The further development of the Curriculum is a School Improvement Focus.  Our  Curriculum Overviews are located below by year group phases.

The curriculum at ST Elisabeth's is built around the National Curriculum. Children are taught the essential knowledge that they need to be educated adults. It  promotes an appreciation of human creativity and achievement. We use the National Curriculum as a basis to develop exciting and stimulating lessons to promote the development of pupil's prior knowledge, understanding and skills.

Our curriculum extends beyond the National Curriculum and pupils are taught about social, moral, spiritual and cultural aspects of life. It is also enhanced by the provision of forest schools, music lessons, and visits to the surrounding area to give pupils firs hand experience to develop their knowledge further.

Our school is based in Reddish , Stockport and our curriculum was created to meet the needs of our children. It includes learning about healthy eating, the importance of exercise , staying safe and mental wellbeing.

Each National Curriculum subject is planned out for each year group, identifying skills and knowledge to be taught each term.The overviews of each subject are available below on the website.

We want our children to be challenged and develop the skills that enable them to successful in tackling a challenge. We want our children to make great progress during their time at school. We want our children to be successful and become the best they can be.

At St Elisabeth's we are committed to providing a holistic curriculum which maximises opportunities for meaningful cross-curricular links and learning experiences. Our curriculum has been planned to enable such links to be developed and exploited. We place great value on the development of children as individuals and providing our children with the skills, knowledge and understanding they need to develop into well-rounded, informed individuals. 

We believe our high standards are due to the rich and broad experiences the children have as they move through the school – a rich diet of learning experiences is undoubtedly the best way to develop happy, curious children.

As part of our curriculum , we may block subjects to do Subject Days which allows teachers to explore in depth an aspect central to the children’s interests.  

EYFS

In the EYFS we follow the ‘Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum’ document. The children’s learning experiences are planned to enable them to develop and achieve in the early learning areas through play and investigative learning experiences. The EYFS curriculum is planned for the inside and outside classrooms and equal importance is given to learning in both areas. The curriculum is planned in a cross-curricular way to enable all aspects of the children’s development.

All EYFS classes follow a cycle of topics as the basis for learning experiences. Class groups follow topics that are more suitable to their cohorts or that the children themselves show an enthusiasm and fascination in. Teachers ensure that there is an equal balance across the areas of learning when they do this during their PPA time. The EYFS teaching staff work closely where learning experiences can be discussed and modified as required. The characteristics of effective learning are viewed as an integral part to all areas of learning and are reflected in our observations of children. The half termly topics are also enriched through the following of whole school initiatives such as  anti-bullying week as they occur during the academic year. . Both Reception and Nursery have  have singing assemblies each week led by the Phase Leader.

To further develop our EYFS curriculum, in September we will be introducing the  International Early Years Curriculum which is committed to eight  Learning Principles:

1. The earliest years of life are important in their own right.

2. Children should be supported to learn and develop at their own unique pace.

3. Play is an essential aspect of all children’s learning and development.

4. Learning happens when developmentally-appropriate, teacher-scaffolded and child-initiated experiences harness children’s natural curiosity in an enabling environment.

5. Independent and interdependent learning experiences create a context for personal development and are the foundation of international mindedness.

6. Knowledge and skills development lead to an increasing sense of understanding when children are provided with opportunities to explore and express their ideas in multiple ways.

7. Ongoing assessment, in the form of evaluation and reflection, is effective when it involves a learning-link with the home.

8. Learning should be motivating, engaging and fun, opening up a world of wonder for children where personal interests can flourish.

Our Y1 pupils can also access EYFS type learning experiences to support  their development , meaning they too can enjoy a curriculum through play and investigative experiences, to ensure a smooth transition from EYFS into Key Stage 1.

OUR CURRICULUM

At St Elisabeth's, we are committed to ensuring that children have access to a broad and balanced curriculum. We give a high priority to their development and achievement in the Foundation Subjects and the arts. It is intended that children will have daily experiences of learning through our text based approach.  At St Elisabeth's the curriculum has been designed to enable teachers and children to develop links between different areas of the curriculum. We have developed our  curriculum through a topic based approach intended to build upon children’s interests and stimulate a love of learning.

In Key Stage 1, we have a topic based approach (2 yearly cycle) to planning the curriculum, as we understand that young children learn best through experiencing a curriculum which is relevant and meaningful to them.  This is based on good early years practice and in encompassing the National Curriculum requirements.  There are whole class Literacy and Numeracy sessions which continue to include recommendations of the strategies. The children will be involved in, directed to and develop independence through cross curricular activities related to the week’s learning objectives, throughout the day, either with an adult or independently. The learning is planned to meet the weekly learning objectives. It is expected that each child will carry out an independent maths and literacy task each day. This is generally cross-curricular wherever possible, and differentiated as appropriate to meet the children’s  individual learning needs.

Whole class Phonics is taught in Nursery, Reception and Key Stage 1 every day (until the children move into a Spelling programme in Y2).  We follow the DFE accredited programme Little Wandle This promotes a fun, pace, multi sensory, rigorous and systematic approach to teaching phonics.

We continue to follow a topic based approach in Key Stage 2, making links between subjects, being more creative with topic choices, going with children’s interests or events which are happening locally, nationally and globally; and further developing work on oracy and speaking and listening.