As a school serving a community with high deprivation, we believe that our pupils deserve a curriculum that does not narrow their life chances. It is our aim that no child is left behind and that each individual is given the support and teaching to enable them to develop the skills and acquire the knowledge that will prepare them for the next stage of their school career.

We want our children to be successful, to love learning and to move onto secondary school with the skills, knowledge and understanding that will enable them to thrive.

Our curriculum has at its core the national curriculum which we see as the basis on which we have built the St. Martin’s curriculum.  The school community of staff, pupils and governors, have worked to agree a core curriculum structure based on skills, knowledge and understanding.  This process began by identifying clear progression and sequencing within subject areas. 

Our curriculum at St. Martin’s can be identified as having a knowledge- engaged approach. It is rich with knowledge based facts that are progressively taught. We also place an emphasis on developing the skills our pupils need for future learning, including resilience, growth mind set and perseverance.

The strengths of our curriculum are that it has been designed in response to the needs of the children in our school.  We place a place a high emphasis on language acquisition and development to ensure the children’s speaking, listening and understanding skills are at age-appropriate levels. In addition, we provide a wide-range of opportunities for first hand learning experiences that they may not otherwise access.

At St. Martin’s we are proud to have a knowledge based curriculum which meets the needs of all children including those with disabilities and SEN and stimulates our children allowing them to develop into independent thinkers and resilient learners.

Our curriculum is engaging, broad and balanced, helping to ensure that our children become numerate, literate and are empowered to meet life’s challenges. Our curriculum had been designed to encompass knowledge and understanding of the world in which we live and also the events that shaped it in the past to make it what it is today.

The topics have been designed to complement and build on one another with clear progression and links so that in subsequent year groups they will be able to explore concepts deeper, applying the knowledge and skills in different contexts. Our all-encompassing ethos ‘SHINE’ is at the heart of all our teaching and learning.