Curriculum Statement

“Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth.” Saint Pope John Paul II

To deliver, promote and inspire the highest quality education St Bede’s is committed to delivering a unique curriculum with faith and reason, through excellence and determination.

• To ensure every young person’s journey into adulthood is a journey of faith: one that recognises that true justice, peace and human freedom require, first and foremost, respect for the dignity of human life.
• To ensure all learners are cared for in such a way that their physical, moral and intellectual talents may develop in a harmonious manner, so that they may attain a greater sense of responsibility and a right use of freedom, and be formed to take an active part in social life.
• To provide a broad and balanced education which will help young people grow to their full human potential, and pay regard to the formation of the whole person, so that all may attain their eternal destiny and at the same time promote the common good of society.
• To ensure learners have access to a vibrant, broad and balanced curriculum for as long as possible, narrowing the curriculum for subject specialisms only when it is appropriate to do so.
• To ensure all learners, including the most disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND, are provided with the knowledge, skills and cultural capital they require for future learning and employment.
• To provide a continuous progression model with seamless transition between key phases of education taking pupils on a journey of acquisition: an acquisition of vital knowledge, skills and experiences.
• To expose all learners to the richness of English language so that pupils can access the pleasure of reading, the excitement of writing and to explore new subjects and concepts, unlocking the potential to learn and grow as individuals.
• To ensure that the fundamental skills of reading, writing, speaking, listening and numeracy are well established from an early age and academic rigour stretches and challenges as appropriate to each pupil.
• To ensure metacognition, debate and critical thinking are planned for and taught across the curriculum.
• To promote fundamental British Values and Citizenship: including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.
• To ensure educational enrichment opportunities, including experiences, visits and visitors are central to our curriculum vision.
• To make the communities we serve better places to live and work.

“All branches of knowledge are connected together, because the subject matter of knowledge is intimately united in itself, as being the acts and the work of the creator”. John Henry Newman

The teachers have high expectations and are ambitious for all learners ensuring they reach their God given potential.

• Prayer and liturgy is central to the life of the school and takes place on a daily basis. All students participate joyfully engaging hearts and minds.
• Teachers ensure a supportive environment for all pupils including those with SEND, without exception. Barriers to learning and participation are removed through adaptive planning, modelling, scaffolding, explicit instruction and metacognitive strategies
• The five strand quality assurance process is robust and developmental, ensuring professional development enhances teaching and learning and impacts positively on progress and learning.
• The curriculum is compatible with the key requirements of the National Curriculum and robust collaboration occurs between primary and secondary phases ensuring it is progressive.
• The curriculum is mapped to demonstrate the component knowledge and techniques essential to retain (residual knowledge). The curriculum is sequenced coherently to support the acquisition of key concepts.
• Curriculum components are repeated over time, ensuring all pupils practise retrieval, master skills and concepts, develop long term memory and make progress from starting points.
• Accurate assessment strategies enable an informed and systematic judgement to be made about a pupil’s knowledge, understanding, skills and attitude.
• Data is purposeful and used effectively to enhance school and individual provision.
• Metacognition plays a pivotal role in the sequence of the curriculum with a specific focus on evaluating, reasoning and deeper thinking.
• Specialist provision exists for literacy and numeracy at point of need. Carefully considered and time-measured intervention programmes are utilised to ensure pupils quickly develop confidence with literacy and numeracy thus allowing access to the demands and rigours of GCSE.
• A rigorous approach to the teaching of reading develops learners’ confidence and enjoyment the St Bede’s Reading Canon ensures all pupils are provided access to the highest quality texts.
• Teachers provide a language-rich environment. Vocabulary is mapped out carefully across the curriculum to enable our students to learn the correct words and phrases in the right order.
• Enrichment (Co-curriculum) ensures that learning connects to purpose, context and real-life application our students are provided with a wealth of varying experiences.
• Careers Education Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) will be central to curriculum design, enabling all pupils to make informed choices about which subjects to study, and understanding established pathways into education, careers and independence.

Broad and Balanced Curriculum

Jesus said” I have come that they might have life and have it to the full.” John 10:10

All pupils are provided with the opportunity to flourish as a whole and complete person.

• We place Christ at the centre of everything integrating the Gospel values into every aspect of learning, teaching and social life.
• The young people in our care contribute positively to the wider society by developing values and morals that inform choices and actions which promote respect for the rights of every human person.
• Working with parents we equip our pupils to lead full, active, vibrant lives where the child thrives and makes tangible contributions by serving others and their parish and wider community, ensuring the journey to adulthood is a journey of faith.

The Enjoyable curriculum promotes achievement, confidence and good behaviour.

With this, pupils will become inquisitive learners who are motivated to excel and who have a thirst for learning. St Bede’s Catholic School and Byron Sixth Form College considers the greatest impact of the curriculum to be high rates of pupil progress.

Progress in

• The pupils’ physical, moral and intellectual God given talents: enabling all pupils to flourish as a whole and complete person, preparing them to make a positive impact on the wider world.
• The development of knowledge: progress in knowing more and remembering more.

• The ability to apply knowledge: progress in knowledge being applied in more challenging, relevant and engaging ways.
• The acquisition of 21st century skills to translate knowledge into actions for success.

The knowledge based curriculum improves the rate of progress.

A well-rounded, knowledge-specific curriculum is required to overcome inequality of opportunity on entry. Careful consideration is given to curriculum coherence across disciplines. Sequential components of learning will cover.

• Knowledge of vocabulary (and literacy in general)
• Knowledge of events, people and places.
• Knowledge of ideas and concepts drawn from subjects.
• Knowledge of procedures.
• Knowledge of interconnected webs of concepts.

The acquisition of 21st century skills will make our communities better places to live and work.

St Bede’s Catholic School and Byron Sixth Form work extensively with local and national employers, to provide real life experiences of the world of work reinforcing the transferable nature of knowledge from school to the world of work. To prepare for a wildly uncertain future our pupils will need not just academic qualifications but above all emotional and mental flexibility and resilience; they will be young people of character and strength who work hard to have a positive impact on their local community and world around them.

“We are all one family in the world.  Building a community that empowers everyone to attain their full potential through each of us respecting each other’s dignity, rights and responsibilities makes the world a better place to live.”  Saint Pope John Paul II