The Christian faith is at the heart of our school community.

At Christ Church we all care, learn and work together for God and others.

‘For we are all God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do’. Ephesians 2:10

Our Christian Values are

Creation, Community, Endurance, Thankfulness, Reconciliation, Wisdom

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Intent

Curriculum Vision for Inclusion and SEND - Click Here

Link to School Development Plan 2023-2024: Summary School Development Plan Priorities 2023 -2024

We are proud of our rich, inclusive curriculum at Christ Church. Camden, London and the world are our classrooms and we aim to make good use of them! We are seeking to embrace all that God has created, to learn together and, as our vision statement says, care, learn and work together for God.

We want all our children to understand that through knowledge and learning they will expand their horizons. We aim to create a thirst in all our children to spread their wings and seek further knowledge in everything that they are interested in and are passionate about and to use this understanding for good.

We want them to learn all about themselves, their cultures, their community (past and present), their places of origin and to develop a sense of pride and understanding who they are as Camden, London and world citizens. We want the children to be proud of their British heritage and the associated values. This is also known as ‘cultural capital’.

We use our six Christian values, Creation, Community, Wisdom, Endurance, Thankfulness, Reconciliation to reinforce and enrich our teaching wherever applicable.

Our starting points emphasise strong, affirmative communication in all forms. The school ethos embeds the philosophy of encouraging good positive body language and learning behaviours, positive interactions and the development of strong language skills. The children’s mental health and wellbeing are always a priority as good all-round health enables children to flourish. The school actively teaches perseverance and resilience which are the qualities, the inner resources and reserves that we must call on to get us through the frustrations and setbacks that can sometimes be a part of life. Our curriculum is carefully designed to instil these qualities in all our children and to ensure that they are ready to make their way in the world as robust, confident and inquisitive individuals. Our curriculum is adapted for children with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities and high emphasis is placed on ensuring that no child is prevented from accessing the curriculum due to their SEND.

In order to achieve this, we have incorporated five foundations for building character into our curriculum: creativity, performing, sport, the world of work, volunteering and membership.

Early reading is key to the children’s progress in school and indeed, in life. Our children understand that learning to read is important as it is the key to so many experiences, learning and opportunities throughout life.

Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development (SMSC ), is taught in a cross-curricular way throughout the year groups (see our curriculum map) and is not limited to specific Personal, Social, Health and Citizenship Education (PSHCE) or Religious Education (RE) lessons.

Curriculum Design

Christ Church School are currently reviewing and updating the long-term Curriculum Maps, the Statement of Intent for each subject and the Progression Maps, which will allow all stakeholders to support the children in their learning.

We aim to provide an enjoyable and stimulating curriculum. At Christ Church, we see the Early Years to the Year 6 curriculum as a body of subject-specific knowledge defined by us and the National Curriculum and so we take a knowledge-led approach. Once the children are ‘fluent’ in knowledge, they can apply it in a variety of ways.

Our Curriculum Maps, in each subject, contain the progression of knowledge and skills that we have identified as essential in our school, taking in to account cultural capital and, to some extent, are led by the children’s interests elicited from school surveys. Wherever possible, we make cross-curricular links and utilise the rich resource that is London, to support learning.

Our plans in each subject have been carefully crafted by the class teachers and shared across school working groups for further input and ideas. They identify composite knowledge and skills and break them down into stimulating lessons to ensure progressive, layered knowledge acquisition across each Key Stage. The school teaching has a strong focus on the effective retention and use of subject specific vocabulary.

We are very mindful that good teaching is underpinned by the ‘teach, recall, recall’, philosophy so the children are given every opportunity to reinforce their leaning. One definition of learning, as cited in the Ofsted framework is, ‘An alteration in long-term memory,’ and this statement informs our practice.

Each term we suspend the usual curriculum for a day in order for everyone to take part in an Enrichment Day exploring our six Christian values to ensure that the children know and understand how these relate to their day-to-day choices, good living and the school vision.

As we are situated in central London, we use London as our classroom, providing pupils with a very wide range of off-site visits and visitors to enhance their learning.

Have a look at our Curriculum Map below for an overview of subjects, year by year which informs parents/carers of current learning and resources in order for the learning to extended at home.

Implementation

The implementation of our curriculum is greatly supported by carefully structured plans and stimulating lessons, leading pupils through concept, to concrete knowledge and skills in all subjects. Teachers are always mindful of the different learning styles of children (e.g. visual, auditory, multi-sensory learners) and ensure that all styles are accommodated. Most lessons embrace the following practices, with an emphasis on recall of previously learned knowledge:

· Daily Review

· Presenting new materials using small steps

· Asking tailored questions

· Extending and challenging

· Investigation (sometimes open-ended)

· Providing models

· Guiding student practice

· Checking for student understanding

· Providing scaffolds for difficult tasks

· Independent practice

· Weekly and monthly review

Impact

We constantly review our curriculum through regular subject-based monitoring activity across the school to ensure sequential, layered knowledge acquisition and to check that pupil outcomes are of a very high quality. This can be through Learning Walks, Subject Leader monitoring, working parties and internal and external moderation and regular pupil voice.

Policies relating to learning and teaching are regularly reviewed to ensure good practice.

We moderate as a whole school and belong to ‘cluster groups’ with other schools to ensure excellent outcomes and to share good teaching practice. Assessment, both formative and summative, is rigorous and robust.

The Governors, Diocese and the borough are regularly invited into school to quality-assure the work and outcomes for the children.

Data is analysed termly by the Senior Leadership Team in conjunction with the class teacher. Data is also scrutinised by the Governors and external bodies such as the London Diocese and the local authority acting as critical friends.