Curriculum

Our Curriculum

At St Margaret Mary Catholic Primary School we aim to teach an ambitious, high quality and enriching curriculum. We promote high standards of academic achievement through holding high expectations as well as encouraging parental engagement to ensure understanding throughout children’s whole school life. 

Our school is one that thrives on the awe and wonder of learning, thus creating children with a life-long passion for learning, as well as developing the independent learning and communication skills to work as part of a team.

At St Margaret Mary Catholic Primary School we ensure high-quality, inspirational and innovative teaching and learning. Our school is outward-looking, ensuring that our children receive the best education possible.

Our curriculum is the foundation stone for a child’s educational experience, therefore we broaden their horizons,  and we provide creative, exciting and memorable experiences inside and outside the classroom.

For more information about our curriculum, please contact Miss Lamont via schools@stmmary.cumbria.sch.uk.

We believe in a curriculum that will enable our children to excel in their academic skills. Our curriculum is planned to make sure that our children gain a deep knowledge and understanding of our history and faith, furthermore, they are taught to respect all cultures and beliefs. Our children study events and learn about individuals who changed the world and these promote the same aspirational goals for our children.

Our curriculum is designed to ensure our children become lifelong learners and strive to be the best they can be whilst developing their God-given talents. Our curriculum allows our children to be caring and to be knowledgeable thinkers. Our children are given the opportunity to be communicative and taught about the reality of the world and how to function within it. Our children are given the same opportunities to lead reflect and be stewards for the Earth.

We aim to develop well rounded children with core character virtues; prayer is a way to teach children to turn to God for wisdom and guidance. It helps to remind the young minds of others and of honesty and compassion Through prayer, their concerns and worries are offered up so that they gain clarity on the situation. In a relaxed moment of prayer. Prayer helps our children make ethical decisions and celebrate our faith in humanity and helps develop their understanding tolerance and compassion for others.

Our curriculum aims to develop in children a strong sense of belonging with the local national and global community. We strive to be a school where children learn to contribute positively to society through embedded learning about gospel values and character virtues. Our children strive to help those less fortunate than themselves and to follow the simple commandment “Love one another as I have loved you“.

Character education is the foundation of our curriculum - children have a wide range of opportunities to practice develop their character virtues through their subjects, enrichment, and wider experiences. Character education is woven throughout, enhancing the curriculum to ensure children have experiences beyond the classroom, providing them with opportunities to apply their skills and knowledge in a wider context.

Our aim is to deliver a curriculum that is cohesive, cumulative and purposeful. We want our children to become engaged, happy and self-sufficient world citizens, benefiting from contributing to local national and global communities. We make it our mission to foster the love of learning and a sense of urgency, inspiring changemakers of the future whatever their background or starting point. For the most disadvantaged children, we focus on removing barriers and to enable access to the full curriculum and learning without limits. Our curriculum comprises of a creative and thematic approach to learning that is mapped to the national curriculum to ensure a comprehensive coverage of national expectations. The learning journey enables subject specific content, and clear progression, consolidation and extension of skills and knowledge.

We build opportunities for children to return to areas of learning which allows them to gain a deeper understanding of the skills and processes within subjects.

Curriculum impact.

We monitor and track the impact of our curriculum through:

1. Triangulation of a range of information, including planning, children’s books, online, platforms, pupil, voice, marking, and feedback.
2. Progress from starting to endpoint of projects.
3. The knowledge and understanding the children develop over time, leading to the standards of the children achieve by the end of each year.
4. Quality of work, progression of skills, depth of knowledge, and understanding, presented in the children’s books, classroom displays, learning, journeys, exhibitions, and social media feeds.
5. Attainment and progress including national tests and standardised assessments.
6. The development of children’s oracy - their ability to articulate their learning.
7. The development of character reaches beyond the school gates, ensuring children become well rounded and display compassion, and are aware of their role to those less fortunate.

Here at St Margaret Mary Catholic Primary School we provide a broad and balanced curriculum based around the Cornerstones Curriculum, a nationally recognised approach for delivering outstanding learning opportunities for children.

What is the Cornerstones Curriculum?

The Cornerstones Curriculum is a creative and thematic approach to learning that is mapped to the 2014 primary national curriculum to ensure comprehensive coverage of national expectations. It is based on a child-centred pedagogy called The Four Cornerstones and is delivered through Imaginative Learning Projects (ILPs) and Knowledge Rich Projects (KRPs), which provide a rich menu of exciting and motivating learning activities that make creative links between all aspects of children’s learning. We believe children learn better when they are encouraged to use their imagination and apply their learning to engaging contexts. Our curriculum provides many learning challenges throughout the academic year that require children to solve problems, apply themselves creatively and express their knowledge and understanding effectively. Cornerstones also provide a rigorous skills and knowledge framework that outlines the end of year expectations in all subjects. These skills and knowledge are tied to activities and are age-related so that staff can track children’s progress and identify their individual learning needs.

To see what your child is currently learning, click on the Class Page link below.