Core subjects: Intent

RE: See separate page on Religious Education

Maths

At St Anselm’s we use the Maths Mastery approach to teach maths and through this we aim to include, engages, challenge and inspire all learners.

Maths Mastery endeavours to support children to develop a deeper conceptual understanding of what they are doing, why there are doing it, and to explain their understanding to others in a variety of ways. Our maths curriculum is planned based on our secure knowledge and understanding of each class and their needs, and is crafted with clarity and purpose to meet those needs: both within a lesson and across a series of lessons. Presented in a variety ways (including pictorial, concrete, abstract representations) and in a variety of contexts, each lesson provides children with the opportunity to develop their fluency, reasoning and problem-solving skills, where discussion and explanation of ideas are valued.

When teaching maths for mastery, the whole class moves through topics at broadly the same pace. We believe in differentiation through depth rather than acceleration: those pupils who grasp concepts quickly are challenged with rich and problems within the topic; those children who are not sufficiently fluent are provided additional support to consolidate their understanding before moving on. Our vision is to instil learning that persists and that equips children with a secure foundation to use and apply mathematics in school and beyond.

English

Reading

We aim to nurture a love of literature and a passion for reading by immersing the children in good quality texts. The use of class books gives a strong context for the development of reading, focussing on the teaching of specific skills and the development of sophisticated vocabulary. A range of genre are used.

We have developed a range of ‘St Anselm’s’ reading skills, supported by visual symbols,  that we use consistently across the school in order to develop children’s comprehension skills.

St Anselm's Reading Skill symbols

We use Jolly Phonics to teach phonics, alongside the teaching of whole word recognition (Tricky Words), in order to develop reading fluency and automaticity. Phonetic books are carefully matched to the child’s phonics ability, to support their reading development in school.

Reception and Key Stage 1 children have a home school reading book for communicating with parents, and they take a range of books home.  Key Stage 2 children each have a reading journal which is used to reflect a range of reading tasks both at home and in school.  The children have access to a range of books in their class libraries which they can take home.

Writing

The teaching of reading and writing are closely linked and we want our children to become enthusiastic writers who express their ideas and opinions confidently.

We help them to develop the skills needed to write for different audiences and purposes in all areas of the curriculum. We inspire the children through our use of high quality, challenging, engaging class texts: we give them opportunities to write in a range of genres across the whole curriculum.

We believe that grammar, spelling and punctuation are important skills which are taught alongside, and as part of, our creative writing; we encourage children to develop an ambitious vocabulary which they use confidently to enhance their work. We use a range of approaches to teach writing: modelling of genres, shared writing, the use of success partners and talk partner editing.

Spoken Language

Our curriculum offers a range of opportunities for child to debate, discuss, persuade, offer well structured opinions and actively participate in collaborative
conversations. Children throughout the school are also given opportunities to perform to an audience and thus develop their articulation, expression and presentation skills.

Science

We believe that our pupils have a natural curiosity about their world and an enthusiasm to want to make sense of it. We aim to fill our science lessons with challenging questions from both teachers and pupils, and plenty of hands-on practical activities to engage and inspire the children.

We teach science in a block, for a full week, each half term. In this way, we are able to enhance and deepen the children’s learning with a particular focus on working scientifically. Children work in groups in science lessons and this helps to build up skills in speaking and listening, leadership and co-operation. Group work also involves working collaboratively on practical investigations, and recording and explaining findings.

Teachers use formative assessment to monitor pupils learning in individual topics and in the working scientifically objectives across the year.

We use the Kent Science Scheme which follows the National Curriculum requirements and has a strong emphasis on investigation. Through this scheme we aim to:

• develop pupils’ enjoyment and interest in science and an appreciation of its contribution to all aspects of everyday life
• build on pupils’ curiosity and sense of awe of the natural world
• use a planned range of investigations and practical activities to give pupils a greater understanding of the concepts and knowledge of science
• introduce pupils to the language and vocabulary of science and to encourage them to ask questions
• develop pupils’ basic practical skills and their ability to make accurate and appropriate measurements
• develop pupils’ use of computing in their science studies as well as encouraging them to improve their research skills
• develop a knowledge and appreciation of the contribution made by famous scientists to our knowledge of the world including scientists from different cultures
• extend the learning environment for our pupils via our school garden, greenhouse and the locality promote a ‘healthy lifestyle’ in our pupils. Science week takes place each half term

Computing 

The school recognises the role that digital media and technology has in teaching and learning and these are integral to the curriculum. We are focussing on building capacity for effective and consistent pedagogical practices using technology.

In line with the National Curriculum, the core purpose of our computing curriculum is computer literacy in which the children are taught the principles of information and computation, how digital systems work and how to put this knowledge to use through programming. We aim to ensure that our pupils become computer literate and are able to express themselves and develop ideas through information and communication technology.

Computing is taught discretely, as well as being integrated into subjects across the curriculum. The children have access to mobile technology in the form of iPads and Chrome Books.  E-safety is an important aspect of the curriculum and this is taught in all classes. The school works with a computer specialist who supports the computing teaching, and the vision to continually develop the use and impact of technology.