Our School Day (Timetable)

How we organise our school day:

(Although of course sometimes, due to visitors, trips or special curriculum days this may change)

Broad and Balanced Curriculum

Here at Cathedral School we pride ourselves on the quality of teaching and learning all children receive across the curriculum. We believe in a broad and balanced curriculum that ensures all areas of the curriculum are valued. We do this in a variety of ways including:

  • Themed curriculum days and weeks e.g. DT Week, Arts Week and International Week which combines geography, literacy, music and languages.
  • Cross curricular learning e.g. using a non-fiction focus in literacy to retrieve information for a history topic or using numeracy to collect data which will then be put onto a graph or spreadsheet in ICT. In this way children begin to “join up their thinking”.
  • Daily Literacy and Numeracy lessons and weekly timetabled teaching of Foundation Subjects (Science, Humanities, Art & DT, Music, RE, PE, PSHE, Computing, Spanish )

There are full curriculum maps to be found on each class’ blog.

Brief Description of the Curriculum

Literacy:

Daily literacy lessons cover a range of genres including Instructions, Poetry, Information Texts and Stories. Children are given the opportunity to read a variety of texts in a particular genre, identify their features and then write their own.

Numeracy:

Every Numeracy lesson begins with a mental maths starter, which is designed to warm up the brain and consolidate prior knowledge e.g. a game such as Fizz Buzz helps with times table knowledge.

Science:

During Science lessons children will not only focus on the knowledge needed for each topic but also the skills that are necessary; observation, designing an investigation, recording results accurately, prediction, evaluation of results.

RE (Religious Education):

As well as following the RE Scheme published by Southwark Diocesan Board of Education we also ensure that a strong Christian ethos runs through the whole curriculum.

Music:

Our Music curriculum is supported by the Voices Foundation who regularly visit and are always extremely impressed by the children’s singing and the quality of teaching.

Art & Design Technology:

In addition to developing important Art and DT related skills such as planning a piece of work or using a range of media effectively, we make sure the children have the opportunity to look at pieces of art by established artists which acts as inspiration for their own creations.

Handwriting:

Children have handwriting sessions 2 or 3 times per week. These sessions are also a chance to reinforce spelling patterns and encourage pride in the presentation of written work.

Humanities – History/Geography:

Pupils focus on History for 3 half terms and Geography for 3 half terms per year. An element of fieldwork is an integral part of each Geography unit, e.g. Year 4 visit the River Thames as part of their unit on Rivers and Reception go on a local walk as part of their “Buildings and Structures” topic. History skills taught include ordering events chronologically and using a range of sources to find out about the past such as handling artefacts, looking at photographs and reading firsthand accounts of events.

Computing:

Skills are taught in ICT lessons e.g. how to save a document or how to use PowerPoint. These skills are then used to enhance learning across the curriculum; children might be asked to put together a PowerPoint presentation in History or film a piece of drama they have been working on in Literacy.

PE (Physical Education):

We provide the statutory two hours per week of Physical Education across the school in a variety of ways; Dance, Gymnastics and Games. There are competitive elements to these.

Spanish:

Even though languages are non-statutory at primary school we make sure that at Key Stage 2 pupils have 45 minutes of Spanish per week and Key Stage 1 have 30 minutes per week. In the Foundation Stage children are exposed to Spanish and other Modern Foreign Languages during registration, fruit time and story time in order to familiarise them with another languages.

How can I find out more about what my child is learning?

Each class teacher sends out a curriculum map at the beginning of each half term, informing you of the topics your child will be focusing on; these can also be found on the Curriculum Map page.

Curriculum Evenings are held in the autumn term. Class teachers will talk through the curriculum for their year group and suggest some strategies you might use at home to support your child’s learning. If you are unable to attend, resources from the evenings are posted on individual class blogs.

Weekly newsletters will keep you informed about a range of curriculum areas.

If you have any questions about the curriculum at Cathedral School please contact Janice Breslin or June O’Brien in the office who will be very happy to arrange a meeting with the relevant subject leader.