Our Curriculum

Everything we do at St. John’s is led by our vision which is 'That all may LOVE, LEARN and FLOURISH'.  During their time at St. John’s, we want all our children to develop a real love and thirst for learning which will remain with them for their entire lives, enabling them to flourish in all that they do.

We believe that an exciting, deep curriculum is essential for children to be inspired to learn and we work hard to make our curriculum irresistible and inclusive for all. Through rich and engaging cross curricular Contexts for Learning (based on the National Curriculum), we motivate learners ensuring that they have a broad and balanced curriculum and many memorable learning experiences during their time at St. John’s.

There are strong connections in all areas of learning and our Contexts for Learning  have very strong Literacy links. Through the use of quality and inspiring texts, we ensure that children have a real purpose and stimulus for writing.  Great importance is placed upon providing real life enrichment opportunities including residential visits; day visits to a range of places including Hampton Court Palace, The Horniman Museum and Brighton and regular visits for Year 6 to help at the local food bank and see how their donations can help the lives of others.

Children’s confidence, self-assurance and leadership skills are developed through School Council, Class Prefects and Year 6 Reception Reading Mates, all of which provide children with a real opportunity for experiencing roles of responsibility and being effective role models to others.

  • We follow a number of frameworks to support our learning for example:
    • We use the Read, Write Inc phonics programme right from the start of Reception.
    • There is an emphasis on explicit vocabulary instruction and understanding meaning in all lessons.
    • In English we draw upon the CLPE Power of Reading approach, using a range of CLPE texts and ones which we have carefully selected for our own Contexts for Learning.
    • We have developed our own St. John's cursive handwriting script which quickly enables children to correctly form their letters and present their work to a high  level.
    • We believe strongly in the mastery approach and use a number of resources including White Rose Maths and Maths No Problem.
    • We have a specialist music teacher and specialist sports coach who both teach all children in the school as well as providing extra-curricular opportunities beyond the school day.
    • On line safety is taught through the Education for a Connected World Framework.

Our school vision, values and ethos are embedded in our delivery of the National Curriculum, through which we nurture our children to enable them to grow in their faith, develop enquiring minds and taking responsibility by being global citizens. By the time children leave St. John’s and transition to Secondary Education, we aim for them to have the confidence, resilience and maturity to be nicely prepared for the next stage of their educational career.