In all aspects of our curriculum at St Bede’s we apply the principle that ‘learning’ is a change to long-term memory, and that making progress means knowing more and remembering more.
In planning and teaching across the curriculum, we ensure that children are able to acquire long-term knowledge, through providing opportunities for rehearsal, recall and retrieval, and making links to their prior knowledge.

Lesson Design

Lessons in all subjects contain these four elements:

Retrieval

  • Begin a learning sequence with a review of prior Knowledge.
  • Regularly revisit prior learning.

Explanation

  • Teachers help pupils reduce cognitive overload. Amount of subject material pupils receive at one time is limited.
  • Opportunities to use tier 2 vocabulary.
  • Clear and well-sequenced explanations.
  • Explanations augmented with supportive techniques e.g. diagrams, models and worked examples, concrete representations.
  • Modelling by the teacher reveals the thought processes of an expert learner.
  • Explanations linked to other learning.
  • Teachers verbalise their metacognitive thinking.

Practice

  • Suitable variation and purposeful sequencing.
  • Carefully designed guided practice, to develop skills and strategies before applying them in independent practice.
  • Bridge the gap between instruction and independent pupil practice.
  • Pupils given extensive practice.
  • A high success rate obtained, i.e. challenging but not too hard.

Review

  • Responses of all pupils is checked.
  • Systematic feedback is given.
  • Corrections made to move learning forward.
  • Teachers support pupils to plan, monitor, and evaluate their learning.

Curriculum Subjects

Early Years

Pupils are taught all areas of learning, mostly through games and play, and carefully planned experiences where children can access a range of learning activities inside and outside. Purposeful links are made and themes are chosen which capture children’s interest and imagination.

Children are introduced to the teaching of phonics through the Read, Write Inc (RWI) program, and adults read widely and frequently with children, to nurture a love of reading and enthuse pupils about books from an early age.

Children will explore their learning in a positive, engaging environment, which ensures that they feel safe and secure. Teachers will assess pupils against the EYFS framework to ensure readiness for Year 1.

Years 1 to 6

From Years 1 to 6, all subjects required by the 2014 National Curriculum are taught to provide pupils with a broad and balanced curriculum:

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION – 2.5 hours per week in KS2, 2.25 hours per week in KS1. ‘Come and See’ Catholic programme of study

ENGLISH (including basic skills) – Daily lessons, including age-appropriate phonics teaching using RWI. Writing and reading lessons are taught daily, with a signature, school-wide, consistent approach . Accelerated Reading or class reading time daily.

MATHS (including basic skills) – Daily lessons using the mastery approach, supported by White Rose, to promote pupils’ mathematical fluency, reasoning and problem solving

SCIENCE – one topic per half term

PE – weekly teaching supported by Sporting Futures coaches.

FOUNDATION SUBJECTS, including DT, Art and Design, History, Geography, Computing, Music, Music and MFL are rigorously planned out following a rolling two week programme to allow for an interleaved approach to supportive metacognitive processes, allowing for spaced retrieval and aid learning being stored into the long term memory. They are taught as discrete subjects, so that pupils acquire subject-specific knowledge and vocabulary to enable them to be successful and experience a range of subject disciplines by the end of primary school. Where possible, links are made to topic themes in order to enhance children’s learning.

Pupils are offered opportunity to develop confidence in speaking and listening, through presenting, discussion and debate, and become effective, articulate communicators. Pupils participate and take the lead in collective worship and liturgies, school assemblies and productions.

Pupils are offered the opportunity to develop physically, socially and personally through afterschool activities, with many provided by Sporting Futures, including:

  • Football
  • Street Dance
  • Multi-skills
  • Gymnastics
  • Sewing