Our Curriculum at Our Lady of Compassion School
~ A Knowledge Rich Curriculum ~
OUR ETHOS
At Our Lady of Compassion School, in line with our Catholic ethos, we believe that everyone has a special part to play in God’s plan. As a fully inclusive school, we welcome all children with their individual strengths and needs and strive to give them the best opportunities to be able to participate in school life, progress and achieve their full potential. We believe that all children are entitled to a knowledge rich and diverse curriculum that is delivered through high quality adaptive teaching to meet the needs of all children; our approaches support the children in developing their collaborative and independent skills, as well as empathy and the need to recognise the achievements of others. Our mission statement, “To live as Jesus taught us”, is the golden standard of our lived experiences at OLC, enriching our curriculum and the children’s personal development.
OUR CURRICULUM INTENT
“An education in the fullness of humanity should be the defining feature of Catholic schools.”
Pope Francis
At Our Lady of Compassion School, we are committed to provide our children with a knowledge rich curriculum and learning experiences which stimulate and inspire them, whilst preparing them for life outside school. We aim to develop children as true lifelong learners, hungry for knowledge and understanding, proficient at transferring learning skills into a wide range of areas and proud of their achievements; learners who are confident, independent and resourceful, who have high aspirations and feel that they are able to make positive contributions to their community and the wider society, whose learning experiences enable them to know more and remember more.
In line with our Catholic ethos, we have identified the CAFOD principles for Catholic Social Teaching as the drivers that underpin our curriculum, as follows:
Our curriculum builds progressively and sequentially across our four phases – Foundation Stage (FS1 and FS2), Key Stage 1 (Year 1 and Year 2), Lower Key Stage 2 (Year 3 and Year 4) and Upper Key Stage 2 (Year 5 and Year 6) – giving children the opportunity to revisit and extend their learning, allowing them to embed knowledge to their long-term memory.
OUR CURRICULUM IMPLEMENTATION AND IMPACT
As a school with mixed-age classes, our curriculum works on a two-year cycle for the majority of the subject areas. Our curriculum focusses on what content should be taught and in what order, ensuring that it is sequential and progressive whilst keeping in mind that children are susceptible to cognitive overload which then impacts negatively on their learning. Our curriculum supports the children to make meaningful connections within their learning, thus helping them to remember the new knowledge learnt – this is secured by:
OLC’s curriculum therefore strives to ensure that through their learning, the children:
Our curriculum is mapped out on curriculum maps for Cycle A and Cycle B, as well as our curriculum map for the subject areas that are taught discretely; currently (2023-2024), we are working on our Cycle A curriculum.
If you would like to find out more about our school curriculum, please explore the following links:
Religious Education | |
PSHE/RHE | |
Maths | https://www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/primary/subjects/mathematics/power-maths |
English | |
Phonics | https://www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/primary/subjects/english-literacy/bug-club-phonics |
Science | |
History | |
Geography | |
Art & Design | |
D&T | |
Physical Education | |
Computing | |
Music | |
MLF |
ADAPTATIONS FOR CHILDREN WITH SEND
At OLC, we believe that all children are entitled to a knowledge rich curriculum which is accessible to all children and which complies with the Equality Act 2010 and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Regulations 2014. We therefore ensure that teaching is of high quality, inclusive and adaptive, and that planning and provision promote children’s resilience and independence. We therefore strive to ensure that: