• Fostering spiritual and moral development
• Promoting vocation and aspiration through educational excellence
• Enabling each child to achieve their intellectual potential
• Encouraging personal and social development
• Strengthening links with the wider community

St. Anthony’s Catholic Primary Academy is committed to offering a curriculum which is broad and balanced to ensure every child not only has access to a range of educational experiences but reaches their full God-given potential whatever their starting points or circumstance. The intent of our curriculum is to:

• Ensure a curriculum for all which is coherently planned and sequenced towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge for skills and future learning and employment
• Enable pupils to develop knowledge, understand concepts and acquire skills, and be able to choose and apply these in relevant situations
• Support pupils’ spiritual, moral, social, cultural and vocational development
• Support pupils’ physical development and responsibility for their own health, and enable them to be active
• Promote a positive attitude towards learning
• Ensure equal access to learning for all pupils, with high expectations for every pupil and appropriate levels of challenge and support
• Have a high academic/vocational/technical ambition for all pupils
• Equip pupils with the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life

Our curriculum incorporates the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum and meets expectations of equality and inclusion policies.

Our schemes of work reflect the content and challenge of that curriculum. Teachers are trained to plan and deliver outstanding curriculum provision which has been evaluated for its connections, sequential planning and aims to be vocabulary rich with real life application. Where appropriate, specialist teachers are employed to provide enhanced learning opportunities such as musical instrument tuition or the learning of Modern Foreign Languages. Our curriculum is taught with the consideration of the needs of all learners. It excites and inspires children to nurture a passion for learning.

Religious education follows the Archdiocese of Birmingham’s curriculum strategy ‘Learning and Growing as the People of God’ and is a cornerstone of our curriculum, playing a crucial part in the holistic development of our children. Occasions for further spiritual, moral, vocational, cultural and social development are planned for and embedded within our curriculum alongside the British Values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect for and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. Through our work, we provide opportunities for the children to develop their aspirations, ‘Think Big’ beyond their present horizons and understand who God is calling them to be. We also provide opportunities for children to take on a wide range of responsibilities to help others, both within and beyond the school.

Teaching of reading and writing begins in nursery, by using the Read Write Inc (RWI) programme. RWI is a highly systematic synthetic phonics approach. Reading and writing are then taught through Literacy and Guided Reading lessons planned for the individual classes.

Early Mathematics is taught with the aid of Numicon, which uses structured imagery and apparatus and then progresses to the Maths No Problem scheme higher up the school to allow a greater focus upon problem solving and reasoning but still following a concrete-pictorial-abstract approach developed in Singapore.

All subjects with the exception of Literacy and Maths are planned on a two-year rolling programme to ensure full curriculum coverage by all children who progress through the school. This is to accommodate our 1.5 form entry structure, where 45 pupils are in each year group.

​Forest School Curriculum is taught by teachers with specialist qualifications in both Nursery and Reception. This curriculum particularly impacts the physical and personal, social aspects of the Foundation Stage curriculum, in addition to other aspects of learning. Forest School opportunities are also made for pupils who require additional support in these areas, usually in relation to meeting their SEND needs, as pupils move up through the school.

Progress and attainment information is used to measure impact and inform planning and produce curriculum drivers bespoke for each year group and class to further hone the curriculum – these can be to address a weakness in a specific academic area such as writing but also to promote certain skills such as independence or collaboration if identified. This ensures that equalities objectives and provision for SEND pupils is at the forefront of provision.

Progress and attainment are tracked at set points each year but also throughout each lesson in order to inform subsequent teaching. Each written piece is marked and followed up with a support task to strengthen, deepen or challenge understanding.

We offer a wide range of experiences beyond the planned curriculum. These extra-curricular activities enrich the lives of our pupils supporting their development and formation.

If you would like to know more about our curriculum please contact us.