National Curriculum

Every state funded school must offer a curriculum that is broad and balanced which:

promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and of society
prepares pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life

The national curriculum is just one part in the education of every child. There is time and space in the school day and each in week, term and year to range beyond the national curriculum specifications.

All state schools are also required to make provision for a daily act of collective worship and must teach religious education to pupils at every key stage.

Changes in the National Curriculum

In September 2014, the Government introduced a new National Curriculum, with a great deal of fresh content and ambitious expectations of learning. It is designed to provide children with the essential knowledge, skills and understanding that they require as citizens of Great Britain. In addition, the National Curriculum provides statutory programmes of study for each subject, stating which content should be taught to pupils in each stage of learning so that it is in line with end of year expectations.

The Chris Quigley Essentials Curriculum

We have chosen to follow the Chris Quigley Essentials Curriculum which sets out essential coverage, learning objectives and standards which are required for all subjects. Furthermore, it provides progress measures for all subjects including personal development.

One of the primary reasons why we have chosen to adopt this curriculum is because it emphasises the importance of developing the depth of children’s learning. In essence, this means providing children with increased cognitive challenge, allowing them to apply the skills which they have learnt independently in a range of contexts rather than moving them onto the next skill needlessly when they have not truly mastered it. Such thinking is encapsulated in the scenario below:

The picture above shows the child diving at a deep level of learning

At Christ Church, we want to challenge our children to become independent, well-round individuals who take ownership of their learning and become deep thinkers. Moreover, we want our children to be able to apply their knowledge and skill set in a range of contexts within school and real life.

Our curriculum is organised into six key areas of learning, to which subjects and staff/governors are allocated. Each team has a key member of staff responsible and the teams meet on a six weekly basis where they discuss how to promote, plan and drive forward the key areas of learning. All staff are on at least 2 teams, the school governors and Business Manager are also members of the teams.