Curriculum

Our Curriculum Statement 2023-2024

At Slaithwaite C.E J. I School we offer a broad and balanced curriculum that gives every child a wealth of learning experiences throughout his or her time in our school. The curriculum is matched to individual pupil needs and planned carefully to support progress for all our children both in their well-being and their achievement.

We follow the National Curriculum for Key Stages One and Two, and the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum in the Reception year. We strongly believe though that these statutory curriculums are only one element in the education of our children. We aim to broaden a child’s knowledge, skills and experience through an enriching theme-based curriculum that inspires learning and supports the development of creativity, problem solving and enjoyment in learning.

Further to this, we want to ensure our children feel happy, safe, engaged and challenged in their learning. We aim to provide an experience of school life and learning that allow our children to become independent, resilient, ‘well-rounded’, responsible and self-motivated citizens. Our vision is to teach our children the 5 R’s which are: responsibility, respect, resilience, relationships and reflection.

We value and celebrate the abilities and strengths of all our children, taking care and attention to ensure we strive to meet their individual needs. We do this through our excellent outdoor environment, our attention to individual pupils needs and our continuing staff professional development.
 

As required, we teach RHSE across all key stages in line with the agreed syllabus for all schools.
We follow a cycle of curriculum themes, which is reviewed, on an annual basis. When planning our curriculum, we always consider the following questions:

• What are our children interested in?
• What do the children want to learn about?
• What will the future be like for our children?
• What do our school community want us to teach?
• Can we add anything to enhance learning from everybody’s suggestions?
• Are our topics and themes still relevant and enjoyable for our children?
• Are we supporting all our children in their individual curricular and extra-curricular needs?
• Are we ensuring that the pastoral and wellbeing needs of all our children are being met?

Through exploring the answers to these questions, we decided that our curriculum should provide our children not only with a wide knowledge base, but also with the skills and confidence to apply their learning and knowledge to all aspects of life.
 

The teaching of key skills is delivered through a creative and cross-curricular approach that allows children to understand the links between curriculum subjects and to apply their skills from one subject area into another.
Furthermore, we hope our curriculum provides continued opportunities for the children to develop and pursue their own interests in learning and to take a greater lead and responsibility for their own learning.
We follow “Understanding Christianity” from the Diocese to support our teaching of RE and our collective worship along with the LA syllabus.
 

We also follow a programme of themes for the promotion of the spiritual, moral, cultural and social development of children at our school. This series of themes helps to prepare our pupils for the opportunities and responsibilities of adult life.

If you would like any further information regarding the curriculum please contact the school office.