Curriculum

INTENT

In response to the needs of our community, our curriculum is designed to be inspiring, interleaved, inclusive and empowers independence so that children feel that they can make a positive difference in our community and beyond. It is rooted in our school values of Enthusiasm, Respect, Inclusion and Challenge.

Our curriculum:

• Inspires children by providing them with enriched experiences that enthuse them to develop strong academic knowledge and social skills, be creative and have skills to develop the cultural capital to flourish in society and make healthy life choices.
•  Uses an interleaved approach to develop children’s character so that they respectfully express their thoughts and ideas and challenge social and racial injustice broadening their ambitions through quality, representational curriculum and achieve well. 
•  Commits to placing wellbeing and mental health at the heart of our community, inclusively promoting equality of opportunity ensuring all pupils reach their higher learning potential, and in particular those with additional needs safely access the curriculum.
•  Structures independent and metacognitive thinking so that your child behaves with integrity, collaborate well, develop the growth mind-set to face challenges positively and achieve exceptionally well. 

Click here to see examples of each 4i.

IMPLEMENTATION

Our curriculum is taught using the learning philosophies of De Bono’s Hats and Bloom’s Taxonomy. Teachers use active learning approaches to deliver lessons. All pupils thrive in MJS’ active and inclusive learning community enabling them to engage in discussions and understand key concepts.

Click here for more information on De Bono and Blooms.

The sequencing of our curriculum means that learning is interleaved; pupils build on skills and knowledge that they have been taught before, thereby transferring key knowledge to their long-term memory.   As a junior school, prior learning in the infant school is understood and used as a building block for next steps in learning.

By interleaving our broad and balanced curriculum pupils, make links in their learning and transfer skills and knowledge. 

The SCARF (Safety, Caring, Achievement, Resilience and Friendship) scheme provides the highest quality PSHE lessons and is supported by a deeply embedded and extensive personal development provision.

Click here for more information on the SCARF scheme.

The school has a strong contingency plan in place for remote blended education.

Click here for the school’s protocol.

IMPACT

Pupils are empowered to recognise pride in achievement and self-confidence.  They feel safe to express their cultural identity; they know how to keep themselves mentally and physically healthy.

They are not discouraged when they don’t see immediate results because they understand that learning takes time and prepares them for their next stage in their journey, as well as inspiring wider life opportunities.

Pupils are motivated by the experiences and opportunities offered to develop their character, confidence and well-being as active citizens of the world.

Pupils’ work across the curriculum is consistently of a high quality resulting in trends above national average attainment. Our key stage 2 outcomes consistently demonstrate our pupils perform significantly above average in all subjects.

More able pupils achieve very well across the curriculum compared to national. Overall achievement for SEND pupils is identified as a high-performing group.

Pupils transition successfully from KS1 and to KS3 because of our curriculum and the close links with our community schools.

Click here for the Teaching & Learning Policy

For more information regarding our curriculum, please refer to the year group overviews on our website or contact the deputy head teacher, Miss A Fitzpatrick, who oversees teaching and learning and the curriculum, or your child’s head of year.