Our Curriculum
At St. Michael’s School we follow the revised national curriculum 2014. For information about the nation curriculum, please use the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum. If you require any further information about our curriculum, please contact the school.
How we teach
Teaching in all subjects can take a variety of forms with some whole class instruction followed by group work, individual work or groups led by teachers and teaching assistants. Our planning is child led according to the needs of each class.
Religious Education
Religion is taught daily in accordance with RE Curriculum Directory using a Diocesan approved scheme "Come and See." Lessons take many different formats, with children's work being produced as written work, reading comprehension, presentation in ICT, drama and art. SRE is taught using the 'Journey in Love' Scheme approved by Salford Diocese.
English- Phonics, Reading, Writing
Phonics and spelling sessions are taught in Foundation Stage and Years 1 and 2 each morning. The children are taught using the Letters and Sounds phonics scheme, supplemented by the Jolly Phonics scheme and Phonics Play games. During these sessions, children learn to recognise and say phonemes (sounds) and learn and write graphemes (letters / combinations of letters) through creative games and activities. The skills learnt in Phonics are an essential tool to help children to blend and segment words and therefore develop their reading and writing. In KS2 classes, spelling patterns and rules are taught and applied using the Read Write Inc Spelling Programme, Phonics is continued in KS2 classes where needed.
At St Michael's we aim to develop a love of reading. A variety of reading schemes are used throughout the school such as Oxford Reading Tree, Ginn, Collins Big Cat, Generation X, Phonics Bug and Treetops with a view that children will always be able to find a book that is suitable for them. In the Juniors, there is a wider range of general fiction and non-fiction books available to keep eager readers engaged and satisfied. In addition to set reading books, we have two libraries in school and each classroom has an inviting reading area for children to choose books from and use daily to develop reading for pleasure. Teachers read to their classes on a daily basis from a variety of genres. Comprehension skills and written work are planned around encouraging a love of literature, both printed and online.
Writing skills are taught discretely in all year groups and the children are provided with a range of opportunities to apply and transfer these skills across all subjects. Children are given the skills and knowledge to write a range of genres including narrative and non fiction texts.
Maths
Maths is taught daily in all classes in school with a wide range of group work, individual challenges and Maths games. We use the White Rose scheme as a basis for our planning, teaching and learning, supported by various other resources. We aim for the children to develop their fluency, reasoning and problem solving skills in all aspects of the Maths curriculum through concrete, pictorial or abstract representations. We subscribe to Times Table Rock Stars in order to aid children's times table knowledge.
Curriculum Subjects
Other subjects ( History, Geography, Science, Art and D&T) are taught through topic work using the 'PlanBee' schemes of work allowing children to make links between their learning and gain a deeper understanding of a topic. Overviews for topics can be found on the individual class pages.
Each class has 2 PE lessons each week and we use coaches from SC Education who teach classes and provide after school and Lunchtime clubs on a weekly basis.
Computing is embedded throughout the curriculum at St Michael's where we have laptops and iPads available for children's use. Each classroom has an interactive whiteboard which enables lessons to be engaging and fun for the children. The school use the Purple Mash Curriculum to ensure full coverage of the computing curriculum across all year groups. The school has invested in a number of online resources (Spelling Shed, Times Tables Rock stars, Purple Mash, Espresso, Letterjoin) for the children to use, some of which can also be accessed at home.
E-Safety is a large part of the Computing Curriculum and it taught through discrete sessions and whole school events (see E Safety page for more information)
Homework is set each week with activities intended to enhance and extend teaching and learning linked to the work taught in class. Parental support with homework will increase the benefit of these activities for your child.
