At Sacred Heart, our aim is to provide the very best education and the most exciting opportunities to inspire our children. The curriculum we offer is bespoke and is based upon the national curriculum requirements but contextualised in a way which is more meaningful for our children and our community. Our 3-5-7 vision and values are the main drivers of the curriculum, particularly our 'Five Keys' characteristics we want each of pupils to possess by the time they leave in Year 6.
At Sacred Heart, our curriculum is all about developing creative, critical thinkers with access to rich embedded knowledge who are equipped with the confidence, ability and desire to make the world a better place.
The teaching of English is at the heart of our learning and teaching and is essential to every area of the curriculum. We aim to develop a child’s love of reading through widespread reading for enjoyment. We promote and encourage children to discover the value of strong communication skills and the importance of reading and writing in all aspects.
At Sacred Heart, we want our children to receive a high quality mathematics education that ensures all pupils are fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, have the ability to reason mathematically and can apply their knowledge and understanding to solve problems. We also want them to have an appreciation of the power of mathematics and a sense of fun and curiosity about the subject. We predominantly use 'White Rose' as a scheme for teaching Maths but this is enhanced through a wider range of resources, when appropriate, to introduce concepts in a highly scaffolded way through concrete, pictorial and abstract learning. This enables children to develop critical thinking skills, make mathematical connections and become confident mathematicians.
We study the separate subject disciplines for the Foundation Subjects, however, we have a joined up approach to the curriculum for Geography, History, Art and DT (with strong links to the English curriculum also) to allow children to re-enforce their knowledge and make links in their understanding. Each half term, the humanities and creative subjects are alternated. For example, in Autumn 1, every year group will study History and Art. The focus will change to Geography and DT in Autumn 2. We follow separate schemes of work for RE, PSHE, Computing, Music, Spanish and Science making links to other subjects where appropriate. Topics of study have been carefully selected so that there is even coverage of the National Curriculum, opportunities to explore ideas in depth, revisit and expand upon previous learning and make links between subjects. In English, children study quality books, plays and poems that are chosen to deepen children’s understanding of the focus topic. All units of study are built around planned practical learning opportunities such as field work, museum visits and workshops that enrich children’s learning further.
A Sacred Heart Child:
When a child leaves Sacred Heart at the end of Year 6 we aspire for them to have developed the following qualities (known to our community as 'The Five Keys'):
| The Five Keys | What do these mean? |
|---|---|
Hunger to Achieve
| To work hard, even in the face of challenges and difficulties. To become better at something today that they found harder yesterday. To be aspirational for themselves with a sense of their own potential and how they can succeed in what they want to achieve
|
The Power of Me
| To be resilient To be able to self- regulate their emotions To understand the importance of physical and emotional wellbeing and have strategies to achieve this |
Community Unity
| To be compassionate, show respect for others, value difference and diversity and be able to work collaboratively.
To be an active citizen with the tools to participate in a democratic society and make a difference.
To treat their neighbours as they would like to be treated, linking with the Gospel values of our school and mission statement: 'To respect our neighbour'.
|
Curiosity and Wonder | To be able to think critically and creatively and have the skills to find things out, ask questions, solve problems, reason, analyse and debate.
To be curious, have a thirst for knowledge, make connections between things they have learnt about and apply their learning in different contexts. |
Being Safe and Responsible | To be safe in all areas of life, both on and offline.
To make safe and responsible decisions when presented with choices.
To be able to identify trusted adults around them. |
We believe by developing these qualities, our children will be ready for the next stage of their educational journey, have high aspirations for themselves and a strong sense of respect and belonging for their community.