Our Curriculum – St Bede's Catholic Primary, South Shields

At St. Bede’s Catholic Primary School South Shields, leaders and all staff have thought carefully about the curriculum that we want to offer the pupils in our school. Collectively we are committed to providing the highest quality education for all of our pupils no matter what their starting points may be when they begin to attend this school.

Together we have created a detailed plan for all pupils in each subject area and, within those plans, we are clear about the knowledge and skills that we want our pupils to acquire during their journey through this school. We passionately believe that all pupils should leave our school in the strongest possible position to be able to maximise the opportunities and experiences in their next stage in education and indeed in later life.

We are a primary school so the emphasis, especially in the Early Years and Key Stage One, must be on ensuring our pupils are able readers and competent mathematicians, but we also want them to them to experience high quality teaching and learning in other subject areas. We want them to have the skills and knowledge, and passion, to become, for example, historians or geographers in the future. Our curriculum plans in these areas are as carefully planned as English and mathematics so that each stage of their learning is progressive and of course exciting and engaging, with new skills and knowledge built upon each year so that pupils can embed and apply key concepts. By placing a strong emphasis on the teaching of reading and mathematics in the early stages of their education at St. Bede’s School, pupils are able to readily access the breadth of the curriculum as they progress through the school, for example being able to enjoy analysing historical sources and to confidently interpret data in scientific experiments.

We want our pupils to experience the joy and wonder of education, and to have the knowledge and skills and assuredness to claim the opportunities that it can bring to all. We want them to be inspired by experts in their fields such as local historians, authors and sportsmen and women, and to experience the wealth of culture and seats of learning in this wonderful part of the country e.g. Newcastle Life Centre, National Glass Centre, Durham University Museums, National Trust and English Heritage Sites.

Our high academic standards and outcomes are reflected in the breadth of our curriculum. Our emphasis on embedding the basic skills means that all pupils are able to access all areas of the curriculum and enjoy them to the full: we aim that no pupil is left behind. We are committed to ensuring that all pupils become competent readers. From the Early Years reading is prioritised: our pupils are saturated with stories, poems, rhymes and non-fiction which are chosen to develop pupils’ vocabulary, language comprehension and love of reading. The school’s phonics programme is Sounds Write. Our reading scheme is entirely decodable, using Sounds-Write texts and Phonics Dandelion Readers. The school encourages regular reading practice at school each day and at home. Accelerated Reader is used effectively throughout the school to ensure that all pupils read at least at age-related expectations. We also use support and intervention programmes to ensure that no pupils are left behind. The school invests in high quality literature: non-fiction and fiction books are regularly purchased to ensure a breadth of reading experiences. The school’s curriculum planning for mathematics carefully sequences knowledge, concepts and procedures to build mathematical knowledge and skills systematically, and over time. Teachers are skilled practitioners who ensure that the basic skills are embedded and practised on a daily basis in order to develop pupils’ confidence and competence in applying mathematical reasoning and solving problems. Pupils are expected to practise, at home and at school, their basic skills in the four rules of number; addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, to develop fluency and rapid recall for application to mathematical problems and to increase self-confidence. The school has a very specific and well-established calculation policy which is adhered to throughout the school so that pupils’ understanding of methods of calculation is accumulative, progressive and clear. As with reading, pupils who are behind age-related expectations in mathematics are supported to keep up with their peers.

Part of our outstanding education provision at St. Bede’s is our offer in sport and physical education. The school was the first in the local authority and one of the first in the country to achieve the Platinum Award in School Sport. We are extremely proud of this achievement and all it has brought to the pupils in our school. The award reflects the school’s consistent commitment to high quality competitive sports experiences and extensive participation opportunities in sporting events for pupils at the school. The school trophy cabinet, which is not only filled with trophies from county final wins in every primary sport but games participation awards, reflects the high quality coaching pupils have accessed in order to excel and be successful, and also reflects the level of mass participation experienced by all pupils no matter what their level of ability. Many past pupils express their appreciation of their many sporting experiences at St. Bede’s School and recognise the value of this aspect of their education and the impact it has had on their adult lives.

The school knows that the curriculum stretches further than academia and places a high emphasis on the personal, spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of our pupils. As a Roman Catholic School one of our aims must be to enable our pupils to strive to achieve academic excellence. The Church’s mission, through its Roman Catholic schools, is to spread the Gospel Values of love, forgiveness, tolerance and compassion, and for each child to be loved and valued in their uniqueness. Pupils in our school are multi-faith and the diversity of our school is one of its defining features. It is through our Religious Education scheme and through our personal, moral and social development schemes and our well-established pastoral system that we seek to embed acceptance of and engagement with the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. We strive to support pupils to develop and demonstrate skills and attitudes that will allow them to participate fully in and contribute positively and morally to life in modern Britain. We structure the curriculum so that our pupils are equipped to meet the challenges of adolescence and adulthood in areas such as health and economic education, and relationship and sex education.

We are committed to providing a wide range of extra -curricular activities with the pupils enjoying after- school and lunchtime clubs for example in dance, French, science, art and crafts, clarinet, choir, and all sports. The pupils then often perform in dance and music festivals.

Our long term curriculum plans for subjects can be seen on our website along with curriculum overviews for each year group. Our subject leaders are very clear about their intentions for the pupils in this school across each year group and closely monitor the pupils’ outcomes on a regular basis.

Autumn Term Plans

Spring Term Plans

Summer Term Plans