St Paul 'sWelcome to our Curriculum Page
'A Courageous Community built on Love, Care, Joy and Peace'
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Joshua 1.9
At the heart of the Worlebury St Paul's curriculum are our six core Christian values of Courage, Community, Love, Care, Joy and Peace. These values are embedded and are the important thread that connects all the learning together.
Christian Values and Curriculum
As a school that believes in Learning without Limits, we aim to provide an authentic, purposeful curriculum, rooted in Christian values, that engages and inspires our children through active, challenging, meaningful, public and collaborative learning. We have developed a set of Core Practices which drive our teaching and learning. These practices are our vision for school improvement and development. This document is at the heart of continuing professional development and is continually referred to.
Worlebury St Paul's Core Practices
Worlebury St Paul's Teaching and Learning Protocols
Worlebury School builds a culture of trust, respect, agency, inclusion, courage, and kindness, where children and adults are committed to quality work and citizenship. School structures and traditions such as crew, community builders, exhibitions of children’s work, and service learning ensure that every child is known and cared for, that children’s leadership is nurtured, and that contributions to the school and world are celebrated. Children and staff are supported to do better work and be better people than they thought possible.
At the heart of our Learning Without Limits approach are ten learning design principles drawn from Expeditionary Learning and Outward Bound Education, Harvard University.
1. The Importance of Self-Discovery
2. The Having of Wonderful Ideas
3. The Responsibility for Learning
4. Empathy and Caring
5. Success and Failure
6. Collaboration and Competition
7. Diversity and Inclusion
8. The Natural World
9. Solitude and Reflection
10. Service and Compassion.
Worlebury St Paul's approach to curriculum makes standards come alive for children by connecting learning to real-world issues and needs. Academically robust learning projects based on key concepts, case studies, fieldwork and service learning inspire children to think and work as professionals do, contributing high-quality work to authentic audiences beyond the classroom.
Worlebury St Paul's Curriculum Overview
Jigsaw and British Values
We are using Jigsaw PSHE scheme across the school which uses a mindfulness approach. In combination with our Rights Respecting ethos, Jigsaw helps to promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of the law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. The leaflets below map the five strands of British values across every puzzle and every piece.
British values in Jigsaw by puzzle and year group
/docs/British-Values-in-Jigsaw-by-Lesson.pdf
British Values in Jigsaw by lesson
/docs/British-Values-in-Jigsaw-by-Puzzle-and-Year-Group.pdf
The Jigsaw Approach
Phonics (following DfE approved Phonics Programme: Bug Club Phonics) and Spelling
Worlebury St Paul's Phonics Programme
Our phonics programme is designed to take account of the varying learning needs of all children who engage in Systematic Synthetic Phonics (SSP) as the primary approach to the teaching and learning of early reading and writing.
Taking, what we believe, are the key and fundamental aspects of planning, teaching and learning from some of the most accredited phonic schemes, our school aims to:
- Foster a love of reading and writing for pleasure.
- Engage, motivate, challenge and stimulate all children in learning.
- Provide children with a consistent, interactive and kinaesthetic approach to learning.
- Utilise the learning of SSP within everyday reading and writing by drawing upon a range of resources and strategies in order to promote autonomy and greater independence in its application.
- Teach children to apply skills for reading and writing within the wider curriculum.
- Ensure that planning and teaching is flexible and responds to the needs of the class and each individual.
- Undertake regular and robust formative and summative assessments in order to track progress, identify gaps in learning and plan subsequent lessons in order to close gaps.
- Provide ongoing and frequent opportunities to revisit and apply learning in order to embed and internalise sounds into the long-term memory.
- Provide appropriate interventions as necessary in order to support additional learning needs and for children who are not currently at age-related-expectations (ARE) for reading and writing.
- Teach common sight words (‘red’ words) and encourage children to apply them in their independent reading and writing.
- Build confidence, enjoyment and a sense of achievement in order for children to read and write with fluency, expression and purpose for a range of audiences and contexts.
- Promote the teaching and learning of Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPaG) both discretely and by applying skills in reading and writing.
Reading
Reading is a complex process about making meaning. The reading process includes phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary development, and comprehension. In Worlebury School, comprehension strategies and critical thinking skills are taught from the EYFS to Year 6 to help children make sense of content and the world around them. Children learn to read while reading to learn. Children work with a balance of informational and literary text, and learn to read carefully to extract evidence from text. Complex text sources, whether primary or secondary source material, are used with all children as an enriching challenge. Like a steep mountain, complex text presents an opportunity for children to go beyond their perceived limits and accomplish more than they thought possible. Children - collectively and individually -tackle complex texts with care and patience as their reading skills are strengthened.
Reading is taught across all content areas because each subject area requires children to learn from different kinds of text (e.g. science articles, historical primary sources, maths word problems). By integrating reading throughout the day, schools convey to children the importance of reading, critical thinking, and meaning-making in school and in life.
