Church of England Vision for Education: Educating for life in all its fullness

Walsh Vision: Jesus said “I tell you Peter, you are a rock and on this rock foundation I will build my church.” (Matthew 16:18)

At Walsh Church of England Junior School we strive to be like St. Peter, answering God’s call to us, challenging ourselves and showing resilience, even if learning gets difficult. We aim to follow the example set by Jesus as Peter did, to live our lives in peace, in fellowship with others and the world around us.

Intent

At Walsh Junior school, our curriculum puts all, including disadvantaged and SEND, at the centre. Alongside this, we embed the school values of fellowship, peace and resilience, where we consistently build positive relationships with our children, based on mutual trust and respect. The curriculum has been carefully constructed thought analysis of the National Curriculum, our school’s progression documents and the needs of Walsh Junior School children. In order for the children to be fully immersed in their learning, the learning journeys are carefully considered to ensure that the children develop progressive knowledge and skills and build on prior learning. Our curriculum equips our children with personal characteristics required to succeed in life. We want the children to work together to be the best they can be, to be happy and safe, and to be ready and prepared for secondary and later life. We want to provide the children the opportunity to have higher aspirations in life and to allow them to make a difference to not only the school community, but the wider community we live in.  Everyone in the school community is given the opportunity to flourish, developing the skills which will enable them to become valued citizens. It is also important to us that children are encouraged to welcome differences with respect and understanding. The key principles behind the design of our curriculum are for our children to:

• learn, know and remember more
• be confident, independent and resilient
• displaying a thirst for learning, where making mistakes is part of our development and helps them gain knowledge
• be kind; showing empathy and compassion whilst valuing diversity
• achieve academically across the entire curriculum, meeting at least the national expectation by the end of their primary education
• be culturally knowledgeable about our country and our world, particular focusing on British Values

be well prepared for the challenges of the secondary school curriculum have aspirations for the future and know that these can be reached through hard work and determination

Implementation

We have designed our knowledge-based curriculum to enable the children to develop in all areas and we maintain the integrity of individual subjects so each is underpinned by a rigorous progression of skills which are built upon each year.  This is achieved through carefully considered learning journeys, which ensure skills and knowledge are progressive over the time the children spend at Walsh Junior School.

• Within the lesson planning, previous learning is identified to ensure that children are able to build on this and that their skills progress.  
• All children will learn to compromise, to find solutions, tolerance of others, valuing others differences and celebrate the talents and achievements through group work, working with their peers, collaborative projects
• During lessons, children are given the opportunities to ask questions to further their understanding. At the start of new topics we complete a pre-assessment which allows us to include the children in the learning journeys.
• We provide real-life opportunities so our learning has a purpose. We do this by creating meaningful hook to enthuse and engage, and an exciting end point to aim towards, such as theme days or creating an exhibition of work

Impact

The impact of this is that at Walsh Junior school, we have children who are resilient and enthusiastic learners who are not afraid to take risk, both academically and socially. We encourage the children to have high aspirations of themselves and their lives, which is supported by our ‘Aim Higher’ project. We have many guest speakers who come to talk to the children about their careers to open our children’s eyes to the opportunities they have for their future, which they may not have previously considered.  Our curriculum actively promotes the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. Equality and diversity is widely promoted.

Because of this, the children at Walsh Junior School are able to:

• Have the confidence and knowledge to become good citizens in our ever-changing world
• Grow into unique, confident individuals
• Form meaningful relationships based upon mutual respect and trust, recognising and celebrating difference, not only within the school community, but in the wider world as well.
• Have respect and understanding for differing view points with everyone within the school community and in the wider community

• Face new challenges with determination, taking risks in their learning and making positive choices when things go wrong.
• Be prepared to access the challenges of the secondary school curriculum and later life