Our Lady of the Wayside Catholic Primary School
School Curriculum - Our Values, Methodology and Outcomes
Section 1: Our School’s Values
As a Catholic school we believe that every human being is created in God’s image and likeness and therefore is valuable and worthy of respect. We believe that Christ called us to love one another and that unless Christ is at the very heart of all that we are and all that we do, than we cannot be a Catholic School.
This call to love one another is used as the basis in the formation of Our Lady of the Wayside School’s values; values which underpin all our actions and which have been used to inform and shape the design of our school curriculum. These values are to be found rooted in the Beatitudes, the proclamation of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. These values are:
These values represent the aspirations we have for each and every child within our school community. They are integral to every aspect of school life and are woven into the fabric our curriculum’s intent, our curriculum’s implementation and how we evaluate and measure our curriculum’s success.
Section 2: Our School’s Methodology
Whilst our values form the basis of our core purpose as a school, and importantly as a Catholic school, we also have a shared and an agreed methodology. Our methodology informs how we put our values into action, both through our curriculum design and the manner in which it is implemented. Our methodology is:
Section 3: Implementation of our Curriculum
Our Lady of the Wayside school leaders believe that class teachers are best placed in determining the learning sequence and the amount of lesson time required at that particular moment in time. To ensure our curriculum is successfully implemented (pupils knowing more, remembering more and being able to do more) teaching will react to the learning needs of the pupils based upon daily teacher assessments; what we refer to as assessment for learning or formative assessment. In practice, this means we operate a dynamic timetable with no set lesson times. When considering lesson timings, the class teacher will consider the teaching and learning focus. We have identified five foci:
Focus 1 – To acquire (the knowledge is taught)
Focus 2 – To be fluent (the knowledge is performed accurately and fluently)
Focus 3 – To maintain (the knowledge is retained and is retrievable)
Focus 4 – To generalise (the knowledge is applied to different situations)
Focus 5 - To adapt (the knowledge is adapted to suit new situations and contexts)
Lesson timings will reflect these foci, for example, if the focus of teaching was on children acquiring new knowledge, the length of the lesson would be reduced to avoid over loading the child’s working memory. In contrast, where the focus is on generalising and adapting knowledge gained, the length of the lesson is likely to be longer and driven by a learning task, or a skill based activity.
Section 3.1: Curriculum Content
Each curriculum subject is mapped, annually, onto a long term plan (LTP). This identifies the order in which concepts and knowledge are to be taught and ensures full curriculum coverage. As new knowledge builds upon existing knowledge, we believe it is essential that there are no knowledge gaps within our curriculum.
In addition to this long term plan, school leaders and curriculum champions have carefully considered and mapped knowledge end points for each subject; end points are sometimes referred to as curricula goals and are statements of knowledge outcomes. Here at Our Lady of the Wayside Catholic School, we refer to these end points as our ‘scope statements’. We used the 2014 National Curriculum to identify scope statements before adding our own School scope statements; these statements reflect our values and aspirations. The final stage of the process was the identification of the components parts of learning where each scope statement was broken down into smaller steps. When considering the sequence of learning, some components parts will be taught in a particular order; for others, the order is unimportant and the order is decided upon by the class teacher.
Our Lady of the Wayside School uses Microsoft Excel to map and record the implementation of our scope and components statements.
Section 4: Understanding Impact (Making a Difference)
Learning is defined by pyschologists as, ‘an alteration in long-term memory. If nothing has been altered in long-term memory, nothing has been learned.’ Sweller, J et al (2011). At Our Lady of the Wayside Catholic School, we believe academic achievement is defined by pupils knowing more, remembering more and doing more with the knowledge gained.
We review each child’s learning journey on a regular basis. We think of them as a historian, a scientist, a geographer etc. We use the language of developing, embedding or established to capture the child’s achievement and we have developed corresponding descriptors:
| Descriptors
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Developing
| Knowing – The child has begun to learn key knowledge and is beginning to give some accurate responses. We refer to this as acquisition and fluency. Remembering – The child can independently recall some of the key knowledge taught with increasing accuracy. They may have to rely on prompts to help them to remember. We refer to this as learning maintenance. Doing - They require some support to transfer and apply knowledge. We refer to this as generalisation and adaption.
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Embedding
| Knowing –The child has learnt the key knowledge and can make accurate responses with increasing speed. We refer to this as acquisition and fluency. Remembering – The child can independently recall the majority of the key knowledge taught with accuracy and over time. Where there are small gaps, your child responds quickly when prompted. We refer to this as learning maintenance. Doing - They require a little support to transfer and apply knowledge. We refer to this as generalisation and adaption.
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Established
| Knowing – The child has learnt key knowledge and can make accurate responses fluently (automaticity). We refer to this as acquisition and fluency. Remembering – The child can independently recall all of the key knowledge taught over time. They can supplement this taught knowledge with additional knowledge learnt outside of the classroom. We refer to this as learning maintenance. Doing - They require no support to transfer and apply knowledge, this include applying knowledge to different contexts. We refer to this as generalisation and adaption. |
Section 4.1 Assessment and Recording Judgements
We have developed a three stage approach to the gathering and recording of assessments.
Stage 1 Assessments: These are ongoing and often informal assessments. Information is gathered from a variety of sources, including; outcomes from adult observations, a child’s response within lessons, outcomes from learning activities, assess and review outcomes and feedback from the child themselves. This information is used by class teachers to build a picture of each child’s achievements. It is also informs the next steps in the teaching sequence for groups of pupils and for the individual pupil.
Stage 2 Assessments: This is summative process which involves the class teacher making a judgement on a particular element of a subject, for example, a child’s achievement in the addition and subtraction element of mathematics. The class teacher will make their judgement using information gathered from Stage 1 assessment, this may be supplemented by outcomes of formal testing. The Stage 2 judgement will never be made on the outcome of a single test. Curriculum champions, and school leaders, will use this information to identify curriculum strengths and areas for development. Stage 2 assessments will inform curriculum planning, resourcing and the professional development needs of teaching staff.
Stage 3 Assessments: Stage 3 assessments are very similar in purpose and format to Stage 2 assessments. They differ in that the class teacher makes a judgement on the subject as a whole, not on a particular element of the subject. The class teacher will make their judgement using information gathered from Stage 1 and Stage 2 assessments. The information is used to measure school effectiveness linked to a particular subject and to inform school improvement priorities. This information will be shared and reviewed by curriculum champions, school leaders, Our Lady of the Wayside’s Local Governing Body and Our Lady and All Saints Catholic MAC.
Section 4.2 Sharing Teacher Assessments
From 1st September 2022, we have introduced new arrangements for sharing achievement information with the child and their parents. Our new arrangements aim to:
Approximately every six weeks, children and parents receive a mini written report, what we refer to as a Pupil Report Card. Pupil Reports Cards contain information related to:
Following the issuing of the latest Pupil Report Card, parents are invited to join with their child, and their child’s class teacher for a Pupil Review Meeting. These meetings will discuss what is going well and agree the next steps (targets). The child, and the child’s voice, at the heart of these meetings.