Book Talk – Questions to use when talking to your child about their book
Top Tips for Reading with Your Child
100 Fiction Books all children should read
Writing
In Worlebury School, writing is taught across the curriculum. Children learn to write effectively to inform, to build arguments substantiated with evidence, and to write with literary power in narrative and poetic genres. Teachers in our school develop and teach a common language for the writing process and the traits of good writing derived from the National Curriculum. They use consistent practices for teaching and assessing writing. Through writing, children learn more deeply about content and communicate what they know. They learn to craft quality writing in a variety of contexts. Children write to learn while learning to write. Children have regular opportunities to write for authentic purposes and audiences beyond the classroom, which fosters motivation for producing quality writing. While the nature and amount of writing varies by discipline and age related expectations, writing is a central vehicle for learning and communicating in all classrooms.
Maths
In Worlebury School, maths is taught with robustness and integrity in discrete maths classes. Along with discrete maths instruction, maths is integrated into projects whenever possible, in a lead or supporting role. Teachers support mathematical thinking through concrete, pictorial and abstract approaches. . In the same way that we celebrate English through events, projects, community meetings, exhibitions, and hallway displays, mathematical thinking and learning is showcased and discussed throughout the building.
As a school, we focus on foundational facts for fluency - vocabulary, formulas, algorithms, and number facts - that are always grounded in conceptual understanding. Teachers ensure that children develop procedural fluency, calculating with accuracy and efficiency. There is an equally strong focus on problem-solving skills and critical thinking. Children learn to use appropriate technology strategically in problem-solving, technology tools are used not as a substitute for learning foundational facts, but to enhance conceptual understanding and problem-solving. At Worlebury School, we support children to think like mathematicians and cultivate mathematical habits of curiosity, risk-taking, perseverance, grit, and craftsmanship. Children learn to reason abstractly and quantitatively, model mathematically to empirical situations, and to construct and critique mathematical arguments. In our school, we aim to also recognise the “gates of opportunity” represented by high-level math concepts and prepare all children to have the opportunity to engage in high-level maths learning as part of a mastery to maths approach.
White Rose Overviews:
Religious Education
RE Themes Overview - all years
Relationships and Sex Education (RSE)
Definition of Relationships and Sex Education (RSE)
‘RSE is lifelong learning process of acquiring information, developing skills and forming positive beliefs and attitudes about sex, sexuality, relationships and feelings’ (Sex Education Forum, 1999).
Effective RSE can make a significant contribution to the development of the personal skills needed by pupils if they are to establish and maintain relationships. It also enables children and young people to make responsible and informed decisions about their health and well-being.
As we are a Church of England school, we will teach within a framework of Christian values and the Christian understanding that sex is a gift of God as part of creation. Whilst we use sex education to inform children about Relationships and Sex, we do this with regard to matters of morality and individual responsibility, and in a way that allows children to ask and explore moral questions. Sensitivity and respect will be shown to all children when teaching about personal Relationships and Sex Education and RSE should be taught in a way to ensure that there is no stigmatization of children based on their home/personal circumstances.
RSE and statutory duties in school
RSE plays a very important part in fulfilling the statutory duties all schools have to meet. RSE helps children understand the difference between good and bad relationships and equips them with the skills to get help if they need it. It also allows them to “embrace the challenges of creating a happy and successful adult life, pupils need knowledge that will enable them to make informed decisions about their well being, health and relationships and to build their self-efficacy.”(Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education Sep 2020). State-funded schools have responsibilities for safeguarding and a legal duty to promote pupil well-being (Education and Inspections Act 2006 Section 38). Updated government safeguarding guidance is now available (Keeping Children Safe in Education) and includes a section about being alert to signs that young girls may be at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM). School summer holiday especially during the transition from primary to secondary schools is thought to be a key risk time for FGM. See also the government Multi-agency practice guidelines: Female Genital Mutilation (2014) which includes a section for schools.
Equalities
The Equality Act 2010 covers the way the curriculum is delivered, as schools and other education providers must ensure that topics are taught in a way that does not subject pupils to discrimination. Schools have a duty under the Equality Act to ensure that teaching is accessible to all children and young people, including those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT). Inclusive RSE will foster good relations between pupils, tackle all types of prejudice – including homophobia – and promote understanding and respect. The Department for Education have produced advice on The Equality Act 2010 and schools (DfE 2014b).
Withdrawal from RSE lessons
Parents/carers have the right to withdraw their children from all or part of the Sex Education provided at school except for those parts included in statutory National Curriculum Science. Those parents/carers wishing to exercise this right are invited in to see the head teacher and/or RSE Leader who will explore any concerns and discuss any impact that withdrawal may have on the child. Once a child has been withdrawn, they cannot take part in the SE programme until the request for withdrawal has been removed. Materials are available to parents/carers who wish to supplement the school RSE programme or who wish to deliver RSE to their children at home. Relationship education has been made compulsory in all primary schools (Relationships Education, RSE and Health Education Regulations 2019).