importance of voting as a member of a national and global society. 

    

   We also ensure that there is a robust programme of Internet Safety (all years) and a wide programme of cultural capital and off site trips which open the wider world to our pupils.

   Our residential trip to the Isle of Wight in Year 6 encourages our children to become independent, resilient and accountable for themselves. Our robust PSHE programme ensures that our children know how to safeguard themselves and others and we have introduced a First Aid course in Year 5 to ensure that they are equipped to deal with medical emergencies.

   We encourage our children to participate in a range of  public speaking events i.e. assemblies, productions, and that they have the opportunity to experience positions of responsibility i.e. JRS officers, Eco shop staff, librarians, Young Leaders, Wellbeing Champions, Rosary Apostles. Our children have designed our Growth Mindset characters which focus on independence, resilience, challenge and self motivation.

   4) Life-long readers

   We encourage our children to develop a life-long love of reading. We provide the skills required for early reading through our chosen scheme Read, Write Inc. and we ensure that we instil reading confidence in our children by regular reading opportunities in class and by providing home reading books that match the sounds learned in lessons. We believe that this promotes a feeling of success which leads to confidence in reading.

   We provide a variety of diverse, rich reading materials in our classrooms and in our libraries, and we have designed a curriculum that provides opportunities for reading across subjects e.g. in history, geography, science and RE. We believe that a positive reading culture, and the ability to read well, opens a world of opportunity for our children as they grow to adulthood and is a moral obligation.

The Principles of Our Curriculum Design

 Subject leaders use the following principles to ensure the success of our curriculum. 

Relevance
We aim to ensure that real live experiences are supported.  Topics that take account of our community and wider world are key.  We provide opportunities for pupils to transfer skills across the curriculum.

Priorities from School Development Planning  2022-2025

Our School Development Plan 2022-2025 sets out the priorities for the school over the next three years. The six areas below link to what we are implementing to support our curriculum offer.