The Federation of St Elphege's Catholic Schools

We are an expanding school of approximately 640 pupils and provide education for children from the age of three to eleven. The school opened in 1969 and recently celebrated its 40th Anniversary. It is a successful and inclusive school. At the heart of our school life and curriculum is our Mission Statement. It colours all our aims and is reflected in the day-to-day running of our school.

The Federation of St Elphege's Catholic Schools will give every child the best possible education because each individual is uniquely created and precious to God. As a Catholic community, guided by the Holy Spirit, we will follow the example of Jesus Christ in all aspects of daily life.

With the help of God we will

• Develop our children's faith, spirituality and joy in the love of God.
• Teach our children to the highest standards thus realising their own potential.
• Give our children the knowledge, skills and confidence to succeed and take pride in their achievements.
• Create a Christian community where we all behave well, have good manners, and learn tolerance and respect for ourselves and others.
• Prepare our children today to become tomorrow's responsible and independent individuals.
• Make school a happy, safe and caring place where we all enjoy learning, work hard and do our best.
• Create a partnership of love, joy and high expectations between children, their parents, the staff and the governors, the parish and the wider community.

The Federation is using Focus Education resources to deliver a Creative Curriculum which will challenge the children and ensure that all learners acquire knowledge, understanding and skills in all non-core subjects as laid down in the new Nation Curriculum for Primary Schools.

It is an approach to curriculum planning which is now being used in over 1,000 primary schools in England. The approach is based on securing greater learner involvement in their work. It requires deep thinking and encourages learners to work using a question as the starting point. It has been described as a curriculum for ‘intelligent schools’.

In designing the curriculum, teachers and learners are using a prime learning challenge, expressed as a question, as the starting point. Using the information gained from pre-learning tasks and the school’s context, a series of subsidiary challenges are then planned. Each subsidiary learning challenge is also expressed as a question. Importantly, the learning challenges need to make sense to the learners and be something that is within their immediate understanding.

These learning walls provide reminders of learning and help children to develop understanding of both the knowledge and skills of the focus subject area and the cross curricular links made throughout the term. These walls develop and adapt to the children’s needs – never static! They display examples of children’s work as well as providing opportunities for the children to review where they have reached in their quest for more information to answer their questions.

The Creative Curriculum aims to

• Provide a broad and balanced curriculum.
• Encourages teachers to make learning vivid, real and meaningful with many first-hand experiences.
• Build up children’s confidence and motivation to learn through the use of a range of learning and teaching styles.
• Embed key skills in order to prepare children for real-life and everyday situations.
• Provide opportunities to apply knowledge and learning in practical ways
  Develop an enjoyment in all their learning.
• Stimulate our children’s natural curiosity and give them confidence to be curious.
• Provide ‘WOW’ moments which engage the children from the start of their learning.
• Engage children through the use of creative learning challenge questions.
• Involve children in the decision making about their learning, allowing children choice and independence.
• Ensure children know what they are learning and why.
• Allow time to engage, reflect and review – including peer and self-assessment.
• Use a wealth of relevant resources – in classroom, outdoors, in the local community and the wider area including visits and visitors.
• Allow children to demonstrate their learning in different ways: posters, presentations, performances, historic and other themed days.
• Promote personal, social and spiritual aspects of the curriculum.
• Encourage teachers to develop each child’s confidence, self-discipline and understanding of their learning.