Proverbs 2:6

"For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding".

What are our key curriculum drivers and why have we chosen them?

Our school has used local knowledge and discussions with pupils, parents and teachers to carefully consider what our children need to learn in relation to the context that they are growing up in.  

First and foremost St Joseph's is a Catholic school, we embed Gospel values and Catholic Social Teaching in all that we do...

A curriculum of ...possibilities...

At St Joseph's Catholic Primary we value and celebrate each child as an individual with a unique potential for learning.  We are a small school with big ambition for our pupils.  We believe in holistic development- developing the whole child- academically, spiritually, morally and physically.  We want all our children to have aspirations and dreams for the future and as such we aim to provide a broad, balanced, engaging and exciting curriculum, opening up a world of  'possibilities' to our children.  We provide a broad curriculum by offering the full-range of National Curriculum subjects that are: taught excellently, that are sequenced thoughtfully for progression, that are resourced creatively and that are memorable because they are themed around inspiring topics that stimulate a contagious buzz of intellectual curiosity. Theming learning around topics makes the content meaningful, contextual and relevant for pupils.  We provide a balanced curriculum by valuing the development of both knowledge and skills. Having a cross-curricular 'thematic' approach enriches the balance and breadth of our curriculum.  Our learning is sequential and we focus on pupils knowing more and doing more as they progress through our school.  We take full advantage of using the 'great outdoors' and our excellent and unique coastal locality.  We value cultural learning and recognise the arts for well-being.

How do we map out our curriculum?

The topic maps below tell you which topics your child learning about in any given term or half-term.  These are explained in more detail at our initial 'Meet the Teacher' sessions, as well as through termly letters and the weekly Homework sheet.  If you require any further information about what your child is currently studying, please ask your child's Class teacher. 

The topic maps above cover our foundation curriculum knowledge and skills in: History, Geography, Art and Design Technology- they also indicate where a scheme is followed for example in RE, PE, Computing, Science and Music.  As we promote cross-curricular teaching, our English learning will be themed around the topic too and focus around a class text, these texts can be seen on our mapped English curriculum. 

The teachers use these curriculum overviews and topic maps to plan exciting topics.  Teachers create a knowledge organiser for each topic and these are shared with pupils and parents.  The teachers think carefully about what they want to teach and the order that they wish to teach it; they aim to build on prior-learning, address any gaps and identify children quickly who may be falling behind.  Teachers aim to build depth of learning and breadth of coverage.

Paper copies of any of the above documents can be provided- please request via your child's teacher or the school office.

Curriculum and Assessment is led by our Deputy Headteacher Samantha Golding.  If you are interested or want to find out more please do contact him deputy@st-josephs-dovercourt.essex.sch.uk