St Cuthbert’s curriculum design has four key themes which were agreed by staff and Governors to address the needs of our pupils:
- Oracy – Speech and language development is a barrier for many of our children. We believe that to achieve children need to be confident to speak, express their views, perform and have exposure to a rich and varied vocabulary. This theme runs across our curriculum.
- Hartlepool – We believe children need to know about their town and where they live. The history, what it has to offer and why they should look after it. Our aim is to create children who love and know their town and will contribute to its success and development in the future.
- Health and Wellbeing – We believe our children need to have the skills to make good choices in terms of their health and wellbeing and know where help is and what they can do to ensure they are safe in and out of school.
- Resilience -We believe that life can bring about unexpected changes, problems and challenges. Our children need to develop skills to recognise when they need help, where they can seek help and have the resilience to bounce back. This thread is evident across our curriculum.
Oracy – communication and language permeate the early years, this continues in to KS1 through first thing music, role play and talk4 writing and then in to KS2 through our Shakespeare, performance and drama.
Hartlepool – we use local examples throughout the curriculum and ensure all children attend a local trip each year for example Summer Hill country park, the local coastline, the Heugh Battery, Teesmouth and many more. We celebrate our wonderful town wherever possible.
Health and wellbeing – weekly wellbeing sessions take place in all classes; the GREAT DREAM is taught explicitly in Spring/Summer term and we have a mental health practitioner in school weekly who runs sessions for children and staff. Many links are made throughout our curriculum to teach health and safety i.e., E safety, science and RHSE.
Resilience – children are challenged. They are sometimes pushed outside their ‘comfort zones’ to try new things, bounce back and work with new people or groups. All children are encouraged to keep going and persevere. Specific examples are role modelled by teachers and praise is given and highlighted where resilience is shown.
In our Foundation subjects we follow the Bishop Hogarth Trust programmes in History, Geography, Science, Art, DT and French. Key concepts (thresholds) are explicitly taught and time is given to revisit prior learning and apply new learning. Subject leaders ensure progression and coverage across school.