The Curriculum at St. Benedict’s
ST BENEDICT's OFFERS A GREAT CATHOLIC EDUCATION
St Benedict’s Curriculum Statement
Our curriculum at St. Benedict’s Catholic Primary School reflects a journey of inspiration for our children through their primary years. We are proud to be part of nurturing and preparing them for their next phase of education and equally important their life beyond school and their place in the wider world.
Our curriculum starts with the children as we ensure we spark their interests and creativity whilst ensuring a curriculum fit for purpose, meeting the demands for today’s world. From our Early Years through to Year 6 we want to ensure that all our children experience the awe and wonder of the world in which they live. Christ is at the centre of our teaching and learning to ensure our children’s education is enveloped in the Catholic virtues.
Scripture tells us ‘The thief comes in the night to steal, kill and destroy… (John 10:10).’ In this quote we are reminded that, just as a thief steals in the night and their deeds go unnoticed, so in our complex world today we too see, many values and virtues being lost or stolen from us. As a consequence, our Mission at St Benedict’s is to teach a curriculum that holds these virtues at its core. Through our virtues to live by programme we explore and teach the virtues with a focus upon the following key virtues of faithfulness, courage and respect. The curriculum is made up of a range of activities in order to promote learning, personal growth and development. It is designed to fulfil our mission to guide the children to show faithfulness, respect for themselves, others and our fragile World and the courage to be resilient and persevere to live a fulfilled life. We are confident that our continued focus on our key virtues will give our pupils the necessary awareness of what it means to be a good person, how they see their place in the World today and to embed in them the building blocks of a successful and productive life celebrating equality of all. We see in scripture how our curriculum and ultimately our mission supports this. ‘I have come that they might have life and have it to the full.’ (John 10:10)
Our curriculum is the means by which we achieve our primary goal of educating children in the knowledge, skills and understanding needed to lead a fulfilling and productive life. Academic learning is an important part of this, and we want every child to achieve their very best in all areas of the curriculum and ultimately to gain the knowledge and skills to succeed in life. Through our key virtues of faithfulness, courage and respect we prioritise the development of the children's social and emotional skills and wellbeing. Children’s journey through school brings weekly opportunities to live these virtues in practice their day to day lives in school. Through promoting these virtues and through the teachings of the Church, we help to shape our pupils character and moral perspective.
Through our curriculum in RE, PSHE, Geography, Art, Music, MFL and History and developing the common good we are able to make real links between the values of our pupils and the lives of others in their community, country and the wider world.
Through our curriculum we teach about democracy (school council elections), civic responsibility (being part of making rules and looking after the world around us), rules and laws, equality, values and virtues, environmental awareness (eco-schools) and understanding of other faiths through visits to places of worship and visitors to school. We feel that all these opportunities help children practice the many virtues and attitudes we want our children to develop around academic learning or striving for excellence or making a difference to our world.
As a faith school our curriculum is underpinned by our beliefs, virtues and values we share and the desire to worship God in all that we do. We want our children to grow up and have a sense of appreciation for the world in which we live; feeling a valuable part of it, knowing they have a contribution to make. That they are able to meet challenge positively, be supported and respect the range of beliefs and cultures within our world.
During their time at St. Benedict’s Catholic Primary School children will experience opportunities to be academic, sporting, dramatic, artistic, musical, caring and, perhaps most importantly, the personal growth to help them flourish and fulfil their God given mission. The curriculum inspires the children to have confidence that they can become the person they want to become, be the very best they can be academically, and create a lifetime love of learning.
All our children have the opportunity to experience life at St. Benedict’s Catholic Primary School which is rich, varied, caring, inclusive, exciting, challenging, inspiring, but, above all, enormously rewarding and a happy experience.
Should you need any further information regarding our curriculum offer at St Benedict's please speak to Mr Woolley or Mrs Lunn. You can speak to them directly or contact them via the school office on 0113 2869819 or by email admin@sbcps.bkcat.co.uk.
We at St Benedict's have built a curriculum which is flexible to the needs of our pupils. To find out more about how our curriculum is accessible to those with disabilities or SEN please see the SEND report, policy and offer here.
