St Joseph's Catholic Primary School

The Catholic ethos, based on Gospel values, underpins all of the learning and activity in St Joseph's. The RE curriculum aims to help children develop and appreciate the teachings of Jesus through his work on earth, and how they can grow and reach their full potential, showing love and care for others.

The RE scheme is "God Matters", which is based on ten units of learning, based on the Liturgical calendar, Jesus's life and work, and how people live out their faith in the  modern world. It also includes learning about other religions, so that the children develop an understanding and tolerance of other people's beliefs.

At St Joseph’s we provide a well-rounded programme of study for PSHE (Personal, Social, Health education) which covers all elements of National Curriculum expectations as well as provision to develop citizenship, SMSC and British Values across the curriculum. PSHE is a highly valued subject as it provides our children with the support, understanding and skills they need for life in order to make good choices, become life-long learners and stay safe in our ever changing world. Our PSHE scheme of work helps to enhance learning and development of the whole child and ensures that our Catholic values remain integral to and at the heart of everything we do.

Across the school we learn about the same topics in a ‘Spiral Curriculum’ which builds upon and develops skills, knowledge and understanding year on year in a progressive and age appropriate way.

For the core subjects of English, maths and science, we follow the National Curriculum. We provide a broad and balanced curriculum and use topic based learning for the Foundation subjects.

In Early Years and KS1 the children learning phonics through the "Letters and Sounds" programme, supplemented by "Jolly Phonics".

Reading is also developed using the system of "Book Bands" where there is progression through books placed in coloured reading bands. The books are linked to the letters and sounds that the children are learning.

There are many terms now used in grammar which may be new to parents. The following glossary is a list and explanation of all of the terms used, which will help parents to understand and support children with their grammar.

NATIONAL CURRICULUM WEBSITE