Curriculum

Intent

At St James' Church of England Primary Academy, we strive to prepare all our children to successfully aspire to a wealth of opportunities with curiosity and resilience embedded in all they do.

Our curriculum covers all the objectives and requirements of the National Curriculum (Years 1 to 6) and Foundation Stage Early Years Curriculum (Reception Class).

We strive to deliver these objectives fully in order that they encompass the requirements set out by the Government to be broad and balanced but also promote the spiritual, moral, cultural, intellectual and physical development of children, as well as prepare children for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life.

We have fully embraced these expectations and have devised our own units of work for each subject area so that we can ensure a sound progression of learning.  At St. James' we believe the children learn best when they are excited about their learning and for this reason, we teach a themed approach where possible.  By making strong links across curriculum areas, children begin to make connections with the consequence that the learning experience is much richer.

Implementation 

In addition to everyday learning, we have a range of learning opportunities that further enhance the curriculum.  Along with speakers who visit our school, the children visit a range of museums, galleries and centres of learning where they will often take part in workshops led by the staff at the venue e.g. the National History Museum, zoos and the Rochester Guildhall Museum, to name but a few.  At the heart of our beliefs, we have provided a learning experience that is designed with the knowledge that each child is unique and special.

As a Church of England Primary School, we place our Christian Values at the heart of everything we do and, with this in mind, we endeavour to live by our school values, which are respect, self-control, perseverance, trust, hope and courage.  We teach the Diocese programme of study for religious education and also place Worship very firmly in our day-to-day lives.  During Worship, children learn from the stories in the Bible, the result being that they understand how they can use these as examples in leading their own lives: attending Church frequently consolidates these messages.

Every day, at the forefront of our minds, is the aim to fulfil our Mission Statement: 'We Grow Together Through God'.  This message encourages the whole development of each and every child as a person made in God's image and reaffirms the knowledge that they are deeply loved by their Maker.

Impact

We prepare all our children to successfully aspire to a wealth of opportunities with curiosity and resilience embedded in all they do, with God supporting them on their journey.

If you would more information regarding our Curriculum, please contact Miss Cordingley via the School Office.

Reading

At St. James' we follow the Read Write Inc. phonics programme throughout Year R and Key Stage 1 and children have access to high quality books from the beginning of their journey through school.

In our nursery classes, the children take Home Learning Packs comprised of story books and resources to build a love of reading.  In Year R, they take books home to read which contain the phonics sounds that they have learnt in class.  These books are from a range of different reading schemes to help build the children's confidence in their own reading skills.  As they become more fluent readers in Key Stage 1, they move onto Accelerated Reading books.  These are a range of books including scheme books and recognisable children's books.  The Accelerated Reading books help to develop the children's comprehension and understanding of the books as, once completed, they take an online quiz.  It is expected that all children will be accessing Accelerated Reading books from Year 2 to Year 6.