Our Curriculum
Where questions are valued above answers, creativity above fact repetition, individuality above conformity and excellence above standardised performance.
Designed and led by Miss Forde
(How our curriculum is designed)
At St Dunstan’s we have designed a unique curriculum that has children at its heart with a cohesive vision that helps pupils understand and value how they fit into and contribute to the Global community.
Our distinct curriculum has God’s love and the Jesuit virtues at its core whilst also providing the social and emotional learning that is so essential to our pupils in this day and age.
Through our curriculum children will appreciate the complexity of the community in which they live and how they can contribute to this. Our curriculum will also equip pupils with knowledge of the many global issues that we face and help them understand how they can make a positive difference and change our world for the better.
We want our pupils to appreciate how they came to be, where they are now and how, with God’s guidance, they can shape where they are going.
Our distinct curriculum has God’s love and the Jesuit virtues at its core whilst also providing the social and emotional learning that is so essential to our pupils in this day and age.
Through our curriculum children will appreciate the complexity of the community in which they live and how they can contribute to this. Our curriculum will also equip pupils with knowledge of the many global issues that we face and help them understand how they can make a positive difference and change our world for the better.
We want our pupils to appreciate how they came to be, where they are now and how, with God’s guidance, they can shape where they are going.
Click below to see each year group's curriculum map
(How our curriculum is structured)
Our strategy for successful implementation of our curriculum is to build a bespoke curriculum based on the knowledge and expertise of our subject leaders who, in collaboration with our curriculum leader have designed a curriculum that builds on prior learning, deepens knowledge and enhances skills.
Creating this culture of collaboration and professional dialogue enables us to constantly review and evaluate our school curriculum.
We deliver a coherently planned curriculum with a progressive development and understanding of key knowledge and skills. Our curriculum driver is our faith and we follow the Birmingham Archdiocese strategy, ‘Learning and growing as the people of God’. Alongside this we integrate the requirements of the 2014 National Curriculum in an engaging way, meeting the needs of future citizens and equipping all of our children with foundations for life.
In order to allow fluidity between all subjects, we employ a topic based approach to learning, which encourages cross- curricular work wherever possible and allows children to become completely immersed in their learning.
Each year group teaches one topic per term, as outlined in our curriculum maps.
To ensure that children understand the unique contribution of individual subject areas, we teach each non- core subject in a block of lessons over a week, rather than weekly lessons over a term. This means that timetable maps are left flexible and the order of learning depends on the individual class and teacher involved. Our timetable maps clearly show how our subject blocks are organised across the 3 terms.
Creating this culture of collaboration and professional dialogue enables us to constantly review and evaluate our school curriculum.
We deliver a coherently planned curriculum with a progressive development and understanding of key knowledge and skills. Our curriculum driver is our faith and we follow the Birmingham Archdiocese strategy, ‘Learning and growing as the people of God’. Alongside this we integrate the requirements of the 2014 National Curriculum in an engaging way, meeting the needs of future citizens and equipping all of our children with foundations for life.
In order to allow fluidity between all subjects, we employ a topic based approach to learning, which encourages cross- curricular work wherever possible and allows children to become completely immersed in their learning.
Each year group teaches one topic per term, as outlined in our curriculum maps.
To ensure that children understand the unique contribution of individual subject areas, we teach each non- core subject in a block of lessons over a week, rather than weekly lessons over a term. This means that timetable maps are left flexible and the order of learning depends on the individual class and teacher involved. Our timetable maps clearly show how our subject blocks are organised across the 3 terms.
Click below to see each year group's timetable
(How our curriculum is assessed)
Within each subject block, teachers produce a unit map which sets out the objectives that will be taught, the key skills that will be enhanced, the knowledge that will be acquired and the key vocabulary that will be used in each unit.
Also contained within this unit map is a carefully designed impact activity which is used to assess and monitor the children's progress. These activities give children a chance to share their learning and articulate their knowledge. We often invite parents in to share in these activities and celebrate the children's successes and the learning that has taken place within each unit. Sharing these unit maps with parents enables this learning to be further supported and reinforced at home.
For parents , we hope that through this new curriculum structure you are more aware of the subjects that your child is studying, when these blocks will take place and how to better support this learning at home.
But most of all for the children of our school, we hope that this curriculum challenges them to deepen their knowledge and learn new skills. To become more curious about the world we live in and to become better prepared to be respectful British citizens and followers of Christ.
Also contained within this unit map is a carefully designed impact activity which is used to assess and monitor the children's progress. These activities give children a chance to share their learning and articulate their knowledge. We often invite parents in to share in these activities and celebrate the children's successes and the learning that has taken place within each unit. Sharing these unit maps with parents enables this learning to be further supported and reinforced at home.
For parents , we hope that through this new curriculum structure you are more aware of the subjects that your child is studying, when these blocks will take place and how to better support this learning at home.
But most of all for the children of our school, we hope that this curriculum challenges them to deepen their knowledge and learn new skills. To become more curious about the world we live in and to become better prepared to be respectful British citizens and followers of Christ.
