Please click on the subject below for the corresponding Curriculum Map.

Savio Salesian College Curriculum Statement

Context

The foundation and special character of Savio Salesian College arises from the charism of St John Bosco and his work with under-privileged youth, seeking to guide them along the right path through faith and education and provide them with the skills, knowledge and moral compass to be good citizens who make a meaningful contribution to their community and beyond. Our life as a Salesian Catholic community is governed by the teachings of St John Bosco and his belief that:

'Young people not only need to be loved,

they need to know that they are loved.'

Intent

It is our intention to secure an excellent educational entitlement for all our pupils by seeking to achieve four broad aims through the curriculum. These aims recognise the values and purposes that arise from our Christian heritage and so underpin our curriculum whilst responding positively to the opportunities and challenges of the rapidly changing world in which we live and work.

Each aim is supported by statements of the good practices that we would wish to be evident in the curriculum and the strategies which provide for their implementation. It would be a natural development for each aim to be reviewed in turn as a part of the schools cycle of self-evaluation.

Aim 1: To foster a growth of commitment to the love and service of Christ through the teachings and practices of the Catholic Church

Aim 2: To provide opportunities for all pupils to learn and achieve

Aim 3: To promote pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development

Aim 4: To prepare pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experience of life

Further information on our curriculum intent can be found here.

Implementation

The curriculum for each subject is delivered in learning units. Each unit contains a discrete body of knowledge and, at the end of each unit, knowledge is tested.  Pupils sit formal test assessments twice in each school year. Parents receive reports on their child’s progress in each of these formal test windows. Formal assessments play less of a role in subjects such as music, drama, technology and physical education. The stability of our curriculum allows subject expertise to develop over time, and we are careful to provide sufficient time for teachers within the same subject to meet together. Our subject expertise is strengthened by the support of St John Bosco teaching College who provide Subject Leaders in Education to work collaboratively with our Curriculum Leaders to quality assure and develop each subject discipline.

A three year Key Stage 3 provides students with the time and space to gain this secure understanding. In our lessons you will typically see all students grappling with the same challenging content, with teachers providing additional support for students who need it. Rather than moving on to new content, our higher attainers are expected to produce work of greater depth and flair.

Our approach to teaching and learning supports our curriculum by ensuring that lessons build on prior learning and provide sufficient opportunity for guided and independent practice. We have used Barak Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction (2012) and our own experience of what works in the classroom to develop the Savio Salesian College ‘common lesson form

In order to allow teaching to be effective (i.e. children learn what they are expected to in the year they are expected to), early catch up is essential: we aim to promptly identify and support pupils who start secondary school without a secure grasp of reading, writing and mathematics so that they can access the full curriculum. We use the ART (Access Reading Tests) tests to gain information about our new Year 7 in their first week and triangulate this with KS2 SATs data.  We employ a primary specialist teacher to intervene early with pupils who are behind.

Everything from which children learn in school – the taught subject timetable, the approach to spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, the co-curricular provision and the ethos and of the school – are to be seen as part of the school curriculum.  The Salesian Educators principles of learning spaces (Home, School, Playground and Church) reflect this holistic view of curriculum.

Further information on curriculum organisation and timetable can be accessed here.

Impact

With the support of Liverpool Arch-diocese and the Salesian schools network we are able to access a network of hundreds of teachers delivering the same curriculum content in a diverse range of schools.  As a result our staff attend high quality CPD and deliver a quality assured curriculum which will allow our pupils to demonstrate their growing understanding of their subjects and teachers to assess the impact of their teaching through on-going formative assessment. Summative assessments are typically taken twice a year, enabling teachers to focus on formative assessment from lesson to lesson.

Our formative assessments are designed to support students in achieving fluency in each subject. This means that in lessons pupils are quizzed on prior knowledge in order to embed this knowledge in their long term memory. This frees up their working memory to attend to current learning. We are particularly conscious of the role that literacy and vocabulary plays in unlocking the whole curriculum. Our teachers explicitly teach the meaning of subject-specific language, and we expect lessons to contain challenging reading and writing. Resources provide students with key information in each subject, enabling them to develop their understanding of key concepts outside of their lessons. We also encourage all pupils to read widely.

Every child has an equal right to a challenging and enlightening curriculum. By teaching this curriculum well, and developing effective habits in our pupils, we bring out the best in everyone.

PSHEE (Physical, Social, Health & Economic Education) is delivered by Form Tutors through form time sessions each week.

For more information on our curriculum offering please contact the relevant Curriculum Leader:

SLT Lead for Curriculum – Mrs V Hill

English – Mr L Hardaker

Mathematics – Mrs J Norbury

Science – Mr E Murphy

Religious Education – Mr L Hardaker

Physical Education – Mr D Talbot

Computing & ICT – Mr J Jones

Business Studies – Mrs J Welsh

RMT & Food – Mrs A Phillips

Art & Design – Mrs M Aldridge

Geography – Mrs E Fielding

History – Mrs C Parry

MFL – Mr S Mottram

PSHCE – Mr D Talbot

Performing Arts - Mr M McCarthy