Christ Church Curriculum Key Concepts

Together we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us

Our curriculum is underpinned by our core Christian values of Friendship, Thankfulness, Peace, Trust, Forgiveness, Compassion and Hope which are embedded in the life of the school and its community. These values permeate through the curriculum and support the children to become the very best versions of themselves

Vocabulary
Aspiration
Locality
Unity
Enquiry
Spirituality

Vocabulary

Reading and vocabulary development sit at the heart of our curriculum; enabling pupils to access the key to their future successes. We ensure key knowledge; skills and vocabulary are not only taught and learnt but embedded and built upon for every topic in every subject across school.

We want for our children to acquire the language of each subject – enabling pupils to think, speak and write like historians, geographers, artists for example, in each area of the curriculum. This is built upon as the children progress through school, equipping them for their journey beyond Christ Church, at further education and in their future careers and lives.

Aspiration
To be independent, successful citizens of the United Kingdom, we want our children to be ambitious about who they can be and what they can achieve.  They need to know that they can achieve anything and everything, irrespective of their background.
Our curriculum is carefully crafted to ensure all children have equal access to all areas of the curriculum, enrichment activities and extra-curricular learning too. We have planned a range of valuable enrichment opportunities which take the form of well-planned visits, workshops, experiences away from the classroom, clubs and visitors – exposing our pupils to their future opportunities, motivating them to strive towards their aspirations.

Locality
We have devised our curriculum to ensure breadth and balance for all, utilising features within our local area of Bootle and Liverpool, which has enabled us to develop our children’s music, science, art, history and geography skills.
We have excellent relationships with our local church, library, schools, colleges and businesses, all of which contribute to our unique curriculum throughout the year. We take our children out of the local area too, in order to make links with their learning in school.  We wish to give our children roots yet wings: roots to give pupils a sense of belonging - proud of where they are from and the stability of knowing here is home; yet wings to have the confidence and freedom to explore the world around them and the opportunities and possibilities it has to offer both now and in the future.

Unity
The ability to get along with others in a variety of situations is a crucial life skill. At Christ Church, we collaborate with each other in school in a range of different ways: through teams, clubs, groups, faculties, as well as a whole school and within the school and local community.
Families are invited to work with their children on a home-school links project, giving the children opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills learnt in school, in a creative way at home. Parents are invited to a range of planned events throughout the school calendar, fostering positive relationships and reflecting our ‘Together We Can’ ethos.
Pupils’ opinions and ideas are always included when planning out our curriculum and both our School Council and Curriculum Ambassadors share and express their views on the current curriculum content, contributing positively to plan for improvements. We aspire for our pupils to be positive, resilient, Christian courageous advocates who serve and contribute to their community and society as a whole, to make a difference to others.

Enquiry
All learning at all levels starts with a question and ends with an answer. This answer may, in turn, lead onto other questions. The great discoveries in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths have all begun with a question and the appreciation of the world around us and its peoples we develop from Geography, History and R.E.

From the time children learn to speak, they ask questions; it is a natural way of learning. Encouraging enquiring minds - asking questions about the world we live in and developing life-long learners is central to our curriculum. We instil in our children that we are here to feel, wonder and gaze in awe at the world. Instead of just teaching our children how to use things and do things, we nourish their sense of wonder and curiosity.

Spirituality

Throughout our curriculum, we aim to give our children the opportunities to feel a sense of connection to something bigger than themselves. To some this may be intricately linked to their association with church or place of worship; others may choose to pray or find comfort in a personal relationship with God or a higher power. Still others seek meaning through their connections to nature, art or to others. Like their sense of purpose, we believe that our children's personal definitions of spirituality may change throughout their life, adapting to their own experiences and relationships. At Christ Church we believe in giving our children the opportunities to ask big questions and the vocabulary and space to be in the moment, be able to articulate, reflect upon and therefore deepen their own spirituality, meaning and purpose. In doing so, pupils are able to be reflective about their own beliefs and perspective on life, show knowledge of and respect for faith, feelings and values of others, have a sense of enjoyment and fascination in learning about themselves and the world around them, use their creativity and imagination and reflect on their experiences.