At Holy Cross, we have developed an inclusive curriculum and continue to ensure accessibility for all of our children. This relates to our Accessibility Plan, SEND Policy and SEND Information Report, as well as the SEND Code of Practice. We aim to increase access to the curriculum for pupils with a disability, expanding and making reasonable adjustments to the curriculum as necessary to ensure that pupils with a disability are as equally prepared for life as are the able-bodied pupils. This covers teaching and learning and the wider curriculum of the school such as participation in after-school clubs, leisure and cultural activities or school visits. It also covers the provision of specialist aids and equipment, which may assist these pupils in accessing the curriculum.
Curriculum Information
"The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives."
Holy Cross provides its pupils with a broad, balanced curriculum which is underpinned by our Mission Statement ‘We care, we share, we value’. The core values of our Catholic education remain central to the life of our school and we want our children to have a sense of self-worth through their experience of belonging to a caring community. We aim to develop the importance of values, whilst respecting the differences of others.
Intent
We provide an environment in which the dignity of each person as a child of God is recognised, developed and promoted through a curriculum that develops spiritual, academic, social and emotional growth. Our curriculum not only engages our children but also reflects them; providing learning that has local, national and international dimensions. We have a growing, rich, varied and multi-cultural community and we have collaborated as a staff to create a curriculum that is rich in cultural capital.
At Holy Cross, children to build on their learning, progressively acquiring the knowledge and skills needed for the next stage in their education. This means ensuring children are confident in reading, writing and maths, which supports them in fully accessing the broad curriculum and enrichment opportunities available. Pupils are given opportunities to rehearse and embed these skills daily. They are challenged not only to develop their understanding, but to master and articulate it. As a result, our pupils are successful, self-motivated, independent learners who love to learn.
Implementation
As a school, we place a high importance on academic learning, and we take the progress and attainment of each child into account, however, we also view each child as a complete person, and our curriculum has been tailored to ensure that each child recognises their place in our community
and in our ever-changing world. At the heart of our RE programme is the mystery of God’s selfrevelation of love through Jesus Christ. Come and See gives pupils the opportunity to explore the mystery of faith through Scripture and Tradition.
Our curriculum has been designed to reflect that life at Holy Cross is rich, varied, caring, inclusive, exciting, challenging, inspiring, but, above all, rewarding. Our approach to teaching across the whole curriculum puts children at the heart of their own learning, taking an active part in lessons and ensuring that the children are rich in language and cultural capital by the time they leave us to continue their educational journey. We recognise that children have a thirst for knowledge and we are committed to nurturing young: writers, performers, readers, international speakers, mathematicians, scientists, historians, geographers, artists, designers, musicians, sports persons, computer users and so much more. We aim to provide the building blocks of knowledge that enable the children to make progress through fostering the qualities of resilience and inquiry along with age appropriate keeping safe messages.
For our children to fully develop these aptitudes, language is a key focus, both to develop the children’s communication abilities, and also to provide them with the rich and specific vocabulary from across the curriculum that underpins and enhances their subject specific knowledge and understanding. Our curriculum is built upon knowledge and aims to develop the children’s skills and understanding as they progress throughout school. Learning is enhanced by carefully planned educational visits, themed-weeks and extra-curricular activities. Children are taught to understand their brains and how they think and learn as we develop their metacognitive skills, memory and thinking skills.
Impact
The aims of our curriculum are:
- A Catholic education based on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, in which the values of the Gospel underpin all aspects of school life using the ‘Come and See’ Catholic syllabus
- An environment in which the dignity of each person as a child of God is recognised and developed; and to promote the full potential of each child through a curriculum which develops spiritual, academic, social and emotional growth
- Children are able to recognise Gospel Values and British Value and apply these within all areas of their lives
- Children will have firm foundations created in knowledge, skills and understanding; preparing them for a future of learning
- Promoting a positive attitude towards learning and knowledge, so that children enjoy coming to school, and acquire a solid basis for lifelong learning
- Enabling children to be creative and to develop their own thinking and questioning
- Enabling children with opportunities to develop their critical thinking skills by playing and exploring creating and thinking critically and active learning
- Children have awareness and understanding about their changing world, including how their environment and society have changed over time
- Enabling children to be positive global citizens in society
- Fulfilling all the requirements of the National Curriculum
- Children to have an awareness of their own and other religious and spiritual development
- Children understand the importance of truth and fairness, so that they grow up committed to equal opportunities for all
- Children to have respect for themselves, high self-esteem and to be able to live and work co-operatively with others.
We shall assess our success in achieving these aims by the use of regular teacher assessment, nationally standardised tests and consultation with pupils and parents.