Curriculum Statement
At St Anne’s, our curriculum ensures all pupils, regardless of starting point, develop the knowledge, skills, and self-belief to succeed academically, socially, and personally.
Our curriculum intent
At St Anne’s, our curriculum ensures all pupils, regardless of starting point, develop the knowledge, skills, and self-belief to succeed academically, socially, and personally. Rooted in our Catholic values, it is designed to:
Develop Language-Rich, Respectful Communicators
Pupils build spoken and written language skills through structured oracy, explicit vocabulary teaching, and engagement with high-quality texts, enabling confident communication across the curriculum.
Cultivate Knowledgeable, Curious Learners
A carefully sequenced curriculum builds knowledge cumulatively, with regular retrieval and reflection, helping pupils make connections, apply learning confidently, and develop curiosity about the world.
Foster Responsible World Citizens
Pupils learn about local and global communities, diversity, sustainability, and equality, growing into informed, respectful, and compassionate individuals.
Support Healthy, Confident Advocates
Through wellbeing education, physical activity, emotional literacy, and opportunities to embrace challenges, pupils develop resilience, self-belief, and the confidence to thrive.
How our curriculum works
Learning is structured to move knowledge into long-term memory. Teaching is sequenced to build cumulatively, with interleaving, retrieval practice, and explicit links across subjects. Key features include:
Knowledge and vocabulary development
Knowledge and vocabulary development through tiered teaching of subject-specific concepts and terms.
Progression through cognitive domains
Progression through cognitive domains, from basic understanding to sustained mastery and deeper learning.
Pedagogical approach
Pedagogical approach combining direct instruction for foundational knowledge and discovery/problem-based learning for deeper understanding.
Coherence and connections
Coherence and connections via knowledge webs, threshold concepts, and intra-curricular links.
Continuous assessment
Continuous assessment using quizzes, essays, proof-of-progress tasks, and pupil self-assessment to monitor understanding.
Cultural capital and enrichment
Cultural capital and enrichment, providing experiences beyond the classroom that broaden horizons and develop knowledge, imagination, and awareness of the wider world.
The impact of our curriculum
The impact of our curriculum is measured by pupils’ long-term knowledge, skills, and personal development:
Knowledge retention and application demonstrated through retrieval tasks, quizzes, essays, and cross-curricular connections.
Progression and mastery tracked through proof-of-progress tasks and comparative judgement across cognitive domains.
Communication and thinking skills, enabling pupils to explain, justify, and articulate learning confidently using subject-specific vocabulary.
Pupil engagement and curiosity, evidenced through discussion, reflection, and self-assessment.
Preparation for life, ensuring pupils leave St Anne’s knowledgeable, responsible, and resilient, ready to succeed in the next stage of education and contribute positively to society.
Curriculum Drivers
Our curriculum drivers shape the knowledge, skills and experiences we want every child to develop during their time at St Anne’s.
01 Language-Rich, Respectful Communicators Language
To ensure all pupils, regardless of starting point or language background, develop the spoken language, reading and writing skills needed to communicate confidently, respectfully and effectively across the curriculum and beyond school.
What this means in practice
- A strong focus on oracy in all curriculum areas
- Explicit teaching of tier 2 and tier 3 vocabulary in every subject
- High-quality texts used to build knowledge, vocabulary and cultural capital
- Frequent structured opportunities to talk, explain, justify and present
- Reading widely to broaden horizons and develop imagination
02 Knowledgeable, Curious Learners Knowledge
To build secure, meaningful knowledge over time so that pupils remember more, make connections and apply what they know confidently across the curriculum.
What this means in practice
- A carefully sequenced curriculum that builds knowledge cumulatively
- Regular opportunities to retrieve, revisit and deepen learning
- Teaching pupils why knowledge matters and how it helps them understand the world
- Encouraging curiosity, questioning and reflection
- High expectations and a belief that effort leads to success
03 Responsible World Citizens Citizenship
To develop pupils’ understanding of their local community and the wider world so they grow into respectful, informed and compassionate citizens who value diversity and care for God’s creation.
What this means in practice
- Learning rooted in local context, people and history
- Exposure to diverse cultures, beliefs and experiences
- Teaching that actively challenges stereotypes and promotes equality
- Opportunities to learn about global issues, sustainability and responsibility
- Clear links between learning and real-life purpose
04 Healthy, Confident Advocates Wellbeing
To support pupils’ physical, mental and emotional wellbeing so they develop resilience, self-belief and the confidence to embrace challenge and opportunity.
What this means in practice
- A strong, proactive approach to mental health and wellbeing
- Clear teaching about healthy lifestyles, nutrition and physical activity
- An embedded anti-bullying culture and strong safeguarding practice
- Opportunities to try new experiences and develop interests
- Teaching pupils strategies to manage emotions, setbacks and success
Curriculum breadth
Curriculum breadth is ensured by following the National Curriculum, the EYFS Statutory Framework, the Catholic Primary Religious Education Curriculum Directory and is further shaped by our curriculum drivers.
In each subject, knowledge and skills have been carefully sequenced and key strands of learning are taught and revisited so that children know and remember more. Curriculum maps for each subject and year group exemplify how coverage is achieved and how knowledge is secured across the school. Reading is essential in all parts of the curriculum and opportunities are provided for pupils to enjoy subject specific texts.
Our curriculum is underpinned by a range of enrichment activities including trips, visitors into school, thematic days/weeks, focussed projects and extra-curricular activities.
The curriculum is monitored, evaluated and reviewed by the Curriculum Lead, Senior Leadership Team and subject leaders. Through this process, the curriculum is adapted when needed, in order to drive self-improvement.
Any questions about the curriculum?
Any questions you have about the curriculum can be addressed by class teachers or Mrs Haggett, the Curriculum Lead. Curriculum maps for each year group and subject maps can be found here on our website.
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