Curriculum

"Pupils like coming to school . They say teachers make learning fun with memorable experiences to help bring the curriculum to life."

Ofsted November 2022

Vision

At Barkston Ash Catholic Primary School, our aim is to provide a world-class education, firmly rooted in our mission statement, ‘With God’s guidance, we grow and learn.”

Our unique Barkston Ash DNA is developed through providing a rich educational experience for all, encompassing three key areas:

-Spiritual Development

-Academic Achievement

-Personal Development

Barkston Ash DNA

Underpinning our curriculum is a commitment to ensure that the children of Barkston Ash Catholic Primary School possess the values that enable them to live well in society and prepare them to deal effectively with the modern world, appreciating the endless opportunities that await them.

Our unique ‘Barkston Ash DNA’ ensures that children leave our school:

• Respectful to all
• Spiritually strong
• Emotionally intelligent
• Socially confident
• Intellectually inspired

Intent

Our unique Barkston Ash curriculum focuses on three key areas: Academic achievement, Spiritual development and Personal development.

It includes not only the formal requirements of the National Curriculum, but also a high quality RE curriculum, enhanced through bespoke opportunities for all children, such as Prayer Garden visits, Mini Vinnies and Faith in Action groups.  A wide range of extra-curricular activities are provided and promoted in order to enrich the curriculum and provide opportunities to nurture the children's interests and talents, including visits, visitors, clubs and key roles such as peer mentors, reading ambassadors, prefects and play leaders.  Our curriculum is designed with enhanced content that we believe is important for our children to learn, such as international work, diversity awareness and the teaching of first aid skills to KS2. It also includes the ‘hidden curriculum’, or what the children learn from the way they are treated and expected to behave. We aim to teach children how to grow into positive, responsible people, who can work and co-operate with others while developing knowledge and skills, so that they achieve their true potential. All of this is underpinned by our Mission Statement, 'With God's guidance, we grow and learn.'

Aims and objectives

The aims of our school curriculum are:

• To provide a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum for all of our pupils, taking into account our Mission Statement and the need to work as a partnership through openness, trust and mutual respect with all those involved in the education of our children
• To ensure that the full curriculum is accessible to all children, including those with disabilities or special educational needs
• To provide a comprehensive programme of learning through clear progression of skills and knowledge in each curriculum area, using evidence-based research to give our children the best opportunities to learn more
• To present a stimulating environment in which all children will have the opportunity to build on their existing skills and be encouraged to strive for targets as identified by both teachers and pupils
• To promote positive mental health, understanding of diversity and the importance of aspirations; all of which will support our children now and in their futures
• To give the children a greater awareness of their immediate environment and community, helping them to understand how they can contribute to this and fully appreciate its value
• To embed current topical issues into the curriculum, in addition to nationally recognised theme days and weeks
• To encourage the development of lively and enquiring minds through the curriculum programme and through the social interaction of daily school life, fostering positive attitudes towards our environment and our community.

Implementation

Children are taught all curriculum subjects each term.  Learning sequences are designed so that children are given the best opportunities to make long term changes in their memories and deep learning to take place.  Staff keep abreast of current educational research in order to support their practice as teachers and subject leaders.

English, maths and reading lessons take place daily.  

RE, PSHE, Science, computing and PE lessons take place weekly.

Studies in geography and history alternate on a half-termly basis.

Studies in music and French alternate on a weekly basis.

Studies in art and D&T are blocked each half-term.

Our curriculum is carefully designed to support effective progression of knowledge, skills and understanding within each curriculum area.  For further information regarding how and when individual subjects are taught and curriculum coverage, please see the 'Subject areas' tab under the 'Curriculum' heading.

Impact

Children demonstrate that they meet the aims of the school curriculum and achieve well across all subject areas.  They promote learning and possess drive and determination to succeed.  They demonstrate high academic achievement compared to their individual starting points and experience strong spiritual and personal development throughout their Barkston Ash journey.  

Promoting British Values

As a Catholic school, with the help of our families, our parish and our local community, we will do our best to use the gifts that God has given us.

In September 2014, the Department for Education introduced a statutory duty for schools to promote British Values, and to ensure they are taught in schools.

At Barkston Ash Catholic Primary School, we recognise the multi-cultural, multi-faith and ever-changing nature of the United Kingdom. We also understand the vital role we have in ensuring that groups or individuals within the school are not subjected to intimidation or radicalisation by those wishing to unduly, or illegally, influence them. The school follows equal opportunities guidance which guarantees that there will be no discrimination against any individual or group, regardless of faith, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, political or financial status, or similar.  We are dedicated to preparing students for their adult life beyond the formal, examined curriculum and ensuring that we promote and reinforce British Values to all of our students.

Our poster below outlines some of the ways that we promote British Values here at Barkston Ash: