Our vision for the St John’s Curriculum:

A curriculum that is highly relevant, challenging, inspiring and stimulating to all children across the school through creative, well planned and resourced lessons that enable the children to have meaningful first hand experiences in school and beyond.

Introduction

The St John’s ‘Children’s Curriculum’ is a thematic curriculum underpinned by a rigorous approach to the teaching and learning of the core skills – reading, writing and mathematics.  Priority is placed on ensuring that these skills are taught progressively throughout the school with clear, whole school expectations and approaches.  Reading, writing and mathematics are taught daily to every child at St John’s.

Our curriculum ensures we meet all of the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum (2014). However this has been enhanced and agreed by the staff of St John’s to ensure that the content is best matched to the needs of our children.

What is a “Thematic Curriculum”?

This is a way of teaching and learning, whereby many areas of the curriculum are connected together and integrated within a theme. It allows learning to be more natural and less fragmented whilst ensuring the integrity of the teaching of individual subjects remains. 

The aim of the St John's Children's curriculum:

The St John’s ‘Children’s Curriculum’ aims to develop learners who:

• know themselves;
• are aware of others;
• are global citizens;
• possess a body of knowledge;
• are personally empowered to learn.

Know themselves:

The St John’s curriculum aims to develop children who will demonstrate they know themselves, by confidently expressing and articulating their feelings and views in a range of appropriate ways. When faced with challenges, the children are supported to develop a range of strategies that allow them to respond with confidence, self-assurance and resilience. In order to overcome difficulties, they can use a variety of strategies and take responsibility to make positive choices. Children are principled in their opinions and have high self-esteem, allowing them to be confident in dealing with peer pressures and outside influences.

Are aware of others:

The St John’s curriculum aims to develop children who are compassionate, supportive and empathetic towards others. They work together, communicating clearly and co-operating with each other. They are aware of, and show respect for different faiths, beliefs and cultures and value the opinions of others. They show courtesy and manners towards everyone. They are able to demonstrate leadership skills that are rooted in mutual respect, truth and love. 

Are global citizens:

The St John’s curriculum aims to develop children who understand they are citizens of the wider world. They are aware of environmental, local and global issues. By using their voice and through their actions, they are able to have an impact and make a difference, standing up for what they believe in, in an appropriate and well thought out way.

Possess a body of Knowledge

The St John’s curriculum aims to support children to acquire a wealth of knowledge through a wide range of experiences and opportunities, inside and outside of the classroom. As they progress through the school, they are able to consolidate and build on previous knowledge and understanding, making links with their earlier learning. As well as developing their knowledge and understanding in core subjects, St John’s children are provided with wider opportunities to achieve success. This is in a range of fields including the arts and sports as well as developing their personal skills to enhance their knowledge and understanding.

Are personally empowered to learn:

The St John’s curriculum aims to develop pupils who have a passion for learning; they are self-motivated, ask questions and take risks in their learning to reach their own personal goals. When faced with obstacles, they show resilience, actively learning from their mistakes and find solutions to problems. They are self-reflective, evaluating and adapting to develop and deepen their understanding. As independent learners, children are able to organise their time effectively. Children understand that they are the active participants in their learning and they hold the key to their own success.  

Learning Behaviours

In order to achieve our aim of pupils being personally empowered to learn, children at St John’s work within our six learning behaviours.  These complement our Christian values and support pupils to be empowered to learn.  Our six learning behaviours are: adaptable; resilient; independent; collaborative; curious; and motivated.

Below you can find more information about each learning behaviour as well as the strapline linked to the behaviour.

Curriculum organisation

At St John's we operate a two year rolling curriculum in Years 1-6 to accommodate our mixed year group structure. This ensures all children will receive the whole curriculum without ever repeating a theme. Year R have a one year curriculum as they are taught in a single age classes

Below you can find more information about what is taught in each phase along with more details about each subject area.