Curriculum Intent

"That all pupils are ambassadors for Christ with a mission to look after their friends, their community and the world in which they live."

By the time pupils leave Our Lady of the Visitation we want them to be numerate, and competent readers and writers with a thirst for knowledge and a passion for learning. That they have the resilience to achieve success because they have faced challenges and been able to overcome them.  

Through the opportunities we provide, pupils will leave with a knowledge base that equips them for the next stage in learning and a direction for later life, encompassing an appreciation of art, music, the scientific world and technological advances. 

The curriculum at Our Lady of the Visitation provides a wide range of learning opportunities to develop knowledge and skills to prepare every child for the next stage in their learning. This is done through a broad and balanced curriculum that offers good quality learning from English and Mathematics to Physical Education and Music.

In 2015 we introduced Maths Mastery which has been fully embedded across the school. We can see the benefits to the pupils' knowledge and understanding of Mathematics through the Explore, Clarify, Practice and Apply approach. Pupils use a wide range of practical resources to gain a clearer understanding of maths concepts. End of year assessments - our pupils have exceeded pupils nationally with 92% of pupils meeting expectations and 47% exceeding them.

We recognise that reading is a key skill for life and that when pupils can read confidently they have access to the rest of the curriculum. We use the Letters and Sounds scheme to teach phonics and early reading, along with a wide range of reading schemes which include Oxford Reading tree, Big Cat and Lighthouse. We believe a broad range of resources gives pupils access to a wider breadth of genre, writing styles and content. the use of high quality texts and whole class reading develops fluency and comprehension as the pupils progress through the school.

We have extensive music and sports opportunities to support and develop pupils educational experiences. Pupils in year 3 and 4 learn the recorder and re-visit this again in year 6 to embed their learning. Year 3 receive African Drumming tuition. Throughout their music lessons they are taught notation and composition. We also have  keyboard lessons for small groups. 

Spanish is taught formally from year 3 with the children in year 1 and 2 learning simple greetings and numbers to ten more informally.

In our school we encourage all of our children to participate in a wide variety of activities which help them to understand and learn about the world around them. We provide extensive opportunities to gain first-hand learning experiences through class trips, sporting events, extra-curricular clubs and sponsored events which create well-rounded individuals ready for their future lives